Tips for Choosing a Home with Your Partner in Los Angeles – Collaborative decisions can be a challenge for any couple, and many partners find choosing a home to buy together to be particularly difficult. If you and your partner are planning to buy a home in Los Angeles, we have some tips to help you work together and choose a home you will both love.
Contact us any time to learn more about finding homes for sale in Los Angeles that feature the location, criteria, and price point you want. We are here to help.
Before embarking on your Los Angeles house hunting journey, keep these tips in mind for choosing a home with your partner.
Tips for Choosing a Home with Your Partner in Los Angeles
1. Be clear about your top priorities
Many people start with a wish list when they are on the hunt for a new home, and this can be a great way to communicate what you are looking for. However, if you both create a long wish list it is unlikely you will find something with everything on each of your lists.
Instead, go ahead and make your wish lists, but then prioritize them. Identify the top two or three priorities for each of you, and make sure they don’t contradict each other. This will help you make collaborative decisions as you begin to search for a home.
If you can agree before you begin the search on a few non-negotiable priorities, you can avoid the stress of a more urgent decision when you have found a potential home on the market. Your non-negotiable criteria might be things like distance from work, purchase price, level of maintenance, updated kitchen, space for a pet or kids, or size of garage. Other items on your wish list can be more like icing on the cake, like a certain architectural style or the presence of a fireplace or pool.
2. Find your common ground
If you are sharing a life together already, chances are you have a significant number of common values and goals. Before searching for a home, communicate clearly about your motivation to buy a home in Los Angeles and find that common ground.
It might be that you both want to have space to entertain, or maybe you are excited to own a home that you can pass on to your kids some day. Maybe you value the opportunity to build generational wealth, or you are both pursuing a lifestyle you aspire to maintain. Whatever the reason, make sure you are on the same page to stay unified and communicate clearly during the decision making process.
3. Get on the same financial page
You have likely heard that financial matters are a top source of stress among most couples. Mitigate this stressor in the house hunting process by getting on the same financial page before you begin.
Start by talking with a few lenders to get pre-approved, and let us help you determine the market value of your current home or homes if that applies. Next, agree on an amount you want to invest into a home, including the initial purchase price, renovations that might take place, furnishing, and anything else the home will require.
Having these conversations before you are looking at an actual listing will help you be prepared to make efficient, confident, and peaceful decisions when you are actually on the hunt.
Ready to begin your search for a home in Los Angeles? Contact us any time.