Consider your pets in your home shopping. Home buyers who are pet owners have specific requirements — they must provide for their pets. A third of millennial-aged respondents (ages 18 to 36) who purchased their first home (33%) say the desire to have a better space or yard for a dog influenced their decision to purchase the home, according to a survey conducted online by Harris Poll, on behalf of SunTrust Mortgage. Dogs ranked among the top three motivators for first-time home purchasers and were cited by more millennials than marriage/upcoming marriage, 25%, or the birth/expected birth of a child, 19%. It’s essential that the property in which you’re going to buy has no restrictions on pets if that’s something you desire. Do you raise American Staffordshire Terriers, also known as pit bulls? There are condo complexes that ban this breed. Some pet owners choose wood or other hard flooring, not wanting to risk pet damage or odors. An appropriate-sized fenced backyard is on the “needs” list for many pet-owning house buyers. Consider the arrangement of rooms and the structure of the house to ensure it’s suitable for your pets, too. Traffic in the area could be another checklist item. Pet services, such as veterinary, grooming, and exercising, should be conveniently nearby.
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!
You must make sure to limit your search to a neighborhood that offers the closest possible match to the kind of lifestyle that you like and want to live. CREA recently conducted a survey with Harris Interactive, and the real estate site found 84% of respondents said the neighborhood would be equally important to — or more important than — the house itself, if they were
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