What factors are important to you in buying a home?

Question

I thought we'd kick off our new Buying Real estate forum by seeing what factors are most important to all of you in the purchase of your primary residence.

Here are mine:

- Proximity to parks, shopping, services, and transportation (highways/trains)
- General neighborhood look/feel
- House amenities, layout, size
- Safety of neighborhood
- Quality of local schools

What am I missing?  What is most important to you?

Steve Babiak · Answer

Taxes - both property and local earned income.

Parking - urban areas might only have on-street parking.  In suburbs, guests visiting will need to be able to park somewhere.

Is there an HOA / condo assoc?

How much time for the commute to work?

Hope that helps to get others thinking.

Scott M. · Answer

I would add whatever my wife thinks is important :)

Steven Trankler · Answer

I thinks everyone is looking for value.  All of the factors listed (location, neighborhood amenities, shape the house is in, etc.) hold a certian value.  Isn't everyone looking for a good deal.  If a lot of the value adding amenities are absent I wouldn't pay as much and niether should the next person.

If you are purchasing a home for yourself or as an investment property I belive you should be cognisent of all the factors that contribute to VALUE.

Mike McKinzie · Answer

Judith Scott said it, "Location", so let me say it MY way.

LOCATION
LOCATION
LOCATION

For instance, where I live, MANY homes have no water, no sewer, no phone, no natural gas and no paved roads.  By 'many', I mean thousands of homes.  And some of these homes are literally mansions whiles others are dumps.

When I bought in the area, I demanded these things.  I could have bought one more mile north and would be one of those homes.  I am one of the furthest houses from the city water plant so I have to have a water pump under my house to add enough pressure so I can take a shower.  But I am on all city utilities.

As for rentals, I have one rental that uses trucked in Propane and I will never buy another one, it adds several hundred dollars a year to my expenses.  All my rentals will have all main city utilities.

In addition to location, the house needs to be built to handle the area it is in.  Single paned windows in a cold climate are not good.  Stucco in cold climate is also not good.  I have seen a three year old house in the Rocky Mountains start losing its stucco from the freeze/thaw cycle and in six years have to be re-stuccoed.  In hot areas, a good roof, good AC and good ventilation are necessary.  I have seen cheap, asphalt shingles get destroyed by hear in just a few years.  When I was a Realtor, we used to joke about "toilet paper covered in Elmers glue and sand" being the quality of roofing used by some builders, especially out in Moreno Valley, California.

A good location, quality craftsmanship and a fair price.  What else do you need?

Matthew Gil · Answer

Barring a gamma ray burst hitting the heartland, I don't think Americans have to worry about a food shortage problem.

Rich Weese · Answer

Forget the competition for the natural resources!! How about the competition for food? Corn, wheat etc that we can't keep up with now.

Matthew Gil · Answer

Maybe, I am 10 or 20 years ahead of the curve, but I think going forward people will care more about sustainability.

Is the property near public transportation?  Are there any green technologies installed?  Does the property conserve water, gas, electric etc?  I would assume that for most of you that your water, sewer, gas, etc. bills have outpaced inflation the past few years and as other nations compete for natural resources, I think that trend is going to continue.

Robert Mack · Answer

If you're talking about stuff like crime stats, population and and other demographic data, you can find this type of info on the Census Bureau along with city-data
          You should also read the local paper online to see what's going on if you are looking out of area

The more specific you are with your questions the better answers you will get...

Rich Weese · Answer

What do you mean by neighborhood qualification? Rich

Arlu Tejada · Answer

This might be a dumb question, but How do you find out information on neighborhood qualification??
I used google earth and zillow.com
but how do you find out the other stuff????

What factors are important to you in buying a home?

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