Carry these house shopping tips with you when you begin house-hunting.
After you’ve found the best new home for you and your family, you go through the process with your real estate agent and mortgage lender. On the day you close on the loan and get the keys to your new house, it’s usually the time to celebrate. Crack open some bubbly and congratulate yourself on a great choice.
That’s the dream, but it doesn’t always turn out to be so rosy. Instead, too many homebuyers remember their first day in the new house as a nightmare for unforeseeable reasons:
- Something rustles in the attic about midnight and carries on until daylight.
- The 1:00 am train roars nearby, waking you from your slumber.
- A neighbor decides that 6:00 am is the best time to mow his lawn.
- You discover that your kids’ school bus doesn’t service your street.
Rescue Me
The home-buying process shouldn’t result in such anomalies, but it does — and too often. Having a dedicated Realtor on your side can help you avoid these kinds of surprises after you move in. While your independent mortgage lender may give the property a very thorough once-over, you could use some better house shopping tips and advice.
Of course, if you’ve already moved in, all the house shopping tips in the world won’t help you much. But you still have a few options:
- Learn to live with the things you can’t control
- Fix the things you can
- Take advantage of a home warranty to cover the things inside the house that you discover after closing
- Pass your newly acquired house shopping tips — borne of experience — to friends and family
- Sell the house and look for another (as a last resort)
Not All Is Lost
Even if you don’t wake up to an urban rooster the day after you move in, there are other considerations to keep in mind as you search for your next home. One thing is for sure — life happens. And while you can’t foresee what might happen in three, five or 20 years, certain events are within your purview to plan.
And even if you can’t see much further than tomorrow, consider your dreams, plans and possibilities. It’s often those little-known house shopping tips that will bring you the most comfort after you settle in to grow your family, retire in comfort or just stopover for a few intermediate years. While you can always resell the house when it no longer serves your needs, keep in mind the following essential house shopping tips to help you make a better choice and fulfill your needs where you live.
House Shopping Tips to Keep You Happy
Don’t ignore the standard house shopping tips that encourage you to ensure the house and neighborhood continue to serve your needs. Look ahead if you plan to have kids, retire, travel a lot or bury yourself in glorious solitude and yard work. For example, check the city hall planning department for potential new developments in the area. Read back issues of the local paper to seek out hidden facts and crime reports. And follow these four important house shopping tips:
- Buy the View
Homebuyers tend to fall in love with the view from the big bay windows. Others get excited at the scenic views from the back decks, especially in Western North Carolina and the Northern California Bay area. Sometimes, the view is so spectacular that homebuyers are willing to forgive a host of maladies with the actual house just so they can wake to that view every day.
After they move in, their mornings are everything they imagined … until a year later, when the bulldozers move in and an entire neighborhood of condos, high-rise apartments or rows of single-family homes start taking shape. If your primary reason for buying a house is the view, the only way to protect it is to buy the land surrounding the house to keep the developers out.
- Interview the Neighbors
If you don’t feel comfortable knocking on your future neighbors’ doors, then you’re staring at one big red flag. Talk to the people on either side of the house you’re considering. Visit the folks across the street. Better to find the busybody in the cul-de-sac before you move in.
Ask them questions. How long have they lived there? How do they like the neighborhood? Is there much turnover? Are there any renters on the block? Who has kids? Who’s retired? What changes have happened recently? Ask them flat out if they think you should buy the house. You might be surprised at the answer — both positively and negatively.
- Prepare to Shop
Buying a house often requires that you jump on an emotional roller coaster, especially if you have a spouse and a family to please. You may be looking at square footage and resale value when your better half is crying because the old swing set out back reminds her of her childhood home.
Sit down with your family before you start looking and prepare a list of individual priorities. Talk out your differences and shared desires so that you aren’t surprised later. When you feel yourself getting excited about a place, take a step back to review your list. Make sure the house covers all the important bases.
- Invest Your Time
In addition to investing your hard-earned cash, invest some of your time in the house-buying process. House shopping tips like this one can save you years of frustration. Drive by the house at odd hours, if possible. Make it a regular stop on your morning commute to see how long it takes to drive to your work and what goes on in the neighborhood at that hour. Swing by after work to check on the evening traffic and neighborhood activity.
Drive by on weekends, during the middle of the day and at least once in the dead of night. Cruise down adjacent streets and leave your windows open so you can hear what’s going on. Check the yards for outdoor dogs and stray cats.
Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to buying your first, second or last home. Armed with all the information, your house shopping tips and a team of experts on your side, you’ll have much better chance of making your dreams come true — without any scary nightmares.
