Looking for a house

[Nicolelt]

Well life takes interesting turns, and as most of you know, I am moving back to my hometown. Which in the long run will be great.

So now, my boyfriend and I are looking for a house to buy.

Being young and dumb, there are things I don't know to look for when buying one. We took my dad the first time, and he pointed out things that I wouldn't think of.

Now when I am looking at houses, I look at roofs now, and if there are vinyl floors, look for bubbles. I look under sinks to see the piping, and I check the crawl space for flooding (where I am moving has rained everyday with at least an inch a day so good time too. )

Does anyone have any other advice to look for in a house? I hope to find one soon, I don't want to live with my dad that long!

 

[LonelySutton]

Well first, you know it is typical to write into a P&S that you get a home inspection within 10 days of the offer? And the deal is based on the results of that. Home inspection is about 500 dollars and checks a ton of stuff -- at that point you can decide if you want to kill the deal OR just ask for money off. Somethings you want to make sure the home inspector checks is your attic (mold/ pets) radon (a deadly cancer causing gas) and your hvac unit.

Anyway, yes, even with all that turns out the floors in my bedroom are uneven. It felt like that was the case but there was a ton of furniture in there and weird thick rugs. Now I know why - they were trying to hide it and they did, my home inspector didn't even mention it. Look for cracks in the walls. Open and shut doors. If they stick it can be a sign of a foundation issue. If you find a place you like be sure to visit at night. My place turns out to have a party neighbor next door at night. Run the water while there and look for low water pressure. Check all the lights.

But in this day and age you will likely purchase a house with some major issue. There is just no way to avoid it. But if you have done all your due diligence then what can you do.

 

[wolvesjr]

Having just moved myself, here are a few things I've learned from the process..

If you can get new homeowners insurance. It will usually cover major issues for the 1st year after you buy the house. Comes in handy of something major breaks right after you move as usually finances are rather tight until you settle in.

I'm in 100% agreement with LonelySutton. A home inspection is a MUST. Also visit the neighborhood at various times during the week and weekend.

Get any financing lined up ahead of time as you never know what the lender will need more information on and when. 3 days before closing they decided they didn't like the sourcing of some of what I inherited and I had to scramble to find more paperwork to keep everything from falling apart. Make sure you have a paper trail for any unusual deposits (from selling a car as an example).

 

[LonelySutton]

Get any financing lined up ahead of time as you never know what the lender will need more information on and when. 3 days before closing they decided they didn't like the sourcing of some of what I inherited and I had to scramble to find more paperwork to keep everything from falling apart.

Mine actually fell apart on one of my deals at the last second. My mortgage guy basically lied to me the entire pre closing period hoping he could make it work, he couldn't, I lost the condo. It worked out in the end anyway but still.

I would only caution that most homeowners insurance does not cover mold and flooding. There are major exclusions. Also, it extremely hard to get imho. I had an extremely hard time getting it for my mom's house ONLY because the house was built in 1914. So keep that in mind with older homes.

Oh and one other tip... I had no idea that you could request of the seller that they provide a recent utility bill. One place i looked at the last utility bill was 500... I passed on that alone though I realize it may be the way the person used the utilities.

 

[TheSkaFish]

I've never looked for a house, and don't really know that much about houses to be honest with you. But the one thing I do know is to make sure there is no mold. It's a real PITA to deal with once it starts and even if you get rid of it, it keeps coming back until the conditions causing the mold have been fixed. But by then, it could spread and cause a lot of damage to your house, ruin your possessions, as well as causing health problems.

 

[Nicolelt]

We are definitely getting a home inspector. I know one that was a real grouchy nit-picky guy, so perfect in my opinion.

Most of the homes we have looked at have been inspected, but I will pay to do it again.

Oh and one other tip... I had no idea that you could request of the seller that they provide a recent utility bill. One place i looked at the last utility bill was 500... I passed on that alone though I realize it may be the way the person used the utilities.

I need to figure out how to do that. I know the taxes, from the MLS sheet, but not utilities. We looked at one that said you have to pay flood insurance, which after looking it up, that is like $1200 a year.

And LonelySutton, thanks for the window and door tip. I didn't think of that. The realtor is gonna think I am crazy. lol

 

[LonelySutton]

I need to figure out how to do that.

My real estate agent asked the other real estate agent. They are typically happy to turn it over because they think that means you are serious.

Also, think about resale. Even if you would be willing to live with something others will not. Don't buy a home in a flood area, don't buy a home with a strange layout, don't buy a home in a bad area. And if it is priced low... ask why. If you don't get a good answer... skip it. You can change the interior of a home but you can't change location.

This is why it took from 2008 to 2014 for me to find the right place.

 

[Sometimes]

I agree with those who say a really thorough home inspector who is fully on your side is absolutely essential. Usually this way, I find out things like how long it will be before I need a new roof, new water cylinder, new appliances. If the floors are uneven and if so and if it can be determined, why. Pest problems. On one house, the home inspector found that the wiring in the panel was old and made of aluminum instead of copper, and was getting close to burning the house down. Fortunately the interior wiring was of copper, so only the panel needed fixing. The inspector, being local, knew to look for this. Coming from halfway across the US, I never would have known about this.

I've changed houses rather a lot, and I've only had one bad seller. They lied about insulation (some where there's none), hid cracks in the foundation (pile building materials up so you can't see it), hid erosion at one corner, and other such shenanigans. And even then, the house was a really good house with nothing really wrong with it.

 

[TheRealCallie]

Foundation, check for cracks and whatnot. If it's an old house, you may want to find out if there is any leaking issues, so when winter comes you aren't surprised when cold air is blowing through cracks in the floors/walls.
Ask if there are any flooding issues.
Most house ads or whatever will tell you if there have been any updates/renovations to the house, but it never hurts to ask again, in case something wasn't mentioned.
If there's an attic, make sure there is proper ventilation. When the electric was last updated. If there have ever been any mold problems.
You can ask if there have been any violent crimes in the house, but that's more of a safety thing, not a house structure thing.

If they don't tell you, you might want to ask about water/sewer costs if it goes through the city and how much property taxes are and that kind of thing.

But yeah, as long as you hire a home inspector, they should cover all those bases, but you can't really do that for every home you look at.

Also, for after you buy the house, make sure you are covered on your insurance for natural disasters. They don't always cover that.