House hunting is not easy, friends. We’ve been searching for two years now and finally, finally, finally found our house. (And closed on it today!) When we first started looking we had a vauge idea of what we were looking for in a house, but there is nothing like time and experience to teach you what’s really important.
In the end, there were six critical things we looked for when buying a house. Our goal was to ensure our home purchase would be a smart and sound investment, seperate from all the emotion the process can add to it. It took us a while to create this criteria, so hopefully our list can help you save some time and frustration on your own house-hunting journey!
1. Schools
Even if you are never planning on having kids, nothing affects your property value like a school district. The better one is, the more desirable houses in that area will be. Should you need to sell, you are likely to be able to sell quicker and recieve more money for your house than a similar house in a less-awesome school district.
2. Neighborhood
This one is super important if you care about the community within your area, because even in great school districts there are neighborhoods that can be a little lacking. Drive around streets and get a feel for how people are taking care of their yards and personal property. When you walk by others on the sidewalk do people smile and say hello? It was important to Josh and I to find a neighborhood where people really care about their community and take care of it and each other.
3. Purchase history
This is an area that I wish I had thought about sooner in the house buying process. It’s easy to walk into a house and be wowed by the staging and design. But take a step back and do your research on that home. Did the $250,000 house you’re ooh-ing and ahh-ing over sell for $35,000 less than a year ago? Super quick flips can tell you a lot about the quality of the workmanship that was done. And we’ve found that usally these quick flips are the most expensive house on the block, which we never want to be.
4. Your non-negotiables
I feel like everyone has a list of non-negotiables that they have identified when they first start house shopping. And then, somewhere along the way, if they are struggling to find the right house, they start to question if their non-negotiables should actually be non-negotiables. Don’t get me wrong, re-evaluting your list can be very wise, especially if your list of must-haves is a mile wide and not exactly realistic in your budget. But don’t be tempted to cut the truly important things in the name of simply finding a house.
If you know you want to have a few kids in the future and keep coming back to cute little Craftsman-style houses that are already too small for you (but you just love the look of so much!), take a step back and remind yourself that above all your house has to be functional.
5. Bones of the house
This is similar to number four and one that so many buyers get tripped up over. (And that Josh and I definitely struggled with in the beginning!) It is very easy to fall in love with a house based on a can of paint and some good staging. Look further. After all, that furniture is going to be gone when you move in. How old is the HVAC? What shape is the roof in? How insulated are the windows? Was the electrical done to code? Those are the items that cost major $$$ to replace. Paint is cheap in comparison.
6. Local development
It is so important to know what plans your city has for the areas you’re looking to buy in. Are they building a new school in the neighborhood you’e looking at? Awesome. Are the planning to widen the road right behind your potential house? Not so great. Make sure to keep up-to-date on local news while you’re house-hunting. It can save you some major headaches in the future!
Questions of the Day: Are you in the process of buying a house? If you’ve recently bought a house, what key considerations would you add to this list?
I wish I knew these things when I was looking for a house 13 years ago!
Congratulations on your new home! These are great tips and ones that everyone should follow when they’re looking for a new house. It’s so easy to let emotion lead the way.
My husband and I are about to start our search for a house, and it can be a bit overwhelming not knowing where to start. Thank you for these tips!
I can definitely relate to this! We just sold our house and we’ve been feverishly looking for a new one but can’t find anything. The market moves so fast in my area and you can easily get outbid by tens of thousands. We have to rent now because there’s no time left, but we will still be house hunting! It will be our second home and I can agree with everything on this list!
I know that getting the perfect house is difficult. Me and my husband were looking for a house for over a year when we finally found THE one. It takes time, patience and studying. Like you said it’s important to study the neighborhood. Thanks for the tips!
I totally agree with this list! There are so many boxes to check before you buy a home! And it’s important to remember that if you don’t check all those boxes to walk away and find a home that has a good history and you’re sure about!!
Kileen
cute & little
This was such a fantastic post to read, as my husband and I want to start house-hunting in the next year, and we are clueless as to where we should start. I’m glad you went in-depth about this process and how you were able to find your home!
ALL of these!! Yes ??? I really like how you mentioned local developments. That’s something my husband looks at really intentionally and I always have truly thought it seems really smart. Now, you’ve re-clarified WHY it really is so smart! Love this share! I’m bookmarking it!
Xx, Morgs*
These are such great tips for first-time homebuyers!
These are great tips! I’m actually looking at purchasing a home in the next 2-3 years!
Congratulations on your new house! All of these tips are right on! For me it was also that I had to find a house with a tall ceiling in the entrance and praise God, that’s what I found!
Great tips! It’s so important to feel out the vibes of a neighborhood!
These are all true, we just bought a house and hopefully we will be moving into it the starting of next year. Boy was it hard, the viewings and trying to find schools, neighbouring places, you are bang on with all these points. Very good and helpful information.
Love all these tips!! The bones of the house is definitely something important to check! Thanks for sharing it! I will bookmark it for my next house purchase.
Local development is probably the one thing most people forget about. There’s currently construction outside my apartment and I cannot wait until it is done. Thanks for sharing 🙂
-xo, Azanique | https://www.lotsofsass.com
These are so great tips! Home buying is definitely not for the faint of heart LOL ? but it’s definitely so worth it!!
Congratulations!! I’m so with you, we’ve also been looking for close to two years but feel like prices are still way too high where we are (NYC). These are such great tips to keep in mind!!