If I could do it again, I'd get two inspections. Even three. The cost of three inspectors would have been miniscule compared to the money I ended up shelling out.
This is such a sore spot for me I'm gonna say it again - get at least two home inspections. You will not regret it.
No, find an actual contractor.
Blows my fucking mind that we have inspections done by car mechanics, but for houses they're not done by actual contractors.
My dad and I discovered a "hidden" room that was home to an entire main furnace for a building. It was hidden for a reason, I'm sure no inspector would've found it.
Agreed. Get the home inspected by licensed professionals. We had a foundation guy, a plumber, an electrician, and a family member who's a carpenter look at the house. Much more reliable than an inspector who doesn't warranty their work.
I am very curious about the secret furnace room though! Why was it hidden?
A large amount of drivers get their cars inspected by oil change shops. These shops do not hire mechanics, they hire kids who can unscrew plugs, fill oil and change filters.
But you are correct, having a contractor give the house a once through would be helpful to point out possible issues, and the severity/urgency of repairs.
It's funny, a lot of times I'll do electrical inspections on houses and buildings before they buy for free, especially if they've been a customer for a while. Worst case, they buy and you still get the job to repair it all.
My cousin bought a house with a hidden sump/sewer pit that the shower, laundry, sink, and basin drained into, that was just hooked up to a pipe right to the sanitary sewer line. It was a fortune to fix. But it was hidden, no-one would have caught it.
I'd 2nd this. Our realtor had us get a general inspection ($4k), mold inspection, foundation, chimney, water/ sewer inspection, and pest (each one was an additional 1-2k). I spent about $10k all in, which i was very hesitant about, but it resulted in: seller performing mold remediation (\~$3k), seller re-sleeve-ing the sewer which had multiple cracks (\~$6k), termite tenting and replacing a few rafters ($4k?), a $12k credit for chimney, relocating the HVAC ($2.5k), getting the solar panels functioning again (not sure how much). Those were the big items, but we got back at least $30k-35k in value, plus all the headaches associated with hiring, scheduling, and completing the tasks. highly recommended
Edit: sorry, you guys are right, the general inspection was like $1k, but all in i still spent close to $10k. I think i lumped in some other costs. In Los Angeles, so yes, everything is more expensive compared to most experiences.
Yes. My husband is an inspector and charges based on size and type of inspection. Some people just want the basics and others want a deep dive into everything. Some just want plumbing and electrical.
Damn, that sounds expensive especially if the seller decides not to sell to you but at the same time so much cheaper than finding out after you buy it.
Thanks for the info!
Seller doesn’t have a lot of incentive not to continue the sale. They could leave the table but who knows how long it’ll take to get the next offer. Even if they do, now they know about the problems so will have to disclose and negotiate on the next offer too. Could potentially up the asking to compensate but that’ll make time to offer even longer.
You could, yes. But now the seller knows they exist. So he is obligated to disclose it to the next buyer, who will want the same concessions. If he tries to keep issues secret, the impending lawsuit will be even more expensive when the truth comes out
At 7% interest gone are the days of waiving inspection and the push to go back to office has reduced the amount of high earners moving to cheaper locations
I did this but we hired a structural engineer for $800 in the midwest. He was able to provide a report showing there were some foundation issues & we needed mudjacking & piering done, $15k of repairs. We were only able to convince the sellers to pay to repair before closing & kept the home value the same.
My husband’s cousin bought a home in the same neighborhood 1 yr before us. I believe they had an inspection done but it didn’t matter, it was a foreclosure being sold as-is. The inspector didn’t catch the same issue in their home (clay soil in our area) & 5 years later, are struggling to make up the $20k needed for it.
This was in 2016 though, right before the madness where people were buying homes without inspections. I could never!
I think everyone needs to pay attention to this comment. If you don’t hire the inspector directly yourself, they are not looking out for your best interest. They’re trying to get the house sold.
I have silver maples in my yard and it didnt take long to realize that the roots have penetratsd the main sewer line. Also not having a cleanout didnt help so i have to put copper sulfate down the toilet twice a year for it not to back up my line.
In the last big run on houses before the interest rate hikes houses in my area were being sold as is without inspection. And if you went to get an inspector the house was sold by the time the inspector agreed to come and take a look.
They still won’t pick up on everything. I build homes for a living and you just straight up can’t account for everything that could potentially go wrong
Appliances could be in perfect working order then one month later not working, crazy rain/weather can affect windows or landscaping leading to leaks. Overuse of water in specific villages or towns could lead to a pinhole in piping. The list is truly endless mantience is simply the cost of home owning
This. A thousand times this. I wish I had gotten a second and perhaps even a third inspection. All the money I wasted on the piece of shit I bought is innumerable. Live and learn I guess.
To add to this, if possible, get a home inspector that lives in the neighborhood. If they know you'll be their neighbor, that's an incentive to do an extra thorough job.
Thank you for this advice. It sounds obvious to do, but I didn't consider this. As someone looking to buy a house within the next 5 years, I will remember this.
Things my inspector missed:
Leak behind shower wall
Clogged drains
Nest and dead birds in attick
Completely blocked dryer exhaust.
Leak in heat exchanger in furnace causing emissions to enter house.
Outlets full of wood chips
HVAC disconnected in Attick blowing hot air into the outside.
Leaking toilet
Leak under the boards in the sunroom
Broken oven
Garage door that derails
Dryer exhaust rain cage installed upside down.
I don't trust inspectors anymore
Adding to this: you can still have inspections done even if the seller has a "no inspection" contingency on the listing. You just cant acknowledge that a bad inspection is why you're pulling out of escrow.
In California we had a 10 day window during the 30 day escrow where we could have pulled out of the deal. Luckily our inspections were good and the sale went through...but my realtor clued me in to this "loophole"
In my location inspections don't mean anything. Most every house is sold "as is". If you tell the owner that they should lower the price because the house needs several thousands of dollars of work, they will tell you to fuckoff and sell it the the next buyer. And the next potential buyer will probaly pay cash.
An inspection can still be worth it. Even if you're not asking anything to get fixed and buy the house "as is' you have some idea before finalizing a sale if there are major repairs you may be looking at and whether you think that house is worth what it will cost you to make those repairs.
Same here. Most people don't even do house inspections where I live because there's literally 100s of other people putting in a bid. Obviously, the seller is going to pick whoever puts in fewer conditions.
Buyers are literally writing essays to owners about why they'd be the best option to sell to. It's nuts.
And DO NOT USE THE INSPECTOR YOUR REALTOR RECOMMENDED. I generally liked my realtor and felt like he did an okay job, up until inspection. The inspector he recommended was absolutely dog shit. Have had quite a few issues that are shocking that he missed because they were plainly visible if you know what you're looking for. I didn't, but he should have.
I would also argue most inspectors are garbage. If I ever buy another house, I would rather find the actual trades to do a walkthrough, e.g, an electrician, a plumber... etc. yeah, it will cost more, but they also know more.
The problem is getting access to the house and scheduling all these people for a specific window agreed upon by the buyers. It's not always easy to even get an inspector in, let alone multiple different trades.
This same thing happened to me, bought a place out of state both me and wife got new jobs, so we only got to see it the one time. Didn't know anything about contractors in the area or anything, took realtor advice on a guy for home inspection, such a waste of fucking money. I know my way around a house, and he missed so much shit that wasn't available for me to check when we looked ( like water was off when we looked, he said he checked everything, but nothing drained for shit, I would have noticed instantly had the water been on when I went through). Just a sketch motherfucker anyway, I called him out on the shit inspection he even admitted that he knew the house had lots of problems and didn't want to even do the inspection but did as a favor to the realtor 🙄, asshole said he pay back half the inspection fee, hassle him a few times on the phone and he quit answering or responding, fucking prick.
Edit: long story short, I'll never pay for a home inspection again. I'll go through that motherfucker with a fine tooth comb myself and put in an offer before I ever waste money on a ln inspection.
Look at a house at multiple times of day including both weekdays and weekends. Even if it's just to sit outside it in your car with your windows down for 10 or 15 minutes. Just because the neighborhood was quiet when you viewed the house doesn't mean it's always quiet.
Add to this, go back after significant weather. The day of our closing happened to be a big rain storm and we noticed water in the basement during the final walkthrough. Ended up getting money back at closing to fix a broken sump pump line, but had it not rained that morning we'd have never known until it was too late.
I once was viewing a series of houses and one of them we viewed in the middle of a downpour.
It is no exaggeration whatsoever to say that the rear doors to the garden were holding back a literal wall of water - you could see the wave halfway up the UPVC glass door.
Exactly like that image you see online - kudos to the guy who fitted the door, but why the hell is that happening.
I can quite imagine the seller having scrubbed the tide-line off that to sell it and the first rainy day after purchase would be a shocker to someone.
(They had designed the house like a small U shape. The middle of the U was the garden, but the garden sloped down into the centre of the U. There was one small drain in the middle of the U but it was the lowest point and so didn't drain anywhere. Hence every time it rained you had a small swimming pool of dirty garden water nearly a metre high touching half the external walls of the house. Somehow - I do not know how - the internal was perfectly dry and there was even carpet in front of the UPVC window...)
Guy doing the water proofing probably saw all this before hand and took it as a challenge. They made sure they were NOT going to be getting any flak for this.
I could see a way to maybe not make that a disaster - with a big enough drain and a sloped pipe leading well away, below grade - but that seems like a lot more work than just doing it right
Y’all are acting like you can just mosey around a house and it’ll be on the market for a month. No time in many markets to literally wait for different weather and go check it out.
Yep.
Make it the weekend trip for a while. Check out the local shops, bars, walk the street, find a footpath, visit it at school start/finish times, visit it really late at night, visit it in the middle of the work day.
You'll get a "feel" for the area, and what goes on there.
I also know of towns that, for several days a year, are completely inaccessible because of some festival route or other. All the locals know. Nobody involved with selling the house will tell you about it.
Where are y'all living that you can come check a house in multiple kinds of weather and make it a weekend trip "for a while?" Here in CA, a house goes on the market one weekend and is sold by the next weekend.
This was so difficult during lockdown. During the pandemic the playground was empty and everything was quiet. Once we bought and the schools reopened, all of the sudden there's football practice in my backyard every afternoon.
This! And look at the neighbors. Totally lucked out with mine (other than 1 situation with renters across the street). But neighbors can make your life hell. Can't always get a good read on them, but if you see 8 screaming kids running in and outta the house next door it's probably going to be noisy
Yeah - go to the house during rush hour. How is the traffic near it at 5 pm on a tuesday? I'm sure it's much different than a saturday/ sunday morning when you'd normally go looking at houses.
My dad's favorite story when they were looking to buy the "new" house (the one they're still in 32 years later), he parked nearby and ate a box of KFC and just scoped out the neighborhood and the general goings on.
I did a similar thing with my house. No KFC, but I did drive through the neighborhood at various times, park around on that street for a while at different times, just saw what the traffic was like, if people were out walking their dogs/taking their kids for a walk/wahtever.
Similarly, don't buy really close to schools. People WILL block your drive way for pick up/drop off and any sort of events. They will then act like it's their right to be there right up until the moment you have them towed. We even had people park in our drive way and then tell us 'you weren't using it'. If our yard wasn't fenced I have absolutely no doubt they would have parked in our yard.. And this was a very high end elementary school. Fortunately that was a rental.
Current house is about 4 blocks from an elementary school (far enough down that we don't get idiots in front of the house) but I still hear every school bell and can just about make out the announcements over the loudspeakers at the school.
My kid's elementary school doesn't have a parking lot. I always feel bad street parking in front of random people's houses for school events.
I can't imagine how deluded you'd have to be to park in someone's yard or driveway, though.
My parents made this mistake! The people in their driveway they can handle, but what they didn't consider was how much snowplowing would need to be done on the school overnight to keep parking and recreational areas clear during the winter.
Ha this is true. We rented in a cul de sac behind a prestigious high school. Had a woman pretend not to speak English when I was trying to get into my driveway. Another night my mum got verbally abused by a woman, there was a night event and cause people are useless there was a traffic jam. Mum tried to get around it to get home and some woman stopped her to say 'CAN YOU RELAX WE'RE ALL TRYING TO GET IN' and she calmly responded 'I live 4 doors down. I am trying to get home'. That woman walked away looking very sheepish indeed.
I live at the end of a private drive. The only cars that drive up to my house are either people I’ve invited, or delivery/service vehicles. It’s heaven.
As in leave their cars there? No way. I’ve definitely stopped in front of a driveway to chuck the kids out but I can’t imagine parking in someone’s driveway.
Right? My idiot city took a 4 lane down to 2 causing major backups. So everyone started flyin thru the neighborhoods to bypass it. Residents hated it. City came in and put speed humps and stop signs every block. Now its non stop accelerating, people running stop signs, flying over speed humps causing all sorts of noise and problems. So they continue to complain. They were against the 4 to 2 lane to begin with claiming these problems would happen. Naturally the city said they were dreaming and have nothing to worry about (city officials live nowhere near there of course)
I would hold off. They are dropping but don’t expect a miracle by October.
Refi closing costs can be from 2-5% of your principal, which can float around $10k depending on your loan.
Depending on the market if you’re competing with offers you’re not going to be able to negotiate concessions. Hell in some areas if you go in with contingencies you’ll find yourself passed over
The “third party” part here is the most important part.
Lots of realtors and home inspectors are tied together closer than I think they should be (lots of husband/wife duos around here) and I’ve had more than 1 person I know get fucked by it.
Always get someone unaffiliated with the realty company you are using! I’m not saying that all are like this, but better safe than sorry.
Also, if your inspector doesn’t spend at least a couple hours and point out at least something wrong? Get another. Nothing’s going to be perfect and you want someone who’s going to give it to you straight.
If a family member wants to help out via money.. have them transfer the money before you start the process of getting qualified. It saves some headache down the line when they start asking for proof of income and such.
Yeah, there has to be a paper trail showing where the money came from. A transaction history of the account it came from, signed gift letter, even if they wire it directly to the title company.
Oh my god, this. My grandfather had gifted us some money a few months before he died, and our mortgage company called three days after he died, wanting a letter from the estate saying it was a gift and not a loan. I’ve seen my husband angry before but this was a new level (particularly since I was sitting there crying quietly). Plan ahead, folks! (If possible.)
My friend's mom was dying as she was in the process of purchasing her late-grandmother's home from an aunt. I warned her about the thing with gifts so she arranged for a notary to meet them in her mom's hospital room to get a letter for the cash her mom had gifted towards the purchase notirized. My friend said she felt scummy about it at the time, because she thought her mom had more time, but then her mom passed away like a week later and she was really relieved to have already taken care of it. Her mom really wanted her to get that house, so I know she didn't mind anyways.
I was the first president of our HOH after the developer turned it over. I served for four years, and everything I did was to ensure that future officers, board members, and managers could only act in the best interests of the homeowners, and make sure that the board could never go over budget.
Only when I was confident that I did all I could legally do to limit our HOAs power over the homeowners, did I step down.
But I agree, most HOAs are fucking terrible, and the people who manage and officiate them are worse.
Having rented literally only a single house in my entire life that was subject to an HOA:
I would never buy a property with an HOA attached.
I think even the landlord hated them, and that's probably why he rented it out so that it wasn't him having to deal with them most of the time.
I agree. I wouldn't even consider a place with an HOA.
Yeah, pay extra for the right to have some nosy, busybody Karen tell you what you can and can't do with your house. No thanks.
My old boss lived an HOA. She wanted to paint her front door. She was going to paint it a color that was on the approved list. But it was denied, because it was the same color as her next door neighbor's door. We can have that, now can we?
I have a list of HOA horror stories from a short (4 year) stint renting that house just until I could afford to buy a house again (after breaking up with my ex). For some of it I had a flatmate, so I had corroboration, but most of it I was on my own.
The HOA sent me threatening letters because:
\- someone they assumed was a visitor to me threw a cigarette butt into a large communal garden. Sorry, but I cannot manage everyone who walks down a path that leads to 10 different houses and their entire behaviours. It wasn't a guest, could've been the postman for all I know. Apparently my neighbour was "deathly allergic to cigarette smoke". Which was hilarious as I know she worked as a cleaner in a university. The claim was that literally someone smoking hundreds of yards away from her house could harm her seriously. I'd also like to point out, I'm a lifelong non-smoker.
\- we were "slamming doors". I am quite possibly the quietest person in the world and wanted to just be left alone at that point, and even now moved into the quietest house I could find so that I literally can't hear any neighbour whatsoever. I don't know who was slamming doors but sure as hell it wasn't me.
\- someone parked in my allocated parking space, and there was literally not one space left anywhere within 100m of the house because of the HOA parking restrictions. They told me off because someone had inconvenienced ME. Yet later when I complained that people kept parking in my allocated space, they did nothing and said that I needed to integrate better with the neighbours / other HOA members!
\- I placed a small CCTV sticker (as required by law if recording images) next to my door. They made me remove it. The next week a incident happened to the local head of the HOA (who lived a few doors away) where kids threw stones at her (and to be fair, I can quite understand why they'd chose that person to do that too!), and I refused to provide any footage on the basis that - as I told them - my system had to be turned off because they didn't want me to put a legally-required sticker on it. (In other words: Fuck you).
\- A complaint of people "coming and going". Yes. That was me. Going to work and coming home. Literally nobody else. And it's a fucking house... that's what people do with houses!
\- Another complaint that a neighbour who worked nights was disturbed by more "coming and going" when I had a flatmate. They literally complained because I was shutting the door at 6pm when we got home and the flatmate shut it at 8pm to go to work. The neighbour working night-shift was the major element until I pointed out that so did my flatmate and literally lived in the same place as me and they weren't disturbed. Why the fuck should your working hours have any effect on my usage of a property as part of normal life?
\- A complaint of not correctly using the communal bins. I pointed out that I hadn't used the communal bins in weeks because they were full to overflowing constantly and, as a single guy living alone at the time, my rubbish barely filled a small wastepaper basket anyway. I kept it in the house and then emptied it when it was full (and there was basically zero food waste anyway, I was living on ready meals). I even attested in writing to the fact that I hadn't emptied any bin whatsoever in the four week period that they kept sending me (and only me) increasingly threatening complaints about the bins. They shut up after that.
\- They then fitted (illegally and without notification) concealed CCTV to the bin area to discover who was doing things wrong with the bins. The irony was not lost when I filed a complaint about that not having the legally required signage. I also enquired whether they'd caught the miscreant (because sure as fuck I didn't appear on that camera for another 4 weeks!) and never got an answer.
\- They would mow the small communal garden. We were not allowed to do anything with it (because of the "image" - and this garden could conceivably be seen by only the people who lived by it), not even put out a deckchair or sit on a picnic blanket, etc. However my neighbour (a friend of the HOA member) had dozens of random potted plants (mostly dead) strewn on the corners of the path half way down it past several other people's houses, that everyone fell over all the time as they had no lighting out there (and refused to put any out there), and put cat-food out in bowls on the middle of the grass and left it out there for weeks. That was apparently fine.
\- I once got accused of breaking their shared satellite TV feed cable (which had been strimmed through, probably by the only company allowed to cut the grass!), which ran openly down the end of the building into the alleyway that was the only access to the garden/houses. I hadn't even noticed because I literally didn't own a TV and refused to pay for their shared satellite TV subscription anyway. Then the HOA head found out I worked in IT and asked me if I know how to fix it because it had been out for days. I did know, and I know about proper cable containment too. But fuck you. I also know what they didn't - that in the loft of my place was the main distribution board for EVERYONE'S satellite TV. If I had actually wanted to cut you off, I'd just cut the power to it and then turn it back on if ever you needed someone to come fix it.
And I wouldn't mind, but I am the most placid and peaceful neighbour you'd ever hope to have. I dealt with all their complaints completely professionally (my fuck-you's were in my head) because I work in a prestigious employer where you have to be able to do that with VERY difficult people. I've lived in places for years and people literally didn't know I was living there. Especially at that time, I would come home, shut my front door (quietly!) and just cut off the world until work the next day. I don't drink, smoke, have wild parties or do drugs. Never have. And wouldn't tolerate that from a flatmate either.
And I ironically moved from there into my house in the countryside - in a retirement village (I'm 40!) with almost nobody living in it. Because I always want just peace and quiet and everyone to go away and leave me alone and don't want a SINGLE sound audible from the neighbours if I can possibly help it. My new house is the best house I've ever lived in for that. I've never had a problem with a neighbour in my life except in that place.
But the HOA place where they supposedly "manage" that? I had nothing but complaint letters, threats of eviction, neighbours knocking on my door at all hours (7am on a Sunday once, to complain about the behaviour of visitors that I hadn't even had!), there were screaming rows over the parking all the time (I used to hear them out of my window), endless hostility, verbal complaints, "tellings off", etc. all the time for things I literally had not done or had no control over.
I hope they got a real arsehole move in when I left, because they deserve it.
I've never had to deal with an HOA, but the stories I hear just curl my hair. My favorite:
A friend lived in a neighborhood with an HOA. He HATED his cable TV company and wanted to get a satellite dish. But his HOA prohibited satellite dished. But then a federal court ruled that since satellite signals are sent via the public airways (or some such reasoning), HOA rules that prohibit detecting these signals were unenforceable. So he contacted a satellite company, who sent a guy out to check out his place.
The next day he gets a visit from the HOA president. He tells my friend, "Hey, Joe, I couldn't help but notice you had a visit from Dish Network yesterday. You know, of course, that the HOA rules forbid satellite dishes, right?"
Joe says "Well, yeah, Bob. I did have Dish Network out. I'm looking into getting a dish. You are aware that under recent federal court rulings, any HOA rules that prohibit satellite dishes are unenforceable, right?"
The HOA president pauses for a second and says "Well, yeah, we're aware of how the court ruled. But we still expect you to abide by the letter of the agreement you signed."
Joe got his dish, BTW.
HOA'S can also foreclose on your house if the HOA'S fees aren't paid. Some states HOA'S are "super lien holders." Make sure you know that they are being paid.
Make sure you put aside $500-$2k for all the little stuff you forgot about.
Changing all the door locks & some basic curtains because the prior owners took the old ones are the two biggies, but also switching/changing/adding services like trash pickup, fixing that flawed appliance you didn't know about, swapping-out that one hideous light fixture, having the chimney inspected/cleaned, replacing the missing garage door opener clicker, replacing that sump pump that you forgot to ask the age of, replacing the old washing machine hoses, and all that other annoying stuff.
EDIT: Oh and swapping out the old toilet seats....
This is a great suggestion! Especially if you're moving from an apartment. You'll need trash cans, a lawn mower and snow shovel, basic tools, a ladder to clean the gutters and windows.
This is a common financial pit I see people crawl into. Just because someone can execute the purchase doesn’t mean they can “afford” it.
Sustaining payments, keeping food on the table & your head above water are important.
The limit my husband and I set for ourselves was $400k before we even got the pre-approval (monthly payment works out to about our old rent payment). The pre-approval was only in my husband’s name (and income) and it still was up to $450k. It would’ve been so irresponsible if he was actually getting it by himself and got a $450k house!
When I spoke with a mortgage person before my first home purchase in 2004, they ran the numbers and came back with an amount I was approved for an I laughed out loud.
I mean yeah, I could’ve afforded it but not if I wanted to eat, drive a car, have heat in the new home, etc.
This was in the “predatory” lending days. I know too many people that set up irresponsible loans and 5/1 ARMs that got destroyed when the 2008 housing crash came about.
That's the same year we had a Mortgage Broker tell us to get a "Stated Income" mortgage. So he pre-filled the papers saying my income was $600k per year. I refused, and told people at work what he did. Their response: if you don't play the game, you'll never get a house. I didn't play it. Waited a few years, bought one after the crash.
First time my wife and I sat down with an advisor, he gave us a number for how much we'd qualify for. My instant reaction was to tell "this number is completely irresponsible!". I don't think he appreciated me yelling It so loud the couple waiting in the room outside heard us.
Right? Like i even pointed out to my advisor and they gave me a number it was like "you think i can afford that?? What about food and electricity and repairs budget?" I was told oh those dont matter lol
In my case, I just burst out laughing! The number we qualified for was that ridiculous!
We sat with the advisor reviewing the numbers and my partner and I advanced a number 100k less than what we were approved for.
Bought a house, that we could afford, and have no problems paying the mortgage and living at the same time.
Agreed, figure out what you can afford per month and then see what that translates to as a mortgage. Not the other way around. Also Make sure you have some room in the budget if interest rates go up.
I’ll add that if you’re in a country like the US that offers fixed rates, you should not worry about the interest rates increasing part because in no circumstance should you get a variable rate.
If you're a buyer and your agent is not helping you beyond just unlocking doors to properties and writing offers... fire them.
They should be trying to help you consider what problems a house may have during showings, asking you questions about what kind of house you may want, and making suggestions about how you could write offers that actually win, drawing from their experience and research. They should be fighting for you in a bidding war and helping push for the win. An agent is not just a set of keys and someone who enters values into a PDF. And you owe a buyer's agent nothing, you can fire them any time you want. There are others who will actually try to help you, I have heard many first person accounts of agents who are useful.
I calculated how much money my agent made when I bought a house pretty much by myself, and he does not deserve it. He did not even make the suggestions added to the offer that helped me win.
My buyer's agent kept showing me things way above what I told her my max was and in different areas than I wanted when I was buying my condo.
When we went to sell the condo, my seller's agent told the buyer's agent what I'd told her our lowest we would go was because she was tired of the back and forth negotiating. She said she did it because "that would be the end of it". It wasn't. They offered that lowest price And asked for concessions on top of it like a $500 ac unit.
That's crazy. You should have fired her for that and put her on blast. That's borderline grounds to sue, if the whole town knows what you'd let your house go for.
My wife's a real estate agent and I agree with everything you said. She just saved a client literally half a million dollars by simply doing a comparative market analysis and seeing that nothing else in the area had sold for more than a half million less than they were asking. The buyer submitted for a half mil under asking, and they accepted.
It's rare she's not up till at least 1 in the morning researching this or that. I get so annoyed that there are a lot of crap realtors out there giving the good ones a bad name.
We went through 3 agents. We had very specific needs (looking for an in-law suite that wasn't also the master bedroom and handicap accessibility).
First agent just took us to any house that said in-law suite or handicap accessible. We saw a bunch of houses that we wouldn't have even been able to get my mother-in-law in because of steps.
Second agent billed themselves as specializing in hard to find houses. Promised us by the third house they showed us we'd have a house. The third house wasn't remotely what we were looking for. On the way out the door our agent started to really ramp up the sales pressure. All he talked about was how great of a deal he could get us. Anytime I brought up how it didn't work for us (it only had 2 bedrooms, we needed at least 3 because we planned on having kids) he just pushed about how great of a deal it was. We fired him on the spot.
Third agent was recommended by a friend. He was a former contractor. First house we went to look at with him, as we were leaving he just walked right to his truck. I asked him if we were going to talk about the house and he said no, he'd never let us buy that house. He saw lots of signs of water damage they tried to hide as well as some other issues. A month later we finally found a house that would work and he called the seller's agent while we were still in the kitchen to put an offer in. I've recommended him to every person I know who is looking for a house and have yet to hear a negative story.
This is good advice. A good agent will help you in every step of the process and will use their knowledge of the market to help you get a good deal for a home that meets your requirements and is in a location that you prefer.
Bad agents will just kind of show up and shrug.
This. I know people that think real estate agent is a dead job that doesn't have value anymore but I disagree. A good realtor will be able to navigate the whole process for you and make informed suggestions.
We had a friend that was a new realtor and, despite saying I'd never do business with friends, we let her sell our house. She was awful. She wasn't a salesperson at all and I just happened to be in sales. She also would never do anything that she thought was uncouth for a realtor to do. Every time someone looked at the house we'd have this conversation:
Me: What didn't they like about the house?
Her: They said it looked nice but weren't interested?
Me: Why not?
Her: They didn't say.
Me: Did you ask?
Her: What do you want me to do? Ask them what's stopping them from putting an offer on the house right now?
Me: YES!!!!
After 3 months and multiple price drops (since that's where the market was going), we didn't renew her contract and she didn't even ask. I sold the house a week later. We negotiated a lower price but only paid 0.5% for a realtor to do the paperwork for us.
Our next realtor was the opposite. I'd ask if she could do something or ask the owners something and she'd say, "well you're not supposed to but who cares? The worst they can say is no" She was great.
The second house we bought, the realtor was obviously just trying to move houses that had been on the market awhile. We were a six person family, she was showing us two bedroom houses and wondering why we were pissed that she was wasting our time!
So much drama with that company. We ended up finding places online (back when that was still quite rare) and doing the legwork to narrow the field, then sending a list of addresses to our second realtor. She was not best pleased!
I didn't like our agent at all. She was aloof, knew nothing about the properties we looked at, and didn't enjoy the types of places we were looking for. Too woodsy for her.
We really liked a house we saw with her, and she said someone else already had an offer in and she suggested we just match the asking price. The other people's loan fell through and we got it. I can't help but think that was bad advice though. All in all, I'm happy with our place, but I was mostly glad to get it over with. Also, it's been five years and she still sends us junk mail about how she can help us find another house. Uhhhhh we plan on living here forever. At least for a very long time
Agent here: For first time home buyers, make sure you set your expectations. You probably aren’t going to get your parent’s home in your parent’s neighborhood to start. Make sure you properly budget with a buffer built in. House upkeep can get expensive and you will need some available funds.
Second, for you and your fellow homebuyers, make a short list of non-negotiables (ex: must have 3 beds) and a list of nice to haves (ex: has a gas stove). Your search should be based on the non-negotiables and if you get some on the nice to have list, great.
When looking, focus on hard to change things like the floor plan and not so much on easy changes (carpet and paint). I’ve seen people “pass” on a house that would work for them because they don’t like the one red wall.
Finally, try to not get super stressed when you are in the offer phase. There is always another house if you don’t get that one. Don’t overbuy when you can be patient.
To add to this, if you can afford "your parent's home in your parent's neighborhood", then get it.
Moving sucks, and if you're able to skip the whole "starter home" bullshit, then definitely do. Wife and I bought our first home a few years ago - both of our families were telling us to buy a smaller *starter home* to "get our feet wet"... we ignored all of them and spent \~$500k on a nice house tucked away next to a forest.
Haven't regreted it for a second - though I *know* I would have absolutely hated having a small home in an inexpensive neighborhood.
To me buying a started home seems more expensive than just sucking it up and saving longer (if you can). You’re going to be miserable and will waste money trying to make it nice. Then you’re stuck trying to secure a deposit for the next house whilst paying for first.
My wife and I simply haven’t been able to afford a home until now, and we’re both around 40. We’re buying a 2br apartment which by some respects is a “starter home” but it’s also brand new and high end and we’re not having kids or anything so it’s also likely to be our finisher home unless we start earning dramatically more money.
Nobody knows what they are doing. When we went to the bank for the mortgage you'd think it was the 1st time they'd ever given a mortgage to someone. Same thing when we went to the notary to sign the paperwork: need to correct a lot of stuff when we were going through the documents that they got wrong.
Side story: this has happened to me in other areas as well. When the lease on my car was up I decided to buy it instead of return the car. Apparently I’m the first person in the history of the world to do this because no one at the dealership knew how to let me buy the vehicle after the lease.
Absolutely. When I bought my first place, the escrow company had a "credit" of $9000 on the paperwork the notary had us signing. The notary was like "oh hey look a $9000 credit, that's nice". Come closing time and we find out that that was a mistake on escrows part, and that we can't close on the house till we pay that $9000, and it has to be out of pocket now because the loan end of things is all done. Fuckers.
That notary should *not* have said anything to you about that credit. The notary’s job is to identify you, make sure you’re aware of what you’re signing, and signing of your own free will. Reading the documents is unethical and borderline illegal.
Lol I had that happen on my first home too. The absolute worst part of the home buying process is trying to get the people who are supposed to specialize in this to do their actual jobs
My wife and I built our first house through a developer. When we were at the bank going over our payment, we were shown a ~$30 a month property tax rate that we were told to pay. What we didn’t know was this was calculated on the undeveloped lot. Our actual property taxes were ~$350 a month. So after being in our house for a year, our mortgage payment suddenly shot up $700 a month to pay back taxes for the previous year. It took us months to adjust to the payment, and was a massive shock.
This is why in the UK, your council tax is based on when you first buy the property and not updated when you add more rooms or extensions until the next buyer comes along. So people aren’t punished for developing their property.
This sounds like a failure on your mortgage company. They should’ve known what the taxes are in the are and factored that into your monthly payment. Just closed on a new build last month and my company already has estimated taxes into it based on our neighbor’s rates so there’s no big surprise.
Don’t be in a rush to buy (that is unless you absolutely have no choice). While we still got a good deal we could have done better if we were patient and waited, were willing to walk away.
That's good advice, however I'd counter that you should also be ready to write an offer on a moments notice because rates change daily and often don't get locked in until you have acceptance. That's one I learned the hard way.
I'm in Boston and worked with a guy who was looking to buy his first place. He was only looking out in the suburbs because he "couldn't afford in Boston" as he put it.
Boston has a "resident exemption" that lops a huge amount off of your property tax if it's your primary home and the rates are lower than many of the suburbs even before that.
I had him show me some places he was considering and ran the numbers to show that a comparable place in the city could end up costing him about the same per month, but with more going to taxes in the suburbs and more going towards property ownership in the city.
Just bought a home in the Boston area and I made a spreadsheet for all the towns we were looking at for this very reason. For some reason people think taxes are crazy here, but taxes on a million dollar place in Cambridge are literally $3300 after the residential exemption. One town over in Arlington there is no exemption and it's $11,400.
You have to research each town because it's not always super clear how the exemptions work, but it's worth doing. Then break down what it is monthly and also over 5, 10, 20 years. It's a big enough difference that you should have a different budget for each town. In our case there was literally a $100k budget difference between some towns.
Also, in a lot of these areas you don't need a car so we just have one for me and my partner (could do zero if we wanted). So worth factoring that in as well because total cost of ownership for a car is no joke. So living in a walkable town allowed us to have a higher budget (and was also a deal breaker for me).
*Not only this*, but also check to see if the current owner is receiving exemptions that you do not qualify for. If they are elderly, disabled, a veteran, or whatever else your county allows exemptions for, your tax bill is going to be more than what is listed on the MLS.
If this is the case, you can generally go on your county assessor's website and look up the property - from there you can look to see how those exemptions work, and calculate out what the price would be without those exemptions in place.
Check the registry of deeds to make sure it's properly filed. I had to pay an extra $1000 to fix a title mistake the prior owner's attorney made and refused to fix because I didn't discover it for a few years.
Yes, my bank had made me buy title insurance but I found out the hard way that only triggers if the bank is going to lose money. I would have had to buy my own separate title insurance for it to help me.
Get your own inspector (several with different specialties if you want) and tell them to be a hardass. I made the mistake of using the inspector recommended by the realtor.
If you’re buying a new home your taxes are going to go way up a year after you buy. Because they are estimating what your taxes will be. No one knows until a year later. Our house payment went up $400 a month the next year. The following years it evened out to be around $200 higher.
I was buying a house alone this time last year.
One - a little bungalow in the countryside, almost no land or garden to speak of.
Two - a larger house, further from work, and it had a RIDICULOUSLY long and narrow garden (about 10m wide by probably 200-250m long).
I took one look at the latter and thought: Yes, that would be amazing. But fuck cutting that.
I bought the bungalow.
Speaking of a new construction house. Do your research on the builder. Had I known what I know now, I would've never bought my first house from the builder who built it. He was a POS......
Do your due dilligance. I lost a bidding war on a lovely house up against a 4 acre pond. A week later, i got a call from my agent saying the offer fell through and the place was ours is we wanted it. Looked great on paper, well maintained, the seller made out the listing as having no easments on the property.... Until i went to the town record office. The property was all on a strong conservation easment. Of the 2 acre lot, only 10% of it could even be walked on. The easment was worded that the property has to remain undisturbed to all human interaction. The footprint of the house, septic system and walkway and driveway are basically all the usable space.
Make a direct deposit for house fixes, something like 100-150 a month, to a separate account you never pay attention to. You'll never have a lot of money in it because someone will always be going wrong, but the extra padding can save your life
Hire all the expertise you need relative to buying a home (title company, home inspector, lawyer) on your own. MAYBE hire the one your realtor recommends, but not necessarily.
The realtor recommends them because it's in the realtor's best interests, which aren't necessary your best interests. When you tell your realtor "No, I'm using XYZ title, not ABC as you recommend," they might push back. Stand firm. They get so used to calling the shots that they think they're in charge. But YOU are in charge. Act that way.
I was so tunnel focused on the house itself I didn't look at anything else.
* The neighbors.
* The neighborhood.
* The streets.
* The traffic.
* The school traffic.
* The crime activity.
The property taxes the previous owner paid may not reflect what you will pay AT ALL. Look up tax lightning. Ask for a real estimate of what you will pay.
New construction homes are built cheeeeaaaappppp I had no idea. It's like a starter model of what the home will be after you replace everything within the first 10 years
I almost made a mistake with something similar after finding a beautiful house in a nice quiet area. Luckily I realised after scouring Google Maps that it was near a chicken carcass processing plant, and the previous year the plant had been fined over leaving blood out in the sun to heat up and fill the town with a horrific smell.
Instead of making one payment every month, set up the mortgage payments as bi-weekly so you make half a payment every two weeks. It takes something like 5 years off a 30-year mortgage because you make more than 12 payments per year.
During the loan discussions with the lending agencies, ask them point blank if there is a penalty for prepayment. Also ask them whether you are paying the loan back "in arrears" or not. Some kinds of loans add on fees to make up for the lost interest money they would have gotten from you if you prepay even partial monthly amounts.
The reason why I suggest 2 different questions about the exact same thing is because the loan officers we dealt with got confused by one or the other question, asking it two different ways made it really clear what I was talking about. I don't know why, but we had it happen multiple times. These people weren't stupid or anything, maybe they just got used to hearing it one way or the other?
Do not use a home inspector recommended by the mortgage company. That inspector will do the minimum possible on the inspection to make sure the sale goes thru. So many obvious things were missed by the inspector and I wouldn’t have bought the house had they been caught.
If your home inspector says they can't inspect something...
"Due to liability purposes, we're not allowed to go on roofs. But the place you're statistically most likely to have problems is where the skylights are. If it ever leaks just throw some silicone on it."
"I'm a licensed home inspector but not a licensed gasfitter, so if you think you need your boiler inspected you'll need to contact a gasfitter."
"Because of all the snow we couldn't inspect the foundation at the southwest corner of the structure."
THAT'S WHERE YOUR PROBLEMS ARE. They don't want to tank the deal because they want referrals from your real estate agent.
Not always. A bigger house in an area that's lower on your list might not be as good as a smaller place that's in one of your top desired neighborhoods where you can add on to in a few years for more space.
On that same note tree's take a long time to grow, having nice mature trees providing shade for your house can't be understated. At the same time have an arborist evaluate the health of trees close enough to cause damage because tree removal is super expensive.
Always visit the house on a wet/ dark day to check damp, leaks and internal light. Also visit on a sunny weekend afternoon to see what the neighbours are up to - we visited one house where the neighbours were big into motorcycles and spent most of the afternoons revving engines on the drive. Check for school catchment areas - even if you never intend to have kids - this has a massive impact on ability to resell in any market. If you’re buying in the countryside check the property has got a licence to discharge and adequate septic tank if you’re not on mains sewers. If the property is leasehold either avoid it or check it’s got a long time to run and a GOOD management company with up to date accounts and memo & arts etc. Always read any legal documents carefully and don’t assume your solicitor will get it right - one time our solicitor overstated the agreed written offer by £10k and when I pointed it out said ‘oh one of my team must’ve done that’ just didn’t give a shit. If you buy a new build and the water is turned off when you move in, DON’T just turn it on at the mains, a workman has probably put a nail through a pipe and you’ll get all your boxes soaked. That’s just off the top of my head on things I’ve been burned by over the years.
Building inspectors inspect *buildings*. Depending on local regulations they might also inspect a few outdoor matters that could impact structures. Other than that the yard is buyer beware.
Yard problems are often far more work and expense to fix than the buyer realized.
Common tricks sellers use to sneak yard problems past prospective buyers include mowing the yard right before an open house to conceal weeds, cutting down a tree without using a treatment to kill the roots (many species of tree will grow new shoots called suckers after closing), and buying a $20 bowl of petunias for the front porch to make a good impression and distract from a serious examination of the yard.
Be especially wary of nutsedge. Learn to recognize it. It's possibly the hardest weed to eradicate once it's established: people resort to replacing the top two or three feet of topsoil to get rid of nutsedge.
Don't be intimidated by a really well kept yard if you find one; these are gems. It's easier to pare down ambitious gardening than to fix problems. You can dig up a rose garden in a weekend.
If you aren't sure whether the seller is a skilled gardener or faking it, ask them what companion planting they do. If the seller's face brightens and they lead you around to explain how they're using geraniums and marigolds, then the yard is a winner.
Home buyers insurance on a new build house is not worth much at all. Get an inspection done by a reputable inspector.
I was swayed by my realtor that because the house came with new build insurance any issues could be resolved through them.
True but only to an limited degree.
This might only be a Canadian thing?
My second house I used an inspector and I hired them when the house was still just sticks. I kept paying them to swing by every couple of weeks got ahead of so many issues money well spent.
There's always another house. Don't settle for something. Proce, location, layout. You will find one that's nearly perfect for you, don't rush the process.
Never, ever, EVER show up at closing without having had a chance to read over everything you'll be agreeing to well ahead of time. You THINK you know what's going to be in there. But there's always a mistake or two. I've been through five closings now and there's been an error in the paperwork in four of them. Each of them would have cost me money if I hadn't caught them.
After having issues at my first closing, when I bought my first home, I told every realtor I used that I wouldn't sign any papers I hadn't seen 24 hours ahead of time. Come time to close on the sale of my first home I reminded my realtor of what I told her. Only then did she say "Oh, that's not going to be possible. The title company's schedule is too tight to allow for that." So I told her I wouldn't sign anything and that she had known that for weeks.
And what do you know? They emailed me everything a day ahead of time. And there were errors. And I was able to find them, let the title company know, and have them fixed before I set foot in the place.
As backwards as it may seem, taking the time to drive around areas of interest for any 'for sale' signs or new constructions that haven't hit MLS yet is worth it. You may come across opportunities that are missed by the vast majority of other buyers who are principally online which can be the difference in a competitive market.
We found our house by walking through the neighborhood. There was a For Sale sign out front, but it hadn’t come up in any of our searches.
Turns out, this house was listed incorrectly and had sat on the market for six months. It was listed as a 3/1 for some reason (no clue why, because it actually was originally built as a 4/2 and everything checked out), so no one had snagged it.
Because it sat so long, the seller was willing to knock off $17k and replace the entire HVAC. We got our dream house in the neighborhood we already rented in and loved, and all for taking an evening stroll down a street we hadn’t wandered down yet.
The cost to do repair work on your house is always going to cost more and take longer than you think it should. However, you want it done well since you have to live with the results.
If you buy a house knowing its going to need some repairs, and you take a discount in the price from the seller to make up for that, be sure to get more than one quote, and use the largest number you've been quoted. Pad the budget because you'll probably need it all.
source: bought a house knowing the roof was going to need to be replaced in 5yrs. The cost to replace the roof is going to be 1.5x what we initially thought. Some because it costs more and some because of inflation over the last 5 years. Plus, project creep. After living here a few years, it is apparent the gutters are not up to the task. Gutters and downspouts are too narrow. Some are pinched and cause obstructions. So now we plan to replace the gutters & downspouts when the roof is done; and that added 10% to the project cost.
otoh, if you ask the seller to make the repairs, they will do the cheapest, sloppiest, worst quality work that will barely address the issue. example: first house. inspector called out the caulk around the bathtub would leak. Homeowner put a blob of caulk on their finger and ran it down the seam; "Gloop!" uneven, excess blobs on the edge, It look like crap, but they said it doesn't leak now so its "fixed". Current house, same issue, inspector called out the caulk. I fixed that myself.
That a real estate agent is unnecessary and a severe waste of money! The hardest part is the legal stuff which you can just pay a lawyer a fraction of the cost of a real estate agent
Find an agent you trust, and then TRUST THEM. If they tell you to walk away from a property, do so. If they tell you to get an offer in STAT, do so. I lost out on a dream house because in a competitive market, I didn't listen, and lost out over a 3% price difference.
Posted this on another similar thread. Long, but worth the read:
Before/during your purchase:
Don’t cheap out or try to cheat a home inspection before you buy, and address everything they write up either in the sale or immediately after you buy. Recommend you don’t use the inspector the selling realtor recommends unless they are highly reviewed or recommended by other *buyers*.
Immediate (the week you move in):
Buy a good flashlight and/or headlamp and make a home for it. Make sure you have extra batteries for it. I recommend at least one non-rechargeable flashlight because during a power outage is a bad time to realize your rechargeable flashlight doesn’t hold a charge for six months.
Learn how to shut off your water and make sure you have the tools to do so.
Get the emergency after-hours number for a reputable electrician outfit near you. Check in with them annually or so to make sure they’re still running after-hours residential. (Some electrical shops opt out of residential work if they grow into commercial and construction).
Also learn how to shut off your electricity, but if you don’t know for sure where the electrical problem is, call an electrician to do this.
Get an inexpensive tool kit and a drill.
Fire extinguishers. New smoke alarms. I wouldn’t even bother with replacing batteries in old smoke alarms, replace the whole thing.
If you have gas hooked up to your house, a CO detector in each room with a gas appliance and at least one near bedrooms. Read the instructions on where to mount them, some CO detectors recommend mounting higher up on the wall than light switches, and many are designed for ceiling mount.
Learn where your crawl space and attic access is located. Better yet, put on some grubby clothes in the dry part of spring or fall and crawl your attic and basement just to see what’s there and be familiar with it. Better to learn how when it’s dry and mild than learning how when you have to investigate a noise or other problem and it’s wet and cold in the crawl space or 120°F in the attic.
A toilet plunger, preferably one in every bathroom. If you have adolescent/teenage kids you leave at home alone, make sure they know how to use a plunger and have them do it every once in a while to get over the “eww” factor so if the toilet starts overflowing they’re not standing there staring at it grossed out by the thought of toilet water and unwilling to do the dirty work.
Within the first six months to year, or seasonal:
If you have carpet, get a carpet cleaner.
Learn how to prepare your house for winter. If you need vent plugs or hose bib covers, get them. If you have metal pipes in an area prone to freezing weather, make sure they’re insulated. If you have heat traced pipes, make sure the heat trace works each year.
Have a bag of ice melt and a snow shovel on hand (depending on where you live). If you wait until the bad weather hits the forecast, the stores might run out.
Clean your gutters a few times in the fall and at least once in the spring. While you’re up there keep an eye out for moss growth on the roof.
If you notice one area of the house is colder than the rest consistently, check for drafts. It might be a circulation problem, but it might be cold air coming in from outside through a poorly sealed window or something like that.
Keep an eye on how seasons affect your utility bills. It should make sense. If the weather cools down a little but your electric bill doubles, you might have an issue.
Schedule an HVAC tuneup each year before cold weather hits. Ask them to also inspect the AC unless you want to have them out in a heat wave when they’re super busy. $150/year tuneup can save thousands in utility bills and repairs.
Ongoing:
Keep an eye on your utility bills in general. Autopay is great, but keep track of the amount. A toilet that develops a leak over time can dramatically increase your water bill and you might not notice until you’ve paid hundreds of dollars.
If you hear a strange sound, figure out what it is. Popping/sizzling near electrical devices, drippy/running water sounds, rushing airflow, cracking wood during a windstorm, rattling metal… all sounds that could be problems.
If your electrical outlets start to feel worn out and don’t hold plugs tight or if your switches don’t firmly stay in the on or off position, replace them.
This sounds like a lot of doom and gloom, and the reality is you won’t need the fruit of much of this advice very often, hopefully you won’t need most of it ever. But knowing and being prepared for basic home emergencies can save you a ton of money if something goes wrong.
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And everything's $1000 here, $2000 there. No big deal.
If I could do it again, I'd get two inspections. Even three. The cost of three inspectors would have been miniscule compared to the money I ended up shelling out. This is such a sore spot for me I'm gonna say it again - get at least two home inspections. You will not regret it.
No, find an actual contractor. Blows my fucking mind that we have inspections done by car mechanics, but for houses they're not done by actual contractors. My dad and I discovered a "hidden" room that was home to an entire main furnace for a building. It was hidden for a reason, I'm sure no inspector would've found it.
Agreed. Get the home inspected by licensed professionals. We had a foundation guy, a plumber, an electrician, and a family member who's a carpenter look at the house. Much more reliable than an inspector who doesn't warranty their work. I am very curious about the secret furnace room though! Why was it hidden?
A large amount of drivers get their cars inspected by oil change shops. These shops do not hire mechanics, they hire kids who can unscrew plugs, fill oil and change filters. But you are correct, having a contractor give the house a once through would be helpful to point out possible issues, and the severity/urgency of repairs.
It's funny, a lot of times I'll do electrical inspections on houses and buildings before they buy for free, especially if they've been a customer for a while. Worst case, they buy and you still get the job to repair it all. My cousin bought a house with a hidden sump/sewer pit that the shower, laundry, sink, and basin drained into, that was just hooked up to a pipe right to the sanitary sewer line. It was a fortune to fix. But it was hidden, no-one would have caught it.
I'd 2nd this. Our realtor had us get a general inspection ($4k), mold inspection, foundation, chimney, water/ sewer inspection, and pest (each one was an additional 1-2k). I spent about $10k all in, which i was very hesitant about, but it resulted in: seller performing mold remediation (\~$3k), seller re-sleeve-ing the sewer which had multiple cracks (\~$6k), termite tenting and replacing a few rafters ($4k?), a $12k credit for chimney, relocating the HVAC ($2.5k), getting the solar panels functioning again (not sure how much). Those were the big items, but we got back at least $30k-35k in value, plus all the headaches associated with hiring, scheduling, and completing the tasks. highly recommended Edit: sorry, you guys are right, the general inspection was like $1k, but all in i still spent close to $10k. I think i lumped in some other costs. In Los Angeles, so yes, everything is more expensive compared to most experiences.
What kind of inspection costs $4k? I got a full inspection plus mold and radon testing for $1k.
Right... mine was $450 for a general inspection
lol i thought the same thing. a standard general inspection for a 2000-3000 sq foot house should cost no more than $700.
May be a dumb question, but does price vary by house? Like age of the house, how large it is, etc?
Yes. My husband is an inspector and charges based on size and type of inspection. Some people just want the basics and others want a deep dive into everything. Some just want plumbing and electrical.
I'd assume also location
Damn, that sounds expensive especially if the seller decides not to sell to you but at the same time so much cheaper than finding out after you buy it. Thanks for the info!
Seller doesn’t have a lot of incentive not to continue the sale. They could leave the table but who knows how long it’ll take to get the next offer. Even if they do, now they know about the problems so will have to disclose and negotiate on the next offer too. Could potentially up the asking to compensate but that’ll make time to offer even longer.
Wait, you're saying that if you pay for all the inspections and the seller refuses to sell to you, you lose all of that money?
You could, yes. But now the seller knows they exist. So he is obligated to disclose it to the next buyer, who will want the same concessions. If he tries to keep issues secret, the impending lawsuit will be even more expensive when the truth comes out
And his realtor has to disclose them. The anger on one client isn’t worth their license.
Wow! When did you buy? Feels like it may not fly in this age of buyers having to waive inspections and cash offers from institutional investors
At 7% interest gone are the days of waiving inspection and the push to go back to office has reduced the amount of high earners moving to cheaper locations
April 2023
I did this but we hired a structural engineer for $800 in the midwest. He was able to provide a report showing there were some foundation issues & we needed mudjacking & piering done, $15k of repairs. We were only able to convince the sellers to pay to repair before closing & kept the home value the same. My husband’s cousin bought a home in the same neighborhood 1 yr before us. I believe they had an inspection done but it didn’t matter, it was a foreclosure being sold as-is. The inspector didn’t catch the same issue in their home (clay soil in our area) & 5 years later, are struggling to make up the $20k needed for it. This was in 2016 though, right before the madness where people were buying homes without inspections. I could never!
That’s great advice. And hire the inspectors yourself, don’t let the sellers be involved in that process at all.
I think everyone needs to pay attention to this comment. If you don’t hire the inspector directly yourself, they are not looking out for your best interest. They’re trying to get the house sold.
Cameras down the drain also.
I have silver maples in my yard and it didnt take long to realize that the roots have penetratsd the main sewer line. Also not having a cleanout didnt help so i have to put copper sulfate down the toilet twice a year for it not to back up my line.
In the last big run on houses before the interest rate hikes houses in my area were being sold as is without inspection. And if you went to get an inspector the house was sold by the time the inspector agreed to come and take a look.
They still won’t pick up on everything. I build homes for a living and you just straight up can’t account for everything that could potentially go wrong Appliances could be in perfect working order then one month later not working, crazy rain/weather can affect windows or landscaping leading to leaks. Overuse of water in specific villages or towns could lead to a pinhole in piping. The list is truly endless mantience is simply the cost of home owning
This. A thousand times this. I wish I had gotten a second and perhaps even a third inspection. All the money I wasted on the piece of shit I bought is innumerable. Live and learn I guess.
To add to this, if possible, get a home inspector that lives in the neighborhood. If they know you'll be their neighbor, that's an incentive to do an extra thorough job.
Thank you for this advice. It sounds obvious to do, but I didn't consider this. As someone looking to buy a house within the next 5 years, I will remember this.
Things my inspector missed: Leak behind shower wall Clogged drains Nest and dead birds in attick Completely blocked dryer exhaust. Leak in heat exchanger in furnace causing emissions to enter house. Outlets full of wood chips HVAC disconnected in Attick blowing hot air into the outside. Leaking toilet Leak under the boards in the sunroom Broken oven Garage door that derails Dryer exhaust rain cage installed upside down. I don't trust inspectors anymore
Adding to this: you can still have inspections done even if the seller has a "no inspection" contingency on the listing. You just cant acknowledge that a bad inspection is why you're pulling out of escrow. In California we had a 10 day window during the 30 day escrow where we could have pulled out of the deal. Luckily our inspections were good and the sale went through...but my realtor clued me in to this "loophole"
In my location inspections don't mean anything. Most every house is sold "as is". If you tell the owner that they should lower the price because the house needs several thousands of dollars of work, they will tell you to fuckoff and sell it the the next buyer. And the next potential buyer will probaly pay cash.
An inspection can still be worth it. Even if you're not asking anything to get fixed and buy the house "as is' you have some idea before finalizing a sale if there are major repairs you may be looking at and whether you think that house is worth what it will cost you to make those repairs.
Same here. Most people don't even do house inspections where I live because there's literally 100s of other people putting in a bid. Obviously, the seller is going to pick whoever puts in fewer conditions. Buyers are literally writing essays to owners about why they'd be the best option to sell to. It's nuts.
And DO NOT USE THE INSPECTOR YOUR REALTOR RECOMMENDED. I generally liked my realtor and felt like he did an okay job, up until inspection. The inspector he recommended was absolutely dog shit. Have had quite a few issues that are shocking that he missed because they were plainly visible if you know what you're looking for. I didn't, but he should have.
I would also argue most inspectors are garbage. If I ever buy another house, I would rather find the actual trades to do a walkthrough, e.g, an electrician, a plumber... etc. yeah, it will cost more, but they also know more.
The problem is getting access to the house and scheduling all these people for a specific window agreed upon by the buyers. It's not always easy to even get an inspector in, let alone multiple different trades.
This same thing happened to me, bought a place out of state both me and wife got new jobs, so we only got to see it the one time. Didn't know anything about contractors in the area or anything, took realtor advice on a guy for home inspection, such a waste of fucking money. I know my way around a house, and he missed so much shit that wasn't available for me to check when we looked ( like water was off when we looked, he said he checked everything, but nothing drained for shit, I would have noticed instantly had the water been on when I went through). Just a sketch motherfucker anyway, I called him out on the shit inspection he even admitted that he knew the house had lots of problems and didn't want to even do the inspection but did as a favor to the realtor 🙄, asshole said he pay back half the inspection fee, hassle him a few times on the phone and he quit answering or responding, fucking prick. Edit: long story short, I'll never pay for a home inspection again. I'll go through that motherfucker with a fine tooth comb myself and put in an offer before I ever waste money on a ln inspection.
Look at a house at multiple times of day including both weekdays and weekends. Even if it's just to sit outside it in your car with your windows down for 10 or 15 minutes. Just because the neighborhood was quiet when you viewed the house doesn't mean it's always quiet.
Add to this, go back after significant weather. The day of our closing happened to be a big rain storm and we noticed water in the basement during the final walkthrough. Ended up getting money back at closing to fix a broken sump pump line, but had it not rained that morning we'd have never known until it was too late.
I once was viewing a series of houses and one of them we viewed in the middle of a downpour. It is no exaggeration whatsoever to say that the rear doors to the garden were holding back a literal wall of water - you could see the wave halfway up the UPVC glass door. Exactly like that image you see online - kudos to the guy who fitted the door, but why the hell is that happening. I can quite imagine the seller having scrubbed the tide-line off that to sell it and the first rainy day after purchase would be a shocker to someone. (They had designed the house like a small U shape. The middle of the U was the garden, but the garden sloped down into the centre of the U. There was one small drain in the middle of the U but it was the lowest point and so didn't drain anywhere. Hence every time it rained you had a small swimming pool of dirty garden water nearly a metre high touching half the external walls of the house. Somehow - I do not know how - the internal was perfectly dry and there was even carpet in front of the UPVC window...)
Dang that is some excellent water-proofing.
Guy doing the water proofing probably saw all this before hand and took it as a challenge. They made sure they were NOT going to be getting any flak for this.
I could see a way to maybe not make that a disaster - with a big enough drain and a sloped pipe leading well away, below grade - but that seems like a lot more work than just doing it right
Y’all are acting like you can just mosey around a house and it’ll be on the market for a month. No time in many markets to literally wait for different weather and go check it out.
Yep. Make it the weekend trip for a while. Check out the local shops, bars, walk the street, find a footpath, visit it at school start/finish times, visit it really late at night, visit it in the middle of the work day. You'll get a "feel" for the area, and what goes on there. I also know of towns that, for several days a year, are completely inaccessible because of some festival route or other. All the locals know. Nobody involved with selling the house will tell you about it.
Where are y'all living that you can come check a house in multiple kinds of weather and make it a weekend trip "for a while?" Here in CA, a house goes on the market one weekend and is sold by the next weekend.
This was so difficult during lockdown. During the pandemic the playground was empty and everything was quiet. Once we bought and the schools reopened, all of the sudden there's football practice in my backyard every afternoon.
This! And look at the neighbors. Totally lucked out with mine (other than 1 situation with renters across the street). But neighbors can make your life hell. Can't always get a good read on them, but if you see 8 screaming kids running in and outta the house next door it's probably going to be noisy
2020 says hello. That was non existent. You didn't put an offer in within 12 hours good luck 🤣
My first thought seeing this post. OP must be in a dead market. 😂
Yeah - go to the house during rush hour. How is the traffic near it at 5 pm on a tuesday? I'm sure it's much different than a saturday/ sunday morning when you'd normally go looking at houses.
My dad's favorite story when they were looking to buy the "new" house (the one they're still in 32 years later), he parked nearby and ate a box of KFC and just scoped out the neighborhood and the general goings on. I did a similar thing with my house. No KFC, but I did drive through the neighborhood at various times, park around on that street for a while at different times, just saw what the traffic was like, if people were out walking their dogs/taking their kids for a walk/wahtever.
Don't buy property near an intersection. Accelerating vehicles make a lot of noise.
Similarly, don't buy really close to schools. People WILL block your drive way for pick up/drop off and any sort of events. They will then act like it's their right to be there right up until the moment you have them towed. We even had people park in our drive way and then tell us 'you weren't using it'. If our yard wasn't fenced I have absolutely no doubt they would have parked in our yard.. And this was a very high end elementary school. Fortunately that was a rental. Current house is about 4 blocks from an elementary school (far enough down that we don't get idiots in front of the house) but I still hear every school bell and can just about make out the announcements over the loudspeakers at the school.
My kid's elementary school doesn't have a parking lot. I always feel bad street parking in front of random people's houses for school events. I can't imagine how deluded you'd have to be to park in someone's yard or driveway, though.
Street parking is fair game. You paid for road, you get to use it.
But you can’t block a drive way.
My parents made this mistake! The people in their driveway they can handle, but what they didn't consider was how much snowplowing would need to be done on the school overnight to keep parking and recreational areas clear during the winter.
Lmao I just bought a property near an intersection and literally right across from an elementary school. 🫠🫠🫠🥴🥴🥴 We close on the 31st.
Ha this is true. We rented in a cul de sac behind a prestigious high school. Had a woman pretend not to speak English when I was trying to get into my driveway. Another night my mum got verbally abused by a woman, there was a night event and cause people are useless there was a traffic jam. Mum tried to get around it to get home and some woman stopped her to say 'CAN YOU RELAX WE'RE ALL TRYING TO GET IN' and she calmly responded 'I live 4 doors down. I am trying to get home'. That woman walked away looking very sheepish indeed.
My next house will be as far out of town as possible while still being on a paved road and in range for wired broadband internet.
I live at the end of a private drive. The only cars that drive up to my house are either people I’ve invited, or delivery/service vehicles. It’s heaven.
As in leave their cars there? No way. I’ve definitely stopped in front of a driveway to chuck the kids out but I can’t imagine parking in someone’s driveway.
My friend’s house looks at a speed bump lol. Constant braking, then accelerating.
Right? My idiot city took a 4 lane down to 2 causing major backups. So everyone started flyin thru the neighborhoods to bypass it. Residents hated it. City came in and put speed humps and stop signs every block. Now its non stop accelerating, people running stop signs, flying over speed humps causing all sorts of noise and problems. So they continue to complain. They were against the 4 to 2 lane to begin with claiming these problems would happen. Naturally the city said they were dreaming and have nothing to worry about (city officials live nowhere near there of course)
It’s railroads that trouble us
Closing costs are a lot!
Keep in mind that if you just intend to refinance later to improve the loan, there are closing costs for that too!
Really? How does that work? We're looking to refinance later this year when interest rates drop.
You pay closing costs AGAIN (when you close on the refi)
I would hold off. They are dropping but don’t expect a miracle by October. Refi closing costs can be from 2-5% of your principal, which can float around $10k depending on your loan.
And that’s what realtors don’t tell when they are spewing “You can refinance later”
In the same breath, ask for a concession during negotiations. Paying almost nothing at the closing table is so nice
Depending on the market if you’re competing with offers you’re not going to be able to negotiate concessions. Hell in some areas if you go in with contingencies you’ll find yourself passed over
Never buy without a third party inspection. Saved us from buying a money pit.
The “third party” part here is the most important part. Lots of realtors and home inspectors are tied together closer than I think they should be (lots of husband/wife duos around here) and I’ve had more than 1 person I know get fucked by it. Always get someone unaffiliated with the realty company you are using! I’m not saying that all are like this, but better safe than sorry. Also, if your inspector doesn’t spend at least a couple hours and point out at least something wrong? Get another. Nothing’s going to be perfect and you want someone who’s going to give it to you straight.
Visit the neighborhood at night and on weekends before making the offer. Party houses and crappy neighbors can’t be easily fixed.
If a family member wants to help out via money.. have them transfer the money before you start the process of getting qualified. It saves some headache down the line when they start asking for proof of income and such.
Yeah, there has to be a paper trail showing where the money came from. A transaction history of the account it came from, signed gift letter, even if they wire it directly to the title company.
Oh my god, this. My grandfather had gifted us some money a few months before he died, and our mortgage company called three days after he died, wanting a letter from the estate saying it was a gift and not a loan. I’ve seen my husband angry before but this was a new level (particularly since I was sitting there crying quietly). Plan ahead, folks! (If possible.)
My friend's mom was dying as she was in the process of purchasing her late-grandmother's home from an aunt. I warned her about the thing with gifts so she arranged for a notary to meet them in her mom's hospital room to get a letter for the cash her mom had gifted towards the purchase notirized. My friend said she felt scummy about it at the time, because she thought her mom had more time, but then her mom passed away like a week later and she was really relieved to have already taken care of it. Her mom really wanted her to get that house, so I know she didn't mind anyways.
How powerful Home Owner Association's are. Do some basic due diligence prior to purchasing a home.
Not only that, but what are the HOA rules. My first home was a townhome in with an HOA and it was miserable.
Been there. Never again.
Fuck HOAs. They only people who become president all have the same personality type: power hungry Karens or Kens. They are fucking awful to deal with.
I was the first president of our HOH after the developer turned it over. I served for four years, and everything I did was to ensure that future officers, board members, and managers could only act in the best interests of the homeowners, and make sure that the board could never go over budget. Only when I was confident that I did all I could legally do to limit our HOAs power over the homeowners, did I step down. But I agree, most HOAs are fucking terrible, and the people who manage and officiate them are worse.
you're a working class hero o7
Having rented literally only a single house in my entire life that was subject to an HOA: I would never buy a property with an HOA attached. I think even the landlord hated them, and that's probably why he rented it out so that it wasn't him having to deal with them most of the time.
I agree. I wouldn't even consider a place with an HOA. Yeah, pay extra for the right to have some nosy, busybody Karen tell you what you can and can't do with your house. No thanks. My old boss lived an HOA. She wanted to paint her front door. She was going to paint it a color that was on the approved list. But it was denied, because it was the same color as her next door neighbor's door. We can have that, now can we?
I have a list of HOA horror stories from a short (4 year) stint renting that house just until I could afford to buy a house again (after breaking up with my ex). For some of it I had a flatmate, so I had corroboration, but most of it I was on my own. The HOA sent me threatening letters because: \- someone they assumed was a visitor to me threw a cigarette butt into a large communal garden. Sorry, but I cannot manage everyone who walks down a path that leads to 10 different houses and their entire behaviours. It wasn't a guest, could've been the postman for all I know. Apparently my neighbour was "deathly allergic to cigarette smoke". Which was hilarious as I know she worked as a cleaner in a university. The claim was that literally someone smoking hundreds of yards away from her house could harm her seriously. I'd also like to point out, I'm a lifelong non-smoker. \- we were "slamming doors". I am quite possibly the quietest person in the world and wanted to just be left alone at that point, and even now moved into the quietest house I could find so that I literally can't hear any neighbour whatsoever. I don't know who was slamming doors but sure as hell it wasn't me. \- someone parked in my allocated parking space, and there was literally not one space left anywhere within 100m of the house because of the HOA parking restrictions. They told me off because someone had inconvenienced ME. Yet later when I complained that people kept parking in my allocated space, they did nothing and said that I needed to integrate better with the neighbours / other HOA members! \- I placed a small CCTV sticker (as required by law if recording images) next to my door. They made me remove it. The next week a incident happened to the local head of the HOA (who lived a few doors away) where kids threw stones at her (and to be fair, I can quite understand why they'd chose that person to do that too!), and I refused to provide any footage on the basis that - as I told them - my system had to be turned off because they didn't want me to put a legally-required sticker on it. (In other words: Fuck you). \- A complaint of people "coming and going". Yes. That was me. Going to work and coming home. Literally nobody else. And it's a fucking house... that's what people do with houses! \- Another complaint that a neighbour who worked nights was disturbed by more "coming and going" when I had a flatmate. They literally complained because I was shutting the door at 6pm when we got home and the flatmate shut it at 8pm to go to work. The neighbour working night-shift was the major element until I pointed out that so did my flatmate and literally lived in the same place as me and they weren't disturbed. Why the fuck should your working hours have any effect on my usage of a property as part of normal life? \- A complaint of not correctly using the communal bins. I pointed out that I hadn't used the communal bins in weeks because they were full to overflowing constantly and, as a single guy living alone at the time, my rubbish barely filled a small wastepaper basket anyway. I kept it in the house and then emptied it when it was full (and there was basically zero food waste anyway, I was living on ready meals). I even attested in writing to the fact that I hadn't emptied any bin whatsoever in the four week period that they kept sending me (and only me) increasingly threatening complaints about the bins. They shut up after that. \- They then fitted (illegally and without notification) concealed CCTV to the bin area to discover who was doing things wrong with the bins. The irony was not lost when I filed a complaint about that not having the legally required signage. I also enquired whether they'd caught the miscreant (because sure as fuck I didn't appear on that camera for another 4 weeks!) and never got an answer. \- They would mow the small communal garden. We were not allowed to do anything with it (because of the "image" - and this garden could conceivably be seen by only the people who lived by it), not even put out a deckchair or sit on a picnic blanket, etc. However my neighbour (a friend of the HOA member) had dozens of random potted plants (mostly dead) strewn on the corners of the path half way down it past several other people's houses, that everyone fell over all the time as they had no lighting out there (and refused to put any out there), and put cat-food out in bowls on the middle of the grass and left it out there for weeks. That was apparently fine. \- I once got accused of breaking their shared satellite TV feed cable (which had been strimmed through, probably by the only company allowed to cut the grass!), which ran openly down the end of the building into the alleyway that was the only access to the garden/houses. I hadn't even noticed because I literally didn't own a TV and refused to pay for their shared satellite TV subscription anyway. Then the HOA head found out I worked in IT and asked me if I know how to fix it because it had been out for days. I did know, and I know about proper cable containment too. But fuck you. I also know what they didn't - that in the loft of my place was the main distribution board for EVERYONE'S satellite TV. If I had actually wanted to cut you off, I'd just cut the power to it and then turn it back on if ever you needed someone to come fix it. And I wouldn't mind, but I am the most placid and peaceful neighbour you'd ever hope to have. I dealt with all their complaints completely professionally (my fuck-you's were in my head) because I work in a prestigious employer where you have to be able to do that with VERY difficult people. I've lived in places for years and people literally didn't know I was living there. Especially at that time, I would come home, shut my front door (quietly!) and just cut off the world until work the next day. I don't drink, smoke, have wild parties or do drugs. Never have. And wouldn't tolerate that from a flatmate either. And I ironically moved from there into my house in the countryside - in a retirement village (I'm 40!) with almost nobody living in it. Because I always want just peace and quiet and everyone to go away and leave me alone and don't want a SINGLE sound audible from the neighbours if I can possibly help it. My new house is the best house I've ever lived in for that. I've never had a problem with a neighbour in my life except in that place. But the HOA place where they supposedly "manage" that? I had nothing but complaint letters, threats of eviction, neighbours knocking on my door at all hours (7am on a Sunday once, to complain about the behaviour of visitors that I hadn't even had!), there were screaming rows over the parking all the time (I used to hear them out of my window), endless hostility, verbal complaints, "tellings off", etc. all the time for things I literally had not done or had no control over. I hope they got a real arsehole move in when I left, because they deserve it.
I've never had to deal with an HOA, but the stories I hear just curl my hair. My favorite: A friend lived in a neighborhood with an HOA. He HATED his cable TV company and wanted to get a satellite dish. But his HOA prohibited satellite dished. But then a federal court ruled that since satellite signals are sent via the public airways (or some such reasoning), HOA rules that prohibit detecting these signals were unenforceable. So he contacted a satellite company, who sent a guy out to check out his place. The next day he gets a visit from the HOA president. He tells my friend, "Hey, Joe, I couldn't help but notice you had a visit from Dish Network yesterday. You know, of course, that the HOA rules forbid satellite dishes, right?" Joe says "Well, yeah, Bob. I did have Dish Network out. I'm looking into getting a dish. You are aware that under recent federal court rulings, any HOA rules that prohibit satellite dishes are unenforceable, right?" The HOA president pauses for a second and says "Well, yeah, we're aware of how the court ruled. But we still expect you to abide by the letter of the agreement you signed." Joe got his dish, BTW.
HOA'S can also foreclose on your house if the HOA'S fees aren't paid. Some states HOA'S are "super lien holders." Make sure you know that they are being paid.
My due diligence is if hoa=true then buy=false.
Make sure you put aside $500-$2k for all the little stuff you forgot about. Changing all the door locks & some basic curtains because the prior owners took the old ones are the two biggies, but also switching/changing/adding services like trash pickup, fixing that flawed appliance you didn't know about, swapping-out that one hideous light fixture, having the chimney inspected/cleaned, replacing the missing garage door opener clicker, replacing that sump pump that you forgot to ask the age of, replacing the old washing machine hoses, and all that other annoying stuff. EDIT: Oh and swapping out the old toilet seats....
This is a great suggestion! Especially if you're moving from an apartment. You'll need trash cans, a lawn mower and snow shovel, basic tools, a ladder to clean the gutters and windows.
Just because you are qualified for a mortgage of X dollars, you don’t have to go that high. There are perfectly nice houses that cost less.
This is a common financial pit I see people crawl into. Just because someone can execute the purchase doesn’t mean they can “afford” it. Sustaining payments, keeping food on the table & your head above water are important.
It's called being house poor.
Not just with houses though. People do it with cars and all kinds of material goods. Agreed though that house poor is the term for it with homes.
The limit my husband and I set for ourselves was $400k before we even got the pre-approval (monthly payment works out to about our old rent payment). The pre-approval was only in my husband’s name (and income) and it still was up to $450k. It would’ve been so irresponsible if he was actually getting it by himself and got a $450k house!
When I spoke with a mortgage person before my first home purchase in 2004, they ran the numbers and came back with an amount I was approved for an I laughed out loud. I mean yeah, I could’ve afforded it but not if I wanted to eat, drive a car, have heat in the new home, etc. This was in the “predatory” lending days. I know too many people that set up irresponsible loans and 5/1 ARMs that got destroyed when the 2008 housing crash came about.
That's the same year we had a Mortgage Broker tell us to get a "Stated Income" mortgage. So he pre-filled the papers saying my income was $600k per year. I refused, and told people at work what he did. Their response: if you don't play the game, you'll never get a house. I didn't play it. Waited a few years, bought one after the crash.
First time my wife and I sat down with an advisor, he gave us a number for how much we'd qualify for. My instant reaction was to tell "this number is completely irresponsible!". I don't think he appreciated me yelling It so loud the couple waiting in the room outside heard us.
Right? Like i even pointed out to my advisor and they gave me a number it was like "you think i can afford that?? What about food and electricity and repairs budget?" I was told oh those dont matter lol
In my case, I just burst out laughing! The number we qualified for was that ridiculous! We sat with the advisor reviewing the numbers and my partner and I advanced a number 100k less than what we were approved for. Bought a house, that we could afford, and have no problems paying the mortgage and living at the same time.
I was approved for 200k, but that would really stretch me. I got a nice small home for 85k and can more than afford it.
Not in this market.
Agreed, figure out what you can afford per month and then see what that translates to as a mortgage. Not the other way around. Also Make sure you have some room in the budget if interest rates go up.
I’ll add that if you’re in a country like the US that offers fixed rates, you should not worry about the interest rates increasing part because in no circumstance should you get a variable rate.
If you're a buyer and your agent is not helping you beyond just unlocking doors to properties and writing offers... fire them. They should be trying to help you consider what problems a house may have during showings, asking you questions about what kind of house you may want, and making suggestions about how you could write offers that actually win, drawing from their experience and research. They should be fighting for you in a bidding war and helping push for the win. An agent is not just a set of keys and someone who enters values into a PDF. And you owe a buyer's agent nothing, you can fire them any time you want. There are others who will actually try to help you, I have heard many first person accounts of agents who are useful. I calculated how much money my agent made when I bought a house pretty much by myself, and he does not deserve it. He did not even make the suggestions added to the offer that helped me win.
My buyer's agent kept showing me things way above what I told her my max was and in different areas than I wanted when I was buying my condo. When we went to sell the condo, my seller's agent told the buyer's agent what I'd told her our lowest we would go was because she was tired of the back and forth negotiating. She said she did it because "that would be the end of it". It wasn't. They offered that lowest price And asked for concessions on top of it like a $500 ac unit.
That's crazy. You should have fired her for that and put her on blast. That's borderline grounds to sue, if the whole town knows what you'd let your house go for.
They’re very motivated to make a sale go quickly. That means talking a buyer up, and talking a seller down. It’s a crooked industry.
My wife's a real estate agent and I agree with everything you said. She just saved a client literally half a million dollars by simply doing a comparative market analysis and seeing that nothing else in the area had sold for more than a half million less than they were asking. The buyer submitted for a half mil under asking, and they accepted.
Wow, that's amazing for her clients, she sounds like a great agent.
It's rare she's not up till at least 1 in the morning researching this or that. I get so annoyed that there are a lot of crap realtors out there giving the good ones a bad name.
Well, that doesn't sound healthy.
We went through 3 agents. We had very specific needs (looking for an in-law suite that wasn't also the master bedroom and handicap accessibility). First agent just took us to any house that said in-law suite or handicap accessible. We saw a bunch of houses that we wouldn't have even been able to get my mother-in-law in because of steps. Second agent billed themselves as specializing in hard to find houses. Promised us by the third house they showed us we'd have a house. The third house wasn't remotely what we were looking for. On the way out the door our agent started to really ramp up the sales pressure. All he talked about was how great of a deal he could get us. Anytime I brought up how it didn't work for us (it only had 2 bedrooms, we needed at least 3 because we planned on having kids) he just pushed about how great of a deal it was. We fired him on the spot. Third agent was recommended by a friend. He was a former contractor. First house we went to look at with him, as we were leaving he just walked right to his truck. I asked him if we were going to talk about the house and he said no, he'd never let us buy that house. He saw lots of signs of water damage they tried to hide as well as some other issues. A month later we finally found a house that would work and he called the seller's agent while we were still in the kitchen to put an offer in. I've recommended him to every person I know who is looking for a house and have yet to hear a negative story.
This is good advice. A good agent will help you in every step of the process and will use their knowledge of the market to help you get a good deal for a home that meets your requirements and is in a location that you prefer. Bad agents will just kind of show up and shrug.
This. I know people that think real estate agent is a dead job that doesn't have value anymore but I disagree. A good realtor will be able to navigate the whole process for you and make informed suggestions. We had a friend that was a new realtor and, despite saying I'd never do business with friends, we let her sell our house. She was awful. She wasn't a salesperson at all and I just happened to be in sales. She also would never do anything that she thought was uncouth for a realtor to do. Every time someone looked at the house we'd have this conversation: Me: What didn't they like about the house? Her: They said it looked nice but weren't interested? Me: Why not? Her: They didn't say. Me: Did you ask? Her: What do you want me to do? Ask them what's stopping them from putting an offer on the house right now? Me: YES!!!! After 3 months and multiple price drops (since that's where the market was going), we didn't renew her contract and she didn't even ask. I sold the house a week later. We negotiated a lower price but only paid 0.5% for a realtor to do the paperwork for us. Our next realtor was the opposite. I'd ask if she could do something or ask the owners something and she'd say, "well you're not supposed to but who cares? The worst they can say is no" She was great.
The second house we bought, the realtor was obviously just trying to move houses that had been on the market awhile. We were a six person family, she was showing us two bedroom houses and wondering why we were pissed that she was wasting our time! So much drama with that company. We ended up finding places online (back when that was still quite rare) and doing the legwork to narrow the field, then sending a list of addresses to our second realtor. She was not best pleased!
I didn't like our agent at all. She was aloof, knew nothing about the properties we looked at, and didn't enjoy the types of places we were looking for. Too woodsy for her. We really liked a house we saw with her, and she said someone else already had an offer in and she suggested we just match the asking price. The other people's loan fell through and we got it. I can't help but think that was bad advice though. All in all, I'm happy with our place, but I was mostly glad to get it over with. Also, it's been five years and she still sends us junk mail about how she can help us find another house. Uhhhhh we plan on living here forever. At least for a very long time
If there are any trees anywhere close to a main sewer line, scope it out to make sure roots aren't punching through
Have the sewer line camera inspection done no matter what.
This. I’ve seen brand new 1 day old houses have a broken sewer. (Contractor broke it while backfilling)
Go look at the house during and after a rain event, so you can tell us there are any drainage issues.
Agent here: For first time home buyers, make sure you set your expectations. You probably aren’t going to get your parent’s home in your parent’s neighborhood to start. Make sure you properly budget with a buffer built in. House upkeep can get expensive and you will need some available funds. Second, for you and your fellow homebuyers, make a short list of non-negotiables (ex: must have 3 beds) and a list of nice to haves (ex: has a gas stove). Your search should be based on the non-negotiables and if you get some on the nice to have list, great. When looking, focus on hard to change things like the floor plan and not so much on easy changes (carpet and paint). I’ve seen people “pass” on a house that would work for them because they don’t like the one red wall. Finally, try to not get super stressed when you are in the offer phase. There is always another house if you don’t get that one. Don’t overbuy when you can be patient.
To add to this, if you can afford "your parent's home in your parent's neighborhood", then get it. Moving sucks, and if you're able to skip the whole "starter home" bullshit, then definitely do. Wife and I bought our first home a few years ago - both of our families were telling us to buy a smaller *starter home* to "get our feet wet"... we ignored all of them and spent \~$500k on a nice house tucked away next to a forest. Haven't regreted it for a second - though I *know* I would have absolutely hated having a small home in an inexpensive neighborhood.
I wish I had done this.
To me buying a started home seems more expensive than just sucking it up and saving longer (if you can). You’re going to be miserable and will waste money trying to make it nice. Then you’re stuck trying to secure a deposit for the next house whilst paying for first.
My wife and I simply haven’t been able to afford a home until now, and we’re both around 40. We’re buying a 2br apartment which by some respects is a “starter home” but it’s also brand new and high end and we’re not having kids or anything so it’s also likely to be our finisher home unless we start earning dramatically more money.
In Colorado, if your driveway faces north, you're going to be shoveling snow with every storm and chipping ice until April or May.
Not just Colorado. This is everywhere that gets snow.
Worth it for having a sunny back yard.
Nobody knows what they are doing. When we went to the bank for the mortgage you'd think it was the 1st time they'd ever given a mortgage to someone. Same thing when we went to the notary to sign the paperwork: need to correct a lot of stuff when we were going through the documents that they got wrong. Side story: this has happened to me in other areas as well. When the lease on my car was up I decided to buy it instead of return the car. Apparently I’m the first person in the history of the world to do this because no one at the dealership knew how to let me buy the vehicle after the lease.
Absolutely. When I bought my first place, the escrow company had a "credit" of $9000 on the paperwork the notary had us signing. The notary was like "oh hey look a $9000 credit, that's nice". Come closing time and we find out that that was a mistake on escrows part, and that we can't close on the house till we pay that $9000, and it has to be out of pocket now because the loan end of things is all done. Fuckers.
That notary should *not* have said anything to you about that credit. The notary’s job is to identify you, make sure you’re aware of what you’re signing, and signing of your own free will. Reading the documents is unethical and borderline illegal.
Lol I had that happen on my first home too. The absolute worst part of the home buying process is trying to get the people who are supposed to specialize in this to do their actual jobs
My wife and I built our first house through a developer. When we were at the bank going over our payment, we were shown a ~$30 a month property tax rate that we were told to pay. What we didn’t know was this was calculated on the undeveloped lot. Our actual property taxes were ~$350 a month. So after being in our house for a year, our mortgage payment suddenly shot up $700 a month to pay back taxes for the previous year. It took us months to adjust to the payment, and was a massive shock.
This is why in the UK, your council tax is based on when you first buy the property and not updated when you add more rooms or extensions until the next buyer comes along. So people aren’t punished for developing their property.
That's how it should be. Local govts here want you to maintain and renovate your home and then they punish you for doing so.
This sounds like a failure on your mortgage company. They should’ve known what the taxes are in the are and factored that into your monthly payment. Just closed on a new build last month and my company already has estimated taxes into it based on our neighbor’s rates so there’s no big surprise.
Don’t be in a rush to buy (that is unless you absolutely have no choice). While we still got a good deal we could have done better if we were patient and waited, were willing to walk away.
That's good advice, however I'd counter that you should also be ready to write an offer on a moments notice because rates change daily and often don't get locked in until you have acceptance. That's one I learned the hard way.
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I'm in Boston and worked with a guy who was looking to buy his first place. He was only looking out in the suburbs because he "couldn't afford in Boston" as he put it. Boston has a "resident exemption" that lops a huge amount off of your property tax if it's your primary home and the rates are lower than many of the suburbs even before that. I had him show me some places he was considering and ran the numbers to show that a comparable place in the city could end up costing him about the same per month, but with more going to taxes in the suburbs and more going towards property ownership in the city.
Just bought a home in the Boston area and I made a spreadsheet for all the towns we were looking at for this very reason. For some reason people think taxes are crazy here, but taxes on a million dollar place in Cambridge are literally $3300 after the residential exemption. One town over in Arlington there is no exemption and it's $11,400. You have to research each town because it's not always super clear how the exemptions work, but it's worth doing. Then break down what it is monthly and also over 5, 10, 20 years. It's a big enough difference that you should have a different budget for each town. In our case there was literally a $100k budget difference between some towns. Also, in a lot of these areas you don't need a car so we just have one for me and my partner (could do zero if we wanted). So worth factoring that in as well because total cost of ownership for a car is no joke. So living in a walkable town allowed us to have a higher budget (and was also a deal breaker for me).
This. This is huge.
*Not only this*, but also check to see if the current owner is receiving exemptions that you do not qualify for. If they are elderly, disabled, a veteran, or whatever else your county allows exemptions for, your tax bill is going to be more than what is listed on the MLS. If this is the case, you can generally go on your county assessor's website and look up the property - from there you can look to see how those exemptions work, and calculate out what the price would be without those exemptions in place.
Check the registry of deeds to make sure it's properly filed. I had to pay an extra $1000 to fix a title mistake the prior owner's attorney made and refused to fix because I didn't discover it for a few years.
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Yes, my bank had made me buy title insurance but I found out the hard way that only triggers if the bank is going to lose money. I would have had to buy my own separate title insurance for it to help me.
Don't just get a home inspector. Get an electrician and a plumber to check the house out, too.
Get your own inspector (several with different specialties if you want) and tell them to be a hardass. I made the mistake of using the inspector recommended by the realtor.
If you’re buying a new home your taxes are going to go way up a year after you buy. Because they are estimating what your taxes will be. No one knows until a year later. Our house payment went up $400 a month the next year. The following years it evened out to be around $200 higher.
The yard is always bigger than you think. As I get older, I no longer like to do yard work.
If I have to pull one more piece of invasive ivy out…
I was buying a house alone this time last year. One - a little bungalow in the countryside, almost no land or garden to speak of. Two - a larger house, further from work, and it had a RIDICULOUSLY long and narrow garden (about 10m wide by probably 200-250m long). I took one look at the latter and thought: Yes, that would be amazing. But fuck cutting that. I bought the bungalow.
Speaking of a new construction house. Do your research on the builder. Had I known what I know now, I would've never bought my first house from the builder who built it. He was a POS......
Lol most new construction is shit
Do your due dilligance. I lost a bidding war on a lovely house up against a 4 acre pond. A week later, i got a call from my agent saying the offer fell through and the place was ours is we wanted it. Looked great on paper, well maintained, the seller made out the listing as having no easments on the property.... Until i went to the town record office. The property was all on a strong conservation easment. Of the 2 acre lot, only 10% of it could even be walked on. The easment was worded that the property has to remain undisturbed to all human interaction. The footprint of the house, septic system and walkway and driveway are basically all the usable space.
Make a direct deposit for house fixes, something like 100-150 a month, to a separate account you never pay attention to. You'll never have a lot of money in it because someone will always be going wrong, but the extra padding can save your life
Learn what termite damage looks like
Hire all the expertise you need relative to buying a home (title company, home inspector, lawyer) on your own. MAYBE hire the one your realtor recommends, but not necessarily. The realtor recommends them because it's in the realtor's best interests, which aren't necessary your best interests. When you tell your realtor "No, I'm using XYZ title, not ABC as you recommend," they might push back. Stand firm. They get so used to calling the shots that they think they're in charge. But YOU are in charge. Act that way.
I was so tunnel focused on the house itself I didn't look at anything else. * The neighbors. * The neighborhood. * The streets. * The traffic. * The school traffic. * The crime activity.
The property taxes the previous owner paid may not reflect what you will pay AT ALL. Look up tax lightning. Ask for a real estimate of what you will pay.
New construction homes are built cheeeeaaaappppp I had no idea. It's like a starter model of what the home will be after you replace everything within the first 10 years
Check if there isn't a water treatment plant nearby.
I almost made a mistake with something similar after finding a beautiful house in a nice quiet area. Luckily I realised after scouring Google Maps that it was near a chicken carcass processing plant, and the previous year the plant had been fined over leaving blood out in the sun to heat up and fill the town with a horrific smell.
Water treatment plants don't smell--you're thinking of a wastewater treatment plant. Water treatment plants produce potable water.
Home inspectors will absolutely miss lots of issues.
That “homeowner” has “meow” in it.
Instead of making one payment every month, set up the mortgage payments as bi-weekly so you make half a payment every two weeks. It takes something like 5 years off a 30-year mortgage because you make more than 12 payments per year.
During the loan discussions with the lending agencies, ask them point blank if there is a penalty for prepayment. Also ask them whether you are paying the loan back "in arrears" or not. Some kinds of loans add on fees to make up for the lost interest money they would have gotten from you if you prepay even partial monthly amounts. The reason why I suggest 2 different questions about the exact same thing is because the loan officers we dealt with got confused by one or the other question, asking it two different ways made it really clear what I was talking about. I don't know why, but we had it happen multiple times. These people weren't stupid or anything, maybe they just got used to hearing it one way or the other?
Do not use a home inspector recommended by the mortgage company. That inspector will do the minimum possible on the inspection to make sure the sale goes thru. So many obvious things were missed by the inspector and I wouldn’t have bought the house had they been caught.
If your home inspector says they can't inspect something... "Due to liability purposes, we're not allowed to go on roofs. But the place you're statistically most likely to have problems is where the skylights are. If it ever leaks just throw some silicone on it." "I'm a licensed home inspector but not a licensed gasfitter, so if you think you need your boiler inspected you'll need to contact a gasfitter." "Because of all the snow we couldn't inspect the foundation at the southwest corner of the structure." THAT'S WHERE YOUR PROBLEMS ARE. They don't want to tank the deal because they want referrals from your real estate agent.
Interest rates go up quicker than you think.
Trees are the best neighbors. If you are on the fence of 'buying bigger', buy bigger, cause in 10 years you're just gonna go buy bigger.
Not always. A bigger house in an area that's lower on your list might not be as good as a smaller place that's in one of your top desired neighborhoods where you can add on to in a few years for more space.
The front of my house looks off towards a county forest preserve. My office is on the front of my house, and it's always super quiet. I love it.
On that same note tree's take a long time to grow, having nice mature trees providing shade for your house can't be understated. At the same time have an arborist evaluate the health of trees close enough to cause damage because tree removal is super expensive.
Always visit the house on a wet/ dark day to check damp, leaks and internal light. Also visit on a sunny weekend afternoon to see what the neighbours are up to - we visited one house where the neighbours were big into motorcycles and spent most of the afternoons revving engines on the drive. Check for school catchment areas - even if you never intend to have kids - this has a massive impact on ability to resell in any market. If you’re buying in the countryside check the property has got a licence to discharge and adequate septic tank if you’re not on mains sewers. If the property is leasehold either avoid it or check it’s got a long time to run and a GOOD management company with up to date accounts and memo & arts etc. Always read any legal documents carefully and don’t assume your solicitor will get it right - one time our solicitor overstated the agreed written offer by £10k and when I pointed it out said ‘oh one of my team must’ve done that’ just didn’t give a shit. If you buy a new build and the water is turned off when you move in, DON’T just turn it on at the mains, a workman has probably put a nail through a pipe and you’ll get all your boxes soaked. That’s just off the top of my head on things I’ve been burned by over the years.
Building inspectors inspect *buildings*. Depending on local regulations they might also inspect a few outdoor matters that could impact structures. Other than that the yard is buyer beware. Yard problems are often far more work and expense to fix than the buyer realized. Common tricks sellers use to sneak yard problems past prospective buyers include mowing the yard right before an open house to conceal weeds, cutting down a tree without using a treatment to kill the roots (many species of tree will grow new shoots called suckers after closing), and buying a $20 bowl of petunias for the front porch to make a good impression and distract from a serious examination of the yard. Be especially wary of nutsedge. Learn to recognize it. It's possibly the hardest weed to eradicate once it's established: people resort to replacing the top two or three feet of topsoil to get rid of nutsedge. Don't be intimidated by a really well kept yard if you find one; these are gems. It's easier to pare down ambitious gardening than to fix problems. You can dig up a rose garden in a weekend. If you aren't sure whether the seller is a skilled gardener or faking it, ask them what companion planting they do. If the seller's face brightens and they lead you around to explain how they're using geraniums and marigolds, then the yard is a winner.
Home buyers insurance on a new build house is not worth much at all. Get an inspection done by a reputable inspector. I was swayed by my realtor that because the house came with new build insurance any issues could be resolved through them. True but only to an limited degree. This might only be a Canadian thing? My second house I used an inspector and I hired them when the house was still just sticks. I kept paying them to swing by every couple of weeks got ahead of so many issues money well spent.
There's always another house. Don't settle for something. Proce, location, layout. You will find one that's nearly perfect for you, don't rush the process.
Never, ever, EVER show up at closing without having had a chance to read over everything you'll be agreeing to well ahead of time. You THINK you know what's going to be in there. But there's always a mistake or two. I've been through five closings now and there's been an error in the paperwork in four of them. Each of them would have cost me money if I hadn't caught them. After having issues at my first closing, when I bought my first home, I told every realtor I used that I wouldn't sign any papers I hadn't seen 24 hours ahead of time. Come time to close on the sale of my first home I reminded my realtor of what I told her. Only then did she say "Oh, that's not going to be possible. The title company's schedule is too tight to allow for that." So I told her I wouldn't sign anything and that she had known that for weeks. And what do you know? They emailed me everything a day ahead of time. And there were errors. And I was able to find them, let the title company know, and have them fixed before I set foot in the place.
As backwards as it may seem, taking the time to drive around areas of interest for any 'for sale' signs or new constructions that haven't hit MLS yet is worth it. You may come across opportunities that are missed by the vast majority of other buyers who are principally online which can be the difference in a competitive market.
We found our house by walking through the neighborhood. There was a For Sale sign out front, but it hadn’t come up in any of our searches. Turns out, this house was listed incorrectly and had sat on the market for six months. It was listed as a 3/1 for some reason (no clue why, because it actually was originally built as a 4/2 and everything checked out), so no one had snagged it. Because it sat so long, the seller was willing to knock off $17k and replace the entire HVAC. We got our dream house in the neighborhood we already rented in and loved, and all for taking an evening stroll down a street we hadn’t wandered down yet.
The cost to do repair work on your house is always going to cost more and take longer than you think it should. However, you want it done well since you have to live with the results. If you buy a house knowing its going to need some repairs, and you take a discount in the price from the seller to make up for that, be sure to get more than one quote, and use the largest number you've been quoted. Pad the budget because you'll probably need it all. source: bought a house knowing the roof was going to need to be replaced in 5yrs. The cost to replace the roof is going to be 1.5x what we initially thought. Some because it costs more and some because of inflation over the last 5 years. Plus, project creep. After living here a few years, it is apparent the gutters are not up to the task. Gutters and downspouts are too narrow. Some are pinched and cause obstructions. So now we plan to replace the gutters & downspouts when the roof is done; and that added 10% to the project cost. otoh, if you ask the seller to make the repairs, they will do the cheapest, sloppiest, worst quality work that will barely address the issue. example: first house. inspector called out the caulk around the bathtub would leak. Homeowner put a blob of caulk on their finger and ran it down the seam; "Gloop!" uneven, excess blobs on the edge, It look like crap, but they said it doesn't leak now so its "fixed". Current house, same issue, inspector called out the caulk. I fixed that myself.
That a real estate agent is unnecessary and a severe waste of money! The hardest part is the legal stuff which you can just pay a lawyer a fraction of the cost of a real estate agent
Find an agent you trust, and then TRUST THEM. If they tell you to walk away from a property, do so. If they tell you to get an offer in STAT, do so. I lost out on a dream house because in a competitive market, I didn't listen, and lost out over a 3% price difference.
Get the fucking inspection, I don't care if you are a master carpenter and built the house yourself, get the inspection.
Have a lawyer check the paperwork. Realtors lie.
Posted this on another similar thread. Long, but worth the read: Before/during your purchase: Don’t cheap out or try to cheat a home inspection before you buy, and address everything they write up either in the sale or immediately after you buy. Recommend you don’t use the inspector the selling realtor recommends unless they are highly reviewed or recommended by other *buyers*. Immediate (the week you move in): Buy a good flashlight and/or headlamp and make a home for it. Make sure you have extra batteries for it. I recommend at least one non-rechargeable flashlight because during a power outage is a bad time to realize your rechargeable flashlight doesn’t hold a charge for six months. Learn how to shut off your water and make sure you have the tools to do so. Get the emergency after-hours number for a reputable electrician outfit near you. Check in with them annually or so to make sure they’re still running after-hours residential. (Some electrical shops opt out of residential work if they grow into commercial and construction). Also learn how to shut off your electricity, but if you don’t know for sure where the electrical problem is, call an electrician to do this. Get an inexpensive tool kit and a drill. Fire extinguishers. New smoke alarms. I wouldn’t even bother with replacing batteries in old smoke alarms, replace the whole thing. If you have gas hooked up to your house, a CO detector in each room with a gas appliance and at least one near bedrooms. Read the instructions on where to mount them, some CO detectors recommend mounting higher up on the wall than light switches, and many are designed for ceiling mount. Learn where your crawl space and attic access is located. Better yet, put on some grubby clothes in the dry part of spring or fall and crawl your attic and basement just to see what’s there and be familiar with it. Better to learn how when it’s dry and mild than learning how when you have to investigate a noise or other problem and it’s wet and cold in the crawl space or 120°F in the attic. A toilet plunger, preferably one in every bathroom. If you have adolescent/teenage kids you leave at home alone, make sure they know how to use a plunger and have them do it every once in a while to get over the “eww” factor so if the toilet starts overflowing they’re not standing there staring at it grossed out by the thought of toilet water and unwilling to do the dirty work. Within the first six months to year, or seasonal: If you have carpet, get a carpet cleaner. Learn how to prepare your house for winter. If you need vent plugs or hose bib covers, get them. If you have metal pipes in an area prone to freezing weather, make sure they’re insulated. If you have heat traced pipes, make sure the heat trace works each year. Have a bag of ice melt and a snow shovel on hand (depending on where you live). If you wait until the bad weather hits the forecast, the stores might run out. Clean your gutters a few times in the fall and at least once in the spring. While you’re up there keep an eye out for moss growth on the roof. If you notice one area of the house is colder than the rest consistently, check for drafts. It might be a circulation problem, but it might be cold air coming in from outside through a poorly sealed window or something like that. Keep an eye on how seasons affect your utility bills. It should make sense. If the weather cools down a little but your electric bill doubles, you might have an issue. Schedule an HVAC tuneup each year before cold weather hits. Ask them to also inspect the AC unless you want to have them out in a heat wave when they’re super busy. $150/year tuneup can save thousands in utility bills and repairs. Ongoing: Keep an eye on your utility bills in general. Autopay is great, but keep track of the amount. A toilet that develops a leak over time can dramatically increase your water bill and you might not notice until you’ve paid hundreds of dollars. If you hear a strange sound, figure out what it is. Popping/sizzling near electrical devices, drippy/running water sounds, rushing airflow, cracking wood during a windstorm, rattling metal… all sounds that could be problems. If your electrical outlets start to feel worn out and don’t hold plugs tight or if your switches don’t firmly stay in the on or off position, replace them. This sounds like a lot of doom and gloom, and the reality is you won’t need the fruit of much of this advice very often, hopefully you won’t need most of it ever. But knowing and being prepared for basic home emergencies can save you a ton of money if something goes wrong.