Questions to ask when buying a home in humid climate (Houston: home inspection, closing)

[semisweetchick]

Hello!

My husband and I are moving from the desert of New Mexico to the sub-tropical climate of Houston very soon. Living in a humid climate is foreign to us. What climate-specific questions should we be asking as we shop for homes in the Houston area?

For example, should we be concerned about mold -- or is mold just something you deal with there? We've never owned a home with refrigerated air; what questions should we ask about that? Any special structural concerns we should know about? What are common problems you take for granted but n00bs like us may not even think to ask about?

Obviously, we'll have a realtor helping us but we'd like to gain as much knowledge as possible. We want the real skinny from people who have no vested interest in our home-buying transaction.

Thanks very much in advance!

[LostInHouston]

First thing I'd recommend when you find a home to purchase, carefully choose your home inspector and both you and your husband be there for the walk through. They'll answer so many questions for you, and show you things you'd never think to ask about.

[bronstew]

I can recommend my inspector. He was extremely thorough, so much so that the sellers weren't very happy with him. The name is H-Town Home Inspections. Get a termite inspector, too. You have to be careful about foundation issues in this area. I've never really heard of indoor mold being much of a problem. I think the air conditioning keeps the indoor air fairly dry.

[trbstang]

Yes, the air conditioning is also a dehumidifier, so you should not have issues with mold unless there is a constant leak or other source for water to stay and allow mold to grow. A good inspector will check everything out for you. Good luck on your move!

[WormBrnr]

If possible, stay away from stucco. As a point of reference, my company has a fantastic relocation package available. They won't, however, pay closing cost on any home that has stucco in Houston.

[Htown2013]

Originally Posted by WormBrnr

If possible, stay away from stucco. As a point of reference, my company has a fantastic relocation package available. They won't, however, pay closing cost on any home that has stucco in Houston.

Most companies won't provide relo benefits for stucco homes. Synthetic stucco homes do not do well in humid subtropical climates. Since a lot of the Houston market involves relos, why the heck do builders/developers build so many synthetic stucco homes??

[Nugget_Brain]

Excuse my ignorance, but are you referring to stucco on the outside? Or is that what the textured walls are inside? In Kentucky, our walls are smooth drywall. I noticed that not a single house we saw had smooth walls. I'm not a fan of it, but was told that it's to help with the humidity and temperature fluctuations...

[trbstang]

Originally Posted by Nugget_Brain

Excuse my ignorance, but are you referring to stucco on the outside? Or is that what the textured walls are inside? In Kentucky, our walls are smooth drywall. I noticed that not a single house we saw had smooth walls. I'm not a fan of it, but was told that it's to help with the humidity and temperature fluctuations...

Yes, it is stucco on the exterior. The interior walls are usually just sprayed with "texture paint" to give them a variation in texture. It is the predominant style down here. Cheaper in labor to have texture sprayed on, than to have a full skim coat of plaster laid down on all the walls.

Sometimes you have heavy texture on the interior walls that can look like stucco. We textured our 1/2 bath and kitchen in a heavier texture paint to cover over the old wallpaper we had on the house.

[Supermac34]

Stucco continues to be popular with builders because its popular with buyers. Most well built homes with properly installed stucco will have 0 issues, however, there is always a chance that the stucco could be improperly installed. A qualified inspector should be able to identify these issues.

Most mold issues are actually caused by actual moisture leaks, either from the roof, plumbing, or some kind of place that collects condensation. Most issues can be easily fixed once the cause of moisture is fixed.

The biggest thing to consider is AC costs. New Mexico gets hot, but since its mostly dry, not running your AC only makes it hot. In Houston, the AC dehumidifies your home, keeping the various issues away that come along with excess humidity inside a home. So be prepared to run your AC more than even New Mexico. Other than that, not too much different.

[semisweetchick]

Thank you all very much for this info. A few comments....

I appreciate knowing about the exterior stucco issue, as a LOT of NM homes are stucco, so stucco probably wouldn't have set off any alarm bells with us at all.

Second, I appreciate the tip about the cost of AC. The vast majority of NM homes have swamp coolers, not refrigerated air. We are aware our electricity bill may be astronomical in the summer months. We've been using the "electricity bill estimator" from Reliant on the HAR.com website as we look at houses, but I don't know how, er, reliable that is. ;-)

A friend told me to ask about past flooding issues with any house we consider in Houston. Flooding certainly is NOT a problem here in our drought-stricken state so again, that's not something we would think to ask about.

I appreciate all the friendly input!