New year means new hope, new dreams, new goals. From the last days of December to the early January we all find ourselves creating resolution lists with all sorts of changes we want to make in our lives. Starting small, for example a new hairstyle or a diet and a new healthy lifestyle, to bigger ones like pursuing a new job or career, moving out to a new city or finding a new home to live.
Speaking of which, finding a new home can be really stressful - especially with everything that's happening in the world right now (COVID-19 and its variants). Believe me, I know! Even Carrie knows... Have you watched the latest episode of "And Just Like That"? The Manhattan uptown girl has an unsuccessful experience buying a new (and stunning) place downtown by the Hudson River (probably one of those amazing High Line buildings) in the new HBO series.
The multi-million dollar ultra-modern, downtown apartment with sweeping views of the Hudson River wasn't just the right fit for her... (Photo: Craig Blankenhorn/HBO Max)
Well, if it's that hard for SJP classic New Yorker's caracter, we are all allowed to make mistakes when house hunting.
Looking for the perfect place to live requires a lot of different tasks such as clicking through new listings regularly, scheduling virtual or in-person showings, and reviewing complicated legal documents — all while tending to normal life responsibilities like work, school, childcare and nowadays: COVID-19. Plus, the one that seems more complicated in my point of view: tracking down financial documents and figuring out your payments.
I have a few tips for you to organize your house hunting and buying a new propriety: make a spreadsheet to keep track of all the homes you’re interested in, as well as each home’s stats and information, give the houses nicknames so you don't need to memorize all their addresses, take your own photos during a home tour and organize them in folders on your phone so you can remember all the details you love (or hate) from the places you've visited, and last but not least, if you're in the UK or buying an overseas property there's a great tool to help calculate your payments you can check it out here.
The site brings unique graphs of loan repayment along with monthly and yearly amortization tables besides additional calculators which have features like: estimating mortgage affordability based on income, printable amortization schedules, loan overpayments and if you were considering refinancing the remortgage is the right one for you. It seems to make life and that part about figuring out payments much easier and the house hunting process a lot less stressful, right?
The old apartment... It's the book shelf for me 💙 (Photo: Craig Blankenhorn/HBO Max)
Finding a new home can be intimidating, but if this is something you're willing to do now it's the time. Besides hiring a real estate agent, I also recommend having an architect or interior designer alongside the process to help you figure out if the houses you're interested in will be able to become the home of your dreams. 2022 is here and the new year is the best opportunity to start fresh. Good luck!
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