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NEW COMER'S PAGE |
How to
buy a house?
Everyone needs a
roof over the head.
The following are
some suggestions and a prototype check list as well as some analysis. Do
not go to a professional appraiser easily. An appraiser may charge you
$200-$2000 or more per house. A real estate broker will always encourage
you using professional appraiser because even the house is not that satisfactory,
you already spent money, you would now face a decision: waste the appraising
fee or buy the house? Especially, when you do not know any local appraisers,
you should be really careful not tricked by loops. After all, you make
the decision not your appraiser. Even you use appraiser, you should know
about the facts of a house.Always go to the county appraisal office and
city zoning office first to find out:
-in what year was
the house built?
-what was the appraised
value by the office or the tax value of the house?
-is there any violations
of local, state, or federal laws or regulations relating to the house?
-any other relevant
information including foundation, roof, remodeling.-any restrictions,
community development, zoning that will affect the use of the property?
-any underground
tanks or toxic substance on the property?
-any legal actions
or dispute against the house?
-does it have a
valid title?Invalid title or legal dispute means you should forget about
this house.Land, Foundation, and Structure-were any land sliding, soil
settling, earth movement on the property or in the immediate neighborhood?
-is the property
located in an earthquake zone, flood zone, or wetlands area?-any
drainage problems affect the property?
-any cracks, shifting,
deterioration in the foundation or walls?-any signs of termites and
pests?
Any of these problems
is fundamental. In some places, you could not even insure the house with
one of these problems.
Roof
-how old is the
roof? how many layers of shingles it has?
-any leakage with
the roof?
Exterior, Basement
or Crawl Spaces, Floors, Doors, Windows
-any signs or marks
of foundation movement, water leakage
from roof or plumbing,
termite damage, that are critical to the house. For an example, uneven
floor, dragging doors may indicate foundation problems.
Plumbing, Electrical,
Heating and Cooling Systems
-is the drinking
water safe?
-does the sewage
system meet your requirement?
-any leakage with
plumbing and sewage systems?
-check the electric
control panel, is the capacity big enough to support your equipment?
Neighborhood
-is the property
located in a high crime rate area?
-any evidence of
pollution, traffic noise, nuisance neighbors?
This checklist is
meant to assist you to make a quick decision,
pursuing or not
pursuing this house further, at the early stage of buying without an appraiser.
This checklist can be expanded in much greater detail. A contract containing
the information of above checklist should be signed by the seller acknowledging
his
awareness of the
existing conditions of the house.Owning a house can give a person confidence
in daily life. Many students buy houses when they start the college. After
4 or 5 years, they sell the house at the same price or even higher when
they graduate. So, no
rent is needed for
these 4-5 years. |