1. Location, location, location.
2. Don’t buy the largest house on the block, buy the smallest.
3. Visit the neighborhood at different times of the day and night. One neighborhood I looked at was covered in cars at night on the street because there was not sufficient parking.
4. Check the days on market of the houses that have sold in your neighborhood. That will affect resale.
5. Check crime statistics and school ratings. If crime is high and schools are bad, then resale will be difficult.
6. Look up the number of sex offenders living nearby. Want to live with one next door?
7. Get a home inspection and if it is a fixer upper, get one before you make your offer.
8. Find out if your neighborhood is in a flood plane or has special insurance ratings - for example if the nearest fire hydrant is too far away. It can mean very expensive homeowner’s insurance premiums. You can also check out what the fire response is in your area.
9. Find out what the HOA rules are before you make an offer, if they have any.
10. Check out property taxes and how much they have gone up on the last 10 years. How much of your payment will be for property taxes.
11. Does your area have any special issues like mining subsidence or wild fires? What kind of insurance is available?
12. How close is the nearest shopping area, for groceries, hardware store, coffee, religious activities?
13. How close are you to a hospital, physician office and another medical care providers?
14. Is the home located where you can get access to an interstate or public transportation such as a Metrolink.
15. What is the average age of the residents in your neighborhood? Are their children?
16. Visit on a Saturday and talk to the neighbors, find out what they like and don’t like about the neighborhood.
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17. If you have a basement, check for Radon and take care of it before moving in. Ditto for lead paint and asbestos
18. Look at overall house layout, not finishes. Do you have to walk through a room to get to another bedroom or living area? If yes, that equals a bad layout. You can always change finishes, its much harder to change layout. Remember the most important aspects of a build are structural, foundation, roof, sufficient electrical service, age of pipes, sewer service not whether the counters are granite. I’d much rather buy a house where the homeowner built a structurally sound house and then skimped on fancy finishes than the other way around. The biggest issue is literally how secure is the roof over your head.
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plum-toned lighting!
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