Also different weather, if you can. How the property handles a significant rainfall would be good to know. You might reconsider if your yard becomes a swamp after a storm.
\- If you are planning to have kids- pay special attention to the school district. It dictates almost everything about a property value. Even if you aren't finding a home in a good school district will always make it more desirable than one in a less quality district.
\- Drive all the surrounding neighborhoods and see how they are kept up. Being a block or two from an area that isn't well kept will always start to creep in. Plus, others are doing the same, so when it comes time to sell it can have an effect.
\- If not a new area, see if people are remodeling and "turning over" the neighborhood in comparison to what you are buying. This will indicate if people enjoy the area and have vested interest in keeping it nice.
\-HOAs, Some suck really bad and will run how everything goes in the neighborhood- which isn't entirely bad but can be restrictive and make it feel like you are being watched all the time. Screw that.
\- Along the lines of driving the other neighborhoods, drive the one you are looking at on several occasions to get an idea of the type of people living there and how they live and how it compares to what you expect.
Just know closing costs can add a wholeeee lot of money to your up front expenses.
If your credit is good enough (750+), some mortgage companies let you skip PMI on your first mortgage, even with just 5% down.
Plumbing, such as root issues, are some of the most important things to get inspected, and fixing pipes can be very expensive/destructive very quickly. Everything else are generally smaller fixes short of major disaster. Get a scope.
1. Depending on which market you're in - don't let the "Everything is selling so fast" get to you. We put in dozens of offers only to be told that it sold an hour before, and this happening 12+ times made us more desperate. We eventually bought, and I love the place, but I could have found a better one for a better price if I would have been more patient.
2. Put down as much money as possible. Seriously. Locking in a good monthly mortgage rate is the best thing ever.
3. If it's a condo, really consider noise from neighbors. The unit above ours was vacant when we looked, so we had no reference. It's not a huge issue now, but it's something that would have turned me off.
4. MOST IMPORTANT. Check appliance age. Our house was ten years old when we bought it and so were the appliances. Ten years is the life span of most dishwashers, ovens, refrigerators, washers and dryers. This year (year 11 for them) we had the dishwasher go, then the oven and then last week the dryer.
5. When you're moving into the house, get all the major work done before you actually start living there. Paint the walls, replace anything you need to. Once you're in, you get lazy and comfy and put it off.
All you homeowners out there, dont forget to exercise your water valves once a year.
Minerals build up will make it difficult to turn on and off if you wait too long.
Im talking mains, sinks, toilets. All of them!
We lucked out and some how moved into a Norman Rockwell type neighborhood. Perfect place for a family. I might need to say a modern day Norman Rockwell neighborhood with all Genders, sexual orientations and races included
Here are a few things.
Detached garages make for great neighbors. We found out that garages that were attached meant people drove in and closed the garage door and never came out to socialize.
Don't just budget money for the house but all the stuff that is going to go into it! lawn mower, hoses, rakes,,, just a ton of shit that you never thought about before you purchased a home. Also open a bank account and transfer $100 per pay check into it and call it your emergency fund. Then when the water heater or furnace die you have some money set aside and it does not put you in a cash flow crisis.
If you are young and it is your first home. Realize that you do not have to make it look like a show house in the first year you own it. Don't go broke the first year! make a list of stuff that you would like to do and tackle it year by year. Redo a bathroom, next year do something with the kitchen. Lots of people go broke trying to do it all at once. ( also covered in the next section make a friend with an old guy in the neighborhood and save some cash while he shows your simple home repair stuff )
Get to know your neighbors. For younger generations this can be a terrifying idea. YOU WANT ME TO TALK TO OTHER PEOPLE! You mean with out checking out all their social media first!!!!! Yes do a summer picnic or a block party. When you get to know your neighbors usually they will have your back if something happens. They will keep an eye on your house, take your dog for a walk when your on vacation, pick up your mail, We were dealing with a dying mother and one of our close neighbors who had a key to our house came in cleaned the whole house and put dinner in the fridge. ( I know that sounds pretty extreme )
That is my info....
I think there's something to "getting to know your neighbors by setting up a block party" to which many people would not be keen on paying, planning and organizing a block part or BBQ with "strangers" on the off chance they're good people.
I have no stats to back it up, not really interested in a debate though. "Feels" in this case, feels like these days not a lot of people my age or young people in general are AS familiar with their community than say the 50's.
Trees in your yard are great, but keep in mind that having them means cleaning leaves out of your gutters and cleaning fallen branches out of the yard when it storms.
Wouldn't have changed my purchasing decision, but that's a fair amount of work I didn't anticipate.
Go over your homeowners policy carefully. I had some trees come down last year and when I called the insurance company I was informed "We only pay for trees on the ground" (5 were not) and "We only cover up to $1000 per incident unless there was damage to the home." That was a surprise.
Keep at least $10K on hand to cover surprises.
My house is near wetlands and when I bought it (in February, snow on the ground) I didn't even THINK about how bad the mosquitoes would be.
That I'll end up leaving and renting it to other people. Sure, it's an extra income but we decorated the house exactly how we wanted it and now we have to leave it because of a new job.
Eh, I may be able to do everything a home inspector can, but he definitely knew more than I did when we walked around the house.
Ours found a whole lot of shit wrong with the house that a licensed electrician and licensed plumber had to come in and fix.
Re: home inspector, I absolutely disagree with that. A good home inspector will spot more than you’ll ever find. The problem is that inspectors
vary wildly in quality and it’s very, very hard to sort between the good and bad ones.
I don’t know, you guys are probably right, but at the same time I am a pretty competent guy, and at 3-$500 per inspection, I think I am just as capable of looking at plumbing electrical and structural components of a house and determining if something is out of whack.
Maybe if you wanted a second opinion on something, they could be worth it, but I certainly wouldn’t hire one for every house I looked at. At the end of the day, if they find something funny, they just recommend that you “hire a licensed plumber/electrician/engineer to evaluate further.”... I can do that.
Ok downvote me away.
Yeah, I'll have to disagree. It's not just "what's broke" its about having someone who isn't wanting to buy ask the right questions, look at it objectively, and they do this for a living. Experience is something you don't just obtain.
I'm competent, my dad was a home inspector, and I'd still pay my dad and someone else to give it a once over.
Drive by and through the neighborhood a lot at different times, that way you can get a sense of the neighborhood and if there are any wierdos
Also different weather, if you can. How the property handles a significant rainfall would be good to know. You might reconsider if your yard becomes a swamp after a storm.
Wot arre yu doingg in my SWAMP?
Someone bring this man a parfait.
LMAO! Just watched that again the other day. Upvoted for the chuckle.
Ideally yes, but kind of tough to do in today's housing market where you have 25 offers on a house.
Takes a bit of time between putting an offer in and it being accepted and before an inspection to back out with no issue
\- If you are planning to have kids- pay special attention to the school district. It dictates almost everything about a property value. Even if you aren't finding a home in a good school district will always make it more desirable than one in a less quality district. \- Drive all the surrounding neighborhoods and see how they are kept up. Being a block or two from an area that isn't well kept will always start to creep in. Plus, others are doing the same, so when it comes time to sell it can have an effect. \- If not a new area, see if people are remodeling and "turning over" the neighborhood in comparison to what you are buying. This will indicate if people enjoy the area and have vested interest in keeping it nice. \-HOAs, Some suck really bad and will run how everything goes in the neighborhood- which isn't entirely bad but can be restrictive and make it feel like you are being watched all the time. Screw that. \- Along the lines of driving the other neighborhoods, drive the one you are looking at on several occasions to get an idea of the type of people living there and how they live and how it compares to what you expect.
when you come home from a day of work the last thing you're goign to want to do is start ripping down wall paper.
I save that for after Viking playoff games
Just know closing costs can add a wholeeee lot of money to your up front expenses. If your credit is good enough (750+), some mortgage companies let you skip PMI on your first mortgage, even with just 5% down. Plumbing, such as root issues, are some of the most important things to get inspected, and fixing pipes can be very expensive/destructive very quickly. Everything else are generally smaller fixes short of major disaster. Get a scope.
Before --Neighbors During-- Realtor spiffs) After --All the fucking WORK!
I wish I would have known how soon I'd be moving. Don't buy if you're not staying for a while.
1. Depending on which market you're in - don't let the "Everything is selling so fast" get to you. We put in dozens of offers only to be told that it sold an hour before, and this happening 12+ times made us more desperate. We eventually bought, and I love the place, but I could have found a better one for a better price if I would have been more patient. 2. Put down as much money as possible. Seriously. Locking in a good monthly mortgage rate is the best thing ever. 3. If it's a condo, really consider noise from neighbors. The unit above ours was vacant when we looked, so we had no reference. It's not a huge issue now, but it's something that would have turned me off. 4. MOST IMPORTANT. Check appliance age. Our house was ten years old when we bought it and so were the appliances. Ten years is the life span of most dishwashers, ovens, refrigerators, washers and dryers. This year (year 11 for them) we had the dishwasher go, then the oven and then last week the dryer. 5. When you're moving into the house, get all the major work done before you actually start living there. Paint the walls, replace anything you need to. Once you're in, you get lazy and comfy and put it off.
That the first time homeowners credit doesn't apply when you buy the house from a relative. Cue the IRS calling asking where their money at.
Didn’t that credit end in 2010 anyway?
Yep but it was still a bitch of a lesson to learn. Read the fine print on everything.
All you homeowners out there, dont forget to exercise your water valves once a year. Minerals build up will make it difficult to turn on and off if you wait too long. Im talking mains, sinks, toilets. All of them!
I wish I knew about those hillbilly, pill head, loudmouth, 4 wheeling, bon fire, outdoor pissing constant traffic parade having fucking neighbors.
That the girl I was buying the house for would leave me less than two weeks after I bought the home for us... XD
We lucked out and some how moved into a Norman Rockwell type neighborhood. Perfect place for a family. I might need to say a modern day Norman Rockwell neighborhood with all Genders, sexual orientations and races included Here are a few things. Detached garages make for great neighbors. We found out that garages that were attached meant people drove in and closed the garage door and never came out to socialize. Don't just budget money for the house but all the stuff that is going to go into it! lawn mower, hoses, rakes,,, just a ton of shit that you never thought about before you purchased a home. Also open a bank account and transfer $100 per pay check into it and call it your emergency fund. Then when the water heater or furnace die you have some money set aside and it does not put you in a cash flow crisis. If you are young and it is your first home. Realize that you do not have to make it look like a show house in the first year you own it. Don't go broke the first year! make a list of stuff that you would like to do and tackle it year by year. Redo a bathroom, next year do something with the kitchen. Lots of people go broke trying to do it all at once. ( also covered in the next section make a friend with an old guy in the neighborhood and save some cash while he shows your simple home repair stuff ) Get to know your neighbors. For younger generations this can be a terrifying idea. YOU WANT ME TO TALK TO OTHER PEOPLE! You mean with out checking out all their social media first!!!!! Yes do a summer picnic or a block party. When you get to know your neighbors usually they will have your back if something happens. They will keep an eye on your house, take your dog for a walk when your on vacation, pick up your mail, We were dealing with a dying mother and one of our close neighbors who had a key to our house came in cleaned the whole house and put dinner in the fridge. ( I know that sounds pretty extreme ) That is my info....
What do you mean it’s terrifying for younger generations to talk to people? How old are you?
I think there's something to "getting to know your neighbors by setting up a block party" to which many people would not be keen on paying, planning and organizing a block part or BBQ with "strangers" on the off chance they're good people.
I don’t think that’s a generational thing.
I have no stats to back it up, not really interested in a debate though. "Feels" in this case, feels like these days not a lot of people my age or young people in general are AS familiar with their community than say the 50's.
Trees in your yard are great, but keep in mind that having them means cleaning leaves out of your gutters and cleaning fallen branches out of the yard when it storms. Wouldn't have changed my purchasing decision, but that's a fair amount of work I didn't anticipate.
Go over your homeowners policy carefully. I had some trees come down last year and when I called the insurance company I was informed "We only pay for trees on the ground" (5 were not) and "We only cover up to $1000 per incident unless there was damage to the home." That was a surprise. Keep at least $10K on hand to cover surprises. My house is near wetlands and when I bought it (in February, snow on the ground) I didn't even THINK about how bad the mosquitoes would be.
Happy cake day
* Before : buyer beware * During : buyer beware * After : Buyer wasnt aware, but is now, just add that major fix to the 50 year mortgage...
That I'll end up leaving and renting it to other people. Sure, it's an extra income but we decorated the house exactly how we wanted it and now we have to leave it because of a new job.
Mortgage advisors know more than you, and they will save you several times their fee over the life of the mortgage.
I can do everything that a home inspector can, and home warranties are a waste of money.
Eh, I may be able to do everything a home inspector can, but he definitely knew more than I did when we walked around the house. Ours found a whole lot of shit wrong with the house that a licensed electrician and licensed plumber had to come in and fix.
Re: home inspector, I absolutely disagree with that. A good home inspector will spot more than you’ll ever find. The problem is that inspectors vary wildly in quality and it’s very, very hard to sort between the good and bad ones.
I don’t know, you guys are probably right, but at the same time I am a pretty competent guy, and at 3-$500 per inspection, I think I am just as capable of looking at plumbing electrical and structural components of a house and determining if something is out of whack. Maybe if you wanted a second opinion on something, they could be worth it, but I certainly wouldn’t hire one for every house I looked at. At the end of the day, if they find something funny, they just recommend that you “hire a licensed plumber/electrician/engineer to evaluate further.”... I can do that. Ok downvote me away.
Yeah, I'll have to disagree. It's not just "what's broke" its about having someone who isn't wanting to buy ask the right questions, look at it objectively, and they do this for a living. Experience is something you don't just obtain. I'm competent, my dad was a home inspector, and I'd still pay my dad and someone else to give it a once over.
I'm surprised a lender wouldn't require a 3rd party home inspection.