Buying A House: Must Haves & Deal Breakers?

[kddani]

I just bought a townhouse in April, and here are some of the important things for me:

What is going to need replaced in the next couple of years? i.e. how old is the roof, the furnace, AC, etc. I went for a house with an ugly master bath, but had a new roof, new AC, new furnace and newer appliances.

Neutral colors. One house I looked at had painted everything (including vents) various colors that were not at all neutral. The master bedroom was a dark salmon, including the ceiling.

If there's anything that would be a major pain in the butt to fix - there was Venetian plaster in both bathrooms that was on THICK, and, had various nautical themed knicknacks drilled into it. It would cost a fortune in time and/or money to make it decent.

Landscaping- keep it simple. I have a townhouse, so there's not much yard, but I didn't want anything too frou-frou for upkeep.

Trees are good -both for keeping it cool in the summer and in giving some privacy.

Little things can make a big different- replacing light fixtures, for example. Not a big cost, but they keep the buyer from focusing on something that's potentially really ugly.

If you have any sort of "collections" - put them away. The woman I bought my townhouse from had various frog items everywhere. It was ridiculous and turned into a joke as to how many frogs we could find in the house.

[LeslieAGD]

Thanks everyone for the comments (keep them coming!).

Most of the items mentioned we have taken into consideration, but a few people brought up quick fixes and/or cleaning suggestions that I probably would not have come up with on my own!

AGDee - Yes, the market in MI is terrible right now which is why we are hoping to sell in a year or so and capitalize on a good deal when we buy. We've already seen many houses that would probably be out of our price range if not for the fact that their prices are reduced, too. We are trying to only put money into things that may help us get a better profit (ie - kitchen and baths), but my husband is doing most of the work on his own so we are saving a lot of money there!

[KappaKittyCat]

My absolute dealbreaker is a smoker house, and I know I'm not alone. My grandma had smoked in her house for 20+ years. Before we could sell it, we had to re-paint and re-carpet the ENTIRE house so that it didn't reek of cigarettes. There are a few houses my husband and I have looked at in the area that on paper were perfect, but we took one step into them and I got a horrible headache. By the time we left, our clothes stank.

[Tippiechick]

Originally Posted by KappaKittyCat

My absolute dealbreaker is a smoker house, and I know I'm not alone. My grandma had smoked in her house for 20+ years. Before we could sell it, we had to re-paint and re-carpet the ENTIRE house so that it didn't reek of cigarettes. There are a few houses my husband and I have looked at in the area that on paper were perfect, but we took one step into them and I got a horrible headache. By the time we left, our clothes stank.

Oooh, this reminds me -- Cat houses! (No, not cathouses, simply houses with stinky cats.)

We looked at one house. The lady had two cats. It stunk like nothing else. We finished looking at it since it was a very common floorplan and we wanted to just see what it looked like. But, I knew in 15 seconds of being in the house that we wouldn't touch it.

Some people can keep their houses smelling fine. This woman had 2 tomcats that marked their scent thoughout the house. No amount of paint, etc. was gonna get rid of that.

[kstar]

Originally Posted by honeychile

Deal Breakers:
-So many trees that the place looks like a freaking forest! My current house has this, and no matter what I've done (as in removing most of them), I can't get the lawn to look right. Never again!

Man, my deal breaker is when there is only one tree or (on acreage) sparsely treed. Shade is good for cooling in the summer and wind breaks in winter.

[Benzgirl]

One thing that I always look at over and above the house. Check out the neighbors and the neighborhood. Houses can be repainted, rewired, recarpeted, added on to, etc. You can change your house, but, you can't change your neighbors.

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by kstar

Man, my deal breaker is when there is only one tree or (on acreage) sparsely treed. Shade is good for cooling in the summer and wind breaks in winter.

Eighteen trees on 1/3 of a half-acre = lotsa mold/mildew. I kept the 100-year-old rhodedendron, the holly & the ivy - but the back of the house was looking like something out of a horror movie!

[SthrnZeta]

Originally Posted by GeekyPenguin

Vet med and real estate? Do you also go to law school at Houston and DePaul?

I know, I wear many hats I'm new in real estate and I do vet med and petsitting on the side to make extra money. I also had a stint in radio advertising, lol.

[SigPhiSunshine]

Mainly the kitchen and baths are so important to anyone buying a house. I know i havent had expierience in buying a house yet since im still renting while im in school, but i love to see other houses and watching shows about design and remodeling, and after seeing so many things, i know personally what i would want in a house.

like most other people have said, make sure the kitchen and baths are clean and updated, make sure the carpet isnt full of stains (get a steam cleaner in there and really work out any stains you might have) and also make sure the walls arent painted crazy colors.

as far as decorations and stuff, dont have too much clutter, and make sure all storage areas/closets/garage is neatly organized to show off the full potential of the areas and what they can hold.

try not to have too many personal items around the house so potential buyers can see their own things in the house.

GOOD LUCK!

[RACooper]

Must Haves:
- Semi-modern Kitchen and Master Bath (or at least updated within the last dozen years or so)
- Storm/Energy efficient windows
- Up to date Electrical
- Storage

Deal Breakers:
- Out-dated or bad electrical
- Out-dated or bad plumbing
- Structural issues (foundation, roof, etc.)
- Mold
- Electric heating only

Now all that being said one thing I'd always consider is potential, if there are some issues and such but they are something I can deal with in the 5 years after purchase then those things aren't as bad - basically being able to look at the "bare bones" of the house and evaluate it's current "amenities" (afterall some crappy houses can be dressed up and full of luxuries).

So basics for increasing "purchasablity" while being inexpensive?
- Neutral tone pait jobs in primary areas
- New electrical covers and switches
- A really good cleaning of any tile work
- A really good cleaning of any rugs
- "Clearing" the house out, which basically means reducing the clutter and/or junk stored in the house (pack'em up and toss'em in storage somewhere)
- Any other cheap cosmetic changes to 'hardware'

Basically you want to give both the impression of a well cared for and maintained house, while creating an enviroment that makes it easier for the buyers to invisage themselves there (some people lack imagination so distracting colours and personal knick-knacks can be off-setting).

[ilovemyglo]

My fiance and I bought a house two months ago. my mom is a realtor so I got to use her MLS to search for potential homes.

My must haves originally were:
3 bedrooms (but wanted 4). I work from home and one bedroom was going to be an office
2 baths
Prefer hardwood floors but not complete deal breaker
2 car garage
Brick exterior (maintenance free!! and great for heating/cooling!)
Closet space....

The house we purchased was on hte market for over a year. There were some minor issues, we even had a structual engineer out to look at the house to make sure they weren't huge, and the house was empty when we looked at it.
The thing about the house we bought is it had great potential but horrid choices made for it.

For example-
The family room has paneling that had been painted. At some point we will replace it, but honestly it was painted a creamy color which emphasized it was paneling. There is one wall of windows in that room, so I painted it a chocolate color and it de-emphasized the paneling and made the room much more cozy and intimate.
The kitchen was blood red. Hideous!! The knobs on the drawers and cabinets were tomatoes, carrots, peas and peppers... as were the light switch plates. Even though that isn't a huge thing, we had to spend over $140 to replace them because they were so ugly. The cabinets were painted white so we went with plain chrome ones, they were the cheapest and it still cost that much!!
The closets had the bifold doors and at some point she had removed all the doors- (I hate bifold anyway) but now our closets are all wide open. We are making curtains to use until after the wedding at which time we are getting sliding closets doors.

Little things, like updated doors (6 panel doors look much better than flat ones) and knobs (brass looks old). Little touches would have made the difference in this house. Instead of getting the additional 10k they were asking for it we got the house for a steal and are doing work on our own. So long as the bones are there you can make the house work for you.

That being said, we are a young couple- know your market in your area. If it is going to be a couple with a few kids they won't want to do the work we have to make the house how they like it.

And keep the yard minimized if you aren't going to upkeep elaborate plant and landscape designs. Our yard was overrun and we had to basically pull everything up.

Not sure if that helps, but I am still working on getting our house to be home. It's going faster than I thought but very time consuming!

eta- Also as for neighbors/neighborhood- when we bought the house, next door the house was only mostly taken care of, but there was chipped paint and a gutter falling down. It looked awful. Within two weeks of us working on our house the guy living there gixed both issues!!! And his son moved out which menat fewer cars next door!

[SthrnZeta]

Me and my boyfriend just bought a house together, it's one of those one story townhomes. Built in 2002, so there's not much that needs to be done as far as updating stuff goes. I do plan on pulling up all the pine straw in the little backyard we have and putting rocks in instead, maybe some potted plants and a fountain. They already put in ceiling fans, an electric fireplace, and a storm door on the front. Paint color is a pretty nice choice too, and there is already crown molding and floor molding (I guess you'd call it). It's in great shape and the HOA takes care of front yard maintenance. Now for a UGA garden flag in front, and we'll be done! Well, that, and a nice big yellow ribbon on the front porch light for him since he'll be deploying here soon... Supposed to close mid-Dec. Wish us luck!

[honeychile]

Resurrecting this thread for more up to date ideas.

[DubaiSis]

I looked at more than 50 apartments before our last move. There are a gazillion apartments here that range from cooler than you can imagine (as below)
to just bizarrely bad, but they're all either great location, good price and CRAP, seriously the most bizarre floor plans you can imagine, or they're awesome and too much. Or they're too much AND they're crap. We ended up surrendering location for price. Our deal breakers? balcony (hubs isn't allowed to smoke inside), dishwasher, square or rectangular bedroom, minimal exterior noise, reasonably large square footage and at least one electrical outlet in the bathroom. We had to buy extra kitchen cabinets and a couple closets from IKEA, and medicine cabinets and towel racks because the brand new apartment was a little shy on the finishes, but the place is big and cheap, by Dubai standards anyway.

[HQWest]

I have a couple of friends looking now, but when we bought our last house the kitchen was a big deal every time. A lot of the new houses in our area had galley style kitchens - no good for people who like to cook. A couple had beautiful gourmet kitchens with a couple odd things - like a giant beautiful six burner gas range in the corner with no adjacent counterspace behind where the traffic pattern from the door outside? It looked nice, but it wasn't very practical, and would have cost big bucks to change it.

Bad wallpaper or repainting on the other had is a relatively easy fix.

The deal breaker for us was traffic patterns. Be sure you check out the area and zoning nearby. We looked at one house that was nice, but backed onto the state highway, which was not a big deal just 4 years ago, but is now.