Planning for the future before you buy a home can be challenging, especially if you’re a first-time homebuyer in your late 20s or early 30s. Looking for a home in a good school district with multiple bedrooms may seem premature, especially if you’re single, but thinking ahead could pay off down the road. After all, buying a home is often one of the largest investments people will ever make.

Most homebuyers who are young and single purchase a one-bedroom condominium, not planning for the future when they could meet someone and get married. Unless you marry your next-door-neighbor, and can combine your spaces, that one-bedroom, one-bath condo will seem tiny  if you decide to share it with someone else.

Even if marriage is not a choice homebuyers plan to make, other future life changes could impact the amount of space needed. Plus, who wouldn’t want to buy a larger space for their money? For nearly the same price and maybe in the same location, you could have bought a two-bedroom, two-bath condo, giving you much more flexibility.

When you buy a home, one of the first questions you have to ask yourself is how long am I going to live here? The average American changes residences every five to seven years. If you’re planning to be in a home for the long haul, consider writing down wants and needs that you anticipate having in the future.

If you’re in your 20s, you have to start planning for significant future changes in your lifestyle and buy a home  for those changes ahead of time.

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