Keep an Open Heart and a Critical Eye

The following is an excerpt from Buying a Home: The Missing Manual.

Buying a home is an emotional experience. To buy smart, you need to engage heart and head alike. Although you should fall in love with the home you buy, you also want to be sure that you're getting a house that's a good value and will suit you and your family for the years you live there. These suggestions will help you see homes clearly as you tour them:

• Don't be distracted by nice touches. Smart sellers make their homes look as welcoming as possible. They take down family photos (because it's harder to imagine yourself living in a house with smiling strangers on the wall), remove pieces of furniture to make rooms look bigger, put out fresh flowers or bowls of fruit, and hang mirrors or position lamps to brighten dark rooms. This is called staging, and its purpose is to direct your attention away from a home's less attractive features through the use of props. Don't spend the tour admiring the dining room curtains or feeling tempted to relax on a pillow-covered sofa. Focus on the house, not its contents.

Note: Professional stagers make a living by helping sellers transform ordinary houses into showplaces to impress buyers.

• Walk through the house as though you already live there. No, that doesn't mean taking a quick nap on the owner's bed or putting your feet up on the coffee table as you watch TV. But do think about how you use your home and see whether this home fits the way you live. For example, imagine yourself preparing a meal as you look around the kitchen. Is there sufficient counter space? Where would you keep pots and pans? Is the dishwasher convenient to the cupboard where you'll store dishes and glassware? How about the bedrooms? Are they conveniently located relative to the bathrooms or will you have to walk halfway through the house in your bathrobe to get to the shower each morning?

• Put on your home inspector's hat. You'll hire a professional to do a complete home inspection and you'll do a thorough walkthrough if you decide to buy the house, but on this first look, simply keep your eyes peeled for potential problems. Here are some things to watch for:

• Light switches. Flip them on and off to make sure they work.
• Water pressure. Turn on faucets in sinks and tubs to check water flow.
• Toilets. Flush toilets to make sure they empty and refill completely.
• Floors. Do they squeak (that's a sign of loose nails)? Are they level or slanted? Are there soft spots next to the toilet or tub (that indicates water damage)?
• Walls. Do you notice any cracks or bulges? They might be a sign of structural problems.
• Doors and windows. If they stick or don't close squarely, you may need to repair or replace them—or they could be a sign that the foundation isn't stable. Check exterior doors to see whether light gets through around the edges when the door is closed; if so, you may need to add insulation or refit the door.
• Sills. Look for signs of water damage, such as mildew or mold. Also check for peeling paint; in older homes, the paint may be lead-based. Note: Federal law requires that sellers of homes built before 1978 give buyers a lead disclosure statement. See Section 5.3.6 for more information about this form.
• Drafts. Check around windows and doors and along exterior walls. If the house is drafty, you'll probably have to add insulation.
• Ceilings. Are there any stains or signs of water damage?
• Heating/cooling system. If it's winter, is the ground floor warm or chilly around the edges? If the weather is warm, is the upstairs too hot?
• Appliances. Is the refrigerator cold? Do all of the burners work on the stove? If appliances come with the house, you'll want to do a quick check that they're in working order.
• Cabinets. Do the doors open and close easily? Are their shelves in good condition?
• Odors. If the house smells funny, you may have trouble getting rid of that odor after you move in.
• Basement. Are there cracks in the foundation? Those can indicate a need for expensive repairs.
• Roof. From the outside, check the roofline. Is it straight or does it appear to sag anywhere? Scan the roof for missing shingles or sagging areas. (Binoculars can help here.)

• Remember that selling a home is an emotional experience for a homeowner. If the seller is present as you tour, don't make disparaging remarks about decorating choices or funny smells (but do make a note of any odd odors in your notebook). The seller doesn't have to agree to sell to you—and if she takes a dislike to you, she probably won't. On the other hand, don't gush over the home, either. If you come across as desperate to buy the place, you'll put yourself at a disadvantage when it's time to negotiate. Finally, if the seller seems particularly proud of some aspect of the home, you can make a favorable impression by complimenting the seller on it. For example, if the home has beautiful landscaping, you can admire it and talk about how you'd maintain it if you owned the home.

• When you're thinking about making an offer, visit the home again. Try to visit on a different day and time. Write down any questions you have or things you want to double-check to make sure you don't forget any concerns during the second tour. Bring along your checklist and notes, and compare your impressions on this visit with the first.

Tip: Sometimes, you'll know that a home isn't right for you as soon as you set foot inside the front door. If that happens, you can go ahead with the tour if you want—maybe the property is a diamond in the rough—but don't feel obliged to tour a home you know you won't buy. Doing so is a waste of time, yours and the agents' alike.

Comments

[Money Reasons]

hehe, I've toured a house thru Disney eyes (or rose-colored glasses).

Upon a second tour, I cast a more detailed and critical gaze on such a tour and would often find that the niceties that I though existed weren't as nice as I had originally thought!

Always go through a house at least twice, and perferable on a well-lit day!

[Arimack]

In response to Maney Reasons post above: The converse of your advice (visit on a well-lit day) is also true. When bought our house a year ago and did not discover until after we moved in that none of the bedrooms had an overhead light fixture. The light switch in each room connected to a single outlet on the opposite ide of the room. Even with 100 watt bulbs in tabel lamps the rooms are all very dark in the evening. We have been putting in overhead light fixtures one at a time over the last year. Big improvement. Never thought to notice this during the multiple tours to see the house before we bought. But then we never went there in the evening.

[harrier]

"Remember that selling a home is an emotional experience for a homeowner. "

When we bought our house, it came down to two identical offers. When we put our offer in, our realtor suggested including a letter to the current owners. They had been in the house for 50 years and were moving to a care center. I thought it was very strange, but I wrote a letter about how we loved the home and wanted to take good care of it as they had. Apparently, our competitors did the same (they may have been tipped off as our offer came in two days earlier, but then I think they would have come in higher, so I'm not certain). Their letter was all about the park behind the house. The previous owner's son told us the letters were what swayed the decision.

And we truly do love the house as they did.

[Ryan@theFinancialStudent]

Arimack,

My house is the same way! None of the rooms except the kitchen and bathroom have overhead lights! Drives me crazy, but I blame my parents: I was only 5 when they bought the place.

I'd love for anybody with knowledge of the construction industry to clue me in to why some houses are built without overhead lighting.