1st time home buyer

If the house has an HOA, then walk away.
 
all HOAs are not bad! don't let that sway your decision!!! If it was built in 1950, chances are if there was an hoa, it was dissolved years ago.


Being in Chesapeake area, check flood plain and insurance costs
Check crime stats in the area for at least the last 10 years. This will show trends in crime and might help forcast future crime in the area
Check your demographics in the area. Be sure its in a sustainable, nice area that will remain that way for years to come. You don't want to be in a nice home and in 5 years the neighborhood is now the "hood"...
 
I will say that when I was looking for my first house I spent almost 12 months looking.. I was in no hurry but did not want to jump on the 1st house I saw.

the funny thing is I ended up buying a house I saw for sale 10 months early but at the time felt the price was to high.. I ended up saying 35,000 by waiting ( I got lucky )

but the things I did were:
- looked for no HOA.. yes they can be "good" but most are not and all you need is 1 person to get a higher then thou attitude and you will be screwed.
- watched traffic patterns
- learned the neighborhood
- check with city hall on permits and building stuff in the area to see what is coming or planned
- meet the neighbors before you buy, I knocked on the door and introduced myself and asked questions about area.
- check school, you may find you love the house and your 1st home comes your only home and if you start a family it is nice to know where your kids will end up and what schools
- park in neighborhood and watch traffic flow, the other neighbors down the street
- look at lawns, bushes, are they taken care of or not
- look at other house in area, is paint taken care of, are there blue tarps on roof, etc
- go to zillow.com find other house in neighborhood and see what they sold for, which ones are for sale, compare yourself DO NOT really on realtor
- Never use same realtor that is selling the house unless you personally know them..
- get all inspections done before buying house
- only finance what you can afford if you lost your job for at least 3 months on your savings. ( should really be 6 months but in today's economy 3 is better then none )
- NUMBER 1 RULE.. DO NOT BE AFRAID TO WALK AWAY.

these are all things you should do for your 1st home or any home.. the key is do your research, learn the area and do only what is best for you..

Remember a Realtor is a sales person and they are trying to make money so they WILL try to sell you on a home.. the faster you decide the quicker they get paid.

Same goes for mortgage lenders.. they only get paid when you sign the docs.. do your homework with them also.. look around at many lenders and find they best deal for you.

everything always comes back to WHAT IS BEST FOR YOU.

hope this helps..
 
Does the house have any overhang on the roof or does the roof stop at the edge of the walls? If not water runs down the walls when it rains and rots the wood around Windows and doors. Plumbing is also cast iron drains and galvanized supply lines. Look at the bath tub drain for signs of rust stains. These houses r usually built well but if not maintained can hide a lot of problems. Have the inspector check the rim joists under the doors, that's a good place to find damage.

BTW, I would almost bet if u pull up the carpet there will b hardwood floors. They can b refinished for about 2 bucks a foot.
 
Ken is right. Check traffic and trends with developement. See if its in the path of future developement.

Check with the local building permit office to check for open permits by shotty contractors in the past. Check to see if permits didn't pass inspection and why. They can sometimes be a sign of crappy work by sub par contractors. 60+ year old hous is bound to have some misc contractors working on it through the time
 
664 can be a bit of a nightmare sometimes , but you can take Joliff road over to Military Hwy to get around it . While thats a pretty nice area , I am glad I am south of it now ! Good luck with the house . If you need work done to it , I have a few contacts with good honest contractors .
 
thanks for all the great advice guys. Like I said i'm 2 weeks away from being able to come home where I can personally go look at this place and see what I think. I might get there and hate it never know? I like chesapeake/suffolk area alot. as for norfolk/va beach not so much its about a 45 min drive to base from this house roughly from looking on a map and knowing how traffic is on 664.

I do definatly want to get the electrical and plumbing looked at. some things i'm curious about is the hvac. I am an engineman in the navy mostly I work on diesels and deal with pumps and making water hydraulics and that sorts of stuff but they sent me to school to do ac/r so at least I know what i'm looking at when it comes to that.

How do I go about looking into the things that have been mentioned before such as demographics, and future building etc...? I am going to eventually grab a realtor and have them do a property search prob soon after I get back stateside because like mentioned before I don't want to just jump on the first place I like so i'll keep my options open but i've looked online at a shitload of houses the whole time i've been deployed and so far this is by far my favorite house.

What do y'all think about the price? is that a reasonable price for this house? Too high? I was looking at the tax history and the current owner paid a little over $200,000 for this place in 2007 and when they put it on the market they started it at $225,000 and are now down to the current price is this normal or should that throw up a flag? Thanks again for everything. This is one of the reasons I love this website you guys are all a great bunch of people and always willing to help each other out
 
demographics can usually be found from the local census breau and crime rates from the town police dept or county sheriff's dept
 
rockcity said:
all HOAs are not bad! don't let that sway your decision!!!
Click to expand...
ALL HOA's are bad. All it takes is for one new person to move in to screw up your entire neighborhood. They get a look at the covenants and your grass is half an inch too tall and it's on. Remember that you are paying someone else to tell you what you can do with the property that YOU are paying for. Why would anyone want that?
 
HOA is great if you don't want to live next door to someone like most of us. My mom needs a hoa so her flowers will all match the neighbors, and some schmuck doesn't weld their jeep at midnight.
 
thankfully there isnt an hoa on the house i'm looking into haha thats one of the main reasons I want my own house anyways for one a garage so I dont have to lay in the dirt anymore and dont have landlords screamin at me threatening to tow my jeep all the time because i'm working on it on their property. :shaking:
 
Well the wife and I finally found the right house. We close may 10th it's a one story brick ranch sitting on half acre with a deck and above ground pool, attached garage and a shed for mowers and what not. It was recently remodeled and in really good condition. Now I can finally get some progress made on the Cj.
 
Right now is a good time for buyers & not so good for sellers. Have home inspected by a pro. Always get termite protection, learned that one the hard way, it will save you big time in the long run. Don't buy the most expensive you can afford. Leave yourself plenty of cushion on the the payment cause if it can go wrong it will. If your thinking of around Waynesville NC my wife & are talking bout selling & we could cut out the realestate agent. We hadn't decided yet but PM me if ya want some info.
 
Thanks man
 
My bad haha
 
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