House Hunting Pt. 1

Are you really ready to buy your first house? We are asked that question on a regular basis-- and by regular I mean every time we mention it to anyone. Sure it's easy to think that you can handle owning your own place for only a measly $600/month. But are you really considering everything before you make your decision? Here are some of the points that people have been very adamant to mention to us during our house hunt:

• Do you currently have a steady income? Does your monthly paycheck cover all of your needs and then some? Could it afford a house payment, property taxes, homeowner's insurance AND monthly utilities like food, water, electric, internet and cable? After paying all of those fees, would you still have enough "spending cash" to fit a lifestyle you can be comfortable in?
• Do you have any extra money in savings to help pay your bills, after you moved, in the case that your income is unexpectedly cut off? Do you think it would last long enough for you to find substantial employment again?
• How reliable is your income? Have you been employed for at least two years with your company or did you just start recently? Are you concerned that you could possibly lose your job in the near or distant future?
• How is your credit? Do you have a habit of forgetting to pay your bills or are you obsessive about paying them as soon as they arrive, like Boyfriend?
• Do you have any other outstanding debts? Are you still making payments on a new car or boat? Is this house a second home? Those are all things to keep in mind any time you consider a potential monthly fee, whether it is adding a line on to your cell phone plan or buying a yacht.
• Have you set aside a substantial amount of money for a down payment? There are plenty of programs out there willing to help people in almost every situation and many of them are solely for helping soon-to-be home buyers gather the funds to close on a house.

So even after all of that you're still ready to jump in with both feet, then? Well lets read a little more and then decide how ready you are for home ownership.

Before even looking at an internet listing site you're going to need to make a list. You see, you're going to eventually make this list anyway, I'm just trying to make sure its not while you're unpacking all of your things in the house you thought was going to be perfect. This list is going to save you countless hours of sifting through homes to find the ones with what you need rather than the ones with what you think you want. So sit down with those who are part of the decision making process (i.e. husband/wife, pre-teen/teenage children with viable opinions about their living space) and make a list of things you NEED and things you WANT for your new home to have. Consider other members of the family, even the ones who cant voice their opinions like children or pets, when you are thinking about the things you need in the new house. Do you have a hard time finding counter space where you live now or are you struggling to think of ways to make it look like you actually go in the kitchen at all before guests arrive?

Now, after everyone has finished you are going to want to gather them together and discuss any features that are not unanimous. Discuss the reasons why your husband wants a television in the bathroom, decide if you are really going to want to supervise all of those rowdy pool-side afternoons, will your wife actually tend that garden in the front of the house or will it die and wither into twigs on your lawn? Then, once you have recovered from your reality check of course, you are going to want to create a new list from what everyone has agreed on.

The next step is to prioritize the list. Think about each house feature and how important it is to your family. (you can cut out the names of the features and sort them on a table to make moving them around easier). Once you have them in order, rewrite them all out one more time and hang on to that. That is called your Master List. Now you are ready to talk to a realtor or to start searching for your dream home on your own.

If you are going to use an agent try to get references from family and friends. The main job of a realtor is to help you decide what you want (which you have already done) and to help match you up with the right houses. If you are not impressed by all four of the houses you have been shown, maybe your realtor doesn't quite understand what it is that you're looking for. There are plenty of realtors and homes to choose from these days so don't get discouraged if you don't find the right ones immediately.

If you are going to go it alone and try finding the home of your dreams on the internet I would suggest websites like this one or this one. They pull from many different databases and tend to have a large selection for almost every area we have used them to search in.

While viewing properties, try to keep in mind that you can change almost anything about your house if you have enough time and money, but the hardest things to adjust are a home's location and lot size. When a realtor shows you a home, make sure to have them point out the perimeter (even walk it if you can). A 15,000sqft. lot is no use to someone who wants running room if everything is hidden in dense vegetation or swampland. You can add on to your home or take rooms off; you can build floors and even entire buildings but you can't pick it up and put it in a better place. So consider that when you are looking at that lake house and the topic of flooding comes up (even though you have insurance are you really ready to deal with all that mess if it actually did happen?), or that 7 acre farm house when you start talking about going to town for groceries or emergencies (plan on having kids soon? Do you really want to drive all that way with contractions.. or with your wife screaming about her contractions?). Be sure to always do profile searches on the neighborhoods that you are looking in if you don't know much about the area. You have to keep in mind the geographical location as well. If you're from FL, like us, chances are that you haven't had to deal with snow very many times in your life. Home ownership is a year round thing so you should try to imagine living in this house in all four seasons: Are you going to want to be out in that huge shadeless yard on a sweltering summer afternoon? And are you going to have time to rake all those leaves in the fall? What about the snow? Will you actually come out and shovel that huge six car driveway?

Age is another factor that unnecessarily freaks many new home buyers out. It really shouldn't play a huge factor in whether you purchase your home or not. Each house should be considered based on it's unique characteristics and charm. Older homes are usually in better established neighborhoods, they tend to show durability (especially with how often we get hit with Hurricanes here in FL) and in many cases they have lower taxes. Newer homes on the other hand are, more often than not, much easier to maintain. Many of them are built with advanced architecture and more efficient technology to make daily home maintenance less of a hassle for home owners.

The current condition of the house when you view it may not necessarily be the best way that you think it could be. But before you start telling yourself "it's okay" that the kitchen is only one counter and just a cluster of appliances to work with because you can install more counter space later, you should seriously consider the amount of money you can afford to put in to making a house in to a home. Will you want to be painting and sawing and hammering on a regular basis? Can you deal with living in a state of physical chaos for months at a time? If not, can you afford to pay a professional to do the job safely and to your satisfaction? Would you be okay with the fact that you may not get a return on the money you put in to any repairs or upgrades? Do appliances come with the house? Do they all work? Do all of the outlets and switches work? Does anything obviously need to be repaired or replaced? (I'll talk more about having someone check those things for you in a future post) Is there any ongoing maintenance (HVAC, for example)? Make sure that if you are asking a realtor these questions that they are answering them very clearly for you. Many times realtors will skate around the question to avoid losing a sale without directly lying to you. Don't be afraid to ask them load of questions either, that is the whole reason they're there!

If you are still wanting to DIY your way through it, I commend you-- but this won't be an easy journey. If you are new to the game, like we are, I would definitely suggest getting a place that will be a challenge without overwhelming you. If you're not too confident in your handyman skills, I would try to avoid some of the more major projects that might require a little more practice or a lot more money. Things like poor flooring choice (hardwood in the bathroom, white carpet if you have small kids and pets), homes with small windows when you want a lot of natural light, mismatched toilet/tub combo or walls you would want to knock down/build, there is no place to put your current furniture, etc.

On the same note, you shouldn't let some majorly ugly details deter you either. Some things can be fixed in a jiffy to suit almost anyone. Don't be so quick to turn your nose up at the neon pink house on the corner, what if it was white with a little fence? How would it look, then? Do you love that ranch house but every room feels like it's closing in on you because of those hulking fans dangling 6 feet off the ground in every room? You can ditch that fan and replace it with a standing or incognito fan. You should even do your absolute best to try and look past any poor decorating if the home is still occupied. Mainly, though, you're going to want to watch out for structural issues that might require pulling in extensive outside help or professionals. Keep an eye out for leaks, cracks in the foundation, walls that don't belong or don't look sturdy, awkward doorways (if that kind of thing bothers you) and, of course, fire and flood damage. DIY home renovation takes an immense amount of imagination so come prepared with camera and notepad in tow to keep note on all the ideas and things worth mentioning.

So now, hopefully after that long winded rant you're infinitely more prepared to start looking for your dream home. You're already about to the point we are, except without having to have spent weeks of trial and error and days upon days of horror stories from other home buyers who bought the wrong place because "they actually thought they would use it." Hopefully you can take what we've taught you here today and run right up to the front door of your dream home.