So you’ve
made the decision to stop renting and buy a home. Buying a home is very emotional, incredibly
stressful, and requires diligence and strategy.
To make sure your pursuit is not fraught with pitfalls you should
consider the following ideas:
1) Location is paramount to your decision. Where you
purchase your home is critical. If you
want a certain neighborhood, a certain school district, a certain proximity to
a certain shopping center these criteria should all take precedence over
anything else. Using these parameters
will often limit your market area where you are looking. If these criteria are not that important your
scope of search could be a lot broader.
However, the most important decision is that the location you desire to
search should not be compromised.
2) Make many visits to your search area. It is
important to visit the areas you are looking during all different times of the
day to see the broad activity that occurs over the period of time from morning,
noon and night. A home or neighborhood
may seem quiet and peaceful at 10A, but during the afternoon commute it might
be busy and bothersome. The neighborhood
school during the summer may look cute, but in the school year will be buzzing
with activity and traffic. The little
league park or the soccer fields look like great places for kids to play in the
off-seasons, but when the leagues are in session the traffic, noise, and
activity may be overwhelming for you.
3) Neighbors talk. All neighbors have information that is not
100% public knowledge. Walk around the
neighborhood and talk to as many neighbors as possible. They will all have different stories to tell
and information to gossip. The neighbors
know where all the “bodies are buried” so to speak.
4) Get the neighborhood association documents.
If the neighborhood you are considering has an HOA, get the documents
and read them all. There are records,
minutes, and notes about all of the dirty details that have occurred during the
history of the property. There will be any
records of litigation or disputes as well which would be important to know.
5) Local news might have information. Contact the local
news agency to see if there is any information about the community or
neighborhood. Are there any long-term
problems or issues about the neighborhood that is common knowledge but no one
talks about? Have there been any
notorious events in the neighborhood?
6) Coming developments, construction, freeways.
Are there any major construction projects or large developments coming
that can change the texture of the neighborhood? City hall will be the proper location to
check on any major projects in the pipeline.
7) Explore the surrounding area. A neighborhood might
seem great, but the peripheral surrounding areas will also have an impact and affect
your neighborhood. Make sure to check
out all of the surrounding areas such that you are comfortable with the idea of
those adjoining neighborhoods being close to yours.
The decision
to buy a home is a process which has many moving parts. When buying a home research, diligence and a
comprehensive strategy should begin with hiring a competent and experienced real
estate agent. To make your home search fruitful
and enjoyable learn everything about your potential neighborhood such that you
are almost a neighborhood expert before you decide to make an offer.
SHELLY ROBERSON
Alain Pinel Realtors, Palo Alto, CA
23+ Years Experience - 600+ Closed Transactions
http://twitter.com/sroberson2
http://www.facebook.com/ShellyRobersonAPR
sroberson@apr.com
1-650-464-3797
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