However you can get a 20 year mortgage at a better interest rate than the 30 year mortgage. You can also get a 30 year mortgage and pay off more principal, though a 20 year mortgage is better.
"What do you wish you knew when buying a house?"
That I was going to lose my job two months after I moved into the goddamned thing, thanks for asking.
When we bought we checked the commute. But we made the mistake of checking it at 2 pm, not 6 pm. However, 16 months after we bought the house I changed jobs to one that was a lot closer, so if we had bought near my first job (which would have been more expensive) I’d have wound up with a bad commute for much longer.
So you can’t tell.
Still, a good thing to check on.
We moved from Adams Morgan to MoCo when the eldest was a baby. We didn’t pay any attention to the yard because we’re not really gardening types. However, when you have a preschooler, it’s really nice to have a yard the kid can play in. Our corner lot has a very tiny, hilly backyard. It’s unusable. We also have no garage or other sort of outdoor storage, so we have 4 bicycles in our living room 5-6 months of the year. This really, really bugs me. Both of those would be higher priorities if we did it again.
Along with the asbestos, you should probably assume that there will be lead paint in any house in the inner MoCo suburbs.
It looks like there are some houses within walking distance of the Wheaton Metro that are in your price range. Would that area work from a commuting perspective? Or do you need to be on the other side of the red line? (In which case, good luck!)
Re Asbestos and Lead Paint.
Neither of these is a problem unless they come loose - asbestos fibers in the air damage lungs, and lead paint is toxic - If you eat it!.
Until about 1970, paint had lead pigment (cheap, dense and a brilliant white color).
I’m a little late to the party, but a few suggestions. I’m in Texas so grains of salt etc. on their relevance.
-
Try to drive thru the neighborhood at night. Preferably Fri or Sat. Stop and listen to the noises, and see where your headlights go when turning/driving near your house. Might be important to you, or just something you need to mitigate (noise and lights).
-
Look closely at hills, and try to imagine your street covered with ice. Is your house likely to be struck by a sliding car? This can be a huge problem, both with insurance, costs, and where to locate the kids’ room(s).
-
When we bought our house I had to rent an airplane for this, but now you’ve got Google Earth. Examine the area around it for both industrial stuff, and how likely your area could end up as a heavily traveled path from one region to another (like highway to factory, etc.) Also try to imagine where the next highway will be built. Cities grow, and additional freeway rings are added consecutively. In many cases, the highway department can tell you where the next loop is planned. Good to know whether it’s close.
-
Google can also give you insight about any large airport and runway alignments. It’s very possible to see the house when winds favor landing traffic (quiet with engines at low power), then find out you’re under the takeoff pattern during another part of the year (much noisier).
-
Your mortgage company is probably required to determine flood probability for requiring flood insurance. They can tell you how “close” a particular house is to the 50 year, 100-year, or 500-year flood plain. (This is TX based, but might be relevant in your area).
Best of luck to you… and enjoy the new house. 
Or if you need to move, can’t find a renter for your place, and end up renting it via Section 8, and the tenant’s kid is diagnosed with lead poisoning right after they move in, and the Section 8 people make you do lead paint abatement by a licensed contractor for thousands of dollars even though it’s impossible to get lead poisoning in a week. A co-worker of mine is going through this right now, and it’s been a nightmare.
It took us quite some time to realise that to stay in budget, we were going to have to compromise on one of the three key factors: location, size, and appearance. I am so, so, glad we eventually decided that appearance was the one to lose out - as many others have said, it’s the easiest to do without and the easiest to change once you have the time/money.
Also, don’t get too disheartened if you find what seems to be the perfect place but it doesn’t work out and you don’t end up buying it. That happened for us two or three times, but the house we have ended up in is by far the best overall. Or in other words: be lucky :).
Yay, monstro!
I bought a little house in 2008. Single mom, tiny income, etc…I’m still amazed I pulled it off. Anyway, you may or may not have the issue of income to deal with, but one of the most important thing my realtor told me was: If you have a small or limited amount of money to work with, you’d better make sure that house is perfect for your needs, because you won’t have the funds to redo the kitchen or add the deck or whatever your fondest wish is. Make sure your money works to get what you need and what you want. I looked at a LOT of houses for someone who only had 100K to work with, because I knew it had to be just right for us.
And when you write your offer, always make sure to include something the seller can say no to. This is a good philosophy anytime you have to negotiate anything, I’ve found.
Good luck and enjoy!
I quickly adopted a zen attitude about the whole thing because dissapointment is so painful. I remember feeling so defeated when my first offer was rejected because I was already decorating all the rooms in my head. I’d even uploaded a picture of the house into the Sherwin-Williams color selection tool so I could fantasize in a high-tech way.
Ironically, it seems like as soon as I adopted a “whatever will be will be” philosophy, that’s when I stumbled upon my “dream”. I am so glad that those previous houses didn’t work out.
pullin, your post about using Google Earth makes me revise my earlier advice about driving on the street behind the house for sale.
Make good use of Google Street View. You can instantly check on surrounding streets and the condition of nearby homes without having to drive the neighborhood. It won’t tell you everything, but it’s a good tool for eliminating the most obviously unacceptable conditions.
Google Earth can rule out a location (that vacant lot - is it used by dirt bikes? small kids?).
It is NOT current and cannot replace at least 3 drive bys - rush hour, weekend, and after school.
I learned that Home Inspectors are a mere formality required by banks and do not necessarily help the prospective buyer too much. Mine didn’t draw attention to the circuit breaker amperage, even though I had asked him if it would be sufficient for the amount of air conditioning my husband and I use (arctic chill!). He neglected the not to code garage wiring and the attic wiring as well. Plumbing all went sour within 1 year, but heck, it’s an old house.
What I wish I had done differently:
Reconsidered the shared driveway. Or at least realized that those cute little tykes are gross annoying teenagers who bounce a basketball 9.5 hours every Saturday and Sunday.
Insisted that the wiring be brought up to code.
Inquired why there was no natural gas hook up to the house (it was removed years ago and the local utility cited me 22K to bring the line back in from the street…) so, the backup generator I covet is an incomplete possibility.
Realized that astronomers should not live in neighborhoods with street lighting. Granted, I’m hardly Galileo, but the former house I shared with my ex (hence the quick move) was on a beautifully dark sky lot
Realized that having no bathroom on the main living floor is…was brutal. Had to put in a powder room.
Full northern and southern exposure is lovely…unless you like a cool dark house in the summer …but heck, I can grow ANYTHING.
Bonuses:
Great Neighbors that moved in shortly after we did.
75$ annual membership to the town pool that no one uses and is glorious!
Walking distance to town means I can actually see people in the road, walking…and it doesn’t mean they got one too many DWI’s.
Living in a rivertown in a Renaissance is exciting…cool people moving up from Manhattan (like me, hah!) mean a wealth of things to do on the weekends
No trees on the property… sounds stark… it’s lovely! No huge tree surgeon bills anymore!
Something learned from bitter experience - when you insure the house make sure you have insurance. Then if something goes wrong, the insurance company pays to bring the house up to code, not just to replace what was lost. The difference between those two things can be thousands of dollars.
I am honestly having difficulty parsing this. Can you rephrase? I’m genuinely curious, since we’re in the middle of the same process as the OP.
House inspectors look for things that will trip up insurance, NOT livability.
I got a flashlight and a long screwdriver and poked around the foundation myself - too big an issue in old houses.
Even if you don’t poke the wood (soft wood is an instant 50% off the price or walk), at least remove the cover plate on the circuit breaker box - does the wiring look neat or has somebody been stringing wires haphazardly?
Plumbing - if it has a basement, you may be able to see the actual pipes - old house may still have steel pipes.
NOTE: In the US BLACK STEEL PIPE IS GAS! DO NOT MESS!
At least run the water enough to find slow drains - the fix may be incredibly expensive (vent pipe blocked by grease deposits for the last 70 years).
Any place you can look without opening a hole - LOOK.
If you can get onto the roof, you could make a mess and/or hurt yourself. Your call.
Houses generally don’t appreciate. Land does. That doesn’t mean you can just buy a dump and make money (I understand that is not your aim).
Somewhere you and family will be comfortable, close to transport and close to things you enjoy should they be theatre, cafes, pubs or whatever.
And of course get a professional inspection. However, be sure to completely understand what they cover. Some- and expensive ones- have so many weasel clauses that they are worthless.
Also true with love; surprisingly there are many good fits.
No one seems to have picked up on my mention of steps and stairs. Unless you drop dead in the prime of your life (40’s? 50’s ?), but love the place and plan to stay there forever, you are going to rue the day you thought a dozen steps up to your front door was classy. Ditto on staircases. If you plan to sell in a few years who cares. But if this is the home of your dreams you’d do well to wake up long enough to see what’d it be like with a broken leg, a broken hip, or a wheelchair. Reality may not be pretty but there ya go.
As I mentioned upthread, we recently bought a split-level, expected to be our “forever” home. On Valentines Day I shattered my ankle simply walking down one of those half-flights. Quickly realized that splits are tough on crutches - bedroom up, bathrooom up or down, kitchen on the main floor.
Of course, if you have serious mobility issues, anything other than a ranch with a ramp to the front door is out. If I or the wife ever get that decrepit, I imagine we’ll move into a condo or assisted living.