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"The major warning signs before buying a house include cracks in the foundation, high ownership turnover, water damage, a lack of permits, and air freshener!" Sam, the author of 'Buy This, Not That,' told Bored Panda.
"Foundation work is the most expensive to fix, so please inspect the foundation thoroughly. High ownership turnover may mean there is something wrong with the house the disclosures don't reveal. Finally, water damage is one of the most insidious red flags because it could mean a leaking pipe in the walls that results in black mold."
According to the creator of Financial Samurai, before buying a house, you should "put on your inspector's hat" each time that you visit the property.
"Bring friends and family to look for anything that could be wrong with the house. You could waive your home inspection contingency, but I would recommend it. The home inspection contingency is there to give you an out if you no longer want to buy."
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Bored Panda also asked Sam if there's ever a 'perfect' moment to buy a house. "The best time to own the nicest house you can afford is when you have kids. The more heartbeats, the more your house can shelter. A house's utility goes up when you have kids. Meanwhile, the cost to own and maintain a house gets amortized across more people, which feels great," he explained.
"Once your kids are gone, you are unlikely to upgrade to a larger house. Instead, you will likely just keep your house and downsize as empty nesters. Therefore, if you want a nice house, work hard and generate solid cash flow while you have young children. You will feel a great sense of purpose if you do."
He added: "Here are the various income and net worths required to buy a house at different price points."
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CNN reports that the economists at Goldman Sachs expect home prices to decline between 5% and 10% from their peak in June, 2022. Meanwhile, Wells Fargo forecasts that the national median single-family home prices will drop by 5.5% year-over-year by the end of 2023, as mortgage rates rise. Economists also anticipate that prices will rebound and rise again in 2024.
In short, if you’re looking to buy your first home, you might want to wait a bit for prices to drop, without putting the purchase off for years and years. However, nobody can be sure where exactly the bottom will be and what the future holds for the property market. Obviously, this isn’t financial advice, as we don’t have a working crystal ball (alas!).
During an earlier in-depth interview, Bored Panda spoke about home-buying with Ariane Sherine, the editor at These Three Rooms. We had a chat about why some builders make completely non-sensical decisions and major mistakes while working on the property, as well as how to embrace the fact that no home will ever ‘perfect.’
"Certain materials might be unavailable so they decide to use an unsuitable substitute, or they might have a surplus of the substitute that they want to use up. They might be misinformed and not very good at their job and think they're doing the right thing. Or they might be trying to save money and end up cutting corners as a result," Ariane explained to Bored Panda the motivations behind some builders’ less-than-stellar results.
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According to the editor at These Three Rooms, a major red flag is when you notice that corners have been cut when builders use materials that aren’t fit for the purpose. For instance, using wood like oak, ash, and pine—which aren’t weather-resistant—for outdoor construction.
Something else that can go wrong is “not following the correct process during an installation, such as not tanking a wetroom to ensure it's waterproof. I also had a builder who fitted decking on top of my garden but didn't put down a thick heavy-duty membrane over the original garden, so to this day weeds still grow through the decking. I learned from that mistake and now advise that you should always use licensed and vetted trades for this reason," she explained why it’s so important to hire people you can fully trust to do the job well.
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Ariane noted that no house is ever truly ‘finished’ or ‘perfect’: they will always be works in progress. What matters is that you embrace quirks while fixing real problems.
"There's always some problem, something to fix or replace that would make it better. Realistically, as long as there's nothing major such as a faulty boiler or leaking roof, it's up to the homeowner what they're willing to live with," she told us.
"I personally want to make my house as beautiful and well-functioning as possible because I'm obsessed with interiors and architecture, but other people may have zero interest in decor. Only you can decide what's right for you."
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2. How PMI works and why down payments are important.
3. Have a cushion in your savings account to take care of unexpected expenses.
4. Know what the property looks like after several rainy days.
5. In a subdivision, a dead end road that leads to an empty field means it's possible you'll have 100 more neighbors living downstream from you in a few years.
6. Know how old the roof is.
7. Know how old the HVAC system is.
8. Know if there an HOA fee.
9. Hire your own independent inspector.
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