Hellobee Boards

All those little cosmetics add up! A dated bedroom can be $500 to update, more if you do carpet. A new fan $150, new baseboards, new light switches/outlet plates etc. We thought we were fine because it was all cosmetic but it needed a lot of cosmetics! But slowly we are getting there.

Layout for furniture, some houses are just weird and you can't fix layout.

Think about storage (linen closet, broom closet, etc).

And obviously most importantly, location location location.

Buy in that town that everyone talks about, even if you want to poo-poo it with all your might.

Think about how much work you can realistically do. I had all kinds of plans for renovating our house, but they got pushed to the side once we had a baby. Now we don't have the money or time that we once did.

Out house is a corner lot, which has some advantages, but when it comes to mowing, raking, snow shoveling it is outrageously time consuming.

There are also lots of big trees on the property, which make nice shade and keep the house cool, but which are also expensive to have maintained.

@T.H.O.U.: I second thinking about storage and also layout - lots of space isn't necessarily better if the space isn't usable or configured well. For example, our house has lots of small rooms and we end up using only half of them 90% of the time.

Know what you want, what you can live with, and be realistic about everything! We got a fixer upper knowing that we'd pour more than expected into it, but at the same time, it's still less than buying move-in ready AND it's done the way we liked!

Buy a well built home and don't focus on the cosmetic stuff. Yeah, cosmetic stuff is expensive but a faulty foundation, asbestos and mold are even more expensive.

I'm with pp's on a building a good savings!!

Get a place with a good layout. You can always fix or remodel everything else.

Also my biggest regret is that we didn’t stretch. We bought a house was in our budget but a lot smaller than we would have liked thinking we could always buy a bigger house later.

If we just stretched to buy the bigger house that was at the top of our budget we would have been happier in the long run… stressed out for a few years but a lot happier because now we can’t possibly afford a bigger house anytime soon.

Everyone I know that stretched to the top of their budget (and maybe even more) are very happy with what they bought.

Don’t make yourself house poor by buying.

Even brand new homes have issues, have unexpected expenses and need repairs or whatever that will cost you money. Make sure you’re taking a total view of home ownership, especially pay attention to property taxes. Ours have gone up by more than $100/month since we moved in 3 years ago.

Depending on where you live, take heating costs into account.

NEVER DECLINE TO DO AN INSPECTION.

I wish I had thought more about:
- Layout as opposed to square footage
- Heating and cooling systems (if they are old, think about how easy and expensive they will be to replace)

I am glad we did the following:
- Bought in a great location in terms of commute and amenities, even though it was more expensive than other areas
- Made sure we got lots of storage space

Don't forget to check out the neighbors! Ours in one side are extremely sketchy...

What I loved about our house when we bought it was the backyard. But I never thought about how much work the prior owners did to maintain it. It's so overgrown now and we rarely use it. Although with older kids it may work better, but it def makes me want a more maintainable yard in our next house.

@Synchronicity: Why not? I live on a corner lot and love it!

My biggest advice is that fixer upper's sound fun in theory but unless you're able to actually do the bulk of the fixing up yourself - they are SO expensive. Our first house was a huge mistake because of that reason. Never again!

@Synchronicity: also curious about why not. Our last house was on a corner lot and we loved it! Our yard felt much bigger than it really was.

@coopsmama: @LindsayLou: where we live in Ontario we get a ton of snow in the winter, and every time the snowplow goes down our street (sometimes more than once a day) we end up with a 4ft tall mountain of snow that blocks in our entire driveway. It's awful! All of our neighbors have told us how much they pity us in the winter Also, the way our lot is set up, it means a lot of useless side yard that I'd rather not have to deal with!

Always get a home inspection.
Be honest with yourselves. We all like to think that we'll enjoy DIYing a project (or 10) or use space in a particular way but that may not be the day-to-day reality.
Once you do buy a home, live in it (if possible) before taking on big projects. We bought our home certain that we would gut the kitchen. We lived in it for a bit and realized there's actually a lot that we like about the layout but also a problematic door that we wouldn't have known to relocate if we had jumped in immediately.

I second the recommendation of your realtor working for you. Don't be afraid to "fire" them if it's not working, and wait to sign an exclusivity clause until they've taken you to some showings.

I wasted a lot of time working with sub-par realtors. The first one insisted my parents give me a boatload of money because they would only show me places within 10 miles of work or else I'd be miserable. (My parents didn't the money to give me, and I wanted to live further out to get more house. I couldn't afford to live that close to work). they pushed me to sign the exclusivity document, and thankfully that turned me off.

Then I worked with a friend of DH for a while, but he was focusing a lot on where he would want to live and not so much on my wants/needs. And he wasn't very organized. That wasted a lot of our time.

I ended up finding a third through an ad and we've been repeat clients with him. Whereas DH's friend would have us driving willy nilly all over the county looking at things, the realtor I chose would map out where things were and show me some of the listings I picked out and some that he thought might work for me. He's professional, organized, and made our lives a lot easier (which is why we went back when we sold/bought again)

@DesertDreams88: Agree on the offers! I'm not good at making last minute decisions. At all. That was probably my least favorite part of home buying.

- Take your time. You can't really know the market unless you spend a lot of time watching it. Your agent may know the market generally, but you need to know it at a very granular level--for the town, neighborhood, and street you're looking at. Your agent probably sells properties all over the county, and there are likely a lot of places that they're familiar with that are of zero relevance to you.

- Think about all the places you've lived in and make a list of all the things you loved about them and all the things that bothered you. Remember these things when looking at houses.

- Don't feel pressured and trust your instinct. If something--anything--feels wrong, walk away. (This includes walking away from your agent, if necessary.) If you've got an external pressure, like a lease that is ending, eliminate it immediately. Losing a few months' rent or a deposit is nothing compared to what you could lose if you rush into a bad deal on a house.

- The relevant price to look at to determine if it is a reasonable deal is price per square foot. You should know the sale price per square foot (and the condition and sizes) for all of the houses that might be comparables, and you should make your own list of comparables (your agent will give you one, but you should be keeping track of recent sales and making your own). If you don't already know the average price per square foot of the sales in the area you're looking in, spend time on Redfin or Zillow looking at sales to figure it out.

- Don't look at more than 3 houses in a trip. It's impossible to remember them all or pay attention to the details once you've hit more than that and you generally only get one or two visits to the house before you have to decide whether to plunk down a sizable chunk of your savings on it.

- Go to open houses in the areas you are interested in, even if you'd never buy the house. It's a good way to get to know the area, and you should be visiting the streets/neighborhoods you're interested in a LOT.

- Go drive/walk around the 'hoods you think you like at all hours of the day. Even better, stop and talk to people who are out in the neighborhood when you do this.

- If HOAs are popular in your neck of the woods, figure out whether you'd be happy living in one. It can be a very different experience than in a non-HOA (or a voluntary HOA) neighborhood.

- Get the inspection done ASAP.

- Don't get emotionally invested. There are lots of great houses and if you happen to lose out on one, another one will come along shortly.

Pick the top 3 things that you will NOT compromise on and focus on those. For us it was school district, residential neighborhood/street and large level backyard. There were so many other super fancy new construction homes in our price range that were on busy streets, not in a neighborhood and had no backyard or were on a steep hill (which makes for a nice view but not great for small kids). I'm so super glad I did not compromise on these things because they would have drove me crazy! Also, don't buy at the top of your price range. We bought a house that was only 33% of what we were approved for and have NO regrets. We have extra money for renovations and additions and either one of us can quit our jobs at any time and we wouldn't have to worry about downsizing.

If you are buying in a relatively new development, take a look at the HOA bylaws/regulations. I've see some crazy strict ones like dictating the number of plants in your front yard and forbidding any decorations in you yard.