What are the most important things I should look for when searching for a new home

When looking for a new home the most important thing you will hear people say is; location, location, location.  So let’s say you have found a picture-perfect area that you would love to live in… then what?  You have located several places that Searching for a new homeyou feel could work, all with great schools, close shopping centers, restaurants and other conveniences.  Then you begin to think: what about taxes, insurance and cost of the purchase?  You may not have selected a picture perfect area in Martha’s Vineyard, however, it is picture perfect to you so let’s look at the cost a little deeper than just the final negotiated price of your humble abode.

No one wants to deplete all the money they have saved the past 10 years on a house and then also have to dump another 15, 20 or even 30 thousand dollars into maintenance, repairs or upgrades!  Maintenance is a huge hidden cost that many people may not consider.  The house has passed inspection: no leaks in the roof, the wiring is up to code, and the house isn’t sinking.  Nice! However, before taking a deep sigh of relief, let’s take a closer look. Some things to take into consideration are the age of the home….. Ask yourself questions like -

How old is the water heater?
How much longer will the roof hold up?
What condition is the exterior paint and windows in?
How long ago was the air conditioning unit replaced and/or how long can it be expected to last?

These answers characteristically have dollar signs following them. For instance, a roof replacement could run as high as 20 thousand dollars by itself! To top it off you find out the air conditioning unit checked out fine when you made your purchase during the comfortable fall season of the year but doesn’t even come close cooling the house during the sweltering summers.  This alone will easily add another $5K on top of your purchase price.

In the meantime, you have gotten to the point where you have several homes in mind and have a checklist with all the pros and cons which will aid you in narrowing down your financial decision. At the same time you have thoroughly read the inspections and reports countless numbers of times and you are pleased with them overall. Is there anything you could have missed? What about items that cannot be easily measured such as home efficiencies?

Have you ever noticed how newer homes seem so much more efficient than the older ones?  Does it all come down to those fancy light bulbs that require a HAZMAT team to dispose of them? Let’s take an inventory. The roof on a home absorbs the majority of the heat. Singularly, there isn’t much that can be done with a typical shingle roof other than choosing a lighter shingle color. However, by taking a deeper look you may find that an older home contains the distinctive spray-in attic insulation, no radiant barriers to block heat, little to no attic ventilation, and no fancy solar vents.

Accordingly, you find the single pane windows contain no tint and very little weather stripping. The old wooden doors on the home tend to open and close similar to the ones you would find at the entrance of a saloon.  Back tracking a little, you begin to wonder if the water heater and air conditioning are up to date with SEER ratings of 13 and above or do the water heaters contain solar capabilities or a hybrid insta-hot?  In the final analysis, these are just a few of the bits and pieces that are very beneficial to excellent energy savers that you will not find are typically discussed before the purchase of a home.

All things considered, I am not against buying an older home. In contrast, older homes are typically built much better than the new ones with far more rigid building materials and are great candidates for investments or a place you call home-sweet-home.  As can be seen there are quite a few more important things to look for when buying a home other than just “location.” Keeping this in mind, and with these tips, the purchase of your home will be much more of a blessing than a curse. Happy hunting!

If you enjoyed reading this post you will find the main Mover’s Atlas site even more Interesting! There you can discover important information about what surrounds your current or future Florida home, give it a look: Mover’s Atlas.

Get the Title Checked Out When Searching For a New Home

A title company will conduct what amounts to a legal background check on the property you’re considering buying.  In conducting this legal research, title companies perform three important functions.  First, they check to make sure the seller Moving to floridaof the property is, in fact, the legitimate free and clear owner of the property.  Secondly, they will tell you if anyone else has legal claims (liens) on the property.  Finally, the title company will issue title insurance to you (at a price).

By verifying that the seller you are dealing with is the legitimate owner of the property, a title company can save you from potentially bizarre and expensive legal issues.  Title companies search through public records to establish what is known as a “chain of title”.  Each former owner of the property can be visualized as a link, together all the owners throughout the property’s history form a chain of successive ownership that leads right up to the present day.  Title companies will try to identify whether or not the chain of title shows convincingly that the seller of the property actually owns (and can therefore sell) the home.  The title company will also identify which rights and interests (such as the right of possession, occupancy, inheritance, etc) the seller can legally pass to you.

As an example, picture this – Randy, the guy who sold you your home wasn’t actually the owner, but he doesn’t know that and neither do you.  Instead, his great uncle Ale inherited the house 6 months ago because Randy’s grandparents transferred the deed to Ale right before they died for some unknown reason.  Uncle Ale who was in poor health, completely forgot about this and Randy was unaware that anything even happened so neither bothered to review their inheritance very carefully (Uncle Ale was already 88 and didn’t really care anyway).  To top it all off, unfortunately Uncle Ale has just passed away.  However, his son Mike found out that he now owns the house as he was sifting through some of Ale’s old things.  Mike and his Swedish bride are now suing you to establish that they are the rightful owners the home you just bought.  Believe it or not, bizarre events like this can happen.  And given that many properties in the U.S. have chains of title stretching back well over a hundred years, it’s a good idea to get your potential home checked out.  A title company will search public records to see if issues exist and just as importantly, it will issue insurance to protect you if a problem the company didn’t catch presents itself later on.

There are also scam artists out there who try to sell homes they don’t actually own.  These people may be professional scammers or people who have lost their home for whatever reason and are trying to make some quick cash.  In either case, if you buy a home from someone who doesn’t own it, it isn’t actually yours; all you’ve really done is give a thief a lot of your hard earned cash.  Using an independent title company to check out the property before you hand over any money can help you avoid this type of scam.

More common than outright scams are lien issues.  As discussed earlier, a title company will alert you to any liens against the property of interest.  This is important because once you become the owner of the home, you can become liable for many of the previous owner’s debts (such as unpaid property taxes).  By alerting you to liens on the property, a title company can help you avoid these potentially expensive issues.

As stated above, the title company will issue you, the home buyer, what is called title insurance.  This insurance will protect you from serious financial loss if a title problem crops up that the title company didn’t catch when conducting the search.  Since public records don’t typically record every detail of what has happened to a property and who owns what, there is always the potential for a legal problem to appear with regard to the title.  For a one-time premium, the title company will cover claims related to problems that could have been discovered from the public record search and “non-record” defects in the title.  Non-record defects are claims to the title that come out of left field and couldn’t have been easily discovered by you or the title company.  While the coverage is great, the best part is that the insurance will last as long as you hold the title.

So for a relatively low up-front cost, you will not only be alerted to possible problems before you sign any papers, but you will also have the peace of mind that comes with knowing any future legal challenges to your title will be covered under the insurance you purchased.

If you enjoyed reading this post you will find the main Mover’s Atlas site even more Interesting! There you can discover important information about what surrounds your current or future Florida home, give it a look: Mover’s Atlas.

Get a Home Inspection

Skipping or skimping on the home inspection can be really tempting.  After all, you’ve already found a house you love in a neighborhood you really like, and the price is great.  Now all you want to do is sign the papers and move in.  Why worry Buying a home in Floridaabout the home inspection, even if it’s only around $250 – $500?

Unnecessary as it may seem, getting a professional home inspection is something that’s really important for home buyers to do.  You might think that having walked through the house, you’ve seen everything you need to see, so there’s no need to go all-out on the home inspection.  However, a good home inspector can catch things that ordinary people just touring the house wouldn’t notice.

For the most part, sellers and real estate agents representing sellers are required to disclose any defects in the house, however, they can only tell you about the problems that they’re aware of.  Certain problems, such as termite or foundation damage can take years to occur and happen so insidiously that the seller may not even be aware of the issue.  For obvious reasons, an unscrupulous seller might also choose not to disclose defects in the house that he feels would affect its resale value to you or to his real estate agent.

Adam Green, a structural engineer who specializes in foundation repair, had this to say:

“While homeowners are often hesitant to pay for home inspections and structural engineer reports, the long-term benefits of these reports could save you more in the long run—especially if it’s determined that your property needs a foundation repair remediation plan.” – Adam Green, Crosstown Engineering”

By helping you avoid buying a house with costly problems such as termite damage or a flawed foundation, a home inspection can save you thousands of dollars.  Home inspectors can also highlight more routine maintenance issues.  If your inspector points out that the air conditioner unit is 10 years old or that the roof needs to be replaced, you might be able to negotiate a better deal with the seller.  The $250 – $500 people typically spend on a home inspection is miniscule compared to the home’s price and the money it could save you in the event that there is a problem.  So even though it may seem like an extra step, make sure you find a reputable home inspector, who’s independent of your lender or real estate agent to investigate the house for you before you buy it.

If you enjoyed reading this post you will find the main Mover’s Atlas site even more Interesting! There you can discover important information about what surrounds your current or future Florida home, give it a look: Mover’s Atlas.