Mississauga Real Estate | Buying a Home in Mississauga

Buying a first home is a big step in a married couples’ new life. Traditionally, a first home purchase was a tiny bungalow or small ranch house, a place to start small and dream big. However, as both the culture of home aesthetics evolves and as young buyers look towards a home they can stay in for more than a few years, the market has shifted. Young home shoppers are more certain of their needs and more aggressive in pursuing what they want. In fact, these days, custom-built, expansive and expensive homes are often starter homes.

Younger couples tend to be earning two incomes and they have a strong sense of what they want in their home. They do not want to wait for the design and convenience features they desire long-term. Additionally, as many of these couples plan to have children, they want a home they can grow into and, therefore, tend to buy larger than what those houses traditionally classified as starter homes offer in terms of space and number of rooms. In fact, with an improving mortgage market, some young buyers are building their own custom homes, complete with many of the latest emerging design features.

Foremost amongst the design features that young couple’s desire is outdoor living and entertaining space. This trend, emerging over the last decade, encourages homeowners to create spaces that have more of the feeling and function of an indoor room; design considerations include better flooring, quality furnishings, fire pits, and even audio systems. In fact, this trend also includes fully functional outdoor “rooms”, with walls and windows for greater energy efficiency. The emergence of outdoor living also drives an increased interest in outdoor food preparation. The available options range from basic grills to complete outdoor kitchens, including stoves, refrigerators, and running water. Emerging in tandem with these outdoor cooking areas are vegetable gardens, further utilizing more outdoor space. Garden design allows homeowners to grow and produce the very foods they are most likely to consume.

As young homeowners look to merge their indoor and outdoor living spaces, they are also paying significant attention to energy efficient design solutions and to living a more “green” lifestyle. Design considerations include using sustainable products when choosing countertops and flooring. For example, many buyers are opting for countertops constructed with recycled bottles, crushed glass, and concrete. Flooring choices veer towards bamboo and cork. In this milieu, solar energy systems are growing in popularity and their designs are evolving to be seamless with the overall design of the residence. Tax incentives are often available for the purchase and installation of such systems. Other popular conservation considerations for these homes include low-water appliances, improved insulation, and the use of gray water for irrigation needs.

Young couples entering the real estate marketplace are changing the perception of a starter home. However, no matter what stage of life one is in, the purchase of a new home is a significant event. Their design decisions flow from their hearts and their budget. In that way, they create a place they can truly call their home.

The author of this article, Eva Duncan, has had over 20 yrs of experience as a real estate advisor and has helped many young couples find their dream home. For more info concerning these topics check out http://ambassadorenergycollege.com/

Owning a home is a big responsibility that comes with a lot of maintenance. Keeping up with and remembering all of the maintenance that needs to be done can be quite a daunting task, especially if you are a fist-time home owner. For example, how often is it really necessary to have your heating and cooling systems serviced? Is it ever okay to let things go unmaintained until there is a problem? Fear not: here is what you need to know about keeping your home in tip-top shape.

Why Do I Need to Stay on Top of Maintenance?

It is very easy to fall into the school of thought that there is no real reason to have all the systems in your home serviced on a regular basis, but that would be a big mistake. Regular maintenance will save you a lot of money in the long run, explains Life Hacker. It may sound like an oxymoron, because you will have to spend money to have repair workers come out to evaluate and service the various systems in your home, but over time, proactive care will cost less than a complete system failure.

Think of it this way: when it comes to your health what costs more: paying copays to visit the doctor annually for your physical, or not ever seeing the doctor until you find out you have a progressive illness that could have been treated if you had caught it sooner? The systems in your home work the same way. Many things can be fixed if found early on and that will save you from having to replace an air conditioning unit or heating system long before their time is up.

The Little Things

There are many aspects to home maintenance that will not require you to call in the experts, but will simply call for a weekend of your own time and maybe a trip to the local hardware store. The best thing to do is grab a pen and paper and take a walk around your home. What are the small things that need to be fixed? Are there loose screws that need to be tightened or outlet plates that need replacing? Write it all down and then number the list in order of importance. Then, every weekend you can tackle a few items on your list. Once a month, take another walk and add to the list again, or simply add things as you notice them.

The Big Things

Of course, then there are the big things that you need to be doing, but luckily they do not need to be done that often. The best way to stay on top of everything is to have a list tracking when everything needs to be attended to, and Apartment Therapy has it all planned out for you. Things such as cleaning out the dishwasher drain bin or the washing machine detergent bins should be done pretty regularly (at least monthly), whereas changing air filters for your heating and cooling systems can be limited to every six months.

Featured images:

•  License: Image author owned 

Mike Easton and Jessica Lewis just bought their first home. Since they are new to being homeowners, they decide to learn some important things to keep in mind when checking the house.