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We have owned a few houses over the years. Many good points already, but here are my 2 cents:
1) Don't use realtors who are friends or family.
2) Find your own inspector, do not use the inspector recommended by the realtor.
3) Speak to the neighbors if possible, introduce yourself, they may have some inside information on the neighborhood, and the house, and if it has "issues".
4) Drive the commute yourself from the new location.
4) Cosmetics can be changed/updated. Expensive changes would be ceiling height, room sizes. If you foresee changes being necessary, factor that into the cost.
5) Roof, electrics, windows, hot water heater, heating/cooling are expensive to replace.
6) Take note of water marks anywhere.
7) Don't be put off by ugly paint, carpets, light or bathroom fixtures, or bad decorating. These are easy, cheap fixes that will put off other buyers, and result in a good price for you.
8) Removing wallpaper is a PITA if you do it yourself, and can be expensive. Factor that into costs.
Not sure if was mentioned yet or not but what we did prior to buying our current house was trying to get a rough estimate of what our commute would be to and from work.
We'd drive at different times around the area on our way to work and home to see if we could live with the commute. We also timed how close we would be to local grocery stores and what not.
Thanks Jedi, that's what we concern about it now ...
We have owned a few houses over the years. Many good points already, but here are my 2 cents:
1) Don't use realtors who are friends or family.
2) Find your own inspector, do not use the inspector recommended by the realtor.
3) Speak to the neighbors if possible, introduce yourself, they may have some inside information on the neighborhood, and the house, and if it has "issues".
4) Drive the commute yourself from the new location.
4) Cosmetics can be changed/updated. Expensive changes would be ceiling height, room sizes. If you foresee changes being necessary, factor that into the cost.
5) Roof, electrics, windows, hot water heater, heating/cooling are expensive to replace.
6) Take note of water marks anywhere.
7) Don't be put off by ugly paint, carpets, light or bathroom fixtures, or bad decorating. These are easy, cheap fixes that will put off other buyers, and result in a good price for you.
8) Removing wallpaper is a PITA if you do it yourself, and can be expensive. Factor that into costs.
Something we knew, not wiehd we knew was: See the house for what it can be, not for what it is.
We bought one house that was a mess. Trash everywhere, wondows boarded over to support shelves for more junk. Dog pee in the carpeting. Every inch painted the same dicount sears green and then covered with years to tar from smoking. No one would get much past the front door beofer leaving (lucky for us).
We bought the house cheaply and with only 3% down. The owner carried back the rest of the downpayment. Within a few years the house was jaw dropping (literally) upon entry. Under the dog pee carepting - beautiful maple floors. Under the tar green paint and wall paper 4" thick plaster and stunning yellow pine moldings and casings. They hauled away 8 tons of garbage and left us another ton that we hauled off, but they also left some magnificanet furnishings. When we were done, people were amazed not just at the difference, but because they did not know there were houses like that in Orange County (CA).
Before we bought the house, I planned exactly what we woudl do, and found out approximately what is would cost. Sure, there were some surprises, but it was a great adventure.
We also learned that you do not have to overly obsess over things like schools. There are always options, just takes a little work.
Neighbors are critical. Neighbors will alwys try to mprove their neighborhoods. In perfect neighborhoods, they will become a PIA and fret ovr stupid things like the color of your curtains, or how long your gate is open each day. In less than perfect neighborhoods neighbors end ot band together to solve the problems. A neighborhood with no problems lacks something to bring people together.
Bad neighbors who are renters can be chased out. Bad neighbors who are owners usually cannot.
A small yard can be comelte made over in a matter of two or three weekends.
Paint, carpeting, light fixures are basically irrelevant. Very easy to change/remove.
^^^Tis awesome that you have improved that much to your home and you've found that "diamond in the rough". Good for you!
You are also right to stress about one thing...
actually very important & a great point = neighbours.
You can make changes to the home... but one almost could never change a bad neighbour unless they move out.
I only have a couple of bad neighbour experience through renting (and the homes are in close proximity)...
I was lucky in my first home that my neighbour is awesome.
Now... in my perfect tidy hood now, my neighbours are also great.... even if they have a better yard than mine (mine needs curb appeal even if the house is great), we live far enough apart that it really does not matter (just the country's ways).
Wish we'd known about year-round road conditions. We live in the country with dirt roads--the county hardly maintains them-even so, often the roads turn to caliche mud when wet, making them nearly impossible to drive on. This, of course, means too that an emergency vehicle may not be able to get to our house at all times.
^^^Talking about roads...
If living in a snowy area... it is good to have the road exposed to maximum sun exposure so the road actually thaw (shoveled, light snow etc.) properly.
Somewhat nervous first-time buyers here. Are there things you don't like about your house that you wish you had known before you purchased it? Given what you know now, would you have made the same decision? What are some things we should look for/pitfalls to avoid when looking at houses and making a purchase decision? Thanks for any advice!
I wish I could have known what kind of neighbors were living around the place. Had some bad experiences. If you can inquire & find out as much as possible about who will be living next to you, do it.
Bad neighbors can make your life a living Hell. If I could go back in time, no I wouldn't have bought where I bought. Hindsight is 20/20.
I've got a few things, some of which I learned quickly and some which only manifest over a period of years. Some of it is not the house having a problem at all but instead personal preferences that change after living with the house.
Painting/wallcovering: No deal-breaker here, just logistics. I wish I had known that I would only notice the sloppy paint job after I had lived in the place for a short while. I moved in without changing anything with the walls because I thought they were fine. And while obviously it has deteriorated in the 8 years since, some flaws were noticeable in the first few months making me wish I had taken the time to paint before moving in. I had overlap and could have done so easily and quickly while the house was still empty. Now of course I have all the furniture and stuff to work around. It also has wallpaper that needs to be removed when I get started on such things. So definitely study this carefully and/or consider painting even if you like the existing colors. The latter seems most likely because generally you just don't get to spend enough time in there scrutinizing this kind of detail.
Yard-drainage: I wish I had viewed this house in a wetter season as opposed to I think it was the end of June when I signed the contract. Definitely in wetter times there were some drainage issues. It got worse over the next few years so maybe it wouldn't have been enough initially to steer me away from buying the house, but eventually it was bad enough that I decided to have some work done to help it. And I'm still not entirely happy because it keeps changing and gets worse in different spots. Ugh.
Yard-hills/size/other: Around here we have a lot of hills and flat yards are at a bit of a premium. I thought I didn't care. Heck, when I moved in after 11-12 years of apartment living I was looking forward to yard work. One of the first things I did after closing was mow the lawn. Well, that got old quick. It probably wouldn't be so bad except for the fairly steep hill in the back yard. It goes UP from the house. I made it easier a few years later by removing the picket fence that was all around the back yard (but not at the property line, so I had to mow on both sides of it!) But it's still not fun. Just mowed last night, entire thing takes 1.5 hours and is hard on the feet on the hillside. Anyway, I wish I had known how much that would wear on me. And I probably didn't need the 1/3 acre yard. The houses are a little farther away, but maybe I wouldn't have cared if it were a little smaller.
Commute/surroundings: With no traffic it takes about 25 minutes to get to work. But traffic has increased and my time of driving in has changed so now it often takes 40-45 minutes. I wish I had known I would come to care about that. This, more than any actual problems with the house, is what causes me to wish I had chosen differently. Well this and the fact that it's enough in the sticks that I can't walk to anything. When I bought it, I didn't feel like that mattered to me. Well, now my preferences have changed. It definitely has its moments, with wildlife, quiet setting at times, etc, but I think I would trade that back in now for walkability and being closer to work. And that's without figuring in the doubling of the cost of gas.
That's about it. Other stuff I knew what I was getting into. 20-year-old house. Original roof (still even!) Original furnace (replaced a few years ago). Some cheap materials inside. Landscaping in need of fixing somewhat. And other various things. I probably wouldn't buy if I knew then what I know now. But I'm not in horrible shape. I need to spruce up some things to sell, but I'm not in a position where I will take a bath on price as so many have done. It's still fairly likely to sell for over what I've paid and put into it.
Yard-drainage: I wish I had viewed this house in a wetter season as opposed to I think it was the end of June when I signed the contract. Definitely in wetter times there were some drainage issues. It got worse over the next few years so maybe it wouldn't have been enough initially to steer me away from buying the house, but eventually it was bad enough that I decided to have some work done to help it. And I'm still not entirely happy because it keeps changing and gets worse in different spots. Ugh.
That's an excellent point imagining how the house and surroundings are year-round.
When we bought in the late spring all the trees were in full-bloom, and the privacy was great. In the winter when the trees are bare you can look into the neighbors house out back. We also live on a hill, and at the first sign of ice, our street becomes inaccessible.
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It probably wouldn't be so bad except for the fairly steep hill in the back yard. It goes UP from the house. I made it easier a few years later by removing the picket fence that was all around the back yard (but not at the property line, so I had to mow on both sides of it!) But it's still not fun. Just mowed last night, entire thing takes 1.5 hours and is hard on the feet on the hillside. Anyway, I wish I had known how much that would wear on me. And I probably didn't need the 1/3 acre yard. The houses are a little farther away, but maybe I wouldn't have cared if it were a little smaller.
