What to Look for when Buying

[Anthony McDougle]

Hey everyone!

I've been doing lots of research, and I'm going out to look at my first property that I may purchase (depending on... well, lots of things). I've read Ken McElroy's book and understand how to go about figuring out the ROI and how much to put down and all of that.... but when I go check out the property for the first time, what should I look for, specifically?

It's going to be an owner-occupant property, a duplex where I'll live in one unit and rent the other. I've never actually purchased a house before. What kind of things should I look for to make sure the property is physically up to snuff, or things I can point out as potential improvements that can help reduce the price, etc? Does anyone have any resources (articles, posts, etc) that might lay out this stuff? Obviously I expect to get better at it with practice, but I also don't want to just go in with no idea of what I'm doing!

Hopefully soon enough I can be one of the people giving advice here instead of just asking for it!