3 Hot Tips To Help Avoid Couple’s Therapy While House Hunting

These past few covid years, we’ve noticed a shift in our clients: they care more about their space.

We’ve all been spending more time indoors these past few years. Professionally, more of us are working at home and personally, our dinners out have turned into dinners in and move nights are spent at home with your bubble.  Something that is top of mind for all our clients, whether they be single or in a relationship, is ensuring their home is the perfect combination of function and comfort.

With one person, this is easier to navigate. You find a great spot that ticks all the boxes, make sure it’s within budget and you’re set. You don’t have to make sure it ticks off all the boxes for your partner too.

With couples, we’re finding it more difficult to land that perfect spot to call home as everyone’s being a bit more particular in terms of what they’re looking for.

Here are a few tips to make sure your relationship stays your #1 priority and you still get that dream spot.

 Tip #1: Write a “pros/cons” & “must-haves/nice-to-haves” list… together!

You may think you’re on the same page about housing as your partner because of… osmosis… but it may become very obvious that you’re not on the same page when you go out on showings.

Writing out a list together, before going out on showings, will really help and be a great exercise to understand what’s important to each of you.  Be open and honest with one another during this process and don’t hold back. Once you’ve completed this exercise you’ll go to showings as one unit that has an aligned vision for what your housing goals are.

Tip #2: Get your finances in order. 

If you’re buying, consult with a mortgage broker and get pre-approved. Typically this rate is locked in for a few months.  If you’re not quite ready to start looking that’s ok!  It gives you an idea of where you stand financially. If you’re not happy with the number that you’re pre-approved for, this gives you both an opportunity to cut back on certain expenses or start to aggressively save. Be careful though, the Toronto real estate market appreciates quite quickly, so make sure your savings plan outpaces how quickly the market appreciates.

If only one of you is getting pre-approved, make sure you’re transparent with your partner the whole way through.

As a couple, knowing what you’re pre-approved for really helps the search process.  For example, let’s say you’re pre-approved for $1.3 million. Currently, the average semi in the Toronto core is $1.46 million.  If one of your partner’s non-negotiables is a parking spot (which is valued at $40K-$60K), maybe it’s time to have the conversation that you’ll have more options to buy a semi if they forego parking. If this remains a non-negotiable for them, that’s fine. But maybe there’s something else that they can move from the “must-have” column to the “nice-to-have” column.

Getting your finances in order also helps because you may not want to max out your budget on a house. Getting on the same page in terms of what you’re willing to spend on a home vs. what you’re pre-approved for is another important conversation to have with your partner.

Tip #3: Be Open and Honest with Your Realtor

Our primary job as realtors is to find you a great home. But this process can be stressful and emotional. In my opinion, our secondary job is to be emotionally available for our clients. We love our job because we’re there for a very significant moment in your life! This home that you’ve purchased is a place where you’ll experience so many beautiful moments and we helped you get there. But, we’re not mind readers (although sometimes I wish we were!).

Communicating to us what’s important to you is crucial information. We’ll be able to streamline the house-hunting process for you and vet homes before we send them to you to ensure they meet your specific criteria. If something changes during the process, let us know. Keeping us in the loop will allow for a more streamlined process and will allow you to get your home faster.

We’re here for you in every capacity!

To conclude, being on the same page as your partner during the house-hunting process is crucial. It’ll make the whole process much more enjoyable and will get you to your dream home faster and with far fewer hiccups along the way.