Setting up home
By Gwenda Brophy, Property Journalist
Whether you are looking for a place to chill out - and kick back and relax - in your very own first place, looking forward to extra space for your growing brood, or to the luxury of a smart, smaller space that you can lock-up-and-leave and enjoy carefree living in your empty nest years, there is no more exciting prospect than setting up home.
Reasons for a move are as individual as people, but what they all share is that sense of anticipation about how life will be - and let's face it, today most properties are sold on the basis of lifestyle.
So how can you make sure the reality matches up to the fantasy? You can certainly increase your chances. Looking to share with a friend? More friendships go down the plughole faster with niggles about who hogs the bathroom, so look for a place with either a bathroom and ensuite or two bathrooms. Two double bedrooms are also a prerequisite for modern buyers, because it works better if you have - even approximately - equal personal space.
Is outside space important to you? If you are giving up a large garden because you no longer want the hassle, that does not mean you have to give up exercising those green fingers completely. Think about a balcony or place on the ground floor with a terrace - stock up on books that show you how to create a mini-outdoor room with low-maintenance terracotta pots, palms or bamboo - and choose plants with heady scents - now you have come to your senses and realised there is more to life than mowing.
Downsizing is the time to enjoy your freedom, so have your life laundry completed well beforehand, whilst ensuring the new place has the space to store those precious things you do want to keep. It is time however to throw off old ways and live life the way you want to. Always had a dining room - introduce your friends to your new relaxed lifestyle with open-space living and informal suppers if that is what suits you.
When you are choosing a family home there are more people in the equation. Think about your family unit and how a home design would work for you - most developments have a good choice of layouts and styles. Some homes have dedicated family rooms, whilst townhouses with their three - and sometimes four - storeys, offer flexibility of use so that playrooms can become teenage suites - or gyms or home offices.
When it comes to work-life, are you looking to be so close to the station that you can smell the coffee, or actively looking to put space - physically and emotionally - between you and your work? Setting up home always involves some sort of trade-off, but thinking things through beforehand can mean later on you can truthfully say that it was ‘the best move your ever made'.
