Is There Just One Perfect Home for Everyone?

When people hear that I am a Grand Rapids real estate agent, sometimes they ask about the good feeling you get helping people find their perfect home, and whether there even is a perfect home for everyone. What do you think - have you ever felt that you lived in the perfect home for you? Or have you found the perfect home, only to have it slip through your fingers due to a bidding war, poor timing, or some other reason? Maybe you’re in the market now and hoping to find the perfect home.

The purest pleasure for a Grand Rapids real estate agent is to see the look on someone’s face when they walk through the door of a place that really feels right for them. Often you can see it right away. My job is to qualify the homes, and make sure that your ideal criteria are met – the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, neighborhood, lot size or acreage, price range, and other concrete details. Beyond that, you may be seeking special features like golf course living or an in ground pool, hobby space or waterfront, so I qualify the listing for those criteria as well. However, there are also nice-to-have features and intangibles for everyone. If we’ve looked at homes before, or talked about homes, I’ll know whether one home’s gourmet kitchen really spoke to you, and why. I’ll know how you felt about entertaining in a certain space, or relaxing for that matter.

Is there one perfect home for everyone? Probably not. It depends on lots of factors, including:

• Time of life. Times change and life changes. The perfect home for you now may be different than the one when your family was smaller, or larger. School district may or may not be important. At a certain point, you may find that you have more time for hobbies, or that you do more entertaining.
• Flexibility. If you have a certain neighborhood in mind, the right location may trump everything else when you’re looking for the right place, and you might be flexible about the style of the home or number of garage spaces.
• Appetite for remodeling. You’ll know whether you are the type of person who loves to improve upon a place, or whether you really want a home that you can move into without more than minor modifications. Sometimes, you can use your imagination and invest your energy to make a potential home just right for you. You may need to add the in-ground pool, put in your own gourmet kitchen, build the dream deck overlooking the lake, or add the hobby shop out back, but in the end you’ll have just what you were seeking.
• Time frame. How soon do you need to move, and how long you expect to be in the home? If you plan to age in place, look for features to make it easy, or think about the adjustments you’ll need to make over time. Putting in a more accessible shower can be a small project, but in a tiny bathroom, it may require major renovation. If you plan to be in the home a long time, try to picture your future needs as well.

Any Grand Rapids real estate agent has had the experience of working with a client who has suffered a home buying disappointment, where the client finally found the perfect home, and maybe even put in an offer, only to find that someone else’s offer was accepted. In my experience, there is always another home coming on the market that will fit the bill, or can be made to fit your needs. Your perfect home, in combination with the needs of your partner or other occupants, is out there. Contact The Sprich Group today to find the home that best meets your needs.

Photo: Tambako the Jaguar