How to Choose the Perfect Alpharetta Home for Your Family: Tips and Tricks from Homes by Tary
Purchasing a new home is an exciting and emotional process – made all the more so when buying in one of Metro Atlanta’s most in-demand markets… the City of Alpharetta. Voted as one of the South’s Best cities by readers of Southern Living® Magazine, Alpharetta continues to draw homebuyers with its growing collection of beautiful homes, excellent schools, thriving employment hubs, scenic parks, and vibrant shopping-dining-entertainment destinations. While it will be next to impossible to put the excitement aside while searching for Alpharetta GA homes for sale, it’s wise to have a clear list of objectives already mapped out before you begin your quest. At Homes by Tary, Alpharetta family homes are listed among our specialties. To that end, we proudly provide the following tips and tricks for choosing the ideal Alpharetta Georgia home to fit your family’s needs, wants, and unique vision.
Know Your Budget
Regardless of where you plan to purchase, starting with a realistic budget and the knowledge of how much home you can comfortably afford is essential. You’ll save a lot of time narrowing your list of possible homes by price point. Visiting homes that fall outside your budget not only wastes time but it can also be needlessly disappointing. A good rule of thumb is to spend no more than 28% of your gross income on your future mortgage payment – but bear in mind that the amount you can put towards your down payment will impact your monthly mortgage amount. Additional variables to consider include monthly debt, credit score, APR, and more. The Keller Williams Affordability Calculator is an excellent place to start. It’s one thing for YOU to know how much home you can afford. Given the competitive nature of today’s marketplace, it's extremely important that you are preapproved through a trusted and local mortgage lender – letting sellers know you can afford their home. Homes by Tary has several mortgage lender partners they can connect you with.
Determine Your Must-Haves
Start a list – on a legal pad, in your Notes app, or in a Word doc on your laptop – that contains a list of must-haves, as well as wants, for your future home. For instance, if you have a family of four that enjoys hosting overnight guests on occasion, a four-bedroom house will likely fall under the “NEED” category. If you love to entertain, a formal dining room, open floor plan, and chef’s kitchen with a large central island may also be good fits for the must-have column. Work from home? You may need a study with a door that offers privacy for Zoom calls. Have a lot of stuff that you need to store? You may need a walk-up storage room or basement. On the other hand, if you’ve always dreamed of having a coffered ceiling, mud room with sink, hardwood floors, and covered patio, those will likely fall under the “WANT” category. Not only will this list help you stay focused, but it can also help your real estate agent find the ideal home to fit your vision.
Consider Your Lifestyle
Your current lifestyle – or the lifestyle you desire – can play a significant role in where your home is based. For example, if you have a young family that loves to swim, a community with a pool is likely a must. The same applies to tennis and golf – making a master-planned or country club community a good fit. You may also love to bike and hike, making it important to have a great park with walking and cycling trails nearby a major plus. Then, of course, there are adventures of a different sort. If shopping and dining are more your sport of choice, convenience to one of Alpharetta’s excellent retail districts – like Avalon, City Center, and North Point – is beyond alluring.
Location, Location, Location
One of the biggest draws for families with young children during any new home search is the quality of the local schools. If this is particularly important to you, you’ll want to research Alpharetta’s highest-performing school districts and private school options. You can then narrow your home search to those school clusters – again, saving you time. The same holds true for access to major travel corridors for commuters. For example, if you work downtown, you’ll want to have easy access to GA-400. Although, between Alpharetta’s status as a central employment hub and “Technology City of the South,” you may be fortunate to live close to the office.
Get Professional Help
When seeking houses for sale in Alpharetta GA, we highly recommend you partner with an experienced real estate professional to guide you in your search—particularly one specializing in the City of Alpharetta – like Homes by Tary. When compiling our list of Alpharetta GA homes for sale to tour, we can take all of the tips and tricks outlined above into account – including your budget, desired home features, community features, school zones, and travel corridors. Not only can we help you narrow your search and schedule tours, but – once you’ve found “THE ONE” – we can also help you negotiate your offer, place your new home under contract, schedule your due diligence inspections, coordinate your appraisal, connect you with a lender to compile and complete your paperwork ahead of closing, help you arrange your new utilities and movers, accompany you during your final walk-through, and schedule your closing. Learn more about the home buying process with Homes by Tary on our Home Buying 101 page, then contact us at (678) 775-6390 (office), (770) 605-2221 (mobile), or tarysells@gmail.com. You are also welcome to pop by our office at 1960 Satellite Blvd, Suite 1100, in Duluth. We look forward to helping you find your new Alpharetta family home!
Are you looking to sell a home in Alpharetta, GA? Homes by Tary also serves as a seller’s agent. Visit the Selling Experience page on our website to learn how we can help and what your home may be worth!
