Q: I have a house-hunting question for you. What do you look for? What do you look past? Help! My main complaint of all the older homes that we’re looking at in our price range is that they all feel dated, but that seems to be what you guys look for. How do you know which dated houses are worth buying and which ones are lost causes? I keep worrying we’ll end up in a money pit! – Aviva (not the one from Housewives of NY).
A: First of all, I’m glad you clarified that you’re not NYC Aviva. Haha. And second of all, we actually get this question a lot. So when it comes to what we “look past” in a house (and what we pay attention to) my general answer is to never be deterred by the following things:
- baaaad paint on the walls or the trim
- nasty wallpaper (borders, or entire walls)
- dated or not-your-style furniture
- ugly curtains
- dark brick or paneling
- not-your-cup-of-tea light fixtures
- green/blue/pink toilets
For example, here are a few before photos of our first house to further demonstrate how off-putting those dated features can be… but we all know they can be remedied with a little elbow grease if you’re a willing DIYer:
As for what we always try to pay attention to or look for, it’s mainly:
- the neighborhood (can’t move a house after you buy it)
- the overall layout (you can adjust some things, but repositioning every room gets pricey)
- the size of rooms and number of bathrooms, which is another hard-to-change factor (ex: if it has too-small bedrooms or one bathroom when you need two, you probably want to keep looking)
- things like ceiling height and window placement (which aren’t always easy to change)
- interesting architecture, like a fireplace, ceiling beams, etc
- the terrain of your lot (a steep drop off in the back isn’t exactly simple to fill in, etc)
Here are some photos of our first house that demonstrated some of those great “diamonds” that we saw in the rough. For example, the same room that showed dated brick and paneling also sports a nice cozy centered fireplace along with architectural beams overhead:
Which meant that once we painted all the dark wood and brick, it completely changed the feel of the room:
Another great selling feature for us was the lot itself. It was nearly an acre (something you can’t change once you buy a house) with a nice flat and wooded backyard:
All that landscaping was a more than a little rough to stay on top of, but since we had a nice level lot that was private and wooded in the back, we knew it had tons of potential. And thanks to craigslist we got folks to dig stuff up for free (by posting you-dig-it-up-and-it’s-yours ads like this, which even worked for all that pea gravel) and we ended up with a nice easy-to-maintain yard that made us (and especially Burger) endlessly happy:
So although we’re hardly pro house-hunters (we’ve only done it two times), I think we’ve learned that the sweet spot for us is to completely ignore things we know we can change. If the walls are a color we don’t like, we don’t even pay attention since we know it can easily and affordably be updated. Same for the color of cabinets that we can potentially paint, or wallpaper that we can remove. Things that we can’t change as easily are what we pay the most attention to (ex: the floor plan of a house, the location of the kitchen and all the windows, the size of the bedrooms) – you know, things that would be a lot of money, and trouble, to alter.
For those who have a harder time seeing past the bad cosmetic things (like dated curtains and crusty old wallpaper) it probably helps to look at inspiration images in magazines, online, etc and save things that you love (in a binder, on Pinterest, etc). Then stare at them to see if any of those rooms could inspire something. For example, if you see a room that looks totally different than a potential home’s living room but look closer and realize it’s the same size and shape, you could totally repaint and hang curtains and otherwise decorate it to get that look in your space. Know what I mean?
Update: Oh and as for avoiding a money pit with structural issues or other expensive upgrades you didn’t see coming, we definitely value getting a thorough inspection! Of course they can’t always catch everything, but we’d never buy a house without one and you definitely have much higher odds of finding potential issues (and then being able to opt out of the purchase) than if you skipped the inspection. We hire someone super thorough who is highly recommended and in each case he spent a minimum of 3+ hours crawling under the house, on the roof, looking into vents, etc – our guy got verrry friendly with each house. It can definitely keep you from ending up with a lemon! At least for our two house purchases it has worked out well.
So what about you guys. What do you look for or look past when it comes to house hunting? Do you make must-have lists and must-not-have lists along with nice-to-have lists? It’s definitely smart because that way you won’t let something on the nice-to-have list creep into your brain and convince you buy a house that’s missing a few of the must-haves.
Jen says
I’d love your tips on what to do with our bathrooms. One has a pink toilet, shower, tub, and sinks, and the other is all blue stuff. Is there any way to change the color without replacing all the pieces? It’ll look weird to have a white toilet (not too costly to replace) but keep the same sinks, showers, and tubs. The house isn’t even that old, but the bathrooms are killing me!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, it’s called professional reglazing! I think replacing the toilet is necessary but that can only be $100 and then get the tub and sinks reglazed. Just look for a pro with great references who comes well recommended for the most long-lasting result. Hope it helps!
xo
s
DawnSC says
As a first time home buyer, I placed too much emphasis on the “expertise” of the home inspector. Instead, he missed one major structural issue that he should have found. I realize that I’m saying this in hindsight, but it was clearly visible from a crawlspace to somebody who knew what to look for. We also had another major structural issue that the inspection wouldn’t have found, but that we’re fairly certain the previous owner knew about and didn’t disclose (I might be just slightly bitter about that one still!). So I just want to point out that, while inspections ARE important, don’t expect them to catch everything. Having said that… I still wouldn’t buy a house without getting one, but will definitely use somebody else even though this guy was supposedly good! And after that negativity, I will focus on the following: it is still worth owning over renting, thankfully we had savings to fix both issues, and the house did not fall on my little boy’s head. Silver lining, right? :)
YoungHouseLove says
So glad you caught it before anyone got hurt! It stinks when something like that is missed!
xo
s
Viviana says
I have to say we got SOOOOOO lucky with the home we purchased. The market here in florida is crazy right now. Its def. a sellers market. It was only 1 of two homes we looked at. The only 2 that were available in our price range. It sat on the market for like 5 months which was unthinkable in this market. Only because the upstairs toilet leaked in to the downstairs garage and created a huge moldy, rotted drywall mess in the garage. And the previous owner had built separate rooms in the garage. It needed a new kitchen and vanities in the bathrooms but the bones were great. Most buyers ran away from this place. Even the banks stayed away because of the repairs. They quoted 7k on the garage repairs. We were able to do it for less than 1k. After the awesome inspector gave us his report the repairs were doable. We also got a mold inspection and there was no dangerous black mold. We had to compromise. We settled for 2 story with a toddler, and the house has a weird side of the house-front door entry. But the location is amazing, the price was amazing,it had great tile/laminate floors throughout, large bedrooms and a 2 car garage. Actually we spent less than 4k on the entire house and got a new kitchen(appliances were in decent condition), 2 updated bathrooms, painted the entire interior, cleared out the garage and fixed all the drywall, new washer/dryer, pretty 5 inch base molding, 1 new a/c unit (hubby is in hvac), and new light fixtures. We still have to paint the outside of the house and it will need a new roof eventually but we remind ourselves that we will be living here for a loooong time so we don’t have to do everything at once.
caree says
I think no home will have everything that you want/need, and even if you build it yourself, there will probably be things you wish you could go back and change after living with it. I’ve bought 2 homes myself and moved countless times as a kid, so I’ve lived in alot of homes.
My only piece of advice is to list all the ‘wants’ and ‘needs’ and just try to learn from past mistakes for the next buy. The first house my husband and I lived in had a decent-sized living room and kitchen, but teeny-tiny bedrooms and bathrooms (seriously- the master was 10′ x 11′). When we went shopping for our next house, we were blown away with a house that had a HUGE master suite, with bedroom, bathroom and closet. And yet, failed to notice there was no pantry in the kitchen (nor room for one, so we had to add one to the laundry room), and the other bedrooms were rather small, as was the living area(s) AND the living areas had funny natural lighting. Oh well! Will just have to remember for next time!
Emily says
The before and after on the bricked den is amazing! Did you get rid of the ceiling tiles or just refresh them with paint? If you got rid of them, did you do it yourself and was it big pain? What is the process?
Love the site! Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
Just painted them!
xo
s
Les says
Thank you so much for this post. I’m just beginning my very first house hunt, and this is invaluable advice!
I’m especially surprised and happy re: the wood paneling/brick walls advice. What an amazing transformation! I have been ruling out some houses because of wood paneling (a bizarre trend in the neighborhood I am looking in) – I thought I would have to remove the paneling and completely redo those walls, which would cost $$$ I am not prepared to spend. But I will definitely be reassessing those houses now!
Sara says
When we got our house, we were specifically looking for something that had already taken care of some of the big ticket updates (newer-ish roof/windows/furnace/electrical etc). We were OK with having to replace one or two of the those things, but not ALL of them. We ended up getting a place with a decent roof, furnace, and windows, although we decided to upgrade the electrical panel when we moved in because it was overloaded with fuses.
Tracy says
Can’t wait to get your book. I asked my daughter to get it for me for Christmas. I was so dissappointed to see you’re not going to be in my area for a book signing. But hey that’s life right? lol Enjoy your blog. I’m sure I will enjoy the book. I stumbled on your blog purely by accident and now love to read it daily. It’s always interesting to see how other people live,think decorate. Stay blessed and keep up the great work on your blog.
Tracy-Attalla, Alabama
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Tracy! We’d love to end up in Alabama!
xo
s
kharking says
I so enjoyed reading all of the comments since we have been in our new house nearly 8 months now and went through a nearly year-long hunt (with a few months off for a weird deal that fell through and having a baby). I don’t have a lot to add the the excellent advice about inspections, redecorating, etc. other than to share our experience.
We had a very modest budget for our area and pretty specific ideas of the area we wanted to live relative to established parts of our lives so we looked at a lot of really awful places. One thing that we found was that we needed to agree on what each of us was willing to take on in terms of DIY. I’m great with seeing potential in places but I was 4 months pregnant when we started looking and, since my husband had no experience with home maintenance at all, we needed some place that we could move into and live with for a while until I was able to tackle big projects again. Being very clear about how we wanted to use each part of the space helped narrow down what kind of layout choices we could live with vs. those we needed to pass on–for example, with little kids, I wanted the 3 bedrooms to be in one part of the house and the window from the kitchen to look out on the backyard so that I could keep an eye on things while working in there–probably not things that would be high priorities with teenagers. We know that we are the sort of people who aren’t likely to move frequently so we tried to balance what our family’s needs are now with what they are likely to be in the future–i.e. the bedrooms had to be big enough to fit at least a couple of kids each in the long term but our room had to be able to fit our bed, dresser, and a bassinet for new babies in the short term. We also looked for a play space that would grow with the family from romping area to homework to lounging space.
In the end, we found a found a 1960’s rambler in a great neighborhood that met most of our needs and a lot of our wants. It definitely reflects the prevailing architecture of the time (which is not my favorite taste) and needs updating in several ways but the structure is sound and we can work on personalizing it a bit at a time. Those considerations are secondary to the decent condition of the house itself and functionality of the living spaces. We sacrificed having a garage in order to get the play space and laundry area but since we live in the NW, we just put up with the minor inconvenience of uncovered parking. It even has a second bathroom which we thought was so far out of our range that it wasn’t even on our wish list. I am thankful every day that we live here.
Steph says
I am (way) late to this post. I wanted to read all the comments. There is a TON of good info here.
I think for me, recognizing realistically what the house was going to be for me was important. I also took into account where I am in my life. I bought a 3 bedroom townhouse. It is perfect for right now where it’s me and 2 roommates, but if the time came I could get married and start a family here. That said, I don’t consider it my forever house. I’m a single 27 year old. My life could change in an instant. So I’m looking at it as a really good investment and my first home. And when my life changes, I’ll be ready to change.
I knew what buying a home meant to me at that moment so I looked for a home that could accomodate my needs.
Affordable Lifestyle says
You should pay attention to the direction the windows are facing. It’d be a shame if no sunglight came through your new windows because they are facing the wrong way.
alyssa says
We built the house we currently live in and over the past 6 months or so ive been compiling a list of things I like or don’t like about it. This way I know when we house hunt for the next one what I cant live with again or what I think would be a better solution. I also pin wish list items on pinterest….but most of those are a pretty far stretch!
Koliti says
I bought my first & current house in 1991 – as a single lady, new RN grad, working full time, two cats, no kids. My house a cute adobe brick, 1150 sf, 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, with large front and back yards, and mature trees in the back. I opted for a carport. There’s an apartment complex two streets over. I live pretty much central in a city of 1 million people.
I remember finding a “buyer-broker” by replying to his ad geared towards “helping people who can’t afford to buy a house” – well I was pretty sure I COULD afford a house, I just didn’t know what I was doing.
I loved my buyer-broker (buyer’s advocate realtor). He took me to many houses and asked me what I liked, what I wanted, what was important. He also pointed out things to look for, such as: not just the location of the house, but what is located AROUND the house – are you going to be happy with a shopping center or apartment complex on the other side of your fence or close by – that is A LOT of transient people/activity. Did I want a garage, carport, or just a driveway?
I had a home inspection performed – I received a report and found out where the water main & electrical box were located. But all of this house/homeowner terminology is like trying to learn another language. If I were to purchase a home in the future, being of the visual & tactile & wanting to know how things work persuation (and with homeowner experience), I would ask my inspector to let me be his shadow and to show me everything and explain everything to me in addition to a written report.
I wish there was a “Dummy’s Guide to Homeownership”. For example, I did not know that when I had my hot water heater replaced many years ago that I needed a permit/inspection! All I knew was Home Depot said that since I called early in the day, they worked with a company that can replace it that afternoon, and voila – I had hot water. I found out much later that I’m “deviant” – at the time, I just thought the water heater was one big appliance that I was replacing. Who knew? (I still have hot water – shhh…don’t tell the hot water heater police).
Advice – Do be ABSOLUTELY REAL & HONEST about yourself and your abilities – whether it be finacial or DIY. Otherwise, get past how the previous occupants have decorated. Develop your own style – because if you’ve been renting, chances are your style has been severely stinted & limited and has not even begun to emerge. Ahhh…the joys of home ownership!
Mrs.M in MI says
The disagreements my husband and I had while house hunting were entirely because I could see past bad finishes and decor and he could not. No lie!
Not surprisingly, we both fell in love with a foreclosure that was empty and had been completely painted white by the bank.
Ever the Type A, I made a chart in Excel that listed our must-haves, nice-to-haves, in-our-dreams, and deal breakers over several different categories (square footage, condition of HVAC, # of bathrooms, etc.). I printed one for each house we looked at and circled the things it had while we walked through it. It kept me on task instead of getting moony about some inconsequential detail I fell in love with.
Sally says
There’s lots of great tips in this post and comments. I’ve bought two homes now, and will chip in with my lessons learned.
It all comes down to money. Ask yourself how much money will I be able to spend on repairs/upgrades in the first few years of owning this house? Then, look for the big-ticket items to figure out how many you might have to deal with immediately. I’m definitely willing to take on the cosmetic stuff as DIY. And I can afford a couple major other things…but not all of them.
Before you start house-hunting, ask your buyer’s agent what the typical ernest payment is for your area. It seems to vary a lot. In one area $5000 was typical – in another it was $500. I don’t know all of the rules here, but I do know someone who had to take legal action to get a large deposit back.
Look for the big dollar items in your first visit. Also, visit the house a second time and check these things before making an offer:
-Water Damage – especially signs that the basement floods, including: if the previous owner still lives there, is everything elevated? Also, is there a mildew smell?
-Electric (look for knob and tube; buy a simple tester and check for grounded outlets; check the electrical panel – if it’s overloaded or a Fed Pacific, guess that you’ll need to replace it)
-Plumbing – turn on everything, flush all the toilets. Also check that the showers work (The inspector and I missed that to the tune of $1000)
-AC – if it doesn’t have it you’re looking at >$10,000
-Age of the furnace (ask, or check the label)
-Age of hot water heater
-Age of major kitchen appliances
-Age of roof
-Condition of tile in bathrooms (can you do a cosmetic upgrade or is does it all need to go?)
-Flooring condition – plus, is there asbestos tile?
-In the basement or crawl space, are there major cracks or leaning walls, or evidence of previous fixes? (What does your agent think?)
-Does water flow away from the house? Is there evidence that the previous owner has tried to fix drainage problems (e.g. install a trench drain)
-Is it in a floodplain and require flood insurance?
-If there are big trees, do they look healthy?
Juan Jimenez says
As a professional home inspector it is imperative that you get a home inspection as suggested. Also, as suggested you should look past cosmetic issues. The other thing to keep in mind is that every defect can be repaired. Here are some issues that have made many of my clients say “Oh I never thought of that”. They may not be big issues to all of you, but they were big issues to someone.
The HVAC system:
Is there an underground oil tank? Leaking tanks are extremely expensive to take care of.
Are there ducts installed. If the heating system is old, upgrading will be much more expensive if there are not already ducts installed in the home. Look for registers.
Is there an AC system? I can’t believe how many buyers didn’t know that there home had no AC system.
The Electrical system
Is there an old meter outside in a tiny square box? You may have a 60 amp service. A 60 amp service may not be enough for a modern family.
Are the outlets three prong or two prong?
As mentioned, does the house contain K and T?
Insulation:
By the time I am done with an inspection, I am filthy dirty. You don’t have to get this dirty to take a peak in the attic and crawlspace. Is there any insulation? Many old crawlspaces have no insulation at all and old attics have little. No insulation means high energy bills.
These are just a few things at the top of my head. None of these things mean the home is a “money pit” but may mean you have to put more money into the home than you are planning too. There are many more things that only a proper home inspection could reveal. Feel free to call me if you have any questions.
Claire @ Claire K Creations says
Great post thanks Sherry! The hubs and I are house hunting at the moment and my main test is if it has Young House Love appeal. I also want something I can ‘Young House Love.’ Yep you guys are an adjective and a verb. My husband thinks I’m nuts but I can’t wait to get my DIY on when we finally find the right house.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha that’s so sweet!
xo
s
Caitlin says
When we were moving from our home in NJ, we had a few potential buyers turn the house down only because of the double yellow lines out front — they felt it was unsafe. The front yard was 30′ deep with a sidewalk and the traffic was fairly light. Advice: double yellow lines are everywhere in NJ. They’re just fine.
The only legitimate (weird) reason for not buying the house was the gentleman who couldn’t stand up in the back hallway… it was a 6′ ceiling (poor design of the stairs), so he had to duck down.
Wrenaria says
I desperately want to buy a house. Saving up a down payment is taking so painfully long. I’m guessing I need at least another year of saving before I can seriously consider it. Sad. :(
In the meantime I stalk the listings and dream.
Kelly says
It’s worth waiting, but definitely check out what’s available. You never know what you might find that could work with the money you have!
Georgia says
When we bought our house it was covered in bad, dark floral wallpaper (the dining room even had dark red floral fabric on the walls that came down the night we signed), dark paint everywhere, pink and reds and lots of heavy over the top curtains. But the bathrooms and kitchen were all newly done, the house is old (1850) but has great bones, with lots of big rooms and potential. Plus is was a steal and fully furnished. After 2 years of hard work, painting EVERY wall and bit of trim in the house, numerous hours of stripping wall paper, repainting floors (one day I’ll strip all the floors, but couldn’t deal withh the burgundy floors any longer), landscaping etc it’s looking pretty good. And we were without an income for 10 months of those 2 years. Of course the moment we “finished” (of course it’s not finished), hubby got a job overseas and we had to leave it. But it’s a house that I love that we can move back to.
Keshet says
I second location! We bought a house very close to our friends (as in two houses or so away from several good friends!) and it has added so much to our quality of life. While I sometimes don’t love that our home structure is not that open (1950s oversized cape type house), I have a dream of opening up the large kitchen to a den by closing in a porch one day. That way I can have the open feel is at least part of the home. This post was so fun to read!
Liz says
I’ve always wondered what you think about things like chipping paint? We purchased an older home that has great bones but needed lots of love, and the part I always find the most frustrating is that the work that was done on it before we moved in is shoddy. The wrong paint was used for trim and kitchen areas, exterior trim paint was badly chipping, etc. It’s the same for the existing caulk and grout. It always seems like you just have to repaint but not chip away everything that was previously there. Do you specifically look for that, or are you just lucky? It’s all still cosmetic, but it creates a ton more work!
YoungHouseLove says
We have actually never run into that but it does sound frustrating! I would keep an eye out for a house without it next time of you can since it sounds really time consuming!
xo,
s
Amy says
When I started my blog last year it began with our crazy adventure in buying a home. This post: http://whitelotushouse.blogspot.com/2012/02/shopping-for-your-new-home-and-choosing.html is about what our priorities were and things we learned to look out for while house shopping. I hope it helps. It’s a little lengthy…
Inspections are an absolute must and a lot of programs (especially first time homebuyer programs) require that you have one done. In the end it’s for your own safety and sanity.
Kelly says
I’m loving this post and the comment section and agree with a lot of what was written here. Just moved into my condo (the 2nd I’ve purchased) 3 months ago after searching on and off. I do think, in many ways, experience is the best teacher. There were so many things I didn’t realize or understand the importance of until I went through them with my first place, but you can bet I didn’t make the same mistakes the second time.
I absolutely agree that you shouldn’t see the home in it’s current state as the be all, end all and that you should see if it is possible to update/change things to make it more your style if you otherwise love the location. But I think it if you are planning on making any renovations/upgrades that it helps to do research on them before you seal the deal and be realistic. Make sure you have a ballpark for how much things will cost and if they are really something you could do yourself or if you would need to hire a professional. While you can certainly change a lot of things the house sometimes ceases to be a good deal once you’ve figured in a lot of changes. I also think it helps to discuss with your realtor what your ROI might be if you make these changes because there is no guarantee you will get all or any of your money back. Obviously not everyone cares about this, but it is worth considering, especially if you’re not planning on staying in your home for an incredibly long time. Also factor in that life often comes up and you may not be able to get to your repairs in the time frame you’d like and ask yourself if you’ll still be able to live with the home if that happens. I’m not trying to dissuade people from buying a fixer upper, but I think people should be realistic about it.
Also, re: location I agree that this is really important! I will also say that there is sometimes a creative solution if you’ve found an area you really love but finding your house there isn’t working. I’ve found it helps to isolate what it is you like about that neighborhood and see if there might be another that offers the same thing. I think that goes for a lot of things, asking yourself why you like it can help you realize there might be other features of the home besides what you think you want that allow you to get the same thing.
Kelly says
The house we live in now (our first) was bought on a whim – we didn’t think we were seriously looking and only looked at 5 houses. There are definitely things we wish we would’ve paid more attention to when we bought. The backyard is lower than all the houses around it, so with living in Michigan, the yard gets saturated with the snow melting and is a marsh all spring, so definitely look at the yard. We also got a 1-car attached garage, which is fine now, but we know our next house has to have a 2-car attached garage. Also, our kitchen is very small and we won’t have the money to knock out a wall or expand for a long time, so I wish we had paid more attention to layout and size!
thelady says
I definitely look for size, # bedrooms, layout, neighborhood, work commute, off street parking, sufficient windows, and original details in good condition. I don’t mind outdated kitchens, unattractive paint colors, ugly light fixtures.
I’d rather have an outdated kitchen that I could renovate then a kitchen that has been recently renovated in a style I do not like. I live in an east coast city where most of the housing stock and everything in my price range is pre war row homes.
Elise says
I once heard a realtor on House Hunters say that you should look for the three Ls – Lot, Layout and Location and forget about the four Cs – Colors, Carpets, Cleanliness, and Condition. The condition one is a little bit of a judgement call, but I thought it was a clever way to remember it. And, yes, it’s true: #everythingIknowaboutbuyingahouseIlearnedonHGTV
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, so interesting! Love all the tips you guys are sharing!
xo
s
Kelly says
I hemmed and hawed a looooooong time before taking the plunge. Once I walked into my house, though, I knew. That said, even then I took a few days to write the offer, and ended up in a price war on a foreclosure (that I didn’t actually win, but the original winners had an undisclosed contingency and couldn’t get financing bc *their* buyers backed out).
Are the bathrooms the biggest? No, but changing out the vanities will help that. Is the kitchen to die for? No, it’s a small galley, but open shelves or glass front cabinets will make it better, as will changing the tile and counters so it isn’t “broken up.” But it’s on a lake, has 3 big bedrooms, large open living areas, and a foyer, which became my biggies. Love the layout, and can totally deal with gradually re-doing the kitchen and bathrooms, foyer flooring and the hideous light fixtures the previous owner put up. And paint. Lots and lots of paint. Did I mention lots of paint?
Brittany says
Hey Sherry! Would you mind passing along the house inspector that you used? I need a good reference for the Richmond area! Thank you!!
YoungHouseLove says
Sure, I’ll email that info to you now.
xo
s
Scott B says
I can honestly say, I’ve never seen a pink toilet in a house. But that would probably give me pause when it comes to buying the place. Just as long as there’s not too much other work, I’d just replace the toilet and carry on.