If you are like-most regular couples, owning a house is THE MAJOR INVESTMENT that you'll undergo. Paying-off mortgage is something that will be normal as breathing, for more than 5, 10, or worse, 30years of your lives. That's why, we spend countless times seeking for THAT home... Not perfect per se, but perfect for our need and budget.
So, What do first time home buyers look into? When we decided to acquire the property I mentioned, these are the considerations that we really spent time weighing the pros and cons.
1. LOCATION. we really wanted a place near my son's prospective school. I pity those kids who have to wake up so early everyday because of school buses schedules. Then, pag-uwi, latang-lata na sa stress ng traffic. I also wanted a place near where I work. It pays to be able to go home fast, esp. during emergencies. Sometimes, I check on them during lunchtimes, especially when a child is sick.
2. COST. we are never attracted to home loans, even pag-ibig. my husband would deftly compute the interest rates, and we end up deciding to borrow from friends and relatives. Besides, we still want to enjoy life's little luxuries. We don't want to have a nice home but make dildil sa asin, for the next 10 years. Kumuha lang ng kaya ng bulsa.
3. ACCESSIBILITY TO PUBLIC TRANSPO & MARKETS. Granted that you pick an area whwere there FX passing through, but have you consider, how they are during rush hours. Baka dadaan dun, punung-puno na ng pasahero! you will also end up running after them or getting a cab almost everyday. If you have a need for public transpo daily, make sure that the house is near the FX terminal or areas where FX / jeepneys routes converges, so you can have options in case you're running late. I also appreciate little talipapa, where my maids can easily get a condiment or two, in cases, when we ran out of them.
4. SAFE NEIGBORHOOD. we cannot avoid getting home late once in awhile, or kids going outside the house to play. Even if we didn't choose an exclusive, ultra-secured neighborhood, I wanted an area, where kids can go out to make a few friends, without the fear of being run over by vehicles; or getting acosted by bad people.
There really no perfect home. Most of the times, we need to compromise our wants versus our needs. But whatever it is you've decided, you really have to stick to it, and make the most out of it.
One of my favorite quotes, says, "Happiness is not getting what you want. It's wanting what you have."
