Buying a house can be a fun experience, especially if it is your first one, as the opportunities are endless. It’s even more fun when you begin visualizing the furniture you will be using, or how you will decorate it. However, for some people, buying a house can be a challenging and stressful experience.
If you are one of those people, and you have been looking for a home for a while but can’t seem to find one, you are not alone. Here are a few of the best tips and things to look out for when buying a home.
Use a real estate agent
If you have been looking for a while, but you don’t see anything that you are really interested in, and you are close to giving up hope, it’s probably because you haven’t used a real estate agent yet. At this point it would be a perfect time to search for reliable real estate agents, especially if you are located in Australia, so websites like Top10realestate agent.com is the right place to go, as it will get you in touch with the 10 best real estate agents in your area and if you want to find out more on this, you can check out their listings. One of the best benefits of using a real estate agent is that they will be able to find the house that you need within a short space of time, which also saves you the hassle of doing all that research yourself.
More than that, they will be able to set a price on a home much more accurately than you can, even if you have done your own research and compared housing prices. This makes them invaluable, not only in finding a home, but saving you money.
Look for warning signs
Once you have found a home that you like, it is incredibly important that you go to the viewing so that you can look for warning signs, as these will be indicative of what repairs are needed and how much you will actually be spending.
- Missing tiles on the roof
- Damage to flooring
- Plug outlets that don’t work
- Doors that are swollen
- Damage to the foundation
The list of possible problems is quite extensive, and you should actually create one before viewing a house so you remember what to keep an eye on. Structural and electrical repairs can run up to thousands of dollars, so pay careful attention to those.
Consider the style
The next thing that you should look for is the style of the house, as not only does this affect how you personally feel about the house, but it might also give you an indication of the possible features the house has. A modern styled house would probably have an upgraded electrical board, more plug outlets, potential smart features. An older styled house might not have any of the abovementioned, which means you would need to spend money to have those features installed.
A few possible styles include;
- Cape Cod
- Contemporary
- Colonial
- Craftsman
- Victorian
- French Country
- Farmhouse
Know your needs
Perhaps most importantly on this list is to find a house that suits all your needs, both present and future, as you might not want to move again or maybe it might not be possible to move so easily again in the future. There are a few things that you could consider when thinking about what house to get, for example, if you want a dog then you will need a garden. A few other things to take into consideration could be;
- Are you working from home?
- Do you have or want kids?
- Do you have a big or small family?
- Do you see yourself moving again?
If you are working from home then you want a house that has a room which can be turned into an office that isn’t next to the front door or kid’s rooms to avoid any noise or disruptions. If you have kids or have a big family then you would benefit from more than 1 bathroom.
Find out about the neighborhood
The final thing you should look out for is the neighborhood where you will be moving into, as there are factors that could influence your decision. One of those would be if the neighborhood is busy or not, as having a baby in a loud and active neighborhood won’t be good for sleep, for anyone. Another thing to consider is the crime rates in the neighborhood, or the distance to the supermarkets, work, what schools are in the area, and many more.
