Will you be looking for this house in a town you are familiar with
? If so you will probably already know what areas are the most suited for your family.
The first thing that you should do is go to your bank, sit down and talk to a Florida mortgage loan officer and find out how much you qualify for. You should try to keep your housing payment less than or equal to 1/3 of your gross income. You want to make sure you can pay for your new Florida home loan and live comfortably.
Now that you know how much you can afford you are ready to start looking for your new home. Now you will want to decide how big of a home you would like. You may have children already or are dreaming of starting your family soon and they will want their own rooms.
Will you be looking for this house in a town you are familiar with? If that's the case you should already have an idea of what area suits your family the best. If you don't know the town or city you should check with the local police department and they will tell you what kind of neighborhood it is and how much crime is there. You want to ensure your family is safe and secure in the new property.
You might like to take a walk through the neighborhood and meet some of the neighbors. You can learn a lot about the neighborhood just by doing this. You will also want to check out the other houses in the area. Are they kept up, do the yards look decent. You want to avoid neighborhoods that aren't at their best.
It is a good idea to check out what kind of activities the town has to offer your family. Are your children in sports? Go and check out a local baseball game or basketball game or whatever happens to be going on at the time. Look around to see what kind of support this town shows for the kids.
Now go see what the school is like. You want to make sure that it is a good school and what programs that they will be offering your children. If your kids are playing sports you will want to check out what kind of athletics are offered. If it is a smaller school sometimes they can't offer as much as a larger school.
Of course you will have mileage to think about. What will the commute be like and how long will it take. This is also important because you don't want to spend a lot of time driving unless that is really what you want. The farther it is the more gas you have to buy and then you have less time with your family.
Remember buying a house can be scary and a bit stressful but just keep in mind that you are not alone. Don't let yourself get too stressed out over everything. Take another look at these home buying tips, relax a little and enjoy the search for your dream home.