My advice: Try and work with good people. Anybody can get a license to sell real estate. It takes only a weekend. Most companies will hire just about anyone, since they only pay commission. As a result of these two things you end up with a lot of clueless real estate agents.
Make sure that your broker is a pro. Find out how much business they do (how many homes they sell per year.) Don’t work with someone who only has the job as an excuse to get out of the house and away from the kids for a couple of afternoons a week.
Also, many real estate agents/ mortgage people/ closing atty’s/ etc are very shady characters. Don’t be embarrased if you are not comfortable with them. If you don’t like them, fire them. You can tell your mortgage guy you want a different lawyer. You can tell your broker that you want a different morgage guy. You can always go and get a different broker.
If you have a broker who is:
a. Honest
and
b. Competent
Then you are probably going to be OK.
(My Mom’s a good broker who’s been in the business for 20 years. I’m doing an condo development project with her right now, we close next week.)
As has been mentioned above, a GREAT inspector is probably the single greatest thing you can spend your money on.
My wife and I had a bid accepted on a home, but when it was time for the inspection, we knew we weren’t buying it even before we went inside. But we had the inspector continue his work, and we paid very close attention to everything he said during the inspection. If we hadn’t had such a great inspector, we’d have been stuck with repair bills higher than the purchase price of the home.
The next house we bid on was in much better shape and was the house we ended up purchasing 4 years ago. The inspector made a point when he was done to say that we did a much better job “pre-inspecting” the eventually purchased home.
Though we had to pay for an inspection on a house that we didn’t purchase, the few hundred dollars of “insurance” that it bought us was a bargain in comparison to the mistake we could have made.
Of course, our Buyer’s agent did put in a condition of sale being that the home passed the inspection.
While I liked our buyer’s agent, and was the same agent that friends of ours used, in retrospect, I wish we had thought to contact Debaser’s mom (Debaser is an IRL friend of mine), but didn’t realize that she covered the area we were looking. The point being that if you know folks that have purchased homes in your area, ask for a referal from them, ask their opinion of the folks they used. Chances are if they are happy with the experience, you’ll likely be happy as well.
If you’re using insulation that comes in rolls, it’s not hard to install. Blown insulation can be tricky … I’ve never done that myself, but several homeowner-type places (such as Lowe’s or Home Depot) sell that type of insulation and will rent the blowers to install it. I’m sure they’d be able to show you how it works.
Last winter, I insulated our basement. It was time-consuming, and you have to take precautions (a dust mask is a MUST, along with a good pair of goggles, good gloves, and thick long-sleeve shirts and pants; insulation itches like the devil). But I saved hundreds of bucks doing it myself, and I was a novice when I started. (We hired a contractor to finish part of our basement in the spring, and one of the best compliments I ever got in my life came from him. He looked at the insulation I put in and said, “You did a great job on this. It looks better than the guy I use.”)
Attics are usually insulated, but basements frequently are not. Insulating them can keep your house much more comfortable in the summer and winter. You also want to make sure the insulation has the correct R-value for your area of the country.
Check some online sites that specialize in do-it-yourself home projects for more information on installing insulation.
I’m kind of getting in over my head talking too much about insulation. My experience has been that it’s really hard to get into all the nooks and crannies in the attic. In my current house, which is 1 1/2 floors, it would be impossible without ripping out all the walls.
It’s quite common home buyer psychology to tell yourself you’re going to take care of something, but after you buy it, unless you’re quite the fixer-man, you let things slide. This may be because you talked yourself into thinking you could do something you couldn’t, or would rather not. Even more often it’s because houses are a great demonstration of the 2nd law of thermodynamics. They are always trying to fall apart, and so there’s always something that needs fixing. Better to have as many things as possible done right before you move in. Someday I may actually take that advice.
Another vote for using a good inspector. Ask people you trust for recommendations and try to talk to several before hiring one. I also had a couple of friends who are knowledgeable about houses walk through my house with me. Each one noticed different items.
I bought the house directly from the owners and walked through the house 3 times with family and friends before signing the contract; it felt kind of funny to be dragging all kinds of people through their house, but it worked out really well. The inspector still found some items that no one else had noticed, but that made me feel like I was getting my money’s worth. By the time I’d gotten everyone’s feedback, I was very comfortable with my decision to buy. I haven’t had any nasty surprises in the five years I’ve been here. ::Knocks on wood::
Basements: the house is over 70 years old and has an unfinished basement. As far as I can tell, just about all the basements in my neighborhood are like that. I get a little water in the basement if it rains very heavily for a short time or if we have a really quick snowmelt. My house doesn’t have a sump pump, but the basement floor is designed to drain well and between that and the dehumidifier the water goes away very quickly. My gutters are about to be replaced and I’ve been told that may reduce the water further. But, yes, standing water would be a big ol’ red flag. If you know people who live in the areas where you’re house-hunting, ask them what their experience is.
Sump pumps: The house I grew up in had a sump pump (again, older house, unfinished basement). We only had water in our basement when the pump broke down. That was NOT pretty. Once we got a better pump, we never had problems again. So…you may want to look into sump pumps to make sure you have a good one if it’s the norm in your area. Just about every basement in our neighborhood had a sump pump, but AFAIK there were never any real issues with the houses because they needed one.
Storage: I use my basement for storage and have the washer and dryer down there. I don’t store anything directly on the floor (just in case), but haven’t had problems because the dehumidifier keeps the basement reasonably dry. I don’t store photographs or anything where it’s critical for the area to be dry, but I have a whole lot of stuff down there (tools, cans of paint, seasonal decorations, extra kitchen stuff that I don’t use frequently, and a bunch of stuff I’m forgetting).
OK, I just took the NYS Real Estate Salesperson Licensing course. It’s a required 45-hour course that is then followed by a state exam so in theory real estate licensees in NYS aren’t complete morons. Hopefully. It doesn’t mean any given broker/salesperson is honest though.
According to one of the instructors, 61% of homes have septic systems. (I don’t know if this is in NYS or in the country.) I grew up with a septic system, and it wasn’t a problem. If a new system is being installed, a percolation test is required to make sure that the soil in the leach field will absorb at the appropriate rate. I’m not sure if this can be tested on existing systems. Ask the homeowner, preferably in writing, if they’ve ever had problems with the septic system. That way, if they lie about problems with the system, you have proof and can go after them later. (Again, a good attorney, in addition to a good inspector, is a good thing.)
On the windows, state law requires either double glazing or storm windows.
Also, state law requires that all houses that are sold have a smoke detector and a carbon monoxide detector.
You should get a property condition report (or something like that; I can’t find my sample copy at the moment). If the seller refuses to give you one, they then have to give you $500 at closing. Ask your broker about that.
btw, for anyone not in NYS, I do not know if any of this applies.