VALIANT KNIGHT SAYS
For a married couple to start home management, they need a home. Young couples normally start by renting a house but eventually given all the incentives by various institutions, they may decide to buy a house. We often hear of people speaking or a ‘dream house’. Most women tend to have this idea whereas men are more realistic and practical about a buying a house.
Basically, a man is more inclined towards the location of the house they intend to buy. Various factors will be considered, such as distance from place of work. This is a primary concern of the men and in many cases now of working women, too. To live in a place that is not too far and too difficult to get their place of work is a major concern. Some may even prefer to live in a place where they can easily use public transport, what with the rising cost of petrol and car maintenance.
When it comes to location, another important factor a man would look for would be facilities for his children and himself and wife, usually in that order. He wants to ensure that his pre-schooling child would have a baby crèche on the way to work, and his kindergarten child a suitable kindergarten to go to and if he has children going to primary or secondary schools, he wants to be sure that there are suitable schools nearby.
Then he wants to be sure that there are places he can hang out for a drink with friends and a gymnasium where he can work out, hopefully with his wife, too and a club they can join. Such facilities are important for his career and business opportunities, if he is in the business line.
Security is primary in a man’s mind. From ancient times, a man is always the protector of the family and in our modern society, although we have the law to protect us, it is not doing too good a job, or may I say, it is doing a very poor job. Therefore, a man has to rely on himself and his instinct to find a place safe for his family. He would be looking out for the type of security his neighbourhood offers him. He wants to know the neighbours, whether they are suitable people of a same class as he is. He has to look at a possible budget for installing and maintaining a burglar’s alarm system for his house.
Finance
Most men are very practical when it comes to buying a house. Although most men would have talked about a dream house with their girlfriends when courting, when it comes to buying a house, they would be most realistic. They would look at their finances and buy a house they can afford for the time being. Hire purchase and other forms of financing a house purchase has enabled many newly married couples to buy houses rather than rent them.
The couple must decide on the amount of money they can put aside each month to pay for the instalments for the loan repayment. In addition, there must be made available enough money to pay for annual payments such as assessment, quit rent, insurances, general maintenance, repairs, etc. It would indeed take up a large proportion of the couple’s total monthly income. They will have to sit down and plan a budget that is realistic and which they have to abide. This is usually the task of the man.
Legalities
Most men will have to take care of all the legal aspects (with exceptions) and should be responsible for all the documentations when dealing with the developers, the banks, lawyers, etc. It is not a simple task and for those who do not take particular care to read the fine prints of documents, they may live to regret it later. Therefore, it is best, if both husband and wife are educated, that this should be done together.
Consultation and Agreement
Finally, I would advise young couples to be constantly in consultation when purchasing a house and come to mutual agreement on all aspects before they endeavour on such a major project. Buying a house is not like choosing a place to spend a vacation. It is something that they have to live with for a long, long duration of time unless they want to incur a major lost in finance.
