Are you buying a new home? It might be time to upgrade, especially if you have a growing family or are dissatisfied with your current living situation.

Once you’ve made sure that you have enough for a down-payment on a house, and are actively looking for a new abode, things can get tough. Finding a great place in a nice community with an excellent school district can be especially hard when you have other requirements — for instance, equal number of bedrooms and baths. Here is a list of things that are important for prospective homeowners in their search for the perfect new habitat.

Community
The benefits of a self-sustaining community or closed community are endless: good neighbors, control over your surroundings, security, street plowing and other maintenance. Not to mention, those neighborhoods tend to be prettier and more child friendly. Where you live is almost as important as what kind of house you live in.

HVAC Systems
In a survey by the National association of REALTORS, 65% of buyers said a home with air conditioners was very important. Its important that your homes internal temperature be comfortable, so check out the HVAC system of your prospective choices and make sure everything is up to date.

Storage
You may think that you’ll be able to deal with it later, but the truth is that having storage options will matter much more than you think. Indeed, storage, space and appliances are the top priorities for new home buyers, and in 2013, 89% bought a home with a laundry room.

There are many other factors to consider. For instance, do you envision yourself in the country or the city? In a survey of 1,500 millennials looking to buy a home, 66% preferred suburban locations, as opposed to 24% opting for rural areas and 10% going for the central city of metro areas. You also must ask yourself if outdoor space is important to you, if you want to look at traditional or contemporary homes, and what kind of modern home plans you’re interested in.

When you do eventually buy, you can enjoy working with a home builder to improve your new digs, but buying comes first. Buying a new home can be hard, but you should look at it as an opportunity for new beginnings and an exciting blank slate.