Advice on what to look for when buying a house?

Question

We're planning to buy a house. What are the things that we should look for or watch out for when deciding on which house to choose.

Answer 1

There are many factors involved but here are some of them:

- Amount of mortgage and your budget -- will you be in debt up to your eyeballs if you get this house?
- Square footage of the house, including the yard
- The needs of your family -- how many rooms do you need given the number of family members
- Specific requirements of family members: is anyone in your family disabled or will find it hard to walk up and down the stairs so you will need a 1-floor rambler as against a 3-storey house. Is someone working at a home business and hence needs a home office?
- Scale of repair you will need to do and your budget if the house is not move-in ready
- Proximity to quality schools, if you have school age children
- List of must-have features in the house: size of the kitchen, number of bathrooms, finished or unfinished basement, do you need to have a deck, number of closets and their sizes, storage
- Quality of neighborhood and amenities nearby (are there park grounds, how near is it to the shopping centers)
- HOA: some housing associations are stricter than others and really dictates what you can and cannot do in your property

Answer 2

Good day,

Having a real estate background I can give you a few tips. One of the things to keep in mind is to make sure you take under consideration what your property taxes and insurance is going to be yearly. A lot of people forget about them and get a 100% loan without Escrows and at the end of the year can not pay their taxes and insurance. Make sure that the property is located in an area that is safe for you and your loved ones, take the schools under consideration as well, traffic, accessibility. One thing that I always tell my customers is to make sure that once you find the house that you really like to have an inspector go by and do a full inspection, from the ceiling to all the ducts, framing, etc. It may cost you a bit but it will be the best investment you'll make, I don't think you want to buy a house and then find out that the house is cracking in half or it has termites... etc.
Hope that I've answered your questions, but if you have any more questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
Israel

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Answer 3

It all adds up to what you want. Are schools important to you? Then look for a home in the district you want your kids going to. The best way to figure it out is to sit down and write 2 lists. The first is your needs list- the things you just can't live without. The second is your wants list- things you'd like to have, but you could do without. Show this to your agent and that will help narrow the hunt down.

It is also important to know what condition you'd like the home to be in. New construction, older home, or a fixer.

Answer 4

Newer houses are better--less maintenance, and they usually cost about the same per square foot as an older home. Make sure the foundation is solid-the roof is in good shape--the plumbing and electrical are in good shape-not too old. Make sure you like the neighborhood-location-floorplan of the house. Make sure you like the kitchen--it is the most used room in the house.

Answer 5

Don't place a low premium on your potential neighbors. I bought a condo a few months ago in a seemingly quiet and tony part of Northern Virginia. Unfortunately, I assumed that the neighborhood was sedate because it was in the middle of winter and everyone was indoors.

It's now late May. Lesson learned.

Answer 6

Your style is your own, look at homes that you see yourself living in.

Just make sure you do a home inspection to make sure everything is OK.

Before you start looking at homes make sure you know what your payment if going to be & what you can afford. Talk to Direct Mortg. Lenders or Larger Banks, ones who "fund loans in house", they'll have lower closing costs & rates since they want to "service" the new loans they create.

Answer 7

easily relies upon on your credit status (even one ignored value on a credit card could have such an destructive result those days that fairly some the perfect loan deals would be closed to you). As has been stated, you will choose a minimum of a 10% deposit.

Answer 8

Heating system (age and condition)
Structure (roof, siding, foundation, insulation, windows,)
Plumbing System (age and condition)
Major applicances (age and condition)
Functionality of floor plan
Average monthly energy costs
Desirability of neighborhood
Opportunities for increasing value through cosmetic upgrades

Answer 9

A good manageable toilet.