How to Make Buying a Home Better Without Getting Rich
Buying a house is always stressful. Whether it’s your first home and you’ve spent the last decade eating wish sandwiches to piece together a down payment, or a dream retirement home, the process is a rollercoaster ride of unexpected expenses, stressful road bumps, and endless paperwork. (somehow still associated with heavy use of fax machines for some reason).
But there are ways to make buying a home more enjoyable: Once you’ve decided on your budget, partnered with an experienced realtor, and selected your desired location, keep the following tips in mind to make your real estate transaction as profitable as possible. .
View the house at different times and on your own
Buying a home can be a hectic, rushed experience. Sometimes you can see the house for a relatively short time during an open house or during a walkthrough. And even if you return to the house a few more times, as a rule, it will be the time chosen by the realtor, and they will monitor your passage.
But it is very important to check the house at different times – and without your realtor explaining every little thing and insisting that any problem can be solved with a small repair. Visit at night, early in the morning and if possible during or after weather events such as snow and heavy rain. This way, you’ll discover noisy neighbors, sewer problems, and other problems that could be overlooked through carefully planned and managed visits.
Talk to your potential new neighbors
Many homebuyers forget that moving to a new home also means moving into the community. People living on the same block as your potential new home have most likely lived there for a long time and have probably seen some shit. They probably know something about the house and the current owners that your realtor doesn’t or just doesn’t want you to know.
By knocking on a couple of doors and asking a few polite questions, you will either confirm that this house is your dream home or that you are about to make a terrible mistake. Neighbors can tell you about recent natural disasters such as floods, fires, or fallen trees, they can give you an idea of how well the current owners have (or haven’t) maintained the house, and they can give you an idea of the home’s atmosphere. community. If you’re buying an out-of-control HOA that makes everyone miserable, it’s time to find out before you lose a huge amount of money.
Take a photo of the performance if you like it
Part of what a realtor does is create a vision. They often advise sellers to make small repairs to make the home look its best, and encourage them to remove anything too individual or personal in order to offer potential buyers a clean slate to project their home fantasies. If the owners have moved out and left behind an empty shell, they often bring in a production company to show buyers the potential of the home. And sometimes you fall in love with the production as much as you fall in love with the house itself, which leads to deep disappointment when you show up after closing and it becomes an empty shell again.
If you’re touring around the house and love the décor – whether it’s a staging or the owner’s own taste – take a few photos as you go. This will help you recreate the look after you take over. Your memory alone may not help much because there can be a large gap between your last view and the close date, so having design documentation will help a lot.
Choose your wardrobe carefully
Buying a house is hard work. It’s also a pretty good exercise because you’ll find yourself walking through a lot of houses and a lot of different environments. If you dress right, buying a house will be much more enjoyable. And it will also remove the excuse for not doing all the necessary checks.
First of all, if possible, dress for the mess. If you’re serious about checking your home, you need to go down to the basement or underground, up to the attic, and out into the backyard or other open space. Wearing clothes that you don’t mind getting a little dirty, stained, or tangled with cobwebs removes any doubt, and digging into those filthy spots can tell a lot about the overall condition of the home.
Secondly, pay attention to shoes. The key is to wear shoes that you can easily put on and take off, as you are often asked to remove your shoes while walking around the house (this also means that it is important to wear socks).
Know how to identify water intrusion and damage
A home inspection is critical when buying a home, but home inspectors miss something all the time. And being able to spot the telltale signs of problems before you hire a home inspector will save you time, money, and frustration.
Many problems with houses are obvious – cracks in the walls, stains and bad smells. But water can be tricky. The problem with water in the home is that it is often almost invisible when not actively happening. But there are signs to watch out for:
- Stains on exterior walls are harder to get rid of than interior walls, so any water stains on the outside are a big red flag.
- A buildup of puddles near a home’s foundation a day or two after a hurricane indicates drainage problems.
- The smell of dampness or mold is a bad sign, even if the house looks immaculate.
- A warped or bulging floor is usually a sign of water damage.
- Look at the drywall in the rooms right under the roof – if you see small indentations in the places where the screws are located, then there was a leak at some point.
Just noticing these details can save you a nightmare, or at least a wasted inspector’s fee.
Plan your renovation before you move in
Buying a house is often a system of compromises. Of course, it’s not uncommon to buy a home that you know needs a makeover to bring it up to your standards and style.
As far as humanly possible, make these repairs before you move in. First, see if the owner will make it for you as a condition of the sale. If not, find contractors and plan to delay the move-in date until they are finished if you can. Doing dirty, destructive work before you have to live in a hell of dust, noise, and unreliable plumbing will set your life back years, save your relationship, and help you not immediately resent your new home.