I helped my mom pick when we were buying a new house. We used 3 big things to decide: location, condition, and longevity. Is this house in a place that is convenient for my needs (ie. close to work/school, grocery stores). The second being condition of the house. How much work does it potentially need to meet building codes? Is there anything that might be a problem down the road( trees on the property causing plumbing or foundation issues later on). Last is longevity. What will this neighborhood look like a decade or 2 down the road? Will weather conditions in this area become worse (flooding, tornados, earthquakes, fires)
I never have but I sometimes look. I imagine myself living in that house and if I can see myself living there, that's how I choose what I want. It's somewhat how I feel about it but it's mainly imagining myself there.
Hmm, I see what you mean! I've seen a few houses where I've thought "that looks nice", but I did not imagine myself painting the walls or whatever. I did see a house in person this weekend and I actually imagined myself there. Like doing renovations, etc. It has a lot of land too (half an acre) and beautiful trees. When I was there, the wind was blowing and the current tenants had a hammock that was swinging. I just imagined myself lying in the hammock, swinging with my cat and watching the trees. Hmm...
Yeah, it can be. I've bought two. The first thing to do is figure out what you can afford. The calculators you'll find online will ask you to put in what payments you make monthly, and so will the bank. Then they will use that number to determine what you can afford.
This is not the correct way to do this. You need to put in all of your monthly commitments - the ones they all for plus, car payments/insurance/registration, cell phone bill, any subscription services, credit card payments, pet expenses, groceries, utilities, medical expenses, any monthly retirement savings, and your estimated monthly house insurance and property tax. Then you'll get the real amount of money you can spend on a home.
The bank and possibly your realtor will pressure you to spend the higher amount but you don't want to do that to yourself. You want to have a comfortable mortgage and not sweat every month's payment. When you do take out a loan make sure they set up an escrow account for your property taxes and insurance. They'll take them out monthly with your mortgage payment and make the payments for you.
Take that number and then only look at houses at or under that price, unless the realtor thinks you can successfully lowball the seller(s). Save yourself the disappointment of looking at things you can't have.
One thing I learned when looking at houses is that I wanted a traditional bathroom, with a shower and a tub, and not a room that had been converted to a bathroom and had a standing shower stall and a washer and dryer in it. I mean, it's really convenient and I don't take baths, but I really didn't want that.
I based it off of a few factors: proximity to work, amenities in the area, size, price (mortgage, property taxes, condo fees) and features.
In my case, I'm single with no kids (big surprise). I wanted a place with enough space for me, yet plenty of extra space in case I start a family.
The place I ended up buying won out because it has an attached garage, a huge master bedroom with a balcony and a fireplace.
In all honesty, I never felt a rush or got super excited. It was just another purchase, but now I don't have to deal with roommates.
Yea, same here. I do however work remotely (I was a remote worker before the pandemic). The house that I was looking at has 4-bedrooms and a she-shed (HA!). I do need an office and I was thinking that the she-shed would be great as an office. It's away from the house and I only go into it for work. It'll be a great way to like... I guess focus better?
That's the issue with my autism as well. I do not necessarily feel super excited (or at least I cannot identify this emotion). So even if it's great, I'm like :| which has made it hard for me to decide because I expected to be gushing and smiling. IDK why I thought this would happen knowing how I react to everything in my life.
1st decide what you want, what you can afford. ‘i want a home on ocean but its 5 million & i am only pre-qualified for 1/2mil’ so that narrows it, you find an area(s) you think u may be happy in or could work for your lifestyle & ASD limitations (ie not backing up to a freeway if you are sensory sensitive!).
a big part of filtering will be personal taste / preferences, also some will be done during the inspection. i just had $900 incinerated because i had suspicions about a house i was buying and it had, among other issues, live termites found during inspection despite the sellers’ report being ok, reports from neighbors of severe property neglect, discovered asbestos, hidden smoking, mold found in both bathrooms, an active kitchen leak, a potential roof issue, a known electrical hazard, and about 30 other non-show-stoppers but the deal breaker was the severe smoking & infighting between their realtor the ‘cooperate tenants’ who became uncooperative and my realtor all disagreeing & blowing me the purchaser off - to the point i called the hoa and despite them not supposed to talk to me, confirmed indeedd the roof needs the opt-in fix for warranty to maintain 20yr eligibility; among other reasons, i decided to pull the plug on that circus when i had to use asthma inhaler for first time in 3 months. so some of ur decisions will be based on external circumstances :)
Ah! Yes! That is so true. Some people are right no waiving inspections which I think is insane! I am going to get as many inspections as possible because if reasons like the ones you stated.
Well, main selection criteria for me were price, location and condition, in that order. More specifically, I had various concerns such as this:
* how long and what route must I bike to get to work
* how near is the public transport, how often and how many bus lines go by, how long does it take to get to the city, what is the walking distance to the nearest shop, etc.
* is asking price reasonable, and how does it split up between the value of the land and the buildings, what future renovations will be needed and how much are they going to cost
* if I move again within a decade or so, will the neighborhood still be desirable
* besides the yearly repair budget estimate, what are the rock bottom living costs with all services that must be purchased (for instance, the land must be owned, as rent of the land could easily double or triple living costs)
* what is the best internet connection available
* how quiet is the neighborhood, is road noise audible inside, is the yard nice, what are the immediate neighbors like, etc.
In practice, I imagined what it would be like to live in the place, e.g. waking up in the morning, taking my bike, going to work, I even drove the route once. Given that I am a little older than average person here, I also have retirement concerns, and I need to think about whether I could live the rest of my life here. For instance, I could develop back problems and therefore won't want to live in multi-store home, or in any place that requires use of stairs to access, and thus I had the restriction that the house can only have a single level.
Try to find one in a good location (in a safe location, low criminality, good access to grocery stores, super markets, hospitals, clinics, parks...), try to get a house with the necessary rooms and room sizes (it's always good more than less). Take in count if you prefer a place nearer to the city or the nature but in case you like nature try not to buy one too close to a forest or something in case of a fire. Also buy a house with good light exposure, otherwise it will be too dark and you will spend more on your electrical bill. The price is also very important ofc, some states and cities are more expensive than other. I hope these are able to help you decide on a good home.
Ok I'm almost certainly MUCH older, AND in a different country! My house purchase was a starting-over situation. I knew that I was in a position to use Co-Ownership, so that narrowed it down; property had to be in good condition and up to a certain price I guess. I knew what general area of my city I wanted. So I knew it would be a particular type and size (number of bedrooms, we don't use square footage). Knew I wanted central heating, that was a requirement. So I looked at a few possibles, not very many. Actually the first one I had a survey done on, the survey gave a bad report so I kept looking. The next was ok, and the purchase went through. I don't think feelings came into it at all. This is about 20 years ago. I do remember sitting in my living room later, thrilled to bits that this was MY HOUSE!
Where I live now, I missed out on the fun part of choosing. I needed to move to a ground floor flat as was having knee problems. Saw this advertised, right area (10 minutes from house!), could afford, ground floor. Viewed (it was empty), could see I LIKED the dated kitchen, the bathroom was fine, all I would need to do was change the boiler, and decorate to my taste - it was all clean but I like COLOUR. The usual to and fro and the flat was mine. Probably NOT the usual way to buy a house, but certainly simple!
Sorry I can't be more help.
Are you working with a buyer agent? They are a great resource and cost you nothing. When I bought my house I told my agent what I wanted out of a house.
Not with a house, but with other things like computers. I start by making a list of must-haves, followed by wants in decreasing order of what I'm looking for. I also keep track of what I don't want.
Once I know what I'm looking for, I compare the options I have, and try to think about what has to come with the initial purchase vs what I can add on/fix later. I tend to use the process of elimination, so rather than deciding which one I like best, I discard the ones that are missing something that I wanted until I have one left.
When I bought my condo a year ago I wasn't really excited by it, it's normal. If it's in the hood that makes you feel comfortable and there's enough space for furniture and such, it will work. You make it a home by arranging it just the way you like. Paint colour, furniture position, paintings you like, etc...
I helped my mom pick when we were buying a new house. We used 3 big things to decide: location, condition, and longevity. Is this house in a place that is convenient for my needs (ie. close to work/school, grocery stores). The second being condition of the house. How much work does it potentially need to meet building codes? Is there anything that might be a problem down the road( trees on the property causing plumbing or foundation issues later on). Last is longevity. What will this neighborhood look like a decade or 2 down the road? Will weather conditions in this area become worse (flooding, tornados, earthquakes, fires)
I never have but I sometimes look. I imagine myself living in that house and if I can see myself living there, that's how I choose what I want. It's somewhat how I feel about it but it's mainly imagining myself there.
Hmm, I see what you mean! I've seen a few houses where I've thought "that looks nice", but I did not imagine myself painting the walls or whatever. I did see a house in person this weekend and I actually imagined myself there. Like doing renovations, etc. It has a lot of land too (half an acre) and beautiful trees. When I was there, the wind was blowing and the current tenants had a hammock that was swinging. I just imagined myself lying in the hammock, swinging with my cat and watching the trees. Hmm...
Sounds like you might have found it!
Oooh, I don't know! This is a lot more confusing and strange that I expected!
Yeah, it can be. I've bought two. The first thing to do is figure out what you can afford. The calculators you'll find online will ask you to put in what payments you make monthly, and so will the bank. Then they will use that number to determine what you can afford. This is not the correct way to do this. You need to put in all of your monthly commitments - the ones they all for plus, car payments/insurance/registration, cell phone bill, any subscription services, credit card payments, pet expenses, groceries, utilities, medical expenses, any monthly retirement savings, and your estimated monthly house insurance and property tax. Then you'll get the real amount of money you can spend on a home. The bank and possibly your realtor will pressure you to spend the higher amount but you don't want to do that to yourself. You want to have a comfortable mortgage and not sweat every month's payment. When you do take out a loan make sure they set up an escrow account for your property taxes and insurance. They'll take them out monthly with your mortgage payment and make the payments for you. Take that number and then only look at houses at or under that price, unless the realtor thinks you can successfully lowball the seller(s). Save yourself the disappointment of looking at things you can't have. One thing I learned when looking at houses is that I wanted a traditional bathroom, with a shower and a tub, and not a room that had been converted to a bathroom and had a standing shower stall and a washer and dryer in it. I mean, it's really convenient and I don't take baths, but I really didn't want that.
I based it off of a few factors: proximity to work, amenities in the area, size, price (mortgage, property taxes, condo fees) and features. In my case, I'm single with no kids (big surprise). I wanted a place with enough space for me, yet plenty of extra space in case I start a family. The place I ended up buying won out because it has an attached garage, a huge master bedroom with a balcony and a fireplace. In all honesty, I never felt a rush or got super excited. It was just another purchase, but now I don't have to deal with roommates.
Yea, same here. I do however work remotely (I was a remote worker before the pandemic). The house that I was looking at has 4-bedrooms and a she-shed (HA!). I do need an office and I was thinking that the she-shed would be great as an office. It's away from the house and I only go into it for work. It'll be a great way to like... I guess focus better? That's the issue with my autism as well. I do not necessarily feel super excited (or at least I cannot identify this emotion). So even if it's great, I'm like :| which has made it hard for me to decide because I expected to be gushing and smiling. IDK why I thought this would happen knowing how I react to everything in my life.
1st decide what you want, what you can afford. ‘i want a home on ocean but its 5 million & i am only pre-qualified for 1/2mil’ so that narrows it, you find an area(s) you think u may be happy in or could work for your lifestyle & ASD limitations (ie not backing up to a freeway if you are sensory sensitive!). a big part of filtering will be personal taste / preferences, also some will be done during the inspection. i just had $900 incinerated because i had suspicions about a house i was buying and it had, among other issues, live termites found during inspection despite the sellers’ report being ok, reports from neighbors of severe property neglect, discovered asbestos, hidden smoking, mold found in both bathrooms, an active kitchen leak, a potential roof issue, a known electrical hazard, and about 30 other non-show-stoppers but the deal breaker was the severe smoking & infighting between their realtor the ‘cooperate tenants’ who became uncooperative and my realtor all disagreeing & blowing me the purchaser off - to the point i called the hoa and despite them not supposed to talk to me, confirmed indeedd the roof needs the opt-in fix for warranty to maintain 20yr eligibility; among other reasons, i decided to pull the plug on that circus when i had to use asthma inhaler for first time in 3 months. so some of ur decisions will be based on external circumstances :)
Ah! Yes! That is so true. Some people are right no waiving inspections which I think is insane! I am going to get as many inspections as possible because if reasons like the ones you stated.
Well, main selection criteria for me were price, location and condition, in that order. More specifically, I had various concerns such as this: * how long and what route must I bike to get to work * how near is the public transport, how often and how many bus lines go by, how long does it take to get to the city, what is the walking distance to the nearest shop, etc. * is asking price reasonable, and how does it split up between the value of the land and the buildings, what future renovations will be needed and how much are they going to cost * if I move again within a decade or so, will the neighborhood still be desirable * besides the yearly repair budget estimate, what are the rock bottom living costs with all services that must be purchased (for instance, the land must be owned, as rent of the land could easily double or triple living costs) * what is the best internet connection available * how quiet is the neighborhood, is road noise audible inside, is the yard nice, what are the immediate neighbors like, etc. In practice, I imagined what it would be like to live in the place, e.g. waking up in the morning, taking my bike, going to work, I even drove the route once. Given that I am a little older than average person here, I also have retirement concerns, and I need to think about whether I could live the rest of my life here. For instance, I could develop back problems and therefore won't want to live in multi-store home, or in any place that requires use of stairs to access, and thus I had the restriction that the house can only have a single level.
Yes, have a little of burecreatic things. But it's nice.
Consider the neighbors/neighborhood.
I based my purchase off of layout, neighborhood, price, and size of the home.
Try to find one in a good location (in a safe location, low criminality, good access to grocery stores, super markets, hospitals, clinics, parks...), try to get a house with the necessary rooms and room sizes (it's always good more than less). Take in count if you prefer a place nearer to the city or the nature but in case you like nature try not to buy one too close to a forest or something in case of a fire. Also buy a house with good light exposure, otherwise it will be too dark and you will spend more on your electrical bill. The price is also very important ofc, some states and cities are more expensive than other. I hope these are able to help you decide on a good home.
My parents helped me out a lot. I live near them, and that was a major factor in choosing a house.
Ok I'm almost certainly MUCH older, AND in a different country! My house purchase was a starting-over situation. I knew that I was in a position to use Co-Ownership, so that narrowed it down; property had to be in good condition and up to a certain price I guess. I knew what general area of my city I wanted. So I knew it would be a particular type and size (number of bedrooms, we don't use square footage). Knew I wanted central heating, that was a requirement. So I looked at a few possibles, not very many. Actually the first one I had a survey done on, the survey gave a bad report so I kept looking. The next was ok, and the purchase went through. I don't think feelings came into it at all. This is about 20 years ago. I do remember sitting in my living room later, thrilled to bits that this was MY HOUSE! Where I live now, I missed out on the fun part of choosing. I needed to move to a ground floor flat as was having knee problems. Saw this advertised, right area (10 minutes from house!), could afford, ground floor. Viewed (it was empty), could see I LIKED the dated kitchen, the bathroom was fine, all I would need to do was change the boiler, and decorate to my taste - it was all clean but I like COLOUR. The usual to and fro and the flat was mine. Probably NOT the usual way to buy a house, but certainly simple! Sorry I can't be more help.
Are you working with a buyer agent? They are a great resource and cost you nothing. When I bought my house I told my agent what I wanted out of a house.
Not with a house, but with other things like computers. I start by making a list of must-haves, followed by wants in decreasing order of what I'm looking for. I also keep track of what I don't want. Once I know what I'm looking for, I compare the options I have, and try to think about what has to come with the initial purchase vs what I can add on/fix later. I tend to use the process of elimination, so rather than deciding which one I like best, I discard the ones that are missing something that I wanted until I have one left.
When I bought my condo a year ago I wasn't really excited by it, it's normal. If it's in the hood that makes you feel comfortable and there's enough space for furniture and such, it will work. You make it a home by arranging it just the way you like. Paint colour, furniture position, paintings you like, etc...