Buying a house has to be one of the most enjoyable tasks one family can ever get. Still, as with any other situation in life where a lot of money gets involved, entering the real-estate market requires some caution. Although some house may look great on the first glance there are a number of things real-estate agents may accidentally, or even purposefully miss to mention. That should not prevent you from buying, though. Just do your homework, and ask these few questions in order to make sure everything is ok, and who knows – Maybe you can even discover something that will help your get a better deal.
Why is Owner Selling the House?
While real-estate agents are not obliged to answer such questions that should not prevent you from doing a quick neighborhood research. You may find out, for example, that owner had a number of issues with the property, and he is trying to get rid of it because the maintenance is becoming too expensive. Or, you can learn that the owner is moving abroad, so he is in the hurry to sell the house. In that case, you may strike a lower price. The opportunity to meet the neighborhood, however, should be enough of a reason to conduct this little research.
Why is the Property so Cheap?
If you stumble upon some really lucrative offer that is priced suspiciously low, you should do your best to find out why is that so. According to people working at Think Conveyancing there are number of issues, ranging from neighbor disputes, to some more serious legal matters that are pulling the price of otherwise valuable properties down. Do not allow yourself to discover them along the way. Find out what issues are plaguing the house before making the final decision if you ready to cope with them for the price you are offered.
How Long Has the Owner Lived in the House?
Repeated change of the owners is another great clue that something is not quite right with the property. Buying a house is not something people usually do on an annual basis. Unless the owner is trying to flip it, the fact that he is ready to engage in such long and tiresome process just a few years (or even few months) after he moved in should raise your caution. If the house is actually being flipped, try to find out about the previous owners and what kind of interventions has the current owner made.
Was the House Rented?
If the answer is yes, find out for how long because tenants usually pay less attention to maintenance than the actual owners. Not for some ill intent, just for the fact that investing some larger sums of money in other’s property does not make too much sense. The problem arises when the owners do not notice the lack of maintenance, or simply do not want to tackle this issue because the house is soon to be sold, either. If you want to avoid these problem befalling on your shoulders, double-check all the details once you find out that the property was rented.
What Is the Minimum Price the Seller Is Ready to Accept?
There are some instances when you do not get the better price for the property, just because you were not willing to ask. It may sound silly, but it can save you a fortune. The owner may be, as we already mentioned, in a hurry to make a sale, or his agent may be willing to push the things towards some middle ground in order to make his cut more probable. You will not know if you do not ask.
These were the five questions you should most absolutely ask before signing anything. Doing that will cost you nothing, but it can save you a lot of money and trouble in the long run. So, once you find your ideal home, take a break, give yourself enough time to do a research, and buy the house without any doubts or regrets.