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What should I know before buying a house?

C

consolibyte

Member
We're going to buy a house. What should I know before buying?

What should I look for when inspecting/looking at houses?

Any advice on negotiating and buying?
 
If you don't know much about construction/electrical/plumbing, etc., then pay a home inspector to check out the house for you.
 
Get a home inspection done by a reputable person/company. Can't stress that enough, don't let the realtor try to do it, or do it yourself. And if it's new construction STILL DO IT.

Research the areas/neighborhoods that you may want to live in before looking at houses too. Theres no point in finding a house you love if its in a shitty neighborhood/area.

Be aware of HOA's, personally I'd stay away from anywhere that has an HOA, they're nazis.
 
Get a good, well known inspector. Do not skimp and use the cheapest inspector.

Watch out for cheaply built houses in subdivisions. Many subdivisions drop in value very quickly and become trashy. The houses deteriorate quickly because all of the materials are cheap and they are built so quickly.
 
consolibyte said:
We're going to buy a house. What should I know before buying?

What should I look for when inspecting/looking at houses?

Any advice on negotiating and buying?
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Much of this depends on what area of the country you're looking in, but I'll give you a few thoughts:

1. Most likely, your mortgage company will require that you obtain a home inspection. Make sure you check reviews, BBB complaints, and make sure that your home inspector has lots of experience. Your realtor can point you towards some reputable ones, but check them out on your own as well.

2. If you don't have a realtor representing you, get one. If won't cost you anything and they can help steer you through the process. They'll split the fee with the selling agent so no money will come from your pocket.

3. Remember, the housing market is in the dumps in most areas, so now is a good time to buy. Get an idea of what you would pay for the house and then start much lower. For example, let's say the guy is asking $250K and after looking at it, you think you'd pay $240K. Start out at $225K and work up in negotiations.

4. See if you can learn about the history of the house. For example, if the house has been on the market for 1+ years, you will have much more leverage in your negotiations in point #3 above.

5. This point tags on to points #3 and #4 above. Be willing to walk away from the negotiations. I'll give you an example of what I did (I am using fictional numbers here, but the rest is true):

We found a house we liked in 2008. They were asking $250K for it. We learned the house had been on the market for over a year and the original asking price was at least $260K, if not more. So, my initial offer was for $230K, for example. The seller came back and told me he was "insulted" and counter offered with the original $250K price. I told them that $230K was a good faith initial offer and I was willing to negotiate, but until he (the seller) showed similar good will, I would go look at other houses and they knew where to find me if they adjusted their attitude. Well, a week later I got a call and they were crawling back to me to negotiate. I was pissed because that week meant I'd have to move twice (once into storage and then into the house after we closed), so I sent them one final offer: $235K and I told them I would not budge and not to play games with me, because it WAS the final time I would send them an offer. They agreed and I got the house. 😀


6. Make a list of home improvements that you want to do on/in the house after you buy it and prioritize them based on 1) Do before I move in or after? and 2) Cost. For the ones that will be a pain to do after you move in (ie, new carpet), maybe have that installed before you move in. It will save you a lot of work. I was too cheap when I bought my new house to have new carpet installed upstairs, but we're going to need to do that next year. I will have gotten an extra 4 years out of it plus potty training a puppy out of the way, but still, I dread it.
 
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consolibyte said:
We won't be buying where there is a HOA if we can avoid it- I'd prefer not to have someone else telling me what I can and can't do to my house/land.
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You may not be able to avoid an HOA, but make sure you read their charter clearly and talk to people in the area. I have an HOA and it is only $75 a year and if anything, I think they're a little too lax.
 
Also, another tip -- you'll need homeowners insurance. Shop around for that, but start with the company who holds your auto insurance policy. You can probably leverage the fact you have auto insurance with them to get lower rates on the cars AND the houses.
 
Another tip I forgot to mention and I hope someone else did: make sure you understand your mortgage. IMO, 30 year fixed is the way to go and I'd never get a variable rate one, but if you do, make sure you understand the implications.
 
IndyColtsFan said:
Another tip I forgot to mention and I hope someone else did: make sure you understand your mortgage. IMO, 30 year fixed is the way to go and I'd never get a variable rate one, but if you do, make sure you understand the implications.
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There was a whole 8 minutes to get that in there, I'm surprised it wasn't posted.
 
NuclearNed said:
Make sure the builder didn't move the headstones and leave the bodies behind.
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a troll post by NN?! fffffuuuuuuu


i'd personally look at a 15 fixed over a 30. check out the school ratings for the district as well. the better the schools, the higher the probability of selling it later down the road. you can also negotiate allowances. had our realtor work the price down 2k for carpet allowance
 
IndyColtsFan said:
Another tip I forgot to mention and I hope someone else did: make sure you understand your mortgage. IMO, 30 year fixed is the way to go and I'd never get a variable rate one, but if you do, make sure you understand the implications.
Click to expand...

Beyond just understanding the mortgage, make sure you can really afford it. While you might be able to make the monthly payments you still may not be able to afford it in the long run. In a rental you aren't responsible when something goes wrong with the building (unless of course you did it) but in your own home you've got to pay for everything. You need to make sure your mortgage payment isn't high enough that you won't be able to afford the extra expenses you're going to run into.

In the same vein, DO NOT put down all your savings for the down payment. It's almost guaranteed that you're going to find a few things you're going to need to take care of after you move in. Keep a healthy emergency fund even after you move in, with a house this is significantly more important because there are more things that can go wrong in an expensive way.
 
Bignate603 said:
In the same vein, DO NOT put down all your savings for the down payment. It's almost guaranteed that you're going to find a few things you're going to need to take care of after you move in. Keep a healthy emergency fund even after you move in, with a house this is significantly more important because there are more things that can go wrong in an expensive way.
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Very good point.
 
IndyColtsFan said:
Another tip I forgot to mention and I hope someone else did: make sure you understand your mortgage. IMO, 30 year fixed is the way to go and I'd never get a variable rate one, but if you do, make sure you understand the implications.
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I totally agree.

Since this is a buyer's market, one thing to add to the negotiations. Ask for the sellers to warantee the HVAC and the major appliances for one year.
 
edro said:
Get a good, well known inspector. Do not skimp and use the cheapest inspector.

Watch out for cheaply built houses in subdivisions. Many subdivisions drop in value very quickly and become trashy. The houses deteriorate quickly because all of the materials are cheap and they are built so quickly.
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I've never seen or heard of this happening in my entire life.
 
Greenman said:
I've never seen or heard of this happening in my entire life.
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I worked framing houses for 5 years during college, and *saw* this happen many times. Often the contractor building the houses in the development is rush-rush-rushing to get as many houses up in as little time possible, and the work is shoddy and they use lower quality materials. It's often a lowest-bidding-contractor-wins sort of deal with the developers, which doesn't always equate to quality.

We saw other contractors put trusses on backwards, frame doors and windows without headers, use roof sheeting plywood for flooring, missing floor joists, etc. Yikes!
 
Greenman said:
I've never seen or heard of this happening in my entire life.
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Edro is correct. Many of the large tract home builders build these cookie cutter subdivisions with low-cost homes and when they're done and leave, the subdivisions start falling apart and drop in value quickly.
 
SandEagle said:
i'd personally look at a 15 fixed over a 30. check out the school ratings for the district as well. the better the schools, the higher the probability of selling it later down the road. you can also negotiate allowances. had our realtor work the price down 2k for carpet allowance
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The advantage to a 30-year loan, IMO, is that you would likely have a significantly lower payment than a 15-year loan. This can come in handy if you run into job or other financial troubles down the line. If you get the 30 year loan, you can pay it off in 15 years if you desire; however, if you run into financial problems, you can revert back to your lower 30-year loan payments without penalty while you get back on your feet. If you have the 15-year loan and run into those same problems, you don't have that flexibility.
 
In addition to getting an inspection done by a good home inspector, you should also be aware that the inspection means jack shit if you discover a major problem that they could not have been aware of when they performed their inspection.
 
The inspector has general knowledge of what to look for. If anything comes up fishy or you feel something needs more in depth looking at, get a specialist.

Don't use your agent's inspector, hire someone else, get references.

Be ready to walk away from any place. If you find one you want, keep it in mind. When you leave your realtor go talk to the neighbors about the house and neighborhood. Drive around a few blocks to make sure there isn't something stupid you missed. Check the neighborhood at different hours.

The house may be great, but your neighborhood could suck balls.
 
I remember making this thread almost two ago, I think.

*sigh*

To add to all of the normal stuff:

No matter how shy or awkward you feel talk to the neighbors before you buy.

The quality of your neighbors affects the quality of your life.
 
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