I'm buying a house soon. Help me not screw up.

[dlk9s]

[ QUOTE ]
Couple of hints:

1) Buying the smallest or least expensive house in the nicest neighborhood is better than having the biggest house in a less nice area.
2) Make sure you buy in a good school district. This is usually one of the top 2 or 3 needs of buyers with kids.
3) Get a real estate agent. The seller pays the commission, so get some one to help you with 1 and 2 above
4) Ask for copies of the last 3 months electric, water and other utility bills. Make sure you can afford the property taxes that will come with your new estate.
5) A 4 year old house is fine, in fact most of the stuff that the builder screwed up is probably fixed.
6) Don't buy a fixer-upper. It will cost you twice what you think to fix it up (Disregard if you are tradesman and can do it yourself or have union connections.)
7) If you buy a resale (not a new home) purchase a limited warranty (your realtor will have details). It will seem expensive, but if something like your a/c goes on the blink it is well worth it.

Good luck and happy house hunting.....

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Excellent advice.

I was going to point out #2 - good school district - if you are interested in resale value.

I just bought a 30 year old, standard 2400 sq ft two-story house in the best school district in Georgia (Walton - Cobb Count) in a decent neighborhood. Feel like I got a fair price. While I plan on staying here a long time, I also feel like it will appreciate nicely. And the sellers renovated it completely inside, so it's nicer than the typical 30 year old house around here. Landscaping needs work, but that's a long-term project.

[bwana devil]

this will get lost in the jumble of replies. everyone has their opinon on buying property. i own a few pieces and rent some out.

i HATE new houses. (w/ very few exceptions to this rule). a new (or newer) house appreciates soooo slowly that youre married to the thing.

older houses you can get

1. appreciation quickly
2. find bargains and
3. know what the neighborhood is like

find the areas of appreciation and gravitate towards thme. dont buy where there's new development.

bwana

[ripdog]

Having bought two homes that were brand spanking new, I'll tell you this:

I will never buy another one. Find a nice pre-owned home and skip the headaches and homicidal urges that dealing with a builder/developer induce. We also had a realtor with 30+ years of experience and 30+ years of very close ties to my wife's family. We were taken care of very well and I still wanted to kill some people. Definitely find a good agent. And just wait until those escrow company dipshits get ahold of you. That's when the fun starts.

[Macdaddy Warsaw]

[ QUOTE ]
"It mostly talked about selling houses as far as I can remember. The point was that getting an extra 10k for the house makes them $500 gross. Therefore, it's not worth it for them to put in extra time and money when they might only net like $200. I don't actually recall much about buyer's agents."

That was only for SELLERS AGENTS, and what it showed via data in the detroit area is that the average sales price for a realtor was 3% higher and stayed on the market for 30 days longer than non-relators.

The math to show why it is in the SELLERS best interest to just make a sell and not care about the higher prices is as follows :

Selling price of house $200,000
Commission 4%
Paid to agent 8,000
Agent gets around 35% of that or $2,800
Usually 1/2 goes to the agent's agency (ERA etc), and I don't remember the exact numbers.

Selling price of house $210,000
Commission 4%
Paid to agent $8,400
Cash to agent 2,940

So the agent gets $140 bucks for for getting you $10K more. Basically the author was saying SELLERS agents would rather make deal then try and get that extra $10K.

[/ QUOTE ]

I thought that's what I said...

[Meech]

Some tips

- Definately, positively get a quality home inspection.

- Even if your area doesn't require it -- test for Radon gas. Have a clause for mitigation in the sales contract.

- If you use well water, get the good test not just the gubbament "safe for drinking" stamp. Test for things like arsenic, and other harmfull stuff.

I'm sure there are others (affordability, finances, etc) but these stand out in my mind from my most recent home purchase.

[nolanfan34]

[ QUOTE ]
And just wait until those escrow company dipshits get ahold of you. That's when the fun starts.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hahahaha that is excellent. Our escrow people were dipshits too.

Lots of good thoughts in this thread. I think finding an agent you can trust is paramount. If you have family in the area, or grew up there, utilize a personal contact to find someone good.

I'd echo the school district thoughts too.

Regarding newer homes, I think it depends. The house we just bought was built in 2001, so it is newer. But it is in an established neighborhood, which is nice too. I disagree with bwama that you should rule out newer homes altogether, because I really think it's market dependant. In the Seattle area where I live, older homes are just as expensive as the newer ones - and often require a lot of work.

You could probably find a good deal on a diamond in the rough, but you have to weigh that against the effort you'll have to put in to get it livable and something you can enjoy and be proud of. We have some friends who bought a house like this in West Seattle, and the husband says if he could do it over again, he wouldn't do it. Yeah, he does have a lot more equity now than when he bought, but as he says, he can't get the last two years of weekends back again, which he had to spend working on the house all of the time.

Also forgot to mention that I was going to reinterate that you need to keep taxes and utility costs in mind. Real Estate web sites have those handy mortgage calculators which make you think you can afford a certain amount, but it usually doesn't include all of those additional costs.

[SomethingClever]

Yeah, I don't get why people would buy a new home, unless it is being built exactly to your specifications.

My house turns 112 this year, and I love it.

[bwana devil]

[ QUOTE ]
Yeah, I don't get why people would buy a new home, unless it is being built exactly to your specifications.

My house turns 112 this year, and I love it.

[/ QUOTE ]

my first house was built in 1908 in colorado. i miss that house.