This is a conversation that you might be familiar with:

“How long have you lived here?”
“20 years.”
“Why so long?”
“Because we are happy here.”

Buying a home is the single biggest purchase most people ever make and a decision that impacts on their lives every day they live there. Coming home to a property that you bought just because it was ‘a good deal’ rarely lasts. You have to love your home to stay in it long term.

This might seem to be common sense and be repeating what everyone knows, but in the current climate it is all too easy to forget that buying with your Emotional IQ is every bit as important as buying with your Financial IQ.

If you take your time to seek out the home you really love, you will be far happier and better off overall, meaning you are more likely to stay in it longer. However, if you’re on the hunt for the best deal you can get, you could make a mistake that – in the end – may cost you more and leave you less happy whilst living in the home that saved you more on day one.

Of course, you have to buy within your means (and no-one wants to pay over the odds) but if you lose the home you love for the sake of say 5% of the purchase price, then is that really a good outcome? For example, if you lose the home because of £25,000, then you will surely come to regret it; especially since the mortgage costs of £25,000 (with a 2% interest rate) works out at about £40 per month – the cost of dinner for two at a gastropub.

Is it worth losing your dream home for that? And what if you have to move sooner than you would if you’d bought the home you love? Transaction costs including Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT), not to mention the emotional strains of moving, are enormous.

The bore at a party who brags (usually too loudly) that they squeezed the price of their new home until the pips squeaked, is rarely the happiest. The happiest in their homes will be the people who had the vision and imagination to see how they and the property would fit together. They rarely tell you what they paid, because the price isn’t important. What is important is that their home makes them happy.

Greg McKinnel who has recently bought a family home in Troy Homes’ exclusive Harvester Close, in Royston, Hertfordshire, explains how he and his family got all the help they needed to buy their new family home: “The moment we saw the house in Harvester Close, we knew it was right for us. We had looked at several other developments and properties, but none came close to this one. It is perfect, but we were worried that we might lose it if the sale of our current house took too long. When we explained this to Troy Homes, they immediately reserved the home we wanted and introduced us to Assisted Move. Troy Homes have been true to their word and helped us every step of the way, which has made all the difference. We now have our dream family home and can’t wait to move in next week. It’s the perfect start to the new year.”

Large volume developers may be able to offer you a raft of deals and incentives that, on the face of it, make their properties a very attractive purchase; but a deal is only a good deal if the home itself is right for you. Ask yourself this: are free carpets or saving on Stamp Duty today really going to be worth 20 years of putting up with compromises and failing to love the home you are living in?

Buyers who fixate on the deal and base their decisions on all the national commentary surrounding house prices rarely make good decisions. Buying the perfect home shouldn’t boil down to the lowest possible deal. Buying the perfect home is about listening to your Emotional IQ and thinking about how your lives and the home will work together. Whether you want a spacious new family home or a luxury one-bed apartment, do not compromise on what will make you happy, nor the quality of the design and build.

Make the move to your dream home this year with Troy Homes. We currently have four vibrant and modern show homes available to view now. Book your viewing today for Rosebay House, Pheasant Close, Harvester Close and Randall Way or contact us to enquire about our upcoming developments in 2019.