Tips for Home Buyers

• Get a good real estate agent
  
  Find a real estate agent who has your best interests in mind. Dan and I used myself as the Realtor, because hello, my only ulterior motive was trying to find us a house for a bargain in a good location! If you’re house hunting I would love to help you find the right house at the right price.
• Buy within your budget
  Because our goal was to pay off our house quickly and not live "mortgage poor,"
  we talked to lender right away to get a pre-approval and go over the difference in loan amounts and monthly payments. 
• Inspect that junk
  I know that when you’re already spending more money than you’ve ever spent in your life, it’s super tempting to surpass the home inspection. Everything looks great! What could go wrong?!
  NOPE.
  Always hire a home inspector for your knowledge and protection.  In one case, the gas from the furnace was venting inside the attic. So if the unsuspecting home buyers had turned on the furnace, the house would’ve burned to the ground. In another case, the house had no septic system: all the plumbing pipes just went right into the floor of the house to nowhere. (It was a flip and the investors were either crooks or delightfully stupid.) It is worth the money to always get a home inspection! 
  Often, you can recoup the cost of the inspection by negotiating with the sellers based on what the inspector finds. It’s totally some of the best money you can spend.

A few things that may come up as you tour houses that you should pay attention to, when you didn't think they would matter: 

• Convenient laundry room
• Tons of natural light
• Level lot
• Location
• Easy layout

On the other hand… stuff we didn’t care about because we knew we could change them very easily!! 

• Paint Colors 
• Popcorn ceilings (Easy fix!)
• Wood finishes. 
• Lighting. (That’s an easy update.)
• Holes or damage in the drywall/plaster. 
• State of the appliances. (When you’re spending tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on a house, appliances are a drop in the bucket. Get a house with a good floor plan, and buy new appliances if necessary.)