BUYING A HOUSE: 5 ELEMENTS TO EVALUATE BEFORE BUYING A PROPERTY

2/17/2023

STRUCTURE ACCORDING TO LIFESTYLE

One of the first questions that arises initially when choosing a property, is which type of structure to opt for: on the market, there are various options, including apartments, independent houses, single or semi-detached houses, terraced houses or court to be restored; some of them have the much loved piece of garden, which is certainly a great strength that allows you to experience the house outdoors too, but with disadvantages in terms of maintenance. In fact, the choice of a permanent home must also be weighed in relation to your daily lifestyle: if you are a person who spends most of your time outside, for work, hobbies and leisure, it would be advisable to opt for a structure not excessively large and possibly without a garden, such as, for example, an apartment, so as not to be too demanding to manage. Otherwise, if you love living at home and have more time to dedicate to it, then you could think of something bigger, perhaps a multi-level villa with a large perimeter garden!

5_elements_to_evaluate_before_buying_a_house_IDW-Italia-Prague-Biella

POSITION

Once the structure has been evaluated, it would be good to think about your preferences for the area in which you would like it to be located, carefully evaluating the requirements that you believe it must have: how far are the schools? Are the services comfortable and easily accessible? Is public transport close at hand? We could go on with a long list of similar questions that each of us, according to our needs, asks in relation to the choice of location, area or neighborhood in which we would like to live.

5_elements_to_evaluate_before_buying_a_house_IDW-Italia-Prague-Biella

TO RENOVATE OR FINISHED?

Surely the big doubt that arises for most people, when they are about to buy a house, lies in the choice between a solution that is already finished or in good condition and a structure that needs to be completely renovated. We consider this dilemma to be a choice based on your personal taste, as you can choose whether to evaluate a property to be totally renovated, so as to be able to range more to your liking in the organization of the interior and in the totality of the furnishing style, or whether to opt for something already renovated, in excellent "turnkey" condition.

5_elements_to_evaluate_before_buying_a_house_IDW-Italia-Prague-Biella

5_elements_to_evaluate_before_buying_a_house_IDW-Italia-Prague-Biella


ENERGY RATING

Another aspect not to be underestimated is the energy class of the building, which in addition to being a guarantee in terms of savings, is also a good yardstick for the quality of the materials used in the construction. Remember to always request the APE certification from the owner, so as to verify the certification, and to inform yourself about the stability conditions of the building, if extraordinary maintenance is required.

5_elements_to_evaluate_before_buying_a_house_IDW-Italia-Prague-Biella


LEGAL STATE

Last but not least, always remember to check the situation of the property in relation to compliance with the rules and laws in force, make sure that everything has been registered in the land registry, ask for information on any structural changes and possibly ask for a cadastral review , and so on.

5_elements_to_evaluate_before_buying_a_house_IDW-Italia-Prague-Biella

Cristiano Castaldi IDW Italia
Cristiano Castaldi

Interior Designer since 1985

CEO & Founder, Italian Design in the World

Related Articles

  • Between One Room and Another: Vestibules, Corridors and the Rhythm of the Home
    Suggestions
    4/03/2026 Between One Room and Another: Vestibules, Corridors and the Rhythm of the Home

    Open a catalogue of contemporary homes and you often find cover-worthy kitchens, theatrical bathrooms, living rooms that look like photo sets. Between one image and the next, a narrow corridor appears, lit by a sad single point — or a vestibule reduced to a knot between doors. That is not a technical detail: it is silent design about what life spends most of its time doing — passing through, pausing, shifting register, leaving one room before entering another.

  • A Room for Everything: Dedicated Spaces (Beyond Open Plan)
    Suggestions
    3/27/2026 A Room for Everything: Dedicated Spaces (Beyond Open Plan)

    Open plan has dominated the image of the contemporary home: few walls, few boundaries, maximum flexibility. The promise was freedom — kitchen in dialogue with the living room, light flowing, no "closed" rooms. Over time many have discovered the downside: noise travelling, no refuge, difficulty concentrating or switching off. The response isn't to go back to the closed-off house of the past, but to rethink the value of dedicated spaces: environments with a clear function that the body and mind learn to recognise.

  • The Sound of the House: Acoustics, Silence and Absorbing Materials
    Suggestions
    3/13/2026 The Sound of the House: Acoustics, Silence and Absorbing Materials

    Interior design has long favoured sight: colours, shapes, surfaces. Only recently have we started to talk about touch and smell. Hearing, by contrast, remains the most neglected sense at the design stage — yet it's the one we can't switch off. We live in homes that boom, reverberate, carry voices and noise from one room to another. The result is stress, fatigue, difficulty concentrating and resting.

  • The House That Breathes: Seasonality and Natural Rhythms in Interiors
    Suggestions
    3/06/2026 The House That Breathes: Seasonality and Natural Rhythms in Interiors

    For decades interior design has chased the idea of a "perfect", unchanging space: same colours, same lights, same layout twelve months a year. The home as a photo set always ready, but often distant from the cycles that govern our body and our mood.Today a different idea is returning: the house as an organism that responds to the seasons. Not an aesthetic whim, but a response to the need to align the environments we live in with natural rhythms — light, temperature, colour, vegetation — with measurable benefits for sleep, concentration and wellbeing.March, with the equinox and the awakening of spring, is the ideal time to rethink interiors in a seasonal key.

  • Honest Materials: The Aesthetics of Truth (and the End of “Fake Luxury”)
    Suggestions
    2/27/2026 Honest Materials: The Aesthetics of Truth (and the End of “Fake Luxury”)

    For years, interior design has lived with a contradiction: an obsession with effect.
Marble-effect. Wood-effect. Metal-effect. Stone-effect.
A home that looks like something, rather than truly being something.

  • The Anti-Algorithm Home: Spaces That Aren’t Instagrammable (But Truly Livable)
    Suggestions
    2/13/2026 The Anti-Algorithm Home: Spaces That Aren’t Instagrammable (But Truly Livable)

    For years, we designed homes as if they had to pass a constant visual exam: perfect light, perfect white, the right chair, the right vase. Interiors built to be photographed more than lived in.
Digital aesthetics — polished, minimal, hyper-ordered — entered interior design like an unspoken rule: if it isn’t “clean,” it isn’t beautiful; if it isn’t coherent, it isn’t successful; if it can’t be shown, it isn’t desirable.In 2026, this narrative is losing its power. Not because beauty matters less, but because beauty alone is no longer enough.
A new need is emerging: anti-algorithm interiors, spaces not designed for the shot, but for everyday life. Less performative homes, more real ones. Environments that don’t seek approval — they restore energy.This is not a return to chaos. It’s a return to meaning.