"You Can't Always Get What You Want"

Before looking for your next home, spending time thinking about your priorities can end up saving a lot of time when you begin the hunt.

It can tighten your focus, and help you decide with objective clarity what would be the best choice. 

It can get you closer, sooner, as you search for “the one”, and confident in your decision when you find it and make an offer.

We all know about “location, location, location”.  But that can be pretty broad – where in the location? How important is it to be able to walk to the train, to walk to school, be close to family and friends? How important is a first floor master suite, an eat-in kitchen, a two/three car attached garage? How about a quiet street, a low maintenance yard, distance from the house next door?  Yes, space for privacy – No, feeling isolated.

Where can you compromise and what is a must-have?  If you could have a private guest suite, could you give up an attached garage? If you could get a “great room”, would you be willing to forgo a formal dining room?  If you could have a finished attic, could you live without a finished basement?

Think through your priorities of must-haves, nice-to-haves, and trade-offs, because “if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.”