Buying a house - Page 2

westside24 · 01-Mar-08, 10:26 PM

well what would yuo guys consider good vs. bad? like the places im lookin at aint scott park, but it aint ottawa hills either? what about the ok nieghborhoods... they in town descent nieghborhoods? anyways I was supposed to look at 5 houses today, but my buddy thought he would be able to show them to me instead of his dad (my realtor) but then I called him and he said that he cant do that cause he could get into trouble and lose his liscense if something happened, and he didnt get all the keys together for the 5 houses, so Im going monday after work, which means another day lost in the gym!

02-Mar-08, 12:08 AM

You need to get in some serious window shopping by looking at homes in various neighborhoods. Keep us posted as that happens. Buy in the best zip code that you can afford. Save the ghetto mansion for someone else.

**Firehawk** · 02-Mar-08, 08:49 AM

I still say the best thing you can do is take someone close to you (relative, very good friend) that has owned a house for a long time and knows something about home improvement, and have them go through and point out all the flaws to your house. You don't want to buy something and then find out that the home floods, or that the furnace will need replacing, or roof, or that the foundation is jacked up, or whatever.

TAKE SOMEONE WITH YOU. And not your realtor friend either. Take someone objective, like a parent. Probably the older the better. I'd say take Pierini but he's a little ways away from you. Look at conditions of the kitchen and main bathroom first, look at the plumbing lines if you can, look at the flooring, look at the roof, the furnace, is it fenced? WIll you want it fenced because you may want an animal? Does it have a garage? A basement? If there's a basement, does it have any leaks or look like it's flooded?

Look at LOTS of houses. Had I done the shopping for my first home on my own, I'd have bought the 3rd house I looked at and been unhappy with it. I looked at a good 60 houses or so at first.

Now the next house I buy, I'll be so much more educated on what I'm looking for. I didn't have a clue the first time.

CF-OC_gal · 02-Mar-08, 12:40 PM

For my first house, I bought income property and lived in part of it to maximize usefulness and minimize costs and capital gains. Got lucky when it turned out to be special interest property and got flipped. I didn't benefit from the flip but sued the real estate company and won which got us into the next level of home ownership.

It was a hard lesson at a young age, but no regrets.

westside24 · 02-Mar-08, 05:04 PM

yea unfortunately I have no one... my g/f's mom maybe, but shes tryin to fricken talk me out of buying a house! because she knows I could end up moving clear on the other side of town, and elyse will want to move with me, which means she wont see her daughter tha much(Im rolling my eyes thinkin about it.). I couldve taken my dad, if he didnt move to florida recently. Hes a liscensed journeyman, Hes a carpenter, electrician, and does a bunch of stuff. but I think I might be able to Look and make an ok judgement, I obviously wont be able to tell that if the house is structurely sound and all that.

I will definately keep in mind, Dont buy first house I see, there is definately plenty of them to look and choose from, so I will utilize that option, and no Ghetto Mansions...I have no intentions of moving to a bad neighborhood. but for what I can afford its not gonna be rich suburban/rural city/township like neighborhood. its just gonna be ok.

**LiftGirl** · 03-Mar-08, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by westside24

I obviously wont be able to tell that if the house is structurely sound and all that.

A licensed home inspector will be able to tell you this as well as the things FH listed.

**Firehawk** · 03-Mar-08, 12:44 PM

Yeah but you don't want to pay an inspector for every house, you know what I mean? That's why I suggested bringing a knowledgable friend/relative. Inspectors are 200+ a pop.

**LiftGirl** · 03-Mar-08, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Firehawk

Yeah but you don't want to pay an inspector for every house, you know what I mean? That's why I suggested bringing a knowledgable friend/relative. Inspectors are 200+ a pop.

Typically, the inspection happens after an offer is made, so you don't have every house done, just the one you're serious about.

**Firehawk** · 03-Mar-08, 07:43 PM

That's correct, it is a clause to safeguard you in an offer proposal, to basically give you a way out for ANY reason from the contract early on in the process.

westside24 · 03-Mar-08, 07:57 PM

you guys are so freakin knowledgable...

things went good today. We looked at 5 houses... they actually were all pretty crappy, he let me know right away, if you see a house and just dont like the way it looks just standing outside, or just ok with, then skip it, if you get inside, dont like how its set up, the skip it. it wont hurt my feelings and it will save us time. so we looked and he pointed out mold and stuff, and told me that if I asked for his opinion on one house in particular, he said it would a poor investment due to how much potential hidden work I would have to do. there was one house, about 1200sq ft. basement was very clean walls were scrubbed, and waterproofed, I could drop a few thousand and finish the basement, and all kinds of stuff, it was nice, nice to look at... but I got about 50 more houses to look at, so... Ill keep yall updated

03-Mar-08, 09:50 PM

You'll know the one when you see it. I always have, like the home I live in now. We jumped on it fast because we knew it would be gone in a heartbeat. Had we blinked an eye, it would have belonged to someone else. That was in 2005 and the market was hot. It is different now but great properties and great deals go fast in good times and bad.

Keep us posted. This is exciting stuff you are experiencing. Learn from it.

**Firehawk** · 03-Mar-08, 09:54 PM

Yeah i walked into my house and knew right away this was the one i wanted.

westside24 · 31-Mar-08, 07:54 PM

Got a question y'all!??

I just looked at a house this evening. I really like it, I want to make an offer on it. The realtor (patrick)was like well come in tommorow, and well get it all done.

My question is, I dont have to use him, I know this, But what will happen by contacting MY realtor (Jim), and having jim put an offer up for the house.... how will this conflict with the patrick who showed me the house, and jim who I want to use to buy me the house??

Its a foreclosure house, so will jim have to contact patrick at all or what? if so im thinking patrick would obviously be upset and decline my offer or something, or maybe If I have to see him again , he might kick my ass? haha

31-Mar-08, 11:10 PM

Go read my earlier post (#4). Get your own agent to represent you, the buyer. Let the seller have his/her own agent (the person you spoke to).

It is as simple as that.

**.V.** · 01-Apr-08, 03:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by westside24

my question is, when finding a house what is the realtors purpose? I understand there purpose for a seller, they are supposed to advertise the house n all. but for a buyer, what good is a realtor???

This is something I'm very slowly learning very little about. Basically the realtor works for the seller. They have to represent the place they are selling honestly but they do work to sell it and get the best price for the seller they can. Then they do all kinds of complicated legal work for them that I don't pretend to be able to understand yet. I'll slowly learn as I'm exposed more and more to it.

However, you CAN make a contract with one to be a "buyer's agent". That means that they represent YOU in the deal. Making sure you as the buyer get the best deal you can and don't make any mistakes in getting your place.

If you want a more specific explanation I'll try to find out for you but it may not be in the next day or two to get your answer. She's really busy the last few days with all the work involved in actually writing offers, making contracts, working on offers, and trying to get a few clients to closing.