When it comes time to move house, whether it’s for work, school, or just because it’s time for a change, the hardest part is ensuring that you move to somewhere which makes everybody happy. You may have children which are three years old and thirteen years old; whatever their age, moving house is a big deal. They might have to make new friends at a new school, depending on how far you move, you and your partner may have to adjust to new workplaces, and you’ll all have to adjust to a new location along with a new house in itself. You need to put time into getting this decision right, so here are some pieces of advice to help you with your task of finding a house that the whole family can love.
Have a family meeting.
Before you make any decisions, you should get the entire family in one room so that you can all sit down and discuss what you’re looking for in a new home. Make sure everyone’s opinion is heard, even if your children are only young. Their opinions are just as important as yours because this new property is going to be their home too. You want it to feel like a home for everyone, much in the same way as your current house does, but you also want it to be better if anything.
This is likely the reason you’re moving in the first place; to make a better life for you and your family. If your youngest child wants a big garden then you should take that into consideration; if your oldest child wants to be near a train station so they can head back to your old town to see their friends from time to time then you should take that into consideration too. Compromises may have to be made to keep everyone happy, but the key is that they should be made for everyone and not just any single member of the family.
Go “new”.
When it comes to moving house, you should do it properly. Your old family home likely became worn out over the years; it had to bear the burden of kids stomping all over the place, and you as the parents might not have been any better. When you house-hunt, you should be looking at brand new properties in order to give your home a fighting chance. Do all the things you didn’t do the first time around. Buy a new property, and look after it more efficiently. Looking into a new condo launch could be the answer for your family because modern properties will please both you and the children.
Your outdated home with old memories might fill you with nostalgia, but a brand new property will be great for you as the adults too once you realize it not only looks nice but functions more effectively than your old house. Spending a little more day to save yourself a lot of money in endless maintenance and repairs tomorrow is definitely something for which you’ll thank yourself later down the line.
Find somewhere safe.
The specifics all depend on the age of your children, but a family home should be centered around safety. You likely don’t need to be told this, but it is something which should be taken into consideration when looking around potential new homes. Of course, changes can always be made once you move into the property, but it’s important to look at the big structural aspects of a property which might cause problems for little children.
A safe staircase, for starters, is very important. If you think the stairs might be a problem then you could invest in a stair gate; in much the same way, if table edges seem sharp and problematic then you should invest in rubber protectors to save your children if they should fall on such surfaces. You should be ensuring that the outside world is safe too; sharp rocks in the garden or uneven surfaces in the path leading up from the driveway are all little details that you should consider. As mentioned before, of course, small changes can always be made once you’ve moved in.
Think long-term.
Is this a place in which you and your family can get cozy? That’s the question you should all be asking yourselves whilst you’re house-hunting. A home is supposed to be a long-term investment, and you need to always be thinking about “potential” when you’re house-hunting. Things will change for you and your family over time; they already have, and that’s why you’re moving. You need to accept that things will continue to change in the future, and you should be ensuring that your new house is better equipped to deal with those changes than your old one. There needs to be room for you and your family to grow into this space. Kids will get older, and they might need bigger rooms. If you think there’s the potential for you and your partner to have more children in the future than you need to accommodate for that when you’re looking around potential properties too; perhaps choosing a house with an extra bedroom is a smart idea. Nobody can entirely predict the future, but you should be opening the door to numerous possibilities. You shouldn’t be moving into a house which has enough room for your family; you should be moving into a house which has more than enough room for your family.
Choose a good location.
Finally, before you make the decision on buying a new house, think outside the box; or, rather, think outside the property. You’ve focused so much on ensuring that the house meets everybody’s standards, but you need to ensure that the location does too. Perhaps you have little say in the matter if your job has taken you to a new location, but, depending on the length of your commute into work, there may still be some wiggle room in terms of the potential areas in which you could live. You need to think about the neighborhood, schools, entertainment, and amenities in the local area. This needs to be a place in which your family can truly live.
