July 13, 2021
A dream apartment looks different for everyone. For someone, it should be spacious, for another it should be close to a school or kindergarten, and someone sees their ideal apartment with an open terrace or a small private garden under the window. What is it, the ideal apartment, and how to choose it? Let’s figure it out in this article.
The main criteria for choosing an apartment
The decision to buy an apartment is often one of the most important in our life. However, this is only the first step, starting a long process of searching and subsequent purchase of real estate. It can take weeks, months or even years. What is the problem? We do not always have a clear vision of what we are looking for. A dream apartment is an image, something abstract and individual for each of us. When choosing a home, it is still better to be guided by the following objective criteria:
- Location. When choosing a property, everyone pays attention to location as the most important factor. Think carefully about where you would like to live. Choose an area that meets your expectations, not only as far as location is concerned, but also whether you can get to key places, such as work, school or kindergarten by public transport or car. Should it be a quiet and green area on the outskirts of the city or a busy centre? It’s up to you to decide.
- Infrastructure. As part of the location, you should also consider the infrastructure around your home. For many families with children, availability of a number of nurseries, kindergartens and schools, or, possibly, a clinic, office, shops and supermarkets can be the determining factor. Everyone has different requirements.
- Storey. When choosing an apartment, decide how high you would like to live. Some people are afraid of the first floors because of burglary risk or they just do not want to put bars on the windows, others do not want to climb the stairs to the top floor or are afraid of the cold/heat coming from the roof. For contemporary buildings, these problems are not relevant, so the choice of the floor is reduced solely to your personal preferences in terms of the view from the window and comfortable access to the apartment.
- The apartment area. Depending on your preferences, requirements and future plans (for example, starting a family), you should think about the total living space and the number of rooms. Often, the area says little about the functionality of the apartment, so it is better to focus on the layout, the size of the rooms and solar exposure, which will allow you to determine whether the windows face the sunny side and how much light penetrates into the rooms during the day.
- Extra spaces. A common criterion when choosing an apartment is whether it has a balcony or terrace, and maybe also a common garden or an open lounge area for the residents. It is worth paying attention to a parking space in the garage or a storage room, which the developer offers in one of the common areas of the building.
- Pets. For animal lovers, taking care of their pets’ comfort is of great importance when choosing an apartment. Review the in-house rules approved by the members of the residents’ community. It may happen so that in-house rules prohibit keeping pets. Otherwise, the proximity of parks or walking areas will be an advantage for dog owners.
- Price. In fact, all of the above criteria largely depend on the price you are prepared to pay for the apartment. Of course, you should not buy the unsuitable residence simply because it is cheap. In our catalog, you can choose your ideal apartment at a price suitable for you in the best districts of Lviv and Kyiv.
Evaluate the significance of each criterion and select those that are important specifically for you. Sometimes it turns out that instead of a spacious terrace, it is better to have a small balcony, but get more space in the kitchen or living room.
Area of the apartment to live comfortably
According to sanitary standards, at least 10 square meters should accounted for by one apartment resident. For the life to be comfortable, each family member should have their own separate space. Children should have a place to do their homework and a place to play, and the adult family members should have a place to rest and leisure. When choosing your apartment area, you can be guided by the following parameters:
- for a family of three – at least 18 sq. m per person or 54 sq. m;
- for a family of four – at least 16 sq. m per person or 60-70 sq. m;
- for a family of five or more people – at least 15 sq. m per person or 70-100 sq. m.
It is believed that small apartments up to 45 square meters are a comfortable solution for single people or for a childless couple, but, of course, these are conventional dividing, and no one limits you in the right to buy the residence of any size.
The main mistakes when choosing an apartment
There are no clear rules on how to choose an ideal apartment, but we can list the mistakes to avoid when buying a home. Here is some of them:
- Buying an apartment “for a start”. There are times when we buy a home that does not initially meet our requirements. For example, the apartment is too small or in the wrong area. At the same time, we assume that in a few years, we will move to another home, but it may turn out that we will be stuck in an “uncomfortable” apartment for many years.
- Buying as cheap as possible. Guided only by a low price, you can buy a property that is not consistent with your expectations in terms of room layout, infrastructure or surroundings and requires significant financial costs, for example, for renovations.
- Purchase without checking purchasing power. Before looking for a dream home, you’d better analyse your own funds that can be spent on buying real estate and check your creditworthiness. The price of the housing should not be too high, otherwise you will have to pay more for its maintenance than you can afford to spend on a monthly basis.
- Unclear purpose of the purchase. If you buy what you want and not what you really need, you may be on the wrong track. Real estate can be purchased for personal (for living with your family) or for investment purposes (e.g., for renting). Depending on the purpose of the purchase, you have to choose an apartment that will be more consistent with it. For example, if you prefer housing in a quiet area for living with your family, then for renting it would be better to buy an apartment closer to the city centre or significant urban clusters.
- Ignorance of the market and haste. The emotions associated with buying an apartment often make us decide on concluding a deal too early. Without knowing about the local market (prices, offered premises standard, infrastructure in the immediate vicinity), we may make a premature decision based on just a few options, while those more suitable for us may be missed.
Don't miss out on your dream apartment. Call us by phone or leave a request for a call back on the website – we will help you choose the right option and draw up the necessary documents.
