What would you change about your home purchase?

[TexasT]

Our deal fell through. They went with the other deal. But fuck em.I think they got less for their home but they didn't have to pay part of the closing cost in the other bid.

Dont worry, you will find the "right" one. We looked for the better part of two years. It was almost a hobby to peruse the listings on the internet. Drive by the potentials narrow it down to two or three to actually take the realtor to and then look over the internet listings some more. Be sure to look over the 'older' listings, price drops can make a difference on how you view a property and could bring properties into your price range that you didn't see when they hit the market and were over priced.

I like sawbuck.com as you can search by area. It had filters for price and such but the area thing was what I liked. You never know how people will list a house. We need four bdrm but as above a formal dining is worthless to us so a three bdrm with a formal dining become four bdrm. And will become my billiard room in due time. We like to search. Riding in the car gives us time to talk and be together without the outside World butting in.

I would offer what you are willing to pay. It is only worth what a buyer and seller agree upon, not some arbitrary comps and appraisals. Nothing sux more that over paying. Having a plan to get out is important and being stuck with a foreclosure really blows.

[talisman]

Last house was almost at the end of a Court. Definitely looking for these types of locations first. Also marked several off the lit due to the proximity of the railroad that runs through Arlington. Thanks guys, good thoughts.

[Shorty]

I looked for smaller front yards and bigger backyards. I never spend any time in the front yard and it's just more to water and now.

[red95gts]

#7 Some form of ventilation in the garage....be it a walk-through door somewhere opposite of rollup, windows, etc.

All good advice but this one hits close to home for me. Love my 3-car garage but the lack of ventilation is a serious mistake. This summer the garage would be 95-100 degrees most of the day and wouldn't cool off until the next morning. One of my winter projects is to insulate and figure out how the hell to get some air movement through the garage. There's just attic space above so considering ceiling-mount exhaust fans vented to the eaves.

[Sgt Beavis]

There was on major mistake I made on my original house. It was a new construction from Sumeer Homes. Our home inspector found several issues and I asked for all of them to be fixed. The Builder did fix several items but they had a common response for the majority of my complaints. The response was, "it meets all building codes"

Now I realize that the building code is the MINIMUM standard. I don't have to accept the minimum standard. The house I just bought is 20 years old so I was a bit forgiving of the issues it has but I still insisted on several fixes. If I ever buy a new house again, I won't accept an answer like that again...

[Rreemo]

All good advice but this one hits close to home for me. Love my 3-car garage but the lack of ventilation is a serious mistake. This summer the garage would be 95-100 degrees most of the day and wouldn't cool off until the next morning. One of my winter projects is to insulate and figure out how the hell to get some air movement through the garage. There's just attic space above so considering ceiling-mount exhaust fans vented to the eaves.

I know exactly what you mean...I learned it the hard way too. My last house didn't have any ventilation in the garage, and the door took some of the late day sun...is was brutal working out there. In my current house the big doors face south, and I put a walk through door to my backyard in the middle of the back wall (northside)....now I can open the two big doors and also latch open that little door and put a fan in front of it....it keeps air moving real well.

I did insulate my garage as well (except for the big doors), and I use one of those ventless propane heaters from Home Depot in the winter...I can easily keep it near 70 in there when it's freezing out.....that's actually the best time of year to get stuff done in the garage for me.

[FreightTrain]

There was on major mistake I made on my original house. It was a new construction from Sumeer Homes. Our home inspector found several issues and I asked for all of them to be fixed. The Builder did fix several items but they had a common response for the majority of my complaints. The response was, "it meets all building codes"

Now I realize that the building code is the MINIMUM standard. I don't have to accept the minimum standard. The house I just bought is 20 years old so I was a bit forgiving of the issues it has but I still insisted on several fixes. If I ever buy a new house again, I won't accept an answer like that again...

I kind of got into a pissing match with my builder and they pulled that shit with me. They thought I was kidding when I told them I'd put a level and square to every board during the framing process and what wasn't level or square would be ripped out by me. After two days of this they got the point and did what I asked them to. This all started over 4 joist that had been broken and instead of replaceing them they nailed a 2 foot 2x4 to each one.

Another time the house got flooded due to a sheet rock nail hitting a water line. The bottom 3" to 4" of sheet rock was ruined in the entire house cause it soaked up the water. There fix was to open the windows and bring in fans. I was standing in the house with the superintendent and told him I wanted the bottom 4 feet of sheet rock replaced in the entire house. He laughed and said there was no way they would do that. So I started kicking holes in the walls. After about 4 holes he agreed to replace all the sheet rock.

[Dan03mach]

A lot bigger yard, at least an acer and at least a 3 car garage with enough room to put a lift in or small shop. But its all good I'll sell my house in a few years and get what I want.

[red95gts]

I know exactly what you mean...I learned it the hard way too. My last house didn't have any ventilation in the garage, and the door took some of the late day sun...is was brutal working out there. In my current house the big doors face south, and I put a walk through door to my backyard in the middle of the back wall (northside)....now I can open the two big doors and also latch open that little door and put a fan in front of it....it keeps air moving real well.

I did insulate my garage as well (except for the big doors), and I use one of those ventless propane heaters from Home Depot in the winter...I can easily keep it near 70 in there when it's freezing out.....that's actually the best time of year to get stuff done in the garage for me.

It's really my biggest complaint about our new house. Considering we built it while living 500 miles away, I guess things could be worse. Haha

Our old house in Houston was a tiny little 2-car(18x19) but it had a side door so I could use a fan just like you mentioned and be ok. In this house the builder wanted a mint to add a side door to the house and I decided it wasn't worth it just to take out the trash. Didn't even think about ventilation. Now that the house is built, adding a side door would mean relocating all the utilities, electrical panel, and/or grounding rod for the entire house. Needless to say, I'm on to Plan B. Now if I only knew what Plan B was. Lol

[GrayStangGT]

^ That was mstng86 that said that, not me. Why don't you want a W/D on the way to the garage? Haven't heard that complaint before.

Mine is like that and I don't like it, but to me it just depends how big it is. If it is small like mine then the clothes that are waiting to be washed are in the way of getting to the garage. I would also make sure the laundry room isn't near the living room, I am constantly have to get up and close the door to the laundry room because of the noise from the dryer while I'm watching TV.

[Lethal Injection]

An exhaust fan in the ceiling of the stairwell= awesome. Crack the windows and you have an instant breeze. We haven't had either unit on since last Wednesday nor do I see us turning it back on anytime soon after seeing the forecast.

We have a 25yr old peir and beam farm house that is right at 2400 sqft. Our highest electric bill this year has been 145. My wife is a stay at home mom, so it's not like the house is vacant all day. Granted the stove, water heater, and heater are gas, but that is only a 20-30/month bill.

[kingjason]

Rreemo hit most of them.

When we were looking I had a lot of little stuff that drove my wife nuts.

Since we wanted in the country, ever house we looked at I pulled up on google earth. I was looking for anything sketchy or large patches of un used farmland. I have known to many people that built or bought a house and ended up with a trailer park close to them after a few years.

Lots of established trees and 1-3 acres. I hate a big old house on property with no trees.

I wanted to live on a low traffic road. She was in love with one that was butted up to 66 in Maypearl. As she was standing there gawking over the house, I was in the back yard watching the 18 wheelers blow by maybe 15 feet from the yard.

Our neighborhood has dead ends on both streets and super low traffic.

I love my garage. French doors on the back, 2.5 car, attic stairs, and even a wall AC unit. It was converted to two rooms when we bought the house, all I had to do is knock out sheetrock. I even left the two vents in the ceiling. I closed them off but you can tell a difference in there in the summer and they should be nice in the winter. My AC kept up really well this summer so I left them. My wifes only requirment on the garage was not on the front of the house.

Big master, living, and kitchen the rest I could care less about.

Pool. Yep I love water and it was either going to have a pool or we were going to put one in. They don't really add to the value of a used house so I figure it saved us at least 25-30k.

I also looked for deals that had been on the market a while.

Oh and absolutely no god damn alleys. Hate them with a passion. To me the only thing a alley is good for is to let theives sneak around with little or no detection. I will take a front entry garage over a alley any day.

[kingjason]

Mine is like that and I don't like it, but to me it just depends how big it is. If it is small like mine then the clothes that are waiting to be washed are in the way of getting to the garage. I would also make sure the laundry room isn't near the living room, I am constantly have to get up and close the door to the laundry room because of the noise from the dryer while I'm watching TV.

I think sometimes that depends on the W/D. I had a house one time and the same issue. The laundry room was right by the living room. I always had to get up and close the door. Went out and bought some top of the line stand ups and even with the doors open you could not here them running. Hell my last house they where at least 20 feet from the living room but I bought a cheap set and holy shit I had to max out the TV when they where running. Same way with the dishwasher. The noise difference between a 400.00 dishwasher and a 700.00 dishwasher is huge.

[talisman]

Going out to look in a bit, and I'm pretty sure I've already found what Im looking for. Only downside is that fucking pillar in the middle of the garage, but it's rear entry with a gate and can be knocked out to put one door up eventually. It is the ONLY downside I can find, already know the neighborhood and drove by yesterday. Everything looks in order. Pretty excited. Living in an apartment for the first time was interesting, but it'll feel good to throw some roots back down in my town.

[Whiteboy]

The last thing I need is room to park 6 or 7 cars. don't want my house to look like a chop shop like Danny or Whiteboy!

I have a shop now!