[geowak]

Been looking for about 1 year and came close to a deal twice. Last deal went south because home needed a new septic system that is not installed yet. YIKES!

Anyone who has done this, please offer some advice. I am losing my mind and my wife is trying to be patient but she too wants advice...

[drummermitchell]

I'd find a reputable home inspector.
Its very easy to miss some important things,ex:doing moisture test in basement ect.
An inspector is worth the 500.00 if he's good  and he'll save you thousands later on if not more .

[glide]

Home buying is no easy task.  If you are taking out a loan I understand they now require at least 20% down.  If you can, put down more.  Determine the locale you want to live in, and the size (sq ft) you require.  How many bedrooms, baths, city, suburbs or country, basic stuff.  I highly recommend having the home inspected by someone you choose, someone experienced and certified to do so.  If you can, have an acquaintance who also knows homebuilding and maintenance  be there at the same time.  Things like a home needing a septic system is a big deal.  But you can make a deal with the seller, like them lowering the price enough so you can then have the system done, or require them to do it before the sale is complete.  If the seller is motivated they will do it.  Other critical things are the roof, and the furnace/ac system.  Expensive fixes.  A lot depends on how the asking price compares to the appraised value.

[NIGHTFALL1970]

Don't use an inspector that the realtor recommends.  In fact use one that they hate.  I would have offered less on my house if I had know how many things the inspector "missed".  Also don't ever pay more than the bank will loan you.  I paid 2500.00 above that price.  If I only knew about all the leaks!  Go look at a house on a day that it is pouring out, and go up in the attic.

Best of luck.  I think you will find that buying a house will be well worth it in the long run.  Better than throwing your money away on rent.

[Austin08]

Another way to learn is watching Holmes on Home or Income Property show in HGTV Channel. I know those guy go to the extream but you can pick up something from them. 

[geowak]

Great stuff, thanks to all. I have a good realtor, but did not have one six months ago. Recently upon review of the disclosure docs with the last house I made an offer on, I called the company that wrote a quote on fixing/replacing the septic system. The owner/operator must have thought I was looking from out of state, because he stated "we are replacing the septic system now". I did not have the energy left to tell him "well no, there has not been anybody out there at all" since I had been there to look at the property! (I think the relocation company is waiting for someone to make an offer, with loan or money in hand, before they are going to fix anything!)

But hey, I am becoming more educated on this process. Once again, thanks for the tips.

BTW I like the idea of going to look at a house while it's raining. (Check for leaks and water intrusion/damage) That's brilliant!

[rockadanny]

Assuming this is your first time buying I'd suggest a few things ...

Be cautious about how much you pay and where the home is located. Seems like a no-brainer to do so, but IMO the economy will not be getting better any time soon (I could be wrong, and I hope I am). And from what I've heard recently, that the federal gov't is once again applying (or considering to apply) pressure on banks/mortgage co's to lend to people who are high risk, means bad news for the long-term housing market. Which is how all of this current financial mess began. So be sure the area is very desirable and the home priced low to reduce your risk.

Call the local police and ask their opinion on crime/trouble in the area.

Visit the home on a couple of nice weather Friday and Saturday nights to see if the neighbor activity suits your needs. Also a couple of days as well when kids are not in school.

[TomS]

We've bought several homes over the years. One the best things we've done (suggested by realtor) is once we did our research on the numbers, features, market, etc and thought it might be the right place, we'd just go for a couple long walks by ourselves around the neighborhood both during the day and evening. Take a look around, see if people talk to you, what the locals and families are like, how people take care of their homes, just observing everything that might matter to you if you lived there. You can learn quite a lot in an hour long stroll.

[SteveFord]

Move into an old person's neighborhood, try and find a house which was built right after WWII (when people actually cared about their work) and find a realtor you can trust.
Good luck!

[Charles Xavier]

Check the A/C and Heating system. Make sure in the winter ALL the rooms are warm and cold in the summer

[Devil Doc]

The best advice I can think of is accept the fact that buying one's first home is a royal pain the butt. It's all worth it in the end and you can take solace in knowing it's easier the second time around.

Doc

[Delacroix]

Lots of good advice on checking out the neighborhood here. Take it seriously as the old saying, 'buy in haste, repent at leisure' applies more to homes than to audio gear  

As for the purchase process, assuming you are ok with the realtor, just watch for price creep. It's easy to do mental calculations to convince yourself that the extra $$$k you never intended to spend now seems manageable over the years of a mortgage if you get 'the' house.  Once you find a house that you want and can afford,  don't use the realtor's choice of inspector, or buy a report from an earlier interested purchaser etc., no matter how convenient. Get an independent recommendation (as others suggest) and when the time comes, shadow the person as they do the actual inspection or try to talk to them away from the presence of the realtor. I've done that on three homes, the inspector has never objected, and usually I get a much more informed sense of the property than comes form the final written report (some fascinating stories here though they were not without frustration at the time).

I've only ever bought older homes so the inspection was vital in my decision-making. All homes have some problems, sooner or later, and accepting this will make your life easier. I've avoided home warranty products of all kinds since the first one I used failed to cover the repair, citing lack of appropriate maintenance by previous owner (to whom they happily sold the warranty several months before) as the basis. Most homes have been a compromise of sorts, my current one was bought fully knowing I'd need to rebuild some parts of it around me but the positives outweighed the negatives on that deal. If I buy another place, I usually promise myself I'll buy one that needs no mods or renovations on move-in but the reality often is that it's those very homes which offer the best deals while the homes in perfect condition that I would care to own are beyond my reach. Frankly, all homes need maintenance and mods so factor this into the cost of ownership over time, there is no maintenance-free ownership with houses.

[Bemopti123]

I agree.  Location is a very important concern.  School districts, good school=good neighborhoods.  Schools where students do well, have ambitious parents, meaning people who are on the go, with clean lawns, rational and most likely students who are not hanging out the neighborhood without a purpose. 

The worst thing to do is to purchase a place just of the quality of house and the appeal in itself...in my count, I could purchase a so so house but it needs to be in the best part of down.  The most unpleasant thing to experience is an event after you have put your root down for an extended period of time, a rental is a different matter. 

[django11]

Getting a good inspector is a good idea.  Around here house inspectors have an association although becoming a member is voluntary.  Members have to live up to standards.  I have met and now regularly refer the president of our province's association of inspectors.  Realtors hate him.  His reports are very detailed ( around 40 pages with pictures ).  He is a bit like Holmes ( alarmist ) but he really knows his stuff and you get to make an informed decision.
The inspector I used on my own home was a joke but he put on a pretty good show to justify his money...  (BTW I do remodeling)...

[thunderbrick]

If it's an older house you might ask to bring in a building analyst to do a blower door study.  It'll tell you where you have energy leaks and check the efficiency/safety of the gas furnace.

Regarding the foam insulation underneath the shingles, I'd recommend against it.    When you see it applied to a commercial building it's typically covered in an EPDM or similar sealed membrane, and doesn't usually have an attic space below.   Attics must be vented to remove condensation.  Foam should go between the conditioned living space and an unconditioned attic.

Years ago I put one of those spinning-turbine attic vents on my roof and it made a HUGE difference in the home's comfort, because it was reducing the heat in the attic by a LOT.

[ctviggen]

We've bought several homes over the years. One the best things we've done (suggested by realtor) is once we did our research on the numbers, features, market, etc and thought it might be the right place, we'd just go for a couple long walks by ourselves around the neighborhood both during the day and evening. Take a look around, see if people talk to you, what the locals and families are like, how people take care of their homes, just observing everything that might matter to you if you lived there. You can learn quite a lot in an hour long stroll.

In CT, some locations have sidewalks and neighborhoods.  However, many do not.  For instance, the area in which I live is completely devoid of sidewalks and the roads are narrow and winding.  I highly recommend not walking for any distance in an area like this.  You could drive around and see what the homes look like.  Even that can be frustrating, as many times here, you'll see small home, small home, McMansion, McMansion, small home, McMansion, etc. 

We're looking for a house, and it is incredibly frustrating.  First, if you find an older house in a mature neighborhood, in CT often that means closer to NYC.  Closer to NYC means add 50-100K or more, and the closer to NYC you are, the more outrageous the costs become.  Then, these older homes need a ton of work.  We've been in 500k to 700k homes in nice suburban neighborhoods where the house needs to be gutted to be updated (or to remove old light switches or intercoms that aren't made any more). 

Then, if you move away from the "neighborhood" locations and more into the "rural" locations, you can get a newer house.  If you get a newer house, they tend to be gargantuan -- think 2 story foyer, whirlpool tubs you'll use once, multiple fireplaces that look pretty but are energy-sucking holes in your building's envelope, 8 burner (5 more than you'll ever use at once) Wolf cooktops, etc. 

And the entire industry is incestuous and lacks ethics.  Here's our current situation.  We go to see a house that's been on the market 180+ days (on and off).  They had the house on the market last year for X.  They put the house on the market this year for X+25,000.  Why?  Supposedly because they added granite (one more thing I could care less about).  We like the property, the house isn't too big, the house is only 15 years old.  But when they added granite, they took out the 15 year old cooktop and PUT IT BACK IN.  Who would do that?  However, the positives outweigh some of these negatives, so we make an offer about 9% less than their asking price.

In the meantime, the listing is expired the day we make our offer.  So, they counter and we re-counter.  We're trying to get the house back to X, as the house needs some work, and I could care less about granite.  Suddenly, there's a "second offer" from someone who saw the property three weeks ago and supposedly sold his/her house.  Huh?  The house has been for sale intermittently for 3 years, its listing has expired, and there's another offer on the same day we make a counter-offer?  Our realtor is implying we should make a near-full-price offer, because he's "experiencing multiple offers on homes".  We have no way of determining whether there's another offer.  We have to make our "best and highest offer" today.  So, we made an offer of X+5,000, which is near our original plan of X.  Personally, I don't trust my realtor or the other realtor. 

Further, I think the inspectors are in cahoots with the realtors, as are the lenders.  No one is looking out for the purchaser. 

[thunderbrick]

Tell your realtor the seller will just have to accept the other "offer".  And wait a week or two until the other "buyer" suddenly drops out of the running.

If you want to have fun, give a counteroffer that requires them to remove the granite and reinstall laminate.   

[SteveFord]

I just remembered one more thing: fences make for good neighbors.
A little elbow room is another good thing.

[ctviggen]

Tell your realtor the seller will just have to accept the other "offer".  And wait a week or two until the other "buyer" suddenly drops out of the running.

If you want to have fun, give a counteroffer that requires them to remove the granite and reinstall laminate.   

I think we're in an HGTV society, where I've seen couples complain that a house built 5 years ago looked "dated".  Why does every house have to have granite?  Why whirlpool tubs? 

When our realtor found out that we had a propane insert in our fireplace in the family room, she got excited.  Then I told her that in the 9 years I've lived in the house, I've never used the insert.  Why would I use it?  More heat is going to go up the chimney (even though the insert is "ventless") than is going to come into the house.  Now, if it was a sealed insert that gets air from outside and vents to the outside and has a fan that recirculates interior air, I might consider using it. 

[thunderbrick]

Yeah, CT, seems like all the newer houses have industrial kitchens, but who the hell has the time or energy to use them to their potential?

First thing I did when I bought my 60's-era ranch house was to rip out the wood stove in the add-on room, and plugged the fireplace flue.  Then I set one of those massive Sony 34" CRT HDTVs inside the fireplace.  Looks and works great.