Buying a new home can be an exciting experience, but it can also be overwhelming. After all, there are so many aspects involved. It’s easy to forget or overlook something, and then you’re stuck!
So, as you’re searching for a new house make sure to keep this handy House Buying Checklist by your side. It will help you keep track of different important aspects of buying a new home, and can also help eliminate the hidden costs of buying a new home.
Proximity to the essentials
If you commute to work by bus or train, you’ll want to find out how close your potential new house is to the public transportation that you need. If you have little kids, you’ll want to know if there are any parks close by. And how close is the local grocery store or mall? Whatever “the essentials” are for you at this stage in life, you’ll want to make sure that they are close to or easily accessible from your new house.
Number and configuration of rooms to suit your needs
The number of rooms in a house is usually the first thing people specify that they’re looking for. Keep in mind it’s not only the number of rooms that are important but their configuration.
For example, let’s say you have two young children and are looking for a three-bedroom house. You might be shown a house where one bedroom is on the ground floor, one on the first floor, and one in the attic. That configuration will probably not suit your needs since parents of small children usually like to be close to them at night. So it’s not enough to get a house with a certain number of rooms, but the configuration has to make sense for your needs.
To which direction do the rooms face? This may not seem important at first, but keep in mind, rooms that face west stays warm, all year round, including in the summer. This may be a deal breaker if you consider the possibility of high electric bills in the summer.
Structurally sound building and roof
That house you’re interested in might look great from the outside, but is it structurally stable? If it rains, will the roof leak, or worse, collapse? If you’re serious about moving into a new home, make sure to get a professional to check the house’s structure before signing on the dotted line.
Natural light
Most people love natural light, which means it should be an important part of your inspection checklist for buying a house. The best way to check if your potential new house has lots of natural light? Visit during the day.
Noise levels in the neighborhood
Ask the current residents of the house about the noise levels in the neighborhood. Do people have loud parties late into the night? Is it so quiet that it feels like a ghost town? You’ll want to make sure that the noise levels in the neighborhood suit your lifestyle.
Utilities
Making sure that all the utilities are in proper functioning order is a critical step in your house buying checklist. After all, can imagine having the lights short every time you plug in your hair dryer? But more than that, if the utilities don’t function well (lights, water pressure, power supply, hot water system, and air conditioning), you may end up having to spend a lot of money in constant upkeep.
Signs of termites/pests
If you suspect that your new potential home might be prone to termites or pests, make sure to get a professional in there immediately to gauge the situation. These little devils can wreak havoc on an otherwise beautiful interior, and if the house suffers from constant invasions, it can be reason enough to look elsewhere.
Once you’ve checked off everything on your house buying checklist and have found the perfect place, you’ll need to start considering how to actually move everything from your old home to your new. Since this can be another overwhelming task, make sure to check out this helpful list of what to do before you move.
If you’d like our House Buying Checklist in PDF, click here to download it.
