Finding a new home when you have kids can be a challenge. There's so much more to consider beyond the home itself. Schools, community centres, programs, and safety are all important factors that need to be investigated to avoid any regret down the road. You want to make sure that the transition is as painless as possible for your little ones and that normally takes some extra due diligence on your part and your Realtor's part. So what should you consider? Here is a list of our top kid friendly home inspection items:
1) Neighbour check: kids like to play outside - front yard, back yard, side yard - which means you'll likely be seeing your neighbours a lot more than if you didn't have kids. Introducing yourself and your family to your potential neighbours can help. Does your neighbour hate kids? Does he own a crazy aggressive dog? While you may not be able to give your potential neighbour a full blown interrogation with a full set of fingerprints and a DNA test, a simple introduction will give you a better idea of who you could be living beside for the next one, two, five, ten or more years. Your potential neighbours are also the best source to get all of the details about the area from - pros and cons.
2) Visit the neighbourhood more than once. if you're seeing the home on Monday at 7pm, go visit on Saturday at 11am. If you're there for the weekend open house, go visit on a Thursday at 8pm. This way, you get a more complete picture of the neighbourhood.
3) Visit the parks: if living in a community with other young families is important to you, visit the local parks. If the parks are filled with teenagers
smoking pot or more dogs than kids, the neighbourhood might not be the right
one for you.
4) Visit the local schools: your kids will be spending the majority of their days at school. You want to make sure the school they will be attending is welcoming, engaging, well respected, and whatever other qualities are important to you as a family.
5) Consider commute times: make sure that the commute to and from your place of employment won't leave you stressed out and scrambling to pick up the kids from school each day. With that said, confirming the start and end times for school and availability for before and after school programs might have an impact on your home buying decision. For example, my kids start school at 8am and end at 2:30pm. This makes a typical 9 to 5 schedule at work very hard to adhere to if there is no after school program available.
6) Extra-curricular programming: does your child love swimming? Soccer? Hockey?
Depending on how important these extra-curricular programs are to you and your family, you may
want to visit the community centres and sports clubs in the neighbourhood to find out the options
and availability of programs.
7) Daycares: if your kids aren't in school yet, then the hunt for the right daycare can be a
challenge. Some daycares don't offer half day or part time programs while others cost more
than you expect. A family will want to make sure they have enough options to consider when
it comes to finding a new daycare for their little one.
8) Street traffic: is the street you are considering purchasing a home on a short cut for
impatient rush hour drivers? Do you back onto a street with a loud bus route that runs around
the clock? Listening and watching for local traffic at different times of the day and on different
days will help you better understand how safe and peaceful your potential new neighbourhood
really is.
9) Pollution and safety hazards: if you see a home at 8pm on a Monday, you may not notice the cell phone tower nearby or the factory down the street. Again, check things out during the day and do a Google satellite map search to see what you might be missing.
10) Get the kids involved. Depending on your child, including their age and personality, the idea of moving can range from pure excitement to pure anger. Involving your kids in the decision making as much as possible - choosing what homes to see, determining what characteristics make a good home, scoping out the neighbourhood with you (maybe take them out of school for an afternoon to explore!) - will help them to be more engaged in the process and become a bit more positive about a potential move.