House Hunting Advice: 5 Ways to Know it's Not the House for You

With summer around the corner, I know a lot of you are starting to think about house hunting and where you’re going to live next. For those of you that kept up with our house hunting journey last year (February–September 2018), you know this was a long and bumpy road for us. I think the plus of our experience is that we learned so much that I can now share with you all on your own journies. For instance, we quickly learned that knowing which house is “the one” is equally as important as knowing which ones are absolutely not the one. Keep reading for house hunting advice on five ways to know it’s not the house for you!

First thing — if you’re in the beginning stages or have yet to start house hunting (or maybe you’re just bored 😜), here are all the posts in my house hunting series pre-closing on our home:

1. Check the crime rates and registered sex offender list.
This is super important so you truly know how safe the potential neighborhood you could be living in actually is. The lists can break down the exact crimes in the area, as well as give you a photo, address and felony details for sex offenders. If you check the numbers and are unsure if they’re good or not, I suggest comparing it to a neighborhood you are familiar with (maybe one by your current residence) or seeking advice from someone who may know a little more about it. This is a personal call as to whether it makes or breaks the sale for you, but it’s worth looking into regardless. All of this information is documented online, so use it to your advantage!

2. Check for careless work.
Some builders (whether the home is freshly built or not) cut corners when it comes to saving time and money, so have someone with you that knows how to check for those errors. Alternatively, the previous owner could have done some faulty DIY fixing of their own. Ideally, your inspector will be a huge help in this process (we used two different inspectors for two houses and they were both were amazing), but if you have someone with you when first touring the house too, you may be able to catch these things even earlier. This is important because some of these errors can be extremely expensive to fix, unexpectedly putting you over-budget. Some things to look for are bad wiring, issues with air conditioning, furnace, water heater, etc.

3. Verify if there are issues with the property/land.
An example of this would be if the house is on a floodplain. Though this type of thing may not be a concern currently, it could be a huge issue later on that you will have to spend thousands to fix if it causes damage to your house. This was a possible issue for the first house we had an inspection on and was one of the reasons we backed out. It’s unfortunate because this is something you don’t have control over, but it is what it is. Knowledge is power.

4. If other people have dropped out last minute, ask why.
I’m not sure if they have to tell you or not, but we asked a couple listing agents about this on a few houses and they actually gave us answers, which were pretty insightful! That was actually the case with our house that we ended up getting — turns out the previous buyer was going to pay a shockingly small amount of money more per month than they were able to (they must have been really cutting it close), so they decided to drop out, so that was incredibly lucky for us. Asking this could clue you into some things you may not have been aware of or it may help you adjust your actions accordingly to heighten your chance of getting an accepted offer.

5. Be wary if the asking price is far too high.
If the true value price comes back low in the appraisal, that could be a concern and there are two ways to go about it: 1) ask the seller to lower their price or 2) pay your original offer anyway. If the seller isn’t willing to lower the price or meet in the middle, sometimes it’s best to walk away. You don’t want to pay an amount that you won’t be able to make back when you sell it later on, so for your financial state, take precaution. I know it may seem easier to go ahead and pay more than the house is worth because you’re so close to the end, but don’t jip yourself because it’s probably not worth it in the long run.

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Those are some of my best tips for knowing whether or not a house is the one for you! Our journey was rocky so I hope these posts really help you out. Thanks so much for reading & check out some of my other house blog posts here (including the empty “before” tour of our house, DIY makeovers, home decor inspiration + updates, etc.).