What would you do differently, or wish you had known...

Anyone have advice for a first time home buyer? Is there anything you wish someone had told you before you first bought a home, or something you would do differently now if you could do it all over?


Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Re: What would you do differently, or wish you had known...

I would of bought a house with a Basement and we would of bought a house with at least 2 bathrooms

We live in a Levitt cape that originally had 1 bathroom and there is no basement. We have an attic now that we dormer-ed, a garage and a shed in the yard. The basement would of been a good place for storage, and a great place for the kids to go during family gatherings.

Scott

Re: What would you do differently, or wish you had known...

I wish I knew that the house I bought did NOT have all the proper CO's. I had NO idea that we had an illegal finished basement, 1/2 bath and 2 fireplaces until I went to sell my house and couldn't! It's been a nightmare and the expenses trying to fix it all are going to exceed $10k soon!!!

SO the most important thing is go to the town, pull the records before you sign the contracts and make sure your house is 100% legal with all CO's!

As for the other things - I'm going on my 3rd house now. With each house my wishlist grows My must haves are 2 baths, finished basement and 2 car garage. I'm also a big fan of central air.

Message edited 1/17/2011 6:11:38 PM.

Re: What would you do differently, or wish you had known...

live in it before you do any renovations, no matter how big or small. It's amazing how things change just after you've lived in the house for a few weeks or months! Take your time with that stuff.

Re: What would you do differently, or wish you had known...

Posted by Charly

I wish I knew that the house I bought did NOT have all the proper CO's. I had NO idea that we had an illegal finished basement, 1/2 bath and 2 fireplaces until I went to sell my house and couldn't! It's been a nightmare and the expenses trying to fix it all are going to exceed $10k soon!!!

SO the most important thing is go to the town, pull the records before you sign the contracts and make sure your house is 100% legal with all CO's!

As for the other things - I'm going on my 3rd house now. With each house my wishlist grows My must haves are 2 baths, finished basement and 2 car garage. I'm also a big fan of central air.

Re: What would you do differently, or wish you had known...

Message edited 1/17/2011 6:43:19 PM.

Re: What would you do differently, or wish you had known...

I wish I had known how many expenses come up the first month or so after you buy the house - and I'm not talking about major renovations or anything. Our house was technically turn-key... but new locks & toilet seats, cleaning supplies, paint, various new small pieces of furniture or area rugs or curtains, it all adds up.

Re: What would you do differently, or wish you had known...

so many things....I must say though, we were pretty prepared for stuff ...we made it so we wouldn't regret anything really major (or, I was at least prepared...not sure about DH...but I handled everything - the entire process - and it went well.)


-be sure to leave the closing table with a safety net. yes, some people have just a few grand left in the bank and roll the dice & all ends up well, but remember: the minute you move in, you never know what you may need to fix ASAP (and things that are essential.. like heat or electric)

-it's good to be on friendly term with the seller, but it's hard to be friends. it's still a big business transaction, and probably one of the biggest in your life. you're both there for a similar reason/goal: to end up not broke or taken advantage of. after you have an inspection done, if anything needs to be fixed soon and is "major," try to negotiate to get the seller to come down the price it would cost to fix it/replace it.

-location, location, location. you can change things in a home, but you can't pick it up and move it. think long-term, even if this is just a starter-home. you never know what may end up happening down the line.

-have the BEST team of professionals leading and guiding you....from your agent, to your broker or bank, to your real estate attorney, to your inspector, etc. these people are so essential and can make your life easy or make it hell.

-don't.settle.ever. even if rates are low, and you can get a great deal, don't settle. this is where you will hang your hat and lay your head. it's important to love where you live. if you always wanted a colonial, don't settle for looking at ranches. go with your gut. you know what you want - it's out there.

-seriously consider taxes to be a big factor. yes, you can find a reasonable priced home, but anticipate that your taxes will go up every single year. yes, there is STAR rebate programs and you can always try to grieve them, but bear in mind that one day, when you pay off your home and it's finally yours, you will still be paying taxes....they never go away!

-live in reality. look, some sellers don't budge. they think their home is worth way more than it really is. they may not listen to their listing agent's advice and won't budge on their price, even if they received a reasonable offer. they can be emotionally invested in their home and it can make things murky. if they don't budge and you know it's overpriced, think long & hard. also, if the house appraises for less & the seller STILL won't come down the appraisal price, seriously consider walking. No one wants to overpay in this economy...but that's not to say you can't or that others don't.

-don't stress too much. it's such a process and it's so easy to shed tears, curse, lose hope, lose sleep, fight with your loved ones, etc. but everyone goes through it and, if you do it right, you don't end up regretting too much.

-and beth. FM her. she is a great resource and agent, as I am sure you will see from her posts on the home board.

Re: What would you do differently, or wish you had known...

A basement is a must. Never lived with one before and thought it was OK. It became obvious that we were lacking one after having a kid.

Not done differently but would never buy a house with only 1 bathroom. We have to have 2 full baths or at least 1 per floor.

A minimum of 3 bedrooms is a must.

Do visit your house multiple times, day, evenind and weekends. Do the work route at the time you would travel to really know how it would work for you. Traffic may not appear like much on paper but long traffic lights, turning left on a busy road may add commute time that did not appear at first.

Do not underestimate the neighbors. Curb appeal is very important.

Re: What would you do differently, or wish you had known...

I made mistakes my first time. Made some great choices too but made a few mistakes I had to learn from when I sold that house to buy my new one.

Biggest mistake was buying in a location I did not want (block and lot). The house was great so we overlooked the fact that the block was busier than we wanted. In the end it drove us insane. I learned to never do that again.

Re: What would you do differently, or wish you had known...

I looooove our co-op but in hindsight, we really should have looked into a 2 bedroom to start. It's going to be tight for a few years!

So basically, if you don't have kids and you are planning, look for a place with room for them!

Re: What would you do differently, or wish you had known...

1. I would have driven by the house at all hours to see what goes on in the neighborhood. I would have made the effort to meet the neighbors ahead of time to see what they are like. I would have taken a much more careful look at the houses on my block to see that they are well kept. You know that whole good fences saying? It is very, very true. And my fence isn't so great either!

2. I would have really analyzed the amount of storage space in the house. There can never be enough!

ETA: 3. Plan for the future. I knew this was our starter home so I didn't really care at the time. Now that baby #1 is on the way, I'm freaking out. Where the heck is all this kid's stuff going to go? In my living room? I don't think so. Now I want to have a house that has room for a play room. Think about what you hope your future will hold and the type of use you plan on having in your home. Do you like to entertain? Maybe you want to ensure there is a dining room. Does your DH like to tinker? If so, make sure there is a garage. Think ahead because tomorrow gets here in a hurry!

Message edited 1/17/2011 10:15:38 PM.

Re: What would you do differently, or wish you had known...

I would have hired a PE(professional engineer) and NOT a home inspector. They are only certified by a class that is a few hours long We had $52,000 worth of structural damage that we figured out the week after we moved it. It never should have been missed. A PE is well worth the money!!!!!

In our lawsuit we found out that our inspector was a retired LIRR engineer, with ZERO construction/home repair experience. It is not required by the state of NY. I would never put such a huge investment in the hands of a home inspector again EVER!
http://www.ehow.com/how_5509782_become-inspector-new-york-state.html

Message edited 1/17/2011 10:21:59 PM.

Re: What would you do differently, or wish you had known...

Great Thread!

Re: What would you do differently, or wish you had known...

Really take into consideration what you will need to or want to put into the house. Things really add up! So take the time to figure out an offer that is fair or when you are comparing houses you like.

Re: What would you do differently, or wish you had known...

if you buy a older home or a fixer upper try not to get things done right away. live in the house or experiment with mini makeovers but don't go guns blazing and over do everything. we are in debt to our eyeballs for doing too much to soon.

Re: What would you do differently, or wish you had known...

Re: What would you do differently, or wish you had known...

If the house has cesspools, have those checked! The inspection won't cover it. Our first night in the house DH and I both took showers and then noticed a pipe leaking in the basement. We ended up calling Roto Rooter at 10 pm on a Saturday and $400 later we found out our waste pipe was clogged. They also tried to tell us that our cesspool needed to be replaced and that we needed to have an overflow put in. The quote was over $5,000! I was in tears and completely freaking out. Good news is we ended up calling around and got a 2nd and 3rd estimate. We found out that we already had an overflow and that the cesspool was in good condition and didnt need to be replaced. For a full week though I was so stressed out. I wish we had asked the sellers for details on the cesspool system and I wish we had paid for a cesspool inspection prior to closing.

Re: What would you do differently, or wish you had known...

Posted by ChrisDee

I would have hired a PE(professional engineer) and NOT a home inspector. They are only certified by a class that is a few hours long We had $52,000 worth of structural damage that we figured out the week after we moved it. It never should have been missed. A PE is well worth the money!!!!!

In our lawsuit we found out that our inspector was a retired LIRR engineer, with ZERO construction/home repair experience. It is not required by the state of NY. I would never put such a huge investment in the hands of a home inspector again EVER!
http://www.ehow.com/how_5509782_become-inspector-new-york-state.html

Re: What would you do differently, or wish you had known...

Re: What would you do differently, or wish you had known...

I wish I had known that the housing market was going to crash.

Seriously though, never buy a starter home that you can't make into a forever home. We thought this would be our starter home. After trying to sell last year, we are going to be doing an addition on the house now. This can become our permanent home. You just never know what life will throw your way. For us, it was a hard time selling and messed up contracts coupled with DC #2 on the way surprising us that will now force us to stay here and make this house what we need it to be.

Re: What would you do differently, or wish you had known...

storage storage storage!

we bought a brand new condo. it is gorgeous but there is NO space.

we are now looking to sell and i will NOT buy a house that doesnt have a basement/garage

Re: What would you do differently, or wish you had known...

Picture yourself in it in the future - when I bought I was not thinking about kids - now with a LO on the way - I regret my bedroom being on a sep floor as well as not having a bathroom on the top floor
Also - sit and stalk out the block - I have the most ANNOYING dogs next to me - I am a huge animal lover but not at 5 am when you leave them out there for 45 min barking non-stop

Re: What would you do differently, or wish you had known...

actually my DH was soooo picky when we looked for house. i'm actually glad he was. the key things to look for is location: how long of commute to work. is it conveniently located to highways & LIRR?
School District - even if you have no kids or don't plan on having any. think re-sale.
Storage: seems like the more room you have the more you accumlate AND i get alot of requests from family "do you have some room to store.... ". a basement was a must.
bathroom: think long tern. for example, DH insisted on having a bathroom on the first floor so when we get old we aren't doing stairs.
some people may disagree with this one, and so did i at first but my DH wanted to buy in the incorporated village. we can't park in the street between 2:00 AM - 6:30 AM. so now, when i wake up in the moringi if i see an unfamiliar car parked on the street, something maybe up. also, when it snows, plows are come up and down our block all day. also, our car & home owners insurance is cheapper since we live in the incorporated village.

that all i can think of now

good luck!!!!

Re: What would you do differently, or wish you had known...

- Take into account that what your payments will be when you buy your house won't stay the same. Tax increases, escrow shortages... they change things. My fixed rate mortgage changed 4 times in 4 years...down...up...up again A LOT...down.

- Trust your intuition. My mortgage broker came highly recommended by a colleague of DH's but he just didn't sit well with me. It was problem after problem.

- Driveway. We bought a house without one. We live on a quiet street and can always park right in front of our house so it isn't a problem per say, but on days when the street plows push snow into the side of my car I think about how nice it would be to have a driveway

- In addition to all of the things you like about the house, give some thought as to what you think other prospective buyers WON'T like about it. Unless it is your forever house, I would try to imagine what reaction you'd get when it comes time for you to be the seller. Our house for example, is a loft style contemporary. You go upstairs and it opens right into the bedroom, then there is a bathroom and another small bedroom off of it. It's structured in such a way that it is easy to put a wall up to eliminate the loft feel, but for some buyers it is hard to see past that. We always liked how unique it was but a loft style is certainly not for everyone. We lost prospective buyers because of it.