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This is our second home that is ours. We have rented many places.
We have great neighbors, probably better than we are.
I like the layout of the rooms. Once I get in the house, it is all on the same level which is good for someone with limited mobility.
Our first home was right beside this little drainage ditch that made the back part of our yard a lake when it came about a one inch rain. So watch out for water problems. For instance, don't buy the lowest home on the street. Is the garage lower than the driveway--water in the garage.
Make sure there are no trees close enough to the house to fall on it. Plant your trees so if they uprooted, they would not hit anything. Otherwise buy smaller plants than the top of the house. Limbs can make a big hole in the roof.
Try not to get the house with the sewage lid cover. If it overflows, it will be in your yard.
I would say to go meet the neighbors before you buy. If they start talking about all the other bad neighbors, run, run fast and keep going.
One general piece of advice that we have found pretty true for every house we have looked at, if the outside of the house isn't kept up, neither has the inside. I'm not talking about damaged siding, etc. but more lawn and landscape upkeep. If bushes are overgrown, weedy grass, etc. pretty good sign that little things in the house haven't been tended to either. Not that it has to be magazine perfect but it isn't hard to trim bushes once in a while....
We learned one thing when we bought our first house, do not rely on the inspectors. They only check certain things. When we moved in after closing we found many hidden problems that were costly that the inspector(s) did not see or report or as they told us that is not what they check for.
I have had my house for 10 years by now, and it was the first one that I bought after my divorce (so the first one I could pick all by myself).
My answer to the question is THE YARD - - this can take up all your spare time if you don't choose carefully right now.
Next time I will pay a LOT more attention to the yard when choosing a home. I bought a great house in a great location, but didn't realize how important the yard could be! Some yards require a lot of care, or relandscaping, and this can take up either zero time or all your weekends and spare time, depending on what you have. My 50x100 lot had a back yard filled with banana trees and other landscaping that just wore me out until gradually and with much work I changed it over to just grass. I hired somebody to mow, and that's all I need to do for now. My yard also had three big trees that had to be removed ($$$$$) after partially falling down during hurricanes. Next time a house with just grass would be a big "plus" for me. Then all I would have to do is mow.
Also, next time a house with a yard big enough for an addition to the house would be nice. My house is now paid off, and someday maybe I'd like to build a small addition but there isn't enough room for it.
I do not like buying other peoples problems, but that is just me. Now I will buy used/2nd hand if it is a throw away item like a golf club but if it is important/critical to me, then I buy new.
I really disagree with this. People often sell a car when it starts to have problems, but that's not usually the reason someone moves. Both my houses were built in the 50's, and things were of course updated over time. They both had minor problems, but so can newer houses.
I'm sure lots of us would like to have known about the neighbors, but there's no guarantee the nice people won't sell to jerks or vice versa. That's why having a little space between houses and privacy from windows is nice.
I really disagree with this. People often sell a car when it starts to have problems, but that's not usually the reason someone moves. Both my houses were built in the 50's, and things were of course updated over time. They both had minor problems, but so can newer houses.
I'm sure lots of us would like to have known about the neighbors, but there's no guarantee the nice people won't sell to jerks or vice versa. That's why having a little space between houses and privacy from windows is nice.
I understand what you are saying and I do not disagree, but the question is what and when is it updated?
Older homes that used state of the art and applicable codes that have been shown/proven not to be the best, especially as newer materials came along.
Some examples:
1. Aluminium wiring.
2. Septic systems with cast iron piping.
3. Buried oil tanks.
4. Heat pump systems when the outside temps are below say 40* for days on end.
5. Total electric homes.
I have been "bitten/dealt with" by all of the above, and not that new means "it" will not be proven wrong (bad solar panels), but only history will tell.
Not that all people lie about selling "used", but many will not/do not answer question(s) until asked.
I wish I would have known that technology would render all of the CAT 5 cable obsolete and worthless before I finished installing it.
Cat 5 is obsolete? Not sure where your getting your inflation from, but Cat 5 is hardly obsolete. Cat.5 can handle speeds of 100 Mbps, and few people need that kind of speed for in home networks. not to mention a 100 Mbps internet connection would cost you $200 a month. Personally I have economy internet, I pay $20 a month for 1 Mbps and it handles web surfing, online gaming and most video streaming fine. I admit downloading does take longer and I occasionally run into a high band width data streaming sites where the video pauses. but for 95% of what I do it's sufficient. Most people's computer's can't even handle the data from 10 Mbps let alone 100.
Quote:
Originally Posted by accufitgolf
5. Total electric homes.
What's wrong with total electric homes? I have one and it with Geothermal, I have a lot lower heating bill than anything heated with Natural Gas or Oil.
I was gonna say...cat5 is not obsolete at all. I just bought a new house and they used cat5 for the phone jacks, thank god. Switched the jacks out for ethernet and I'm golden. Gigabit cards, router, and switches with cat5 is all you need at this time.
Not sure if was mentioned yet or not but what we did prior to buying our current house was trying to get a rough estimate of what our commute would be to and from work.
We'd drive at different times around the area on our way to work and home to see if we could live with the commute. We also timed how close we would be to local grocery stores and what not.
Gas and electric prices can be different in different parts of the country, and at different points in time, so there's no one answer about what's more economical.
I don't like having everything dependent on one power source. Our kitchen is all electric now, so with no power there's no stove, oven, or microwave. With gas appliances, if gas service got interrupted, at least you'd have the microwave. We do have a ventless gas fireplace which comes in handy when the power goes out in winter and the gas furnace doesn't work. Of course if you have a generator you're OK.
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