Here Are 30 Red Flags Real Estate Agents And Homeowners On Reddit Are Suggesting To Look Out For When Getting A House

Pizza delivery no-go zones.

If your realtor says "built to code", that means they made the building as crappy as legally possible.

Go to showings when it's rainy as heck, then check out the basement.

This will expose any water issues with the foundation even a moron like me could see. One house I was shown had a cable run into the basement from outside at the dirt level and never sealed - so there was a stream of water pouring over the circuit breaker box onto the basement floor.

Passed on that house.

When you bang on the walls if you hear moving it's probably squirrels. Source - bought house full of squirrels

Fresh paint, new carpet, but nothing else updated. It's the realtor remodel special. Just there to make you feel good on your 15 min walk through. Look at the tiles, trim, foundation to see what you really need to know. And always drive the neighborhood at night if you do not know it.

If you are viewing houses in the winter and there are a lot of icicles on the roof it’s not properly insulated.

As a construction guy, please please PLEASE check the attic. People buy houses and never check the actual AC. If you go up there and smell a burnt smell, or see big silvery tubes that look crumpled, those are issues.

If there is any strong smell, don't buy. No one spends $80 on Glade plugins unless they are trying to hide something.

If you walk into a house and are hit by the smell of Febreeze or air fresheners...well, expect that it probably smells like dogs or smoke when that stuff wears off.

Bear in mind that a lot of agents like to burn pretty smelling candles or bake some cookies right before an open house, so it's not a hard-and-fast rule. You mostly want to watch out for it if you're seeing it by appointment...

When I was young, my parents took me to an open house and they both loved everything about the property. Cut to us being in the half finished, half unfinished basement and my mom has gone into the unfinished part, which has insulation completely put up around what would be exposed foundation concrete bricks. She finds a seam in the insulation and, 'cause that's who she is...pulls it back a little. My dad is in the middle of saying "dont do that, you're being rediculouse" when she interrupts him to tell him to have a look. Huge crack in the foundation running from the floor, diagonally across the entire foundation and up to the ceiling.

Dad told the realtor, who was pissed. off. The owners never told her...which you are supposed to do.

TLDR: exposed insulation installed along unfinished foundational wall may = crack in the foundation. otherwise known as...never get upset at a nosey wife while looking at buying a house.

Is this property in a flood zone?

Just because it's not on the water, doesn't mean the property is flood free. Check with the county AND ask the neighbors.

When the sellers have stuff hung on the walls in places no one would EVER hang stuff, they may be covering up damage from a decade-long termite infestation.

Source: bought a house where the sellers had stuff hung on the walls in places no one would ever hang stuff, to cover up a decade-long termite infestation.

Not a realtor, but viewed many homes before buying -- couple things I ran into a lot.

1. Lots of incense/fresheners usually means they are trying to cover up something.

2. Inspect the paint, a ridiculous number of people throw on new paint prior to listing, but do a shit job and just paint over damage.

3. Houses built pre 1930 (In US/CA anyway) can be beautiful, but might as well say 'here be dragons' when trying to find problems.

4. If the place has renters/tenants that don't want you to view -- they may end up being a pain later, especially if you need to get rid of them.

5. Put a marble on the floor and see where/if it rolls.

For the love of god check your cell phone signal in the house. I just moved into a new house and I have one bar on the second floor if i stand on a chair.

Turns out there's only one cell tower to serve the surrounding neighborhood of 200+ houses and since it's next to a neighboorhood of million dollar homes they can't get the approval to put in another one so I'm SOL.

Night trains and flight paths

If they don’t let you see a particular room / attic, basement etc for some excuse.

Whether you get enough sunlight. Lived in an apartment that was shadowed by other apartments and trees on the other side. Barely got any sunlight. And it was always so cold.

When you see even the family of 10 rats moving out as well

Speaking from personal experience - look out for a seller who likes to do DIY home improvements. Sure,those cabinets etc look OK but you are in for a lifetime of shitty problems! For example, the DIY kitchen cupboards all have awkward and poorly sealed gaps which became the scene of a mouse and cockroach infestation. Had to rip it all apart to figure that out. NEVER ever buying a home from a DIY dipshit again! almost 10 years later and we still regularly find a new catastrophe caused by his DIY projects !!

Incense, essential oil diffusers, "put vanilla essence in the oven before the inspection" and other masking smells. Also known as "This house has a mould issue".

My Grandfather sold Real Estate for decades. The 1st two things he looked for was the roof and the furnace. If either were too old or looked like a possible replacement was needed soon then it's something to consider (most first time home buyers can't afford to replace in first couple years, and many older homeowners would rather not either).