Things to consider when buying a new house
Making the decision to buy a new house can be tricky. You have no idea where to start or what features to take into account when looking for a building?
You should keep reading and inform yourself about this topic. The real estate industry can be difficult to understand and there are a lot of things you won’t get without the help of a specialist. Although, here’s a list with several things you need to focus your attention on when checking out a house:
Developers and quality
Usually the people that are handling the construction itself are not very devoted to their work and they tend to hurry up and miss details that you’ll later notice. That’s why you must make sure the features you are being told your home will have are actually present at the location. If you don’t trust yourself with this task, you should ask for the help of specialists. For example, a promise that your house has roofing, cladding, glazing and waterproofing performance should be tested by specialised building envelope consultants who can give you a genuine verdict about the construction details you might miss. Properly checking the location with the help of science technologists, thermographers, field investigators and energy auditors will give you a complete look over the characteristics. Quality is the first main thing you need to look for when buying a new house. It is a long term investment and not being careful when taking this decision might cost you a lot more later on. Ask these questions before deciding:
• Foundation or structural problems – it is often known that recently sold houses are causing problems with large cracks in the foundation that are being covered or hidden until after the sell; the best way to check if there are any damages to the structure of the construction is to hire an engineer to conduct a professional inspection of your house; real estate dealers are sneaky and they could make you think a house with slight problems is the best choice for you when in reality this issue can cause big trouble once you moved in
• Pest problems – insects or other kind of pest problems are a big issue for a selling house; this is one of the details you need to ask about before even entering a room; pest problems that persist are really hard to get rid of so it is not something you’d like to deal with in the future
• Fresh painted walls – if you see fresh paint on the walls without a valid explanation on purpose, you should know that its role there was to cover up signs of degradation; ask about all the recent changes that were made to the house and if you happen to see something out of place, stay away from the property; real estate employees will try their best to make you buy a house, but that doesn’t mean it is the best decision you can make too
• Amateur repairs – ask for a history of the repairs that were made to the structure; simply patching cracks or superficially changing the tiles in the bathrooms are details that will matter later on, because you will have to invest in fixing rooms right after you bought the property; amateur repairs usually do not last so that is why you must make sure the changes that were made to the building were professional and assisted; again, you might want to ask for specialised help in order to understand what’s going on, given the fact that the real estate company will say everything is done properly; first, check for yourself
• Odours – bad or even good odours can be quite unpleasing if they are permanent and you cannot do anything about them; make sure you don’t see a plug in air freshener in every room, because it is a sign of covering up a foul odour; this criteria can be applied for wide opened windows too; try closing them and pay attention to the air in each room
• Ceilings – flipped properties often have repaired ceilings due to them being stained or cracked; try gathering information about how strong the ceilings are and keep an eye out for visible malformations of it
• Electrical system structure – encountering issues with the electrical system can be one of the most troubling things when buying a new home; most home buyers do not care about this detail and they simply turn light switches on and on, checking for flickering lights or merely looking at the outlets; this is not enough – bring a professional electrician with you and ask him do some tests for proper wiring; if the wiring happens to be improper you’ll have to break the walls where needed and change all the electrical cables; no one wants to spend their money on something that needs total rebuilding, right?
• Mould problems – poor drainage and wetness lead to mould forming; boarded up or vacant properties usually have problems with mould and it can be really unhealthy for you, especially if you are bringing a child in; mould is hard to get rid of and it may be recurrent
Pricing
Checking the balance between price and quality is one of the most important tasks to do before choosing your next acquisition. Check the value of the windows, roofing, flooring, interior millwork, kitchen cabinets and every item you are seeing in the house. This will be a guiding factor for the final price. If the final price is quite low, you should ask some more additional questions like replacements needed, parking lots and so on.
All in all, be careful what you are choosing and keep track of every aforementioned criterion. The utilities of a home merged with the location and the changes made through time will give you a mere representation of what it should look like and how much it should cost. Now it is up to you to make a decision but do that just after you have consulted a specialist. Taking such decision all by you can be a mistake and two opinions never hurt anyone.
