Please help with some tips on what to look for when buying a house

[Piglet]

My Mom is looking at a house on Tuesday and needs a list on what to look for. Can anyone help??

Melinda

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Water damage in garage, basement (cracks), ceilings. Look for "discolored" areas in ceiling. If it is recently painted inquire about water damage. Has there been any flooding since the person occupied the house?

Pay attention to the "smell" for mold.

How old is roof? A huge expense if it close to needing a new one.

 

[buzzlady]

Check the neighbors out. Look at how their house/yards are kept up. Living next door to people who don't care can affect your living as well.

 

[grinningghost]

Windows and the driveway. We have to replace both this year and it's going to be way more money than I ever dreamed.

 

[Christine]

Try to find a house where the owners are offering a one year homeowner's warranty. This is an insurance policy for the first year after your mom buys a house that will repair/replace anything major that goes wrong: appliances, furnace, air conditioner etc. It is relatively inexpensive for the sellers to offer (about $400 per year) and is a wonderful plus if you are buying a home that is 10 years old and up! Most sellers of older homes in my area offer this.

 

[shortbun]

We took a real estate agent with us to help look and point things out. We hired an inspector too and wrote our contract contingent
on passing the inspection. We sat outside in our car in the evening and watched the neighbors come home before we bid on
a house. It was very revealing and caused us to decide against
one home - the neighbors were screaming at their kids as they
hit the driveway; screamed all the way into their house. I couldn't
have lived next to that.

 

[kadaten]

Originally posted by Christine
Try to find a house where the owners are offering a one year homeowner's warranty. This is an insurance policy for the first year after your mom buys a house that will repair/replace anything major that goes wrong: appliances, furnace, air conditioner etc. It is relatively inexpensive for the sellers to offer (about $400 per year) and is a wonderful plus if you are buying a home that is 10 years old and up! Most sellers of older homes in my area offer this.

Good advice! You can also buy one yourself it the seller's don't offer one. Ask your Real Estate Agent about it. They can also be renewed every year!!

We were going to let ours lapse as we'd had no problems for the first year in our home. 4 days before it expired, I came downstairs from naptime with the kids to find water pouring from the ceiling in my breakfast room! Turns out, a fitting in the bottom of the master bath shower had cracked and water was leaking outside the pipe into the space between the floors...enough finally built up that it came through the ceiling! The replacement part was $1.26 but the repair work (plumber's bill) was $400+. We only had to pay the $85 co-pay (and renewed the policy that night...it was only $325!!) Note that it only covers the repair, not the damage. So we did have to pay to fix the ceiling ourselves...$245....but I still think it's worth it. If any appliance ever breaks, they replace it for just the $85 co-pay.


After you choose a home, make sure you put in the contract that it's contingent on a professional home inspection! Very important, as inspectors can find many things that you won't know how to look for...

Good luck! Best advice I have is work with a GOOD buyer's agent!

 

[faithinkarma]

We sat outside in our car in the evening and watched the neighbors come home before we bid on

Now that is a great idea that I would never have thought of...Thanks !

 

[Disney Doll]

~Age of house
~Age of roof
~Age of furnace/bolier
~Age of hot water heater
~What type of heat (oil,gas,electric)
~Age of appliances
~Last outside paint job or when vinyl sided
~Take a drive around the area within a reasonable distance(usually a couple of miles in any direction)-is the surrounding area acceptable? If it's not, eventually that will "creep" toward the new home
~Sewer assessment due
~Buried oil tank (if oil heat)-my DMIL had one that leaked. Thank God she had tank insurance because it was a $65000 clean-up that she paid a $500 deductible for and that was it! It becomes an EPA issue etc., and quite a mess!
~Look at ceilings for water damage discolorations
~Look in the basement for a "line" low on the wall which may indicate a wet basement. If the "line" is high on the wall, then it's a VERY wet basement
~Open and close doors inside the house. We looked at a house that had settled so much that all the doors wouldn't close properly
~Look at the foundation for extreme settling cracks

I like the idea of sitting in the neighborhood at various times thorughout the course of the day and week to see what the neighbors are like. make sure one of the times you pick to hang out is a weekend night, between 11PM-1AM.

Make any offer to purchase contingent on the house having a satisfactory inspection by a licensed, professional home inspector.

 

[ORD2KOA]

Everyone has given excellent suggestions.

I don't know if anyone mentioned utility costs. If you're in a hot or cold part of the country, that's important to know whether the place has decent insulation, etc.

And "wonder" if there is too much pot pourri or something in the house, it could be covering up mold or animal smells.

Don't make an offer if they won't agree to inspection.

Be sure to find out how old the appliances are, too. New refrigerators, etc. are expensive to replace.

Check on storage space - is there any? (That's an issue in Hawaii - they build w/o anywhere to keep anything.)

And the neighbors - several people have mentioned it. You want to see the neighborhood at night, and on the weekends. Some very nice, quiet neighborhoods are madhouses when the residents are home.

We all know that there is rarely a "perfect" house. When you look, keep in mind what you'd eventually want to change. (Cabinets, counter tops, appliances, carpeting, etc.) If that list gets too big, the house may not be for you.

Good luck!!!