Things you wish you'd known before buying a house

DVOM

Thu, Mar 30 2017, 8:30 pm

Hi everyone!

After many years of careful saving and frugal living, my husband and I are ready to buy our first house. The rental company that we've been renting from for the past 10 years is going bankrupt, and our apartment is being sold. We could rent another basement, but I just can't stomach any more underground living. Our options are renting a house, or buying a house. We met with a mortgage broker and with our bank last week, and we can just afford a very small house. We found a really nice real estate agent and we're going to start looking at houses.

Being pretty clueless about house buying, I figured I'd ask my imamother palls for any advice they have to share. I'm so excited about this move, but I'm really anxious too. It just seems like such a tremendous amount of money to spend and borrow, and I want to spend it wisely. What sorts of things do you wish you'd known before you bought a house?

amother

Rose

Thu, Mar 30 2017, 8:47 pm

1) Try to find a house that wasn't sold often. Best if you can buy off the original owner. Every new owner makes changes to the house, doing, undoing, and those things end up complicating things like repairs or any renovations you may want to make.

2) The age of the house will have a big affect on its energy efficiency. Old houses cost a lot in heating and cooling costs.

3) When you go to look at a house, look carefully. You are the consumer. You have every right to bend down to look at the parquet to see if it has filled-in holes in it. (Mine does and I didn't see it.) Or to go up to the attic, and not just peek in. Or to open cabinet doors to see the condition of them from inside.

4) Landscaping, grass mowing, snow removal all cost money in proportion with the size of the property. So that big backyard of grass will cost you to mow it. A long driveway will need to be snow-plowed or shoveled. IOW, think of the maintenance even while you see its beauty, convenience...

amother

Slateblue

Thu, Mar 30 2017, 9:03 pm

Find out how well the home was maintained. Mine wasn't and many issues cropped up bec of it.
Make sure the a/c, heating, wiring, ductwork and water heater are in good shape and don't need to be replaced soon. Just found out that our hot water tank needed to be replaced years ago & will cost a fortune.
Look out for signs of leaking or mold. Our gutters were never cleaned, there was a leak and mold in the basement that the inspector missed. Leaks that the owners claimed were fixed, we're in fact not.
Don't only go for looks, things can be changed but the main structural supports cannot.
Don't buy more house than you can really afford. Dh counted on a raise when we bought the house, & we overpaid for it. Well, the raise didn't happen, his salary was cut, and we were in deep trouble.
Factor in taxes and insurance into your monthly pmt. NJ taxes are extremely costly.

If the home comes w appliances, see that they work, ask about warrantees. We now are replacing every appliance in the home.
Save for unexpected emergencies, like when our spark plug on the heat went out on the coldest day, or the faucets that leaked, or the pipe that is worn out. It all costs a lot of money, which you don't need to spend if you're renting.
Going anon bec of all the home details.

amother

Slateblue

Thu, Mar 30 2017, 9:07 pm

Forgot a few things, make sure the cabinets are real wood, and that the layout works for you. (Mine look fancy, but are laminate and peeking badly. They can't be refinished, only ripped out, again a huge expense that I can't afford.)
Make sure you have plenty of cabinetry & a good pantry.
See if the home has room for future growth, kids get older, can't always share bedrooms or bathrooms.
See how noisy the home is, how's the insulation with outside noise, and between rooms.
Are there noisy things nearby- a school or dorm, stadium, busy road, train or bus station, shopping. Those can be convenient, but all cause a lot of noise.

simcha2

Thu, Mar 30 2017, 9:16 pm

Houses cost money beyond mortgage and taxes!

Make sure that after paying the mortgage you will still have "house money", because something is always needing to be fixed, dealt with, replaced...even in a newer house.

That being said, there is something so nice about owning and not renting.

Hatzlacha!

amother

Natural

Thu, Mar 30 2017, 10:21 pm

I tell everyone I know buying a house that just sending a standard inspector through the house and taking his word that everything is in good shape is a mistake. We got burned pretty badly on our first home. Inspector found nothing major - just one wooden beam that had some rotting and needed to be replaced. In reality, within weeks of moving in we discovered problem on top of problem. Bad plumbing (toilets backing up from normal usage and roaches coming out of shower drains). Bad electrical wiring (had a fire in the house our first week). Termites. Water seeping in from under carpets. Zero insolation in the attic. When we bought our next house we had a GC, a roofer, a plumber, an electrician. Better pay their nominal inspection fees now than be stuck to pay their repair bills later.

DVOM

Fri, Mar 31 2017, 5:06 am

Hey all, OP here. Thanks for all these replies- this is so helpful! I have a bunch of comments/questions:

amother wrote:

2) The age of the house will have a big affect on its energy efficiency. Old houses cost a lot in heating and cooling costs.

3) When you go to look at a house, look carefully. You are the consumer. You have every right to bend down to look at the parquet to see if it has filled-in holes in it. (Mine does and I didn't see it.) Or to go up to the attic, and not just peek in. Or to open cabinet doors to see the condition of them from inside.

What is considered an "old" house and what is considered a "newer" house? In the neighborhood we're looking at in our price range it seems like there are houses built in the 90's, the 70's, and a handful from the 1920's. Just from the pictures, I've liked the look of the older houses better. Is this a bad way to go? I've heard for years here in Lakewood that the new construction is so shoddily built. I was under the impression that as a general rule, older homes were built more solidly.

#3 is so important for me to hear! I can be assertive, but in situations where I'm unsure of myself (like buying a house!) I can go totally docile. I need to go into these house viewings with a very assertive attitude!

DVOM

Fri, Mar 31 2017, 5:10 am

amother wrote:

I'm so sorry for all the trouble you've been through, amother! How awful to spend all that money and then have a fortune worth of repairs on top of that! I'm compiling a list of things to look into when looking at houses: a/c, heating, wiring, ductwork, water heater, gutters, appliances... This was really helpful.

DVOM

Fri, Mar 31 2017, 5:19 am

MagentaYenta wrote:

The less you know about home repairs, fixing leaky faucets, replumbing toilets, installing or repairing garage door openers, the more expensive it will be to maintain your residence.

I know nothing about these things Magenta, but my husband is thankful extremely handy and has already been doing many of these things in our apartment for years. He also has built a lot of our furniture (bunk bed, table) from scratch. He spent most of his teenage years apprenticing for a builder and an electrician. We're hoping he can handle most of the repairs and maintenance we'll need.

DVOM

Fri, Mar 31 2017, 5:23 am

amother wrote:

What a nightmare! I'm so sorry you had to go through that!

This is excellent advice. My husband is the sort to take the house apart very thoroughly, but having experts come in to inspect sounds like a very good idea.

Someone else mentioned having an engineer do an inspection. What does an engineer inspect for?

DVOM

Fri, Mar 31 2017, 5:33 am

simcha2 wrote:

This post and others like it worry me the most. We've very carefully calculated down payment, mortgage, taxes, closing costs and had those numbers looked over. We can afford a small home (2-3 bedrooms, 1 bath), but just. Of course, it makes sense to have some more money put aside for incidental costs, but I don't think we're going to have that unless we chose a smaller down payment. All our savings would be going to buying the house. Those of you who bought houses, how much money did you put aside for other house related expenses?

33055

Fri, Mar 31 2017, 6:30 am

DVOM wrote:

What a nightmare! I'm so sorry you had to go through that!

This is excellent advice. My husband is the sort to take the house apart very thoroughly, but having experts come vin to inspect sounds like a very good idea.

Someone else mentioned having an engineer do an inspection. What does an engineer inspect for?

An engineer is a much higher level than contractors and knows all the trades. Personally, I would pay an engineer, and if he spots an issue, then I would call in a contractor.

You also can consider a home warranty. You can make this part of your deal. You can negotiate the seller party for this.

1091

Fri, Mar 31 2017, 7:06 am

Learn the rules in NJ in buying a house. If I remember correctly you sign a standard contract which then goes into attorney review and the attorneys have a set number of days to make changes. (Do you have an attorney?). It does really build in time for inspection. We held up signing the initial contract to get one but that only worked because we weren't in a bidding war.

Once you know who you are going to use as a lawyer, ask about that part of the process before you find your dream house.

esuss

Fri, Mar 31 2017, 7:32 am

I once rented an apartment in a building that was from 1920s or earlier. The construction was very strong. But had major issues. All plumbing had to be replaced. Electric wiring was in bad shape. Luckily landlord paid for it.
After my toddler was found chewing paint chips we were told that there was lead in the paint and prob water pipes.
These are all problems that could be fixed in older houses and maybe were in the houses you are looking for but be aware of them. All houses built before 1970 had lead paint which could be dangerous if ingested.

amother

Bisque

Fri, Mar 31 2017, 8:30 am

When we bought our house, we put everything into a stunning renovation. I spend so much effort planning, designing, searching for the perfect everything. We loved our neighbors, community, and house and planned on living there forever. Well, a year after we moved in we had a kid with a lot of needs that couldn't be met in our neighborhood. He will need this specific help available for the rest of his childhood, so we moved. Gone is the house, gone is the plans. For now we are renting, but we will sell soon.
What I wished I knew before I bought the house was that no matter how perfect it seems, you may not be there long at all. Don't go crazy with the renovation.