I read a great post this morning aimed towards real estate agents rather than buyers but realize it is also some good information for buyers as well. It was written by Joe Michalski on his blog about What to look for before the home inspection. Joe by the way helped me last week present a seminar for First Time Buyers at our office in Devon, along with Eric may from Prosperity Mortgage, talking about what a home inspection is and what it is not and explaining the home buying, mortgage and inspection process for several first time buyers.
Often buyers are so interested in the home they don't look at the home? It is easy to get distracted by design and decor, furniture and photos but you really need to look beyond all that and see the rooms. Are these room sizes going to work for you. Look not at the furniture but at the sizes, is it the same as yours, smaller or larger? Do you have more chairs? What about lights, are you used to a central over head light as opposed to lamps around the room. I know when we first came to America I found it very hard to see homes with out central overhead lights. it seemed so strange to me and took some getting used to. Many of my overseas clients have the same problem.
When it comes to bedrooms are the beds the same sizes as what you will use, and what other furniture do you have tha needs to fit in the room? Closets, are they really that small and don't get fooled by owners who have put all their winter clothes away in storage so the closets look large and spacious?
So beyond all the rooms is the house a good house, what about the roof and gutters, does the basement seem dry. Look through Joe's list on his blog as it had several great points and is a good list to print out and take with you when looking at homes.
