What will you do differently?
I'll probably get a structural engineer/contractor to look at the home, and avoid using any home inspector recommended by the real estate agent.
-
Our current home is going to be an investment/rental property, so when we were looking for houses we were looking with that in mind. Our next home is going to be a family home, so we will be looking at houses pretty differently.
Luckily DH's dad is a real estate agent, so we can trust all his advice.
-
I want a pool next time.
-
@Freckles: Agreed on the not using an inspector recommended by the agent. We had a guy who missed a lot of things (obvious now that we're in the house and know a little more about what's going on). We might use Mike Holmes' inspection company!
This time we'll have to pay close attention to school zones. There are some good schools in the area, but the addresses allowed to go to those are pretty narrow.
-
I'm getting a smaller house... I didn't realize the pain that comes with running your own household!
Also going to find a better agent. Ours was a recommendation, and she was an idiot. It's one thing to stretch our boundaries and wish list a little (that's probably what a good agent does!), but she didn't listen to it one bit. DH had one zip code he wanted to stay in, and she would constantly show houses 15+ miles away. He *required* walk out basement, half the houses she showed did not have one. It was an endless disaster with her. We ended up finding our house ourselves.
-
Hopefully the house we just bought a year ago will be our forever home. And the next one we buy is hopefully as empty nesters! We'd be looking for a townhouse that's smaller and without maintenance for sure!
-
A lot since i'll be moving from an apartment to a single family home! We did a pretty good job negotiating the interest rate down and checking on school districts but this time i want a better real estate agent who will know exactly what neighborhood we should be looking at based on our personality and interests. We did all the work last time because we were already familiar with the area.
-
@tinyperson: DH and I love watching Mike Holmes' shows! They terrified us before we bought our first house
I'd find a much better agent. Ours did very little legwork for us, and was not as accessible as I wanted. I will also pay more attention to the quality of the finishes. We were so excited to find a house that we didn't realize til later how cheap the flooring & light fixtures are. Someone did a crappy mini-remodel, and next time I'll be more aware!
-
I will have someone from an oil heating company come out to inspect the oil tank separate from the home inspector.
-
I want a bigger yard and to not have a corner lot next time. And I'd be more careful about our agent... we actually switched agents once because we switched areas, but the one we ended up with by recommendation took advantage of us as first time homebuyers I think.
-
@tinyperson: We have two friends who had horrible experiences with home inspectors. One friend wanted a structural engineer to come in but the sellers (and agent) really pushed back on it...turns out that there were major foundation issues and had to get an entirely new foundation a few years later...with the money they had saved up for a reno. They ended up suing both agents, sellers and inspector successfully.
@swurlygurl: Those agents annoy me! We kept telling our agent we didn't want to go south of x street, and he would show us these houses to show us how much more we can get for our money. Stop wasting our time!!
-
We just bought our house and what I would do differently is get quotes for everything we are thinking of having done. Seemingly small items have cost us more and taken a lot longer to complete than we anticipated. We learned about hiring a better realtor and home inspector from buying our condo so we will be careful about that again too. Also trying to work certain items into negotiation like the sellers need to get all the dog crap out of the yard!
-
@tinyperson: @Freckles: agree on finding my own home inspector. There are so many things that have popped up that were clear DIY projects that needed to be fixed.
Next time I will spend more time in the home really getting and idea of space and layout and storage. I will open up more cabinets too.
-
Next time I won't use a family member as our agent. Especially a family member who doesn't really know the area where we're buying. Especially a family member who doesn't do it full-time. Our first time buying was a disaster, but we didn't know any better because were were first-timers. And our realtor (Hubs' cousin's husband) was a jackass. WE did all of the research. WE found the houses online that we wanted to see. He did ZERO negotiating for us. Awful.
Aside from that, though, yes, I think using our own inspector.
-
@skipra: My agent annoyed me. "Oh yeah, all you have to do is this, this and this. So easy!" Umm, it was SO not easy. The best is to bring a contractor/handyman with you because they'll give you an idea as to what the costs would be.
@Circusbee: Haha, we learned that we don't want a big yard! Our current yard is HUUUGE but the maintenance is a PITA.
-
I think the home we're in right now will be our forever home, but I would go for a flatter lot if I had to do it again. Our back yard is relatively flat, but our front yard and driveway slopes downward. DS really likes hanging out in the front, and I would love to be able to have some sort of porch to sit on.
-
I would have my friend who is a contractor come along with us to the home inspection and I would probably ask for a separate plumbing inspection. We thought we had a great home inspector, but we ended up with a huge plumbing issue less than 24 hours after moving into our current home, and the first thing the plumber said was "Your home inspector definitely should have noticed this."
-
We had a really good experience buying our house. I think we'd just be looking to upgrade--have a master bath (heck, have more than 1 full bath), more bedrooms, more closets, bigger kitchen.
We love our house, though.
-
We had a fantastic experience with both our agent and inspector. Next time, we may look at less of a fixer upper, depending on our kids' age. We love being able to make our house our own, but we don't have tons of energy for it after becoming parents.
Reply
Subscribe to our newsletter
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
18 comments