Comprehensive home-buying list? Your mistakes?

[kwynn]

Obviously, I will be getting a full inspection on any place I buy, of course.

I am going to start home-shopping on my own and it is a little scary.

I have assembled a very comprehensive checklist to take with me just to remind me and help me.

Do you know of any really, really thorough checklists online?

Also, is there something you wish you would have known or considered on a home purchase? Something you don't hear mentioned often?

For example, when we moved into our apartment, we didn't check the overhead lights. There are none. We had to put lamps in every room and it's still so dark. So that's something I'd prefer---at least *some* rooms to have *some* overhead lighting...just little things like that, that expertise is welcome!

Thanks so much!

[LoveTrains]

Kwynn - You can put in overhead lights, so I wouldn't let that be a deal breaker.

I think the most important thing to me will continue to be location. There are many things you can change in a house, but you can never change the location. So I would try to visit the house at all different times of day, that way you can see what the neighborhood is like in the evening, at night, mid-day, on the weekend, etc. Make sure you walk around the neighborhood (or drive around) to get a feel for it. Do any research on any properties that are near or abutting if they are not all SFH.

[kwynn]

I have location as my number one thing, then price, then style of house. Then from there, I am super open.

I'm only considering like 4 areas at this point. I'm trying to narrow it down.

I know the overhead lights isn't a dealbreaker for sure---it's just so annoying to me because my place is always dark.

I actually have that as one of my criteria too---it has to get some decent light.

[schrodinger]

Take a measuring tape. Measure things like doorways, appliance openings, etc. It sucks if you end up having to buy a new couch because your full-size couch can't fit through a door, and only a love seat works. Or if you have to buy apartment-sized appliances because there's not enough room for full-size. These things aren't deal-breakers, but they did affect my happiness with places.

[stephm0188]

Light. Our old house didn't get much natural light. This time, I wanted good exposure and large windows. I need sunlight.

Layout. Our old house had an open concept floorplan and it was really difficult to place furniture. There wasn't anywhere to put a tv or bookcases or anything in the great room without blocking a window. There was so much wasted open space, and then the closets and bathrooms were teeny tiny.

Overhead lights or the lack thereof don't bother me. We have them in our master and family room, and I never turn them on. I prefer table lamps and floor lamps, and if I needed more light, I'd want wall sconces before I wanted an overhead light. The only place I wanted good overhead lighting was in the kitchen and in the bathrooms. Dark showers annoy me.

[grover]

Next time location will be higher up on our list. Directly behind us is a 2 lane state route. After almost 3 years I'm used to the noise, but there are some nights where it still keeps me up. The other thing that irks me is our neighbors that have a crab apple tree immediately next to our shared fence (we're in a town home). I hate hate hate their tree- it seems like every single apple falls into our little yard and we are forever picking up and disposing of their rotting apples.

I understand your overhead lighting- our kitchen has a small overhead light, but absolutely no natural light. So natural light is also on my list for a future place. As is avoiding any DIY upgrades/repairs because we've found ourselves replacing much of the previous owners upgrades due to them not being completed correctly.

[goaskalice]

I have some kind of strange ones.
For example, this may seem weird if you live in an area with mostly planned neighborhoods, but we're in an older neighborhood and there is very limited parking for guests. Most of the roads here don't even have sidewalks and it leaves very little space to park on the street. I love having parties so I was very conscious of having enough parking for guests.

Also, is there a good spot for trash cans in the kitchen? I hate under sink trash cans and have one can for trash and one for recycle, so that was a must.

I'm sure I'll think of a bunch of things right before I fall asleep. If I do I'll report back.

[amity]

I think this is obvious (although it wasn't to me when we bought out first house), but I would ask about the age of the major appliances (hot water heater/ac, etc). We were so excited about our first house that we didn't notice that our AC unit was from 1986. Thankfully it limped along for the next three years and we could save to replace it.

[Deleted]

When I was in college we rented a house that we were super excited about. It wasn't until the day we moved in that we realized it had no closets. Zero, none, nada. How the hell we didn't notice this before, I still don't know.

[Balki.Bartokomous]

-Location, value and if it'd be good for renting/resale are the things that are important to us.
-It should be one of the cheaper properties in the neighborhood.
-Use a REA. It doesn't cost you anything as a buyer.
-Parking and ability to reach the house/driveway in the winter. If it's a house, it needs to have a garage.
-Home shouldn't be on a main road (noisy, bad for resale, dangerous if you have kids).
-Drive by the home at different times of day, different days, during rush hour, etc.
-Talk to the neighbors before you buy to see what they're like & get their ideas about the neighborhood.

[pierogigirl]

I bought a house when I was single, not dating, with no children. I thought I would always be single/no children. A husband and two children later and my cute starter home is a cramped nightmare. I could have afforded more house when I bought and I wish I had gotten a bigger house.

[kadams767]

This is personal preference, but neighborhood aesthetics were kind of important to me. I walk my dog everyday and I am a runner, so I spend a good deal of time around the neighborhood. I noticed that a lot of the newer neighborhoods and developments were very bare and plain. Most streets had no sidewalks, no trees, and the street lights were really far apart. I ultimately found myself much more comfortable in an older neighborhood that was much denser and easier to navigate.

Walkability was also a big factor. I didn't want to have to get into my car and drive every single place I ever wanted to go. I can't walk everywhere, but I like that I can walk to a small variety of places at least, like a coffee shop, a park and a small grocery store. In my old apartment, I had to drive if I even needed to just grab bread or milk. It drove me crazy.

[sju]

Remember the sun. Not only for lighting inside the house but your outdoor spaces. For us it was very important for our backyard not to face west so we could enjoy our evenings without the sun in our faces. We live in the south so it is super hot as is. The back of our house faces east-southeast and I LOVE to watch the sunrise from my family room.

[tripleshot]

Our first house was a 1959 brick ranch with no basement. There were only 2 phone jacks in the house (kitchen and master). It was impossible to add more to the spare bedroom we were going to use as the office or the living room where we ended up putting the computer.

That was 10 years ago. Now everyone has wireless, but it was a huge pain then.

Also, it had cable but the lines were so old they wouldn't support Internet. So the local cable company had to come out and rewire the whole house. It was a pain because if no basement so all the wiring was ran outside along the gutters, etc and inside hidden under the fireplace hearth.

Good luck!

[arch01]

For us it was neighborhood. We wanted something with sidewalks and a HOA. I know some don't like HOAs, but based on our first house, it was a "must". I don't see it as someone telling me what I can/can't do with my house-I see it as making sure everyone in the neighborhood keeps their house to minimum standards. They also do a fantastic job with all common area landscaping.

Other than that, it was storage-not just closets, but kitchen and attic. We actually stepped away from a home that had no attic space. We needed it for seasonal items.

Lighting was important to us as well. We didn't want to have to put in lights. We wanted something move-in ready.

A long driveway-we wanted something so that when we had visitors, they didn't have to park on the street since on-street parking is limited.

[chessie]

I really wish I would of considered/research the town regulations more. There are more restrictions for building in my town/area then I had though, which really pisses me off. I have the land and I got denied to build a larger barn for my horses.

When we were looking we were looking for a property we could live in in our 20's, something at least 3bed/1bath, at least 5 acres, long drive way at least 2-3k sqtft long. Good distance from neighbors. Close to local farms to pick up feed/foods for us/animals.

If I could go back I wouldnt of taken a fixer upper, last 7 years every extra minute of my free time we are doing something to fix up the shitty repairs/patch job from previous owners. If you can afford it, find land, build and or get new developed houses in an area. It will be cheaper in the long run, and less headaches.

[SusanBAnthony]

My hot button issues:

Overhead lights, or the price low enough to justify hiring an electrician to add them (much easier if it is just an attic above the ceiling, for example).

The layout and flow has to make sense. That is hard and/or impossible to change.

Not a million DIY projects- that are obviously done badly. If you can *see* badly done DIY projects, imagine what else is hidden.

No water issues in the basement if I ever plan to use it as living space. If it looks like the basement has ever been wet, assume it will ALWAYS be wet. Don't believe anything the sellers tell you.

Enough natural light- i hate tiny windows.

Enough kitchen counter space (or room to add one of those island carts) to be minimally functional.

Kitchen appliances are usable or easily replaceable- ie you can slide out an old range and put a new one it. But you cannot slide out an old 1950's custom sized wall oven, you are stuck until you do a total gut. God forbid it break, you will be screwed.

Personally we do not want a fixer-upper unless it is one easily defined project- but not the whole house. That is up to you, though. IME they are money pits and you are better off buying a house that you like the way it is.

[macmars45]

H and I aren't in a place to buy yet but we've been complying our wants from 3.5 years of apartment living.

In the house:
-overhead lights. I agree with you OP, it's dark using just lamps.
-big kitchen (bigger than our postage stamp we currently have). I want counter space and a pantry.
-1.5-2 bathrooms
-3 bedrooms
-a den/office
-laundry room
-garage
-more closets/storage for non-food items

Outside the house:
-safe neighborhood
-well taken care of houses surrounding us
-close to stores
-off of main roads

[CloudBee]

Wall space! Our home is very modern and the majority of the first floor has an open floor plan Unfortunately that means we have very limited wall space for furniture as there are very few walls. It's frustrating. I wish we had more walls downstairs for bookcases, etc. I love how open it is, but the lack of storage is frustrating. We also have minimal closets due to this.

[RoxMonster]

Things I wished I'd thought of:
-Check out the location of all electric outlets. Our house has them in really weird and inconvenient spots. Also the downstairs bathroom (that the previous owners put in) has no outlet. We will eventually put one in but it is inconvenient right now.
-The yard situation if you have/want pets. Luckily our backyard was already fenced in (though we may upgrade the chain link in the future).
-Driveway slope if you live in an area that gets ice/snow.
-Ask about the age of the windows. We knew going in all these windows were super old and we'd have to replace them all eventually, so we're doing a few per year. It is a huge expense, but one we knew about beforehand. The old windows are awful--drafty, let noise in, and hard to push up.
-I agree with doing a drive-through of the neighborhood at all times of day. We didn't initially realize how many school-aged kids were in our 'hood.
-A note about closing: make sure the sellers pay up the rest of the taxes at closing. The title company SHOULD take care of this. However, ours did not ask them for it (or thought the money they brought toward closing was the tax money, when really it was the money we had asked for for closing), so three months later, we get a certified letter that we owe over $2000 in unpaid taxes on this house from last year. Luckily it got straightened out and the title company paid because it was their oversight. But since we lived in the house now, we possibly could have gotten stuck with them.

[imojoebunny]

Not next to a school or a church. I have lived by both and hated it. Churches operate 24 hours a day, schools have all kinds of activities from 6am to 11:00pm. Nothing like a nice Saturday night at 3am, listening to kids scream outside at a "lock in". They are just crappy neighbors, at least businesses usually have to follow more codes, are not noisy after hours, and don't have the sympathy religious or kid factor, if you do have a problem.

[niq]

If you are a Hulu+Netflix+Roku house instead of cable, make sure the house can get Comcast's higher speed service, or whatever the high speed DSL is in your area (AT&T UVerse, Verizon FIOS, etc).

[DefenseAgainstTheDarkArts22]

Look for signs of water damage in the basement and attic. If you go house shopping while it is raining it works quite well. Water issues are tough and expensive to fix.

[Deleted]

I think everyone else has covered most things.

My realtor reminder is you can't change the location I always advise clients to knock on the neighbour's doors and ask questions about the neighbours, area etc before finalizing a sale.

[drloretta]

I don't think a comprehensive list will ever happen, because different people have must-haves and nice-to-haves. Location is a no-brainer, as are a lot of the safety things, but a lot of things are negotiable.

For example, for our last house we wanted NG heat instead of oil heat, but didn't even consider propane until we saw what turned out to be our house. That house was on a steep hill, which was a PITA during the winter. So that became an issue when we looked for our current house. DH really wanted a first floor master or in-law suite for his mom when she came to visit, so that became a priority with this house. While we would have loved a garage, we bought a house without one (but it has a double basement). We would have loved an older house, but DH won't buy one unless the plumbing and electric are updated.

[Deleted]

I usually recommend going down to the town or county's planning office and seeing if the property is zoned, what kinds of uses the property is zoned for and if they have any plans of file that can tell you about the just of the neighborhood. The low-traffics road the house is on may be slated to eventually become a major arterial with 6 lanes, etc.

[magpie]

I agree with living somewhere for a while before you buy. When we relocated to a new city/state, we got a furnished weekly rental and kept our stuff in storage until we found a house. It was way too small and pokey and uncomfortable to live in (plus, we had been living out of suitcases for months traveling before then). I think that we should have sought out better temporary accommodations and been prepared to live there for at least 6 months, so as not to be so desperate to find a house. We also fell head over heels in love with our house and were poor negotiators because we didn't want to lose it. I'm not sure if that was a mistake, because I do love this house and I'm glad we got it, but I think the combination of really, desperately wanting to get out of our temporary rental and falling for the house cost us some money.

I also wish we had not used to REA from the relocation people from my H's work. She was nice and competent, but she was not an expert in our neighborhood. Oh and I also wish we had shopped around more for a mortgage broker. We used the guy from the relocation people and had to bargain with him when we found better rates on our own. He did give us a decent rate in the end, but what is the point of a mortgage broker if he can't find you the best loan?

I don't regret anything about the house that we chose. We bought a house that was bigger and more expensive than we planned on initially, but I do no regret either of these thing. We favored location/neighborhood above most things, which I also do not regret.

[mbcdefg]

We should've had a foundation inspector check out the house first, because a year after buying it we discovered we have foundation problems.

[sillygoosegirl]

I wish DH and I had been more on the same page before buying. I think we've fought more in the last 3 weeks since closing than in the prior 7 years of marriage put together. Of course, I had no idea we weren't on the same page, but I probably should have taken it as a clue when DH was stonewalling a lot of topics I wanted to talk about with, "I don't think we need to talk about that (or think about that) until after we actually have a house," that he had no idea what he thought about a lot of things. He's gone from "I want to hire out most of the work," to "I can't bare to spend a penny more than necessary on anything." And I am beside myself angry at him; I'm keen on a lot of DIY, but we have almost 6 figures in the bank and I don't think it would kill us to hire out a few of the less appealing projects and things we don't want to wait on. And this is without having even discovered any unexpected problems or disappointments with the house.

[Kore]

The direction the house faces will be a lot more important to me next time. Ours faces north. Our front porch is like an alcove, & never sees sun. I spent the morning on my hands & knees, scrubbing mold off of the concrete. This may matter less in less humid climates, but ugh. In the future, I want a house that faces east or west, so the porches get more sunlight.