8 Things to Consider When Buying a Family Home

June 19, 2020

Whether you’re buying your first family home or you’re upsizing, there are some core considerations that will come into play. Your family home can either work against you, or with you. Here are our top tips to make sure it’s the latter.

Location

You’re looking for a family home that will stand the test of time, so you can live in the community for years to come. This is why location is the most important factor: it can’t be changed. Researching the local facilities, community, amenities and transport will help you decide whether the area is an appropriate place for your family.

Transport

How close will you be living to public transport? Traveling by train is a great option for high school children and commuting parents. Living in a master-planned community such as Bloomdale, you are only 2km from the Diggers Rest Station on the Sunbury line, which operates full Metro services running every 12 minutes during morning and evening peak periods. You can read more about living in a connected community here.

Amenities

Seek out properties with close access to amenities such as community centres, shops, pools and libraries. Consider buying in a masterplanned community where all the facilities a young family needs are close at hand.

Schools

As a parent, you want the best for your children, and part of that is having access to good schools and childcare. While it is important that you decide for yourself how much of a priority schools will be in your buying process, there are a few pointers you can keep in mind.

• Remember that increasingly, there are high-quality, cost-effective schools and child care popping up in communities with more affordable properties.
• Consider the distance between your property and the school or child care centre. How will your children get there safely? Will the school run involve sitting in peak hour traffic with screaming kids? Master-planned communities have the benefit of everything being designed to make your life that little bit easier.

Neighbourhood

In buying a family home, it’s important to consider what the neighbours are like, and the support networks in the area. Living in a community of other families can afford you friends for life, as you and your children grow together. You can ask: 

• What parenting and family community groups are in the area?
• Do other families with young kids live on the block, or will you be living amongst empty nesters? Some suburbs are more family-friendly than others: Diggers Rest is one such example. Bloomdale is a hub for meeting and catching up with friends and neighbours, and a place where families grow, prosper and connect.

Outdoor Areas

Research has proven the importance of green spaces in children’s cognitive development and mental health. On top of that, many of our happiest childhood memories took place in a backyard or park. Don’t you want to share equally joyful memories of ball games and play grounds with your new family? While it isn’t always easy to find properties with adequate green space, there are a few things you can consider to ensure your new home ticks this box. 

• If you need to sacrifice on having a garden, or you don’t have the time and money to maintain it, is there a park or playground nearby? Not only does this have the added benefit of giving you a place to exercise, it’s a great opportunity to get to know your neighbours.
• A backyard must be easily accessible, safe, and visible from inside the house. This will allow you to keep an eye on your kids while they play.
• When you build a home in a community such as Bloomdale, green and open spaces are carefully designed around the typical needs of a family. Bloomdale has over 13ha of wetlands, 40km of shared walking paths and bike tracks, and 4ha of open space including six parks. 

Room for Expansion

When hunting for a family home, try to engage a degree of imagination. It is inevitable that change will move through your household in the coming years, so planning for the future is just as important as checking off your more immediate requirements. 

• Consider whether you will need to renovate, and whether the floor-plan is flexible to changing lifestyles. When your child is a toddler, you most likely won’t need a second bathroom. In their teenage years, however… 
• What goals do you have for yourself in the future? For example, if you’re thinking of starting a business make sure you’ll have a home office space, even if you plan to be changing nappies rather than answering emails for the foreseeable future.
• Think about building your own home, so that you have full control over how serviceable it is to your present and future needs. Homes in master-planned communities have optional add-on features which may be worth considering to improve your family’s quality of life.

Floor Plan

A home’s floor-plan has a big role in your family’s day to day life. Considering the following will help you ensure a house is suitable for kids and their needs.

• The distance between the master bedroom and the other rooms. If your children are young and often need attention throughout the night, the last thing you want is to navigate stairs or a long walk down the hall at three in the morning.
• Opt for a home with an open-plan living area. Aside from not having to deal with multiple baby gates, your little one will be much more visible, and less likely to go exploring in hidden nooks and crannies.
• If you are buying in a master-planned community, your builder’s floor-plan will be available to see before you build (and is in some cases modifiable!). You can check out some examples of what this might look like here.

Storage

We know one thing for sure: kids equals stuff. Over the next few years, you’re going to need lots of storage for everything from toys to equipment, to clothes, bikes, books, and every other trinket they can’t seem to part with. It’s easy for a mountain of things to accumulate: besides trying to teach your kids about Marie Kondo, there are a few key questions you ask to assess potential storage.

• Do the bedrooms have large wardrobes?
• Is the linen cupboard big enough for all the towels, blankets, sheets and so on? 
• What other storage solutions are out there? Maybe the lack of storage can be solved by a trip to IKEA.

Conclusion

If you’re reading this article, you’re already on the way to good things. With some simple yet well informed decisions, we hope you find the perfect place to settle for you and your family.

For the best of country charm, comfort, and contemporary living, as well as the Melbourne CBD just a 30-minute drive away, Bloomdale is the place to be. With a wide choice of block sizes to suit your needs and established facilities at Diggers Rest, you’ll enjoy the convenience of connection from the first moment you enter the community.

At AVID, we create places where people love to belong. To find out more about our developments in Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland and how you can invest in the home of your dreams, contact us today.