What red flags are important to be aware of when buying a home?

August 16, 2016 6:22 PM

I previously posted a question about deciding whether to buy a home. I'm inching further along that path now. What are red flags or pitfalls of which to beware?
posted by bunderful to Work & Money (23 answers total)

I strongly recommend reading George Hoffman's short, dirt cheap, + packed-with-useful-information How to Inspect a House - this will not only give you a better idea about the various things that can go wrong with a house, but help you avoid buying one where these things are actually underway.

Also, hire a licensed inspector and read the report they provide you with carefully. This is the best place to begin for a novice.
posted by ryanshepard at 6:35 PM on August 16, 2016 [10 favorites]

Get a building inspection. Look for any structural problems. A termite inspection too.

Consider whether kitchens and bathrooms are nearing their effective life. Walls are cheap to paint, but cracked tiles and porcelain is expensive to replace, as are kitchen cabinets and fittings.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 6:35 PM on August 16, 2016

Large cracks in the foundation, signs of poor electrical wiring, 60 amp service, water valves that do not fully shut off, water pipes that bang (water hammer) when opened or closed quickly, toilets that flush poorly, tubs that do not fully fill with hot water, any drywall crack larger than 0.25", cheap vinyl Windows, improperly installed replacement windows, any trees planted closer than 10 feet to the foundation, any trees larger than 40 feet tall, grading that causes water to pull towards the foundation, etc. This Old House website has great list of horrors and little things to look out for with some of their home inspection stories.

Ask a builder is also a good resource with some articles about common mistakes to watch out for. Feel free to memail me and I will share the check lists I use when performing home inspections and write you a much longer response when I am not on my phone.

Also check when the roof, siding, and other large things were replaced because they generally need to be replaced at 25 year intervals. 25 year old house syndrome gets expensive quickly and needs to be repeated every 25 years.
posted by Nackt at 6:37 PM on August 16, 2016 [8 favorites]

I would stay away from anything that has been recently upgraded or renovated as where I am (Toronto) that would be the sign of someone trying to add $50,000 to their selling price by putting in a half-assed $20,000 worth of work and you'd likely have to call someone in to properly do the job within a couple of years.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 6:42 PM on August 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

In your initial search, be aware of how long a house has been on the market or if it was taken off and relisted. On realtor.com, you can go to the Property History tab and see this information for most homes. If a property has been on the market a long time, there is a usually a reason why people aren't buying. Skip it and move on.
posted by NoraCharles at 6:43 PM on August 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

Find your own building inspector. Don't go with one recommended by your realtor, as they both have entrenched interests in overlooking problems so large such to lower the purchase price or kill the deal. Interview inspectors and ask for samples of their work product.

If you're in a rapidly gentrifying area, be wary of newly renovated/flipped homes - it might be worthwhile to research the history of the flipper and previous homes they have sold. Also check the permit history on the renovated house.

I can't describe how many of my neighbors bought into flipped homes because it had all the shiny new granite and feel good visual stuff, only to gradually come to hate the home as things break down and problems occur with things they couldn't see - badly done plumbing, problems with A/C, discovering lots of unpermitted work that was never inspected, etc.
posted by Karaage at 6:43 PM on August 16, 2016 [5 favorites]

AND TALK TO THE NEIGHBORS. EVERY ONE YOU CAN!

Ask them: "is there some reason this home cost XXX?" "What do you know about this house?" "Are there any issues the previous owner had with the place?"

That saved me from accidentally stepping into 3 separate, hellish issues before (once with estranged family who intended to tie the sale up in court, once with buying a place where the city owned the entire yard due to historic easements, and once where a tree had grown under the dining room and it was a rot/sinkhole waiting to happen.

Now, there's a new question I'd ask the neighbors:

"Are there any sort of high-conflict personalities on this street?"

9 months ago, I moved into an awesome place, but directly across the street from a malignant narcissist, who regularly monitors the actions of everyone on the street, bullies his neighbors, stalks their kids, calls the cops, the fire department, and Child Protective Services on his neighbors regularly, and runs his own one-man neighborhood watch, in which he plays the local George Zimmerman.

Everyone is afraid to even step outside of their homes on the block. And I mistook that for "quiet and harmonious".
posted by The Giant Squid at 6:45 PM on August 16, 2016 [17 favorites]

A couple miscellaneous things (but not easily fixed after you buy the house...don't ask how I know). Ceiling height, such as 7 foot on one floor and a mixture of 8 and 10 foot on the other (8 foot is standard). Also drainage (such as a swale near your house) or poor runoff to the street.
posted by forthright at 6:57 PM on August 16, 2016

Response by poster: This is all great, thank you!

I'm also interested in things like red flags for brokers and mortgage companies. I know to look for reviews, but I like to have separate criteria if possible.
posted by bunderful at 7:10 PM on August 16, 2016

Other things that affect resale value, in addition to the house itself: how are the schools rated in the district? How easy is access to main roads and interstates? Are there sources of noise nearby, like trains, or is it under a main flight path? How does its price compare with the neighborhood homes?

Is there a home owner association, and how much is it and what does it include? Will you need flood insurance/is it in a flood plane?

Another thing to consider that adds up over time: what are the tax rates for the property? In my area, Richmond city taxes are significantly higher than neighboring counties.
posted by shortyJBot at 7:12 PM on August 16, 2016

Is there an HOA or neighborhood association that puts some conditions on what you can do with your house? Do you think you might ever want to add on to the house, own a pickup truck, have a clothesline? There is a very wide variety of things HOA's disallow.

Is there likely to be any new construction nearby? Houses or apartments going up right next door, where the construction will make things loud and dusty? Large developments that will change your commute pattern?
posted by yohko at 8:24 PM on August 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

check the plans - I looked at a house where the entire back yard (which was small, but still) actually belonged to the neighbour.
posted by Sebmojo at 8:28 PM on August 16, 2016 [2 favorites]

Avoid homes built on a slab, especially older homes. All of your water and sewage lines will be under the slab and, if anything ever goes wrong, you're looking at some major expenses involving breaking up areas of the slab.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:30 PM on August 16, 2016

Get all the inspections you can - I'd suggest general inspection, underground tank, sewer scope, radon. I'm a real estate broker in Oregon and I'm required by law to have a fiduciary commitment to my client - i.e., I'm only thinking of your best interests, the seller is nothing to me. The seller is required by law to disclose everything that they know of that may be a material defect in their property and if they don't, you're entitled to rescind your offer up until the closing date.

If you think you're being treated unfairly you're entitled to recourse.

You have a 5-10 day inspection period, during which you will get your own inspections and if something major is wrong you can come back to the seller with an amendment to your offer that asks them to make repairs - if they refuse, you still have the right to rescind or alter your offer.

Your broker will be the conduit between you and the seller's broker that will try to get your needs met as well as keeping the sellers willing to accept your offer. There's generally some compromise that happens which is why you need to determine what will make you walk away from the deal. Your option to do that is in the timeline of the transaction.

The title company involved in the transaction will track down every recorded transaction on your piece of property - they're neutral and committed to the buyer and the seller to make sure the property is free of liens and discrepancies.

Your lender will not give you a loan based on a price more than the property is valued at - they will do an appraisal and have the ultimate decision of what the property is worth. Regardless of what the market will bear, they won't lend you more than the appraised amount unless you can make up the difference in money down.

There is a team of people working for you and a team of people working for the seller. If we have a contract and I'm your agent, I'll do everything in my power to make you happy and close your deal.

My agency in particular is one of the best in the business - memail me for more advice.
posted by bendy at 10:49 PM on August 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

Does the house have nice views: trees, hills, a park, the coast? If so then what is the possibility of an ongoing development to block them (would it be allowed or permitted?). Is any such development planned?

If more than one person owns the house - then do they both/all want to sell? Ongoing divorces and family feuds may not be red flags in all conditions - but you should be aware of them.
posted by rongorongo at 1:09 AM on August 17, 2016 [1 favorite]

Go to the town center and get the plot lines and also find out local building requirements. I once bought a house that had a fence that needed repair. When we went to get it fixed, it turned out the fence had been put on my neighbor's yard years back and my actual backyard was about 10' in closer to my house. I also discovered when I wanted to repaint the house that we were in historic district and only had a choice of about 10 colors to use.

And find out where town conservation land is. A bunch of new homes were built behind my house, but two yards are bisected by a 6' dirt path that is the entrance to town woods. They have people traipsing their lawns all day, every day.
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 3:49 AM on August 17, 2016

if your looking at a old house you'll probably save thousands if you get a licensed inspector to check everything out & conveyancer / solicitor to review the sale contract & title info etc is all in order (no surprised)

Things I learnt after buying first house:
Freshly painted house maybe is masking something else whether building cracks, smells such as from rodent infestation in roof voids or crawl spaces, wood rot or soft wood in old window frames or wooden areas from weather exposure or termites
Location of services near to property such as main water/sewer pipes can impact your pipes and blockages buildup from houses "up the line" from you
Location of telephone exchange/networks near to you can impact your ability to get a connection/port availability for Internet services
Check all power points, lights work, run all taps for a while to check no blockages, taste tap water, flush all toilets, check plumbing seems normal, check any appliances work/doors close properly, check nameplates of dishwashers, hot water service, ovens, hvac units ensure you can download manuals to all in case they need services.
Check switchboards for safety switches
Check inside roof void for insulation quality, roof holes, signs of animal life
Check all windows open & close including roller doors on garages, check all locks will have keys provided.
Meet neighbors & gauge likelihood of problems arising.
Check flood zones and that your property is above it or that flood insurance is not prohibitive otherwise.
I'm sure there's thousands of other things to consider but for everything that's wrong you should equate a cost & shave that off the price you're offering.
posted by Under the Sea at 4:33 AM on August 17, 2016 [1 favorite]

Seconding interviewing the neighbors.

Lots of good info in this thread, thanks!
posted by Rash at 7:15 AM on August 17, 2016

The best thing you can do is to look at a lot of houses. You'll train your eye to see what you like and dislike about different houses, what compromises you're willing to make, where renovations have cut corners, etc.

You'll need to get an inspection in order to get a loan, so unless you're paying cash, you'll be getting one no matter what. Of course, inspectors are only human, and can miss or misdiagnose stuff. The first house I bought had a problem that the inspector noted, but misdiagnosed, and three other people looked at it and all had different ideas about how to fix it. So ask more experienced homeowners how they liked their inspectors.

Are you willing to do work or have work done on a house you buy? If so, find a contractor with a good rep; when you're close to making an offer, have him look at a house that you think will entail fix-up work to see if anything would make his project unreasonably expensive.

It might be impractical (and certainly would be creepy) to camp out in your car in front of a likely prospect for 24 hours, but hang out on the street of a house you're considering as much as possible to see if there are problems that only flare up at certain times—bad traffic, fire trucks driving down the street, killer clowns getting day passes from an asylum, etc. Also plot out accessibility to the kinds of places you frequently visit, to see if you'll be spending an unacceptable amount of time commuting.
posted by adamrice at 8:42 AM on August 17, 2016

The problem we encountered was drainage. Not sure why, but it was no problem for the first 15 years we lived in the house. Since then, the garage and family have flooded several times.

I would check the attic insulation and electrical service Our 1960s era house needed insulation and an upgrade form 60 amp service to 200 amp service when we installed AC.
posted by SemiSalt at 10:28 AM on August 17, 2016

Bathtubs. The all-in-one fiberglass tub/shower combos that are super common? They crack as they age, and often cannot be replaced with a similar unit because they were installed before the drywall and are too big to fit through the doors. They can only be patched so often and eventually have to be replaced at significant expense.

My house was built in the early 80s and I have had repeated, recurring leak problems with BOTH bathtubs. Even having the bottoms rebuilt ($500) only bought me a few years.

If a house you are looking into has an old fiberglass bathtub, RUN AWAY or replace it before you move in.
posted by oblique red at 1:18 PM on August 17, 2016

Sewer line scope!!!!

Walked away from 2 houses because of collapsed pipes or total disconnection from the city sewer line under the street. Also be sure to make sure you're scope guy isn't a piker and won't be willing to go on the roof to the vent / remove a toilet if necessary.

Either way, Sewer is super duper expensive as it requires digging, and if the digging is under the city street forget about it, you're looking at 20k+ to open up the street.
posted by wcfields at 12:36 PM on August 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

Seconding the sewer scope in addition to regular homeowners inspection. Also talking to the neighbors is a great idea. But any home purchase is a leap of faith. There's just no way you will be able to anticipate everything. I think if you have a solid foundation, good sewer system and decent electrical, that's a very promising start. But read the sellers disclosure and Google anything you aren't familiar with. It helps to have a second or even a third set of eyes along when you view a house. It was amazing how many things I missed when I was looking at houses that my husband saw, and vice versa. My realtor was good but she was not going to voluntarily point out issues. It was up to my husband and I to catch stuff. If you are looking on your own, take a friend along.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 8:31 PM on August 22, 2016