Maine Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
House Help
MH and I are going to look at a house on Friday. This is the first time we have ever done this so I am excited to see what some of the process is like. This house has been on the market forever and the price has dropped a lot. It is now something we can afford with no problem. I was just wondering what questions I should be asking on Friday. I have no idea what to do. I'm afraid I will get in there, walk around, leave and then go "oh crap, I wish I knew blank."
What did you ask when you were house hunting? Is there something specific I should know about this house?
Thank you ladies.
Re: House Help
That's why you have an inspection done if you make an offer and the seller accepts. I assume you're working with a real estate agent? The contract should be contingent upon passing inspection.
I recommend reading Home Buying for Dummies or something similar before you get carried away and do something you might regret later.
This is SO minor but definitely something that we didn't do and wouldn't have been a dealbreaker (but still annoying, regardless). None of the doors in our house were hung correctly- so they didn't close, and when we shaved them down, the latches didn't match up. They weren't hung in the wrong doorframes either because we tried that.
We also bought from an estate so we have no real history of the place/ appliance warranties/ etc.
This might not be applicable since it sounds like this isn't new construction, but if you have questions about the state of anything, ask about it rather than assuming that it'll be fixed/done. Like, if there's a new medicine cabinet in the bathroom that's sitting on the floor waiting to be hung, don't assume that it'll be put up before you move in. Not that that would make you buy or not buy a house. Just, when we bought ours there were a handful of things like that that it would have been nice to know. Also be clear on whether the appliances convey with the house. If they don't, you'll have to factor in the cost of new ones. If they do and you don't like them, make it part of the contract that they have to be removed. Also (and you may already know this), why hasn't the house sold yet? Is it just that the market is bad? Was it priced too high? Or is there something like this going on?
Structural stuff and is-the-house-in-good-shape kind of stuff should come up in an inspection.
I think my advice would be- Don't be afraid to look at things and move the homeowner's items around to get a better look at the house if you need to. If I had moved the curtains in some of the rooms in the house we bought for example, I would have noticed that the window frames were all rotted and needed replacing. If I had moved the throw rug in the kitchen I would have noticed the giant hole in the kitchen floor linoleum that they were hiding.
Also don't be afraid to ask to have the homeowners fix things before you buy the house. For example the one window downstairs was broken in our house and we made them fix it as a closing condition. They also had to put new carpeting in the one bedroom because there wasn't any in there at all.
If you decide to put in an offer, pay the $200 or $300 for a lead inspection. Lead abatement is extraordinarily expensive, so if the house is positive in any areas (which is likely, given its age), you can/should re-negotiate the price or ask for more money back at closing.