One of the major decisions of our adult lives is when we choose to move out of our parents’ homes, and into our own. While your first home with your partner may be rented, you might be at that point in your life where you are looking to invest in your own family home. 

Buying a flat is perhaps one of the biggest investment decisions you will be making in your adult life. Not only do you need to weigh all the pros and cons of buying an apartment, but you also need to take into account the size of your family, since it will inadvertently have an impact on the apartment you choose to buy. 

Here are some of the reasons why your apartment choice should depend on the size of your family: 

Convenience: Even if it is just you and your partner who will move into the apartment for now, you must consider the kind of family you might have in future, and choose your new home accordingly. Real estate in Bangladesh is not cheap, and often people buy flats that turn into their forever homes. Therefore it might be more sensible to think about your future family size before opting for any particular apartment size. 

Budget: If you have a larger family, it is understood that you will need a flat that can comfortably house all of the members–and your budget should be set keeping this idea in mind. Smaller, nuclear families can make do with lesser square footage, which will often require a smaller budget, even in posh and elegant neighbourhoods. 

Maintenance: Smaller apartments will be easier to maintain in terms of cleanliness and taking care of, in general. However, if you have a family of more than two generations or multiple young children, you will need to buy an apartment that is large enough for everybody to move about comfortably without feeling like you’re encroaching on each others’ personal spaces. 

Storage: Not all of the space you have will be active living space. Consider the jumper of people in your family and how much storage each person will require. For example, architects, designers and artists might automatically need to live in larger apartments since some of their work is, at least temporarily, stored at home. Each bedroom should have sufficient storage space for necessities, but there should also be some negative space to allow for the flat to not feel too cluttered and claustrophobic. 

Aside from the above reasons, you should choose an apartment based on your family’s potential future needs (schools, colleges, universities etc.), neighbourhood security, location of apartment, style preferences and whether it feels like it could become your home. Family size should be the first determinant in helping you choose your first flat since it will be your most important investment decision till date, even if you have your own vehicle. A good apartment choice could turn it into your forever home for more than one generation, so choosing after making an informed decision is the way to go.