How to Buy a Home If You're Planning on Having Kids

Find a good school district.

Let's talk about the most obvious one straight away. It seems crazy far in the future, but eventually that little baby you plan on loving and snuggling will need to go to school. Most real estate applications have a way to check for schools in your desired neighborhood, but these might not show the whole picture. A lot goes into how those schools get ranked, so the best thing to do is talk to parents in the neighborhood and see what they think. If that's a little too pushy and social-anxiety inducing, consider checking out the neighborhood's Facebook mom page. If there isn't one, that might be a warning sign.

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Go where other parents are.

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If you drive or walk around your ideal neighborhood and there isn't a family in sight, you may want to consider a different location. Of course, you can live and raise a child in an area without other families, but it's going to be harder. Having a kid can at times be lonely, especially if you're living in a new place. Moms can be super chatty, and therefore helpful, in your transition to motherhood. Additionally, where there are a lot of parents, you're likely to find a lot of playgrounds.

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Condos are low maintenance but potentially problematic.

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We decided to go with a vintage home. It's brick, and old, and I love it. However, it's not without its problems, and there are a lot of times that I've wistfully pined for a condo. With a condo you're likely to get everything new, including the floors. Vintage hardwood is beautiful, but the creaks have woken our kid on more than one occasion. A new condo means the risk of your future child licking lead-painted walls (don't snicker, they will do it because kids are weird) is significantly lower, and a condo offers as low-maintenance yard work as you can get.

Yet, condos have their own problems. A simple flight, or two, of stairs may seem like nothing now, but when you're trying to haul groceries, a 25-pound baby, a stroller, and any remaining ounce of sanity, those steps will start to feel like a huge burden. Of course, you could choose to live on the ground floor, but then you're running the risk of having an upstairs neighbor who refuses to stop practicing their basketball dribbling just because your baby needs to nap.

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You will need more storage than you think is humanly necessary.

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In your head, the addition of a baby is just another person's worth of stuff, and while this is technically true, each stage of a baby is fraught with junk. It's adorable and pint-size junk, but nonetheless, it's still something you're going to have to store when they've gotten their three months of play out of it. If you're planning on having a large family, that means you're going to be hoarding clothes, toys, bottles, maternity clothes, and bassinets. No matter the type of home you buy, if you're planning on having a kid, you'll need a lot of storage.

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Have your place be flexible.

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As kids get older, and more numerous, your needs will change. This is one of the reasons people tend to move within the first five years of a child's life. Whatever type of home you're buying, you should be able make changes that will suit your future needs. Can a den or sunroom be used as an extra bedroom? Could we put an addition onto the house if needed? Just because a home is perfect for you now doesn't mean it will be in the future. Ideally you will find a home that can grow with your family.

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Look closely at a home's layout.

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When you're childless, the guest bedroom being adjacent to the living room is great since it provides space for overflow at a party. When you have a baby who needs the soothing sounds of nothingness to fall asleep, that same proximity to your TV and stereo becomes problematic. I've never whispered as much in my life as in the first 30 minutes after my kid falls asleep. One wrong creak, laugh, or noise from the TV can ruin it. When buying a home, try to place your future child's nursery as far from communal space as possible. If this isn't a possibility, you may want to look at other places.

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Embrace the outdoors.

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You may not care about proximity to parks and neat things to do outdoors, but it is almost certain that your future baby will. In fact, you could give your kid every toy, activity, and stuffed animal to play with and they will still want a change of scenery and turn from whining demons into perfect angels the minute you step outside. Any size yard will do, as long as it's safe and enclosed. Other than your own space, being close to other parks, beaches, lakes, and walking trails will give your baby something to do and will help you feel less stir crazy.

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