Sorry I have been a little MIA lately, My husband and I recently marked something off my 30's Bucket List and bought a bigger house! Between the new house, school starting virtually, planning my sister's Bachelorette Party, and me throwing out my back again, I've been busy; so if I miss a post here or there, I'm sorry, but I will do my best to keep posting weekly!
Needless to the say these last few months have been super crazy and stressful. My husband and I officially own our second home together and of coarse we packed up these four cuties to take with us!
Introducing our new home! We are the red roof at the end of the street. We have more space and a bigger yard with a small creek at the end of the property. While it has definitely been a bumpy ride and I'm sure there are several more curve balls coming our way along with several things to fix, we are looking forward to making new memories in our 'new to use' home.
As we fix things, decorate, and paint, I will most likely be posting tutorials on my blog or pictures on my Instagram so make sure to follow along!
We loved living at our first home for the past six years. Our family of three grew to a family of six, lots of memories from birthday parties to Christmas morning to Anniversaries and family dinners; watching our kids learn to walk, talk, and even climb a tree. Lots of love and tears. Lots of late nights and early mornings. Oh the stories these walls could tell you. We are going to miss you and our green front door. Thanks for being the roof over our head and a place to call home for the last six years!
Below is a picture of when we first moved in to our first house to the last week we lived at our house. Its crazy what a difference six years can make.
Now that I got all that out of the way and took a trip down memory lane, I want to share with you some things to look for when buying a house.
While this may be my husband and my second home, we have been searching for a bigger home for the past two in a half years. The market kept going up and while we spent more than we wanted to, the interest rates are down, plus we made a small profit on our first home so it all worked out!
I'm obviously not a professional home buyer and I don't claim to be but I have lived in and looked at several homes in my lifetime. Our new home buying experiences did not go as smooth as our first experience and once we moved into our home, we found a handful of new problems that were not disclosed.
So from mom to mom, here is my advice based on my personal experience of what to look for & do when buying a house.
***Posts are for entertainment and/or informational purposes only and should not be seen as any kind of advice such a medical, legal, tax, emotional, or other types of advice. Please see my full disclosure for more information.***
1. Find a House you Love & Make and Offer
All relators will tell you different things. Some work to help families, other's are in it to make the most money they can so try to find a realtor you can trust that has past realtor experience. I will tell you that no matter what your realtor says, it never hurts to try, so make an offer you are comfortable making. It is not the realtors choice to accept the offer, it is the sellers choice. Offer just below what you want to pay and hope they counter offer with what you can afford. If not, or after a few times of back and forth, tell them that is your final offer or walk away.
Don't be afraid to tell them why you are offering lower (examples: the roof leaks, the house is located in a flood zone = higher insurance, you will have to pay X amount of money to fix....). If they know why, the seller may be more likely to negotiate or consider your offer.
Verbal offers are a thing
Realtors say to write up a contract for your offer because it is more official and the seller will know you are serious about buying the house. We did that and it never worked out for us. Every counter offer you have to write a new contract and re-sign all the documents which can end up being a lot. With the house we just bought, we had our realtor text an 'unofficial' offer aka verbal offer and once we agreed on a price, we had the offer drawn up. The plus side is it is easier, the down side is, the seller can change their minds in the time it takes the contract to be drawn up.
If it is a hot house and several possible buyers, you will want to have an official contract because they will most likely have several offers to choose from so you don't want to waste time going back and forth.
Know when to walk away
We made an offer on a house and they never responded. We made another offer and they countered with asking price. The house sold for $34,000 less than asking price and less than what we offered. It obviously wasn't meant to be and we had to walk away. Their loss. To be honest I don't think their realtor relayed our offer or at least advised against it because we later found out she was on vacation that week but who knows.
You can add into the offer that the sellers sign something if they reject the offer that way you know they received it and something sketchy isn't going on. You will not see the signature/document but your realtor will.
2. List items to stay in the house in the contract
Believe it or not, if it is not listed in the original contract or permanently attached, the owners can take it with them. Some people may think this is silly and others will assume that things are permanently attached that aren't. If you aren't sure, list it anyway. Worst case, the sellers say no.
The fridge, oven (range), microwave, and dishwasher are almost always listed. Other items that are popular are curtain rods, blinds, gas fireplaces, play sets, garage shelving, sheds, pools, hot tubs, washer and dryer.
I've even seen people list light fixtures and ceiling fans so that the original will stay with the house and not be replaced with a cheaper version. Did you know if the bathroom mirror is a decorative mirror on a nail, the seller can take it with them because it is technically deemed to be a decoration? It's sad, but people do change out items when selling their house.
In our recent experience, we thought the bar in the basement was attached and forgot to put it in the contract, turns out it wasn't and they took it so now we have a bar-less bar. Another house we made an offer on, we added the porch swing just assuming it would stay because it was attached and the sellers said no, they were taking it. I would also suggest making sure to add a doorbell unless you plan on using a smart doorbell. The sellers had a ring so we assumed they would take it but little did we know we would be left with open wires by the door and a missing doorbell. One more thing added to our to do list.
Be as specific as possible. Like I said, it never hurts to ask because worst case, they will just say no. It's better to list it then to walk in on moving day and everything be missing.
3. Check for Permits
If there is a newer addition or a recent home makeover, check that the proper permits were pulled. Several people will try to do it themselves or higher a contractor that never got the proper permits which means it may not be done correctly. Permits mean that the final work was checked and approved by the county. You need permits for several thinks such as decks, additions, anything that involves plumbing or electrical work, taking down walls, etc. Pretty much anything that changes the original layout of your home/outside your home. Check with your county to see what they require and if the proper permits have been pulled.
You are responsible to check for permits, not your realtor. If the proper permits were not pulled and you get caught, you may have to remove the new addition or cut into walls for them to check it was done correctly.
Just because it's newer doesn't mean its correct
The house we bought had a brand new deck built onto it. The deck was not up to code and did not have the proper permits pulled. We had to have the deck fixed correctly before our family could safely stand on it and had to have the permit inspector come out a handful of times.
Also the "newer" air units or water heater were not installed correctly so we had the sellers make them fix them before we bought the house. You would think that newer means good but in our case, newer meant more problems.
4. Check the location of the house & it's surroundings
Do a drive by or check out the arial view of the property before you go look at it to get a vibe of the neighborhood. Are several people moving in that area? Find out why. There may be something going on such as new constructions coming soon.
Is the lot next to the property empty? Find out who owns it or if it's for sale and possibly look into buying it so someone can't build right next door.
Is it in a flood zone? If so, flood insurance can easily run $2000+ a year.
Is it by a School? Airport? Factory? Highway? Train? Park? Hospital? Lake? Gas Station? Chicken Farm? All these locations can have pros such as convenience or easy access to fun but they can also have cons such as traffic, noise, strangers walking by all the time. If you have kids, you may want to consider even checking out the local sex offender registry to see if any live near by. Everyone has different preferences so find what works for you. You may love hearing a train at all hours of the night while others won't be able to sleep with all the noise.
5. Pay for the Inspections
Everything involved in buying a house is expensive. I'm sorry but it shouldn't cost $400 to look at my septic tank when the lid is visible and another $400+ if I want it cleaned, along with $400+ for an inspector, more if you want them to check again to make sure the to-do list was fixed; a radon test, a carbon monoxide test, lead paint test, mold test, etc... as you can tell inspections, are one of my least favorite parts of buying a house.
Not all the inspections are mandatory, some may be depending on your loan. We had to pay for the main inspection and then had the septic checked because septic problems can run a pretty penny so we wanted to make sure it was okay to try to avoid paying for it sooner than later. Our home inspection showed up with forty-six problems, plus several more minor problems.
Needless to say it was very overwhelming walking around while the inspector pointed out all the problems with our future home.
Keep in mind that home inspectors are not professional plumbers, electricians, or contractors. They are following a list of their guidelines so some things they pick out may not be as serious as they lead on and others are worth checking into.
6. Check Everywhere
Before you buy a house check everywhere and everything. Open every door. Check in the cabinets. Check under the sinks. Check behind the curtains and under rugs if possible. If you have questions, ask them. Make sure the garage door works. Ask about keys and garage door openers. Buying a house is a huge deal and you want to know what you are getting into.
I know it sounds weird to check everywhere and it is odd because usually the sellers belongings are still in the house, but look where you can without moving their belongs. I can usually pick out issues and I missed some at this house because I was most likely distracted by my kids, didn't think to look there, and some things were hidden.
Inspectors are not allowed to move things so it is up to you to check. The sellers covered up a crack in the foundation during the inspection. We saw it when we originally viewed the property so brought it up to his attention.
A few examples of why you should check everything and ask questions from our most recent experience are, there was a big chunk missing from the window trim and lots of holes in the window trim that was covered by curtains. All the blinds were raised up and I didn't think to lower them, all but three were destroyed, one was even in the trash when we moved in. There was a hole in the wall behind the door that appeared to be a fist print that was covered with a picture. Under the kitchen sink cabinets was rotted cabinet bottoms from a leaking dishwasher that was not disclosed and covered up. Now we know why it was turned off.
Make sure to bring your house keys to closing. At closing, we found out they didn't have a garage door opener and they were missing the keys to every door in the house but the front door. I know you can get key copies and replace locks, some replace the locks anyway, but it's just an added hassle.
Later we found out that the garage leaks and the garage door was broken more than we thought. Some of this may not sound like much but add it to everything else we already knew about and you are looking at a pretty penny. From experience, check everywhere you can to hopefully avoid surprises later.
7. Make a List of what you want done
This list can be anything on the inspector's list. It can not be cosmetics such as painting a wall a different color or installing new light fixtures because the others are outdated. We focused more on big money items like air unit issues or dangerous problems like an electrical box with a bunch of hot wires sticking out. Just because you put it on the list does not mean the sellers are going to agree to it.
If they are major things, you can renegotiate the price and say you will fix them if they come down on the price or see if they will fix at least some of the items. Unless the seller listed the house to be sold as is, they will most likely agree to fix a few things. We had eight of the forty-six+ items on our list. Depending on how major it is, you may not be able to buy the house. Usually houses that won't pass inspection for a loan will say it if they are aware of it.
You should have a final walk through of the house to verify that everything has been fixed that was suppose to and that there are no new damages to the house. In our case, not everything was so they had until closing to fix it or they had to pay us for what it would cost to fix.
8. Ask for the house to be cleaned
This may sounds silly because you are hopefully going to clean the house before you get settled in but it will be a life saver. Our first house we closed and moved in the next day so we went to the house that evening and started cleaning. The kitchen was nasty. Since the owners had a pet and we had a baby, we put in our contract for the carpets to be professionally cleaned. Whoever cleaned them, didn't vacuum first because there were be-be gun pellets all over and dog hair.
This time around, it slipped my mind because the house appeared clean and didn't have a lot of carpet. At the final walk through, it was nasty and not packed up, it honestly almost scared me away. The sellers messed everything up, pushed closing back, and almost broke our contract. I'm not going to go into details but we ended up closing on our house the day before and then closed on our new house late in the evening the next day so we had to move everything in the middle of night to avoid breaking our contract. With four young kids and lack of help due to Covid-19, we were moving until five in the morning. Thank you to the people that did help if you are reading this!
The house we moved into had been slightly swept but that was it. I have been scrubbing walls, baseboards, dusting, my husband had to clean the carpets because there was cat/dog poop on the floor during a walkthrough. It appears that the previous owners never did a deep cleaning by the amount of dust and dirt in the house. On top of that they left six trash cans overflowing with stuff and several items such as a grill, shelf, toys and more. We are still finding things in the yard and down the hill from a swimming pool liner to broken axes, glass, nails, and more. Although we were planning on cleaning our new home anyways, it stinks that it was this bad because we left our previous house pretty clean.
I laughed because the buyer of our previous home was super specific. They put in the contract that the house be swept and cleaned, they also specified the number of garage door openers, and even wanted the gutters cleaned. I was stressed about how specific they were because at the time it sounded like silly things, but now I wish we were as specific as our buyer.
Below is just some of the trash left.
9. Lock Down a Closing Date
This sounds like common sense to me but surprisingly isn't. We asked repeatedly when the closing date was. It was in the contracts as on or before the 30th. The week of we were finally told a day so we rented a truck and lined up help. Supposedly the sellers realtor told them a different day that breaks their contract and they didn't take off work so the whole thing got messed up. They changed the day to as late as they could. The house they bought was vacant so they could of moved in at any time but chose not to. We had to reschedule our moving truck three times, were technically considered 'homeless' for 27 hours since we still had to close on or house due to the mirage companies being over booked. If the sellers backed out we would be without a home and we ended up moving in the middle of the night.
I know things happen that are out of peoples control but we got the short end of the deal. Luckily it all worked out in the end, just now how we had planned. Make sure to lock down a closing date and pray that it doesn't change.
After your closing date is set, make sure to cancel/change all your bills the week of - electric, water, sewer, internet, trash, mail forwarding. Rent a moving truck if needed, line up help, and move into your new house!
Hopefully your buying/selling/moving process goes a lot smoother than ours did. It was seriously one thing after another on all ends due to stubborn people, picky people, bad and new realtors, mortgage companies being booked up, internet companies being backed up, and more. In the end it all worked out and we are living in our new home, but the process was very, very stressful and a lot more complicated than the first time we bought a house. All I can say is that I am happy it is over, now on to fixing up our new home to make it feel more like a home!
If we move again, I will definitely use this blog as a guideline and a reminder to be more specific and list everything so that hopefully the process goes smoother. Good Luck on your home buying journey!
Let me know in the comments what advice you would like to share about buying a house!
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