You’re in the market for a new property to call home. You contact a real estate agent to put together a list of potential properties, and you start touring to make a buying decision.
You find a couple that seemingly check off all of your boxes, and you’re tingly with excitement about your upcoming purchase. But before you make any rash decisions, it’s key to take note of things to watch out for before you make the purchase.
Here are 4 things to watch out for when going shopping for a house.
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Overwhelming aromas !
Did you know that a common trick that sellers use is to create strong aromas in the house for sale?
Part of the reason why this is used is to get buyers to get into the mindset of feeling at home. Common scents that are used include baked pies, pastries, scented oils, or candles.
While pleasant aromas are always nice to encounter, you shouldn’t feel as if you’ve entered a bakery or a perfumery while home shopping. You have to wonder what type of odors are being covered up.
These can include pet urine, mildew, chemicals, rotting wood, and sewage.
General neglect
A seller can always avert attention from details that signal neglect with fresh coats of paint. However, that beautiful coat of paint or those new appliances don’t tell the entire story.
If you look carefully, there will be tell-tale signs of neglect of the major systems of the house, such as old lightbulbs, painted walls that look tacky after drying, chipped or mildewed caulking, or worse, brown spots on the ceilings or walls.
Spots indicate water leakage from the roof. They also indicate that the roof probably hasn’t been repaired. If the owner didn’t want to invest in replacing the water-damaged material inside the house, then they’re not going to replace damaged roof material when roofing repair is so expensive.
You can avoid being taken advantage of by paying for a pre-buying inspection. This is an inspection that’s specifically tailored to home buyers who need to know how much care or neglect the house has experienced.
Mold
Some home sellers will attempt to hide signs of mold and mildew by applying fresh caulking on top of existing caulk strips. Be on the close lookout for this. For starters, old caulking should be completely stripped before applying a fresh layer. A poorly-applied layer indicates that the owner was trying to hide signs of mildew in the quickest way possible.
Other things to observe while home shopping are air vents and windows. Is there enough ventilation inside of rooms such as the the kitchen and the bathrooms? Look around the air vents for signs of mildew spots. Of course, check the plumbing areas such as the sinks and the faucets.
Uneven floors
Particularly when you’re buying an older home, you’ve got to be on the lookout for uneven flooring. You might be in the market for an older home because of its value, but depending upon issues such as foundation damage, it might not be worth the investment after you realize the amount of money you’ll need to spend.
Of course, a good real estate agent won’t encourage you to purchase a house that gives you a poor return on your investment, regardless of its perceived value.