Why You May Want to Wait Until After Having Kids to Buy a Home

You don't want to end up with a home that doesn't suit your needs.

About 10 years ago, friends of mine bought a cute but somewhat small three-bedroom house before having kids. They figured it would be a good place to raise a family because they were planning on two children, and a three-bedroom house would allow for enough space.

Only their second child turned out to be twins. And opposite-gender twins at that, which wasn't an issue at first, but is getting to be an issue now.

See, my friends don't want their oldest child to have to share a room with a younger sibling. But they also can't really keep their opposite-gender twins in the same room now that they're getting older. And since their home doesn't have a basement, there's really no way to carve out an additional bedroom.

And speaking of not having a basement, not only are my friends short a bedroom, but they sorely lack storage space. And so all told, I've heard them utter phrases along the lines of "We should've waited to buy a house until after having kids" many times over in my day.

If you're looking to buy a home, but you also know that kids are part of your plans, then you may want to consider holding off until you're done having children. Otherwise, you might struggle with a lack of space, or you might end up with a home that just doesn't suit your lifestyle all that well.

Kids are a big factor

When you're part of a couple, it can be somewhat easy to control the amount of stuff you keep in your home. But kids tend to come with a lot of stuff at different ages.

When they're super little, your living space is apt to be filled with pack-and-plays, changing tables, and diaper pails. When they reach the toddler years, you can ditch most of that gear, but you'll need to replace it with toys that tend to be larger in nature -- think kitchen sets and play mats and other obtrusive items to keep them occupied.

In fact, it really isn't until kids get a bit older that their stuff starts to take up less space. And even then, that's not guaranteed. Case in point: My kids insist on having a giant foosball table in our basement, as well as several wrestling mats (to be fair, they all practice martial arts, so that's justifiable, but those mats take up a lot of floor space).

So all told, if you buy a home before having kids, you might end up with a living space that lacks storage in a serious way. And that could mean constantly having to step over and around things on a daily basis, which isn't such a comfortable way to live.

But that's not the only issue you might encounter if you buy a home before having kids. You might realize that you've chosen a block that tends to get a lot of traffic. That may not bother you when it's just you and a partner. But if the idea of your kids never being able to play ball or ride bikes in the street doesn't sit well with you, then that's something to take into consideration.

Waiting could pay off

Had my friends realized there would be a third child in their family, they would have purchased a larger home from the start. Now, they're settled into their neighborhood, their kids are used to the schools, and it's hard for them to leave. So chances are, they'll just have to deal with a lack of space for the foreseeable future.

If you're currently childless but plan to have kids, you may want to hold off on signing a mortgage loan until your family grows. Only then might you realize what sort of setup you truly need.

And if you don't want to hold off on buying a home, at least talk to friends with kids and ask for home-buying tips. They may be able to offer some insight that spares you from buying a home that isn't child-friendly, or that's unlikely to suit your needs once you expand your family.