Anyone have real estate tips for finding a new house?
 

We don't expect to move until next year, but I am already scouting out areas for us (we will be moving about an hour away). My biggest problem is trying to reconcile the needs and wants of 3 people -- me, my husband, and my twenty-something daughter. Finding a house that can accommodate two generations with adequate separation is more difficult!

A lot of real estate agents will email you listings based on what you need. Find a couple online and ask them. Also try the website http://www.zillow.com/

When you buy, tell the agent you will give her the full amount of commission no matter how much you pay for the house. If she saves you thousands you might pay hundreds but she is more likely to be willing to get the price down for you - it is win - win.

Hire the home inspector and appraiser yourself. Do not use someone recommedned by the seller or the agent. Then the inspectors and appraisers are working for YOU not someone else.

If there are big trees in the yard ask a tree place to look at the condition and estimate the cost of having to take them out if needed. Appraisers don't usually include trees and they can be costly. If it has Bradford pear type trees of any size figure on it falling in a storm. There is/was one in front of every house in the neighborhood here and many of them have cracked in half and fallen. Another expense.

Get a hotel room near where you think you will go and drive the route to work your usual time to see how traffic flows in the morning.

Park nearby and see what the neighborhood is like on Friday evenings.

We had our adult daughter living with us for a while when she was in grad school. Our house happens to have a bedroom with private full bath and closet, plus separate entrance, over the garage. It also has access to under the eves storage space and we have a basement, so room to store her furniture. That arrangement worked reasonably well for us. She had no kitchen, but wasn't home for many meals, anyway. Now my husband has that room for his office at home, and he loves it. I wanted it for a sewing room, but....that will never happen!
Best of luck with your house hunt. You are wise to start early.

You need a Mother in Law house with a separate apartment but attached. A garage apartment is even better.

I'm going to be moving in with my son shortly and I told him I didn't want to be underfoot. We get along great but, still, he needs his own space as do I. So we searched online for homes with 2 living spaces and bedrooms away from each other. We found the perfect match. The lower level was built up as an in-laws suite. I'll have my own space, own door, laundry, kitchen, etc. Better yet -- nice space for my sewing area. But I'm sure I'll be cooking upstairs for him LOL

There are secondary considerations that very few people consider when buying. I have had good luck with energy saving even when there is no infrastructure to help with that. The secret is passive solar. You try to find a house that meets your needs that has the least lived in spaces on the north side (bedrooms, more formal areas) and the active spaces (family room, studio, kitchen) on the south side with, hopefully lots of windows on that side and few on the north. Ideally the house aligns east to west. I have built one and bought two. The one I built had 11 windows on the south side and only 4 on the north. With a single fireplace insert, one winter I had a January bill for $78 electric (heat pump) for 2500 sq ft in piedmont North Carolina. The sun alignment with all those south side windows in January flooded the house with solar energy during the day! In summer, the sun was then overhead and didn't heat the house like it did in winter. Win-win. I have saved thousands of dollars over the years in energy costs by focusing on passive energy gain in my homes.

Landscaping is also a very important factor in this. On my south side i had deciduous trees to let that sun through in winter but shade in summer. On the north there were evergreens to be a windbreak for cold winds from the north.

I won't go into all the ramifications of passive solar buildings. There should be plenty of information on the internet. Good luck with your search!

Another thing - is it possible daughter will have a roommate - and still be living with you?
Or - eventually have a child? That does happen, sometimes.

I think Realtor.com is a wonderful search engine. You can pick price range, number of bedrooms, and many other options to zero in on a search. Most realtors will have photographed the homes they are trying to sell, so you will be able to see what the inside looks like. Good luck.

1) Start shopping for a helpful real estate agent by going to open houses. Test for helpfulness by asking questions that require effort to answer. 2) Make your agent a prioritized list of what you need in a house/yard plus extras that you would really also like. Revise this list as you start looking. 3) Consider what you would like in a neighborhood such as a safe environment for walking your dogs, a park for grandkids, and nearby shops for groceries. 4) Go back several times with a common sense friend who can help balance strengths and weaknesses. 5) Keep an open mind about feasible changes which can convert an OK house into a dream home.

Find a realtor that you like, who understands your needs, and who is working for you, not the seller. The agent costs you nothing. The seller pays the realtor fees.

boy i will watch this one. My Texas agent said she can't tell if neighborhoods have sidewalks! want them!!!

This, this! As a buyer you don't pay commission, and having a realtor search for what you want and need is the best way to discover the right properties – he/she will have access to all the available houses, and that's what you want.

I would think price range is another consideration.

Location is another major factor.

OP, your daughter is 20, how long do you think she will be living with you? I ask as my son is 20 and he is attending university 5 hours away and is only home now about 3 weeks a year. I think it best to find the best home for you and your dh first and fit your daughter in second, unless there is a reason we do not know about that means she will have to live with you for a long time.

I may be moving in three years. Things that will be important to me, may not be important to you, but here goes:

I want to following or the ability to add the following, in no particular order:

Fenced yard
No restrictions on number or type of pets
RV parking on my property
Mature fruit trees
Walking distance to shopping
No more than a 20 minute commute to work
Sewing and long arm room
Lots of big windows and lots of light
Bright kitchen with lots of counter tops - I currently have a bright kitchen with limited counters
Big laundry room, with storage and room for my deep freeze, preferably on the main floor

Go to www.rmls.com and enter your parameters. Choices that will suit your needs will come up.

Some states have the option of a buyers agent. They work for you not the seller. Check to see if that's an option where you are moving. They're fees are usually paid from the listing commission.

This only has listings in Oregon and Washington. :-(

Why does the adult daughter get a vote? Will she live with you for the rest of her life? Is she helping pay for the new house?

Sandy

The tree advise is great!

We just took a tree down from the front yard of our home. It was just a baby when we moved in 33 years ago, had a double trunk and towered over our house. The county agent came out and inspected it at our request. Her first reaction was that it looked healthy. A closer look showed her that there was a split in one of the trunks, which meant a stiff wind (hurricane force) could bring it down. Final verdict was that it had to go!

It cost us $2000 to take it down, but it was money well spent. The trunk that wasn't splitting was rotted more than halfway through - a disaster waiting to happen! As the upper limbs of the tree (about 18" circumference) were removed and dropped to the ground, our house literally shook.

I do miss that tree, though.

REGARDING the real estate agent: He or she works for the seller, not the buyer, so it is the seller who pays the agent. The RE agent has a fiduciary responsibility to the seller, not to the buyer, and can be sued by the seller if the RE agent strikes a side deal with you.

You may be able to find a "buyers agent" who can negotiate price for you with the seller and sellers RE agent. But the seller still pays his/her RE agent a commission, unless the home is a "for sale by owner", with no RE agent involved. If the house is listed through a realtor, though, the RE agent is still required to work in the sellers best interest, not the buyers.

I am also looking to buy a house (currently renting). My tip, when you find a listing you like, Google the address and switch to satellite or aerial view. You get to see what the neighborhood looks like. The listing is not going to tell you if the house backs up to a junkyard or the sewage treatment plant, but the satellite doesn't lie!! Some places you can even do Street View and it is like you are driving up and down the street. I can't tell you how many I have looked at that looked great, until I did that and find they back right up to the interstate!! Not interested in road noise 24/7!!

My other theory (and I may be wrong about this) is, when I see a listing I like, I contact the listing agent and work with them. I figure, if they know they don't have to split the commission with a buyer's agent, they will be more inclined to persuade the seller that mine is a good offer.

Make sure you have the roof checked out, and the furnace/ac. Have a good mechanical and by all means have the sellers sign a disclosure statement. Also might want to find out if the neighbors have barking dogs. We moved in to our new home 2 years ago. Nice neighborhood. Next door neighbors had two barking dogs. We could not even sit on our deck, every time they came out the barked viciously. The neighbors introduced their selves and explained that they were going to get bark collars. After 6 months, no bark collars. I had had it and went over one day after 15 mins of barking and asked what they were going to do about the dogs.. They were highly insulted and got very nasty. They no longer speak to us (no big loss). but when we came back from our winter stay in TX they had gotten bark collars, much nicer. Point being you just never know what kind of neighbors you are going to get...

Also, park nearby at a time when the school bus lets off the kids to see what the neighborhood is like.

I once found an H shape house - common kitchen/dining, but each leg had it's own bedrooms & living rooms. Probably important to have separate TVs!

These are all good tips. Being a Realtor myself contact one in your town or you know who is also associated with the MLS in the area. An hour away usually the Realtor you contact will be able to find that property for you. ANd just so you know the commission comes out of the sale of the property, period unless otherwise stated on your buyer rep agreement with your Realtor. I say Realtor because they are member of the local association of realtors, State and National associations of Realtors. Most realtors will give you a list of inspectors and are usually licensed. you can usually go to the website for the list in that area. I strongly suggest as I'm sure the Realtor you choose is to definitely have it inspected. First things first make sure you are pre-approved if taking out a mortgage or are able to show proof of funds if paying cash. Make a list of what your needs and a list of your wants. Good luck!

When we were looking for our house, I had my realtor give me a listing of all the houses in my neighborhood within our price range and parameters. Now you can probably do that yourself on the real estate listing site for your area. (In Houston it's HAR.com). Then I drove by all of them to see if they fit our needs. I narrowed it down and then looked at the ones I liked. It saved some time and effort for everyone.

If you don't mind remodeling, you can sometimes get a bargain on a house that needs work. We bought our house 16 years ago for about $40,000 under market because it was UGLY inside and needed a lot of work. I don't know if people just couldn't visualize how it would look with different paint and no ugly 80's wallpaper or what, but I saw the beautiful old wood panelling (not the cheap kind so many houses have now) and the double crown moldings and knew it could be beautiful. I usually want different colors than are in houses anyway (I seem to be allergic to white walls) so the idea of redoing the walls was normal for me. Of course, 16 years later we are still remodeling here and there but I paid it off in 12 years and can afford to update it when I want to.

Not having bought or sold a house -

If two realtors are involved - how do they both get paid?

They split the commission.

Take a look at the police report for your neighborhood and the school district stats. Even though your daughter won't be in the high school, you can tell a lot about the neighborhood based on the ACT/SAT scores of the local high school. Make sure your roof, foundation, underhouse plumbing and HVAC are in good shape via professional appraisals. If something is wrong and you love the layout of the house, negotiate appropriately -- those repairs need to be made ASAP or your house will degrade quickly. Ask how much insurance is for home owners and flood insurance for the property. You may be in a flood zone and not recognize it. Get that flood insurance no matter what!

Do the three of you have a "must have" list for the new place? Sewing room? Garage? Near river? Large yard? Attic? Basement? etc. Make sure you know one another's dream list for the house.

And have fun while picking it out!

Wow, lots of good tips here. Glad I asked!

My dd and I found an agent in the area that we like at an open house, so we took her up on her offer to have her dh (who got his real estate license after he retired) take us through several homes I picked out in different neighborhoods. It really helped having all three of us look at these homes together as we were able to come to a much better consensus. I will be revising some of our search criteria as a result. My hope is to narrow our focus so that next year, when the time comes, we are able to act fast when we find the right house.

This may be a "dumb" suggestion, but don't get hung up on the way folks decorate their homes. You need to envision your things in the home. So many times I've heard..."what an awful color", "I hate the carpets". You can change all these things. You really need to focus on the "bones" of the house. Yes, definitely hire an independent inspector - can save headaches down the line. Found the house you really want? If items found by inspector, negotiate the seller fix them or give you an allowance on the price so you can have them fixed.

One last thing...don't let on how much you "love" the house in front of the seller's agent. You have just jacked the selling price up.

Good luck with your search! It's never too early to start looking.

We just moved last year after 30 years. I learned a lot.
- Never use the agent on the For Sale sign because that agent works for the seller. Get your own that you know and can trust. Maybe get referral from someone you know. If you don't like that one, change.
-Rooms can be painted and wallpaper can come down. Look at the space and bones of the house.
-Save yourself a lot of time by searching on zillow.com where you can enter city, subdivision, etc. where you want to live to look for houses for sale in your price range and you can view pictures of the house instead of waiting to see with realtor. You can also see what houses are selling for in that neighborhood.
-If you find a house you think you might like, ask realtor to see it right away. Houses aren't staying on the market very long at all.
-Always hire someone for the inspection and be there when it takes place. Foundation issues are expensive, so get those taken care of as part of the negotiation.
-Have your realtor include a warranty on the house you purchase as part of contract. It usually costs the seller $500 but covers the furnace, AC, appliances, garage door openers, etc.
-The tree advice you have been given is great.
-Having a ranch this time has really changed our lives. We are actually using our whole house instead of having bedrooms upstairs that we never used.
Hope this helps.

Take it from someone who worked as a legal assistant in a primarily real estate practice, and from seeing the things buyers can get "taken to the cleaners" on, be represented by your own attorney. Yes, it can be expensive, but almost certainly NOT as expensive as buying a house that might have problems. Other issues that can arise -- proposed roadways which might result in condemnation of all or a portion of property for road construction, or any other "public purpose". What I'm saying is not intended as a "slam" against a realtor (any realtor), but if you are represented by your own attorney, you're generally protected. My own BIL and his wife refused to hire an attorney to represent them in their house purchase many years ago, and apparently didn't have an inspection done either, but ended up with both heating and air conditioning problems (neither one worked). The units ultimately had to be replaced at a cost of several thousand dollars. I wouldn't and didn't purchase a vacant one-acre lot without legal representation, and had legal representation when we subsequently purchased the adjacent one-acre lot. We purchased at a very good time, and bought both one-acre lots in a platted subdivision for less than $10,000. A very good price, but not an amount I'd spend without protecting us. For instance, because it was a platted subdivision, we were able to combine the two lots and build our house in the center of the two acres. Had it been unplatted property, divided by the previous owner, the county regulations here would have made it impossible for us to even build on the property. Also, if the property had been unplatted, it would be necessary to make certain that the two lots were adjacent, and that there was no "gap" in the legal descriptions. In this state, most mortgage lenders (if any) would require a current survey. Even if the lender did not require a survey, it's likely that the title insurance company would require a current survey to eliminate certain title exceptions. I know that every state is different -- all I'm saying is that you should have YOUR OWN attorney to represent your interests. Jeanette

Unless my DD was paying for part of the house then her wants would not be a consideration. She could adapt to the space she was given. If you know your DD cannot move out on her own in the future then her wants and needs are important.

In my area a good realtor is getting hard to find. They all seem to push the houses that are on the high end of our budget and the homes the sellers offered a big bonus to sell the house. We had to insist on looking at homes on the low end too.