It’s easy to become distracted by bright and shiny features when you’re walking through a home for the first time.
A new bathroom or a modern kitchen can quickly capture your attention and divert you from other important aspects of the property.
While your agent will have used your initial brief to scope out its suitability, there remain important reasons to be vigilant and cast a critical eye.
As an experienced real estate agent, I work with prospective buyers to ensure they consider every element of living in a home and not become hooked on a particular feature.
I’ve put together a checklist of issues that will ultimately affect your lifestyle and enjoyment in a property long after the novelty of a cutting-edge kitchen has worn off. I recommend you not only consider these during an inspection but include them in the brief to your agent.
If I can assist you in finding a property in the neighborhood, please do not hesitate to contact me. In the meantime, here’s my list.
- Quality of the investment – Unless this is the last property you’ll ever buy, and you don’t care about inheritance, then you want real estate that will grow in value. You must be confident that it will be easy to resell. Make this a top item in the brief to your agent.
- The commute – Is the property near your place of work? No matter how much you love the house, consider the quality of the local transport network and the amount of time you’re going to spend traveling to and from work every day.
- Work from home – As work patterns change, it’s worth considering whether you want space suitable for a home office even if the current owners have not established one.
- Communications – Check the quality of the internet and cell signal. If these are sub-par, it will create endless frustration. Poor communications also undermine any desire to work from home.
- The neighborhood – What is the crime rate? How near are local schools? Take time to meet the neighbors, visit a local cafe, go shopping, check out the parks and local library and discover more about the area.
- Noise – How close is the property to a main road. Will a bus go past your front door at 5 am every morning? Is the home under a flight path?
- Potential to expand – If this is going to be a long-term purchase, you may need a home that you can extend as the family grows. Find out if there might be a planning issue or structural challenge to adding a second storey, or if there’s sufficient land to extend.
- Bathroom blues – Having only one bathroom in a family home can be a source of endless annoyance. You want a home where no one queues.
- Pick on the plumbing – Turn on a faucet and flush a toilet to find out whether the property has good water pressure. If not, it can be fixed, but it’s a sign that needs to be examined closely.
- Storage – Inadequate outside storage can make living in the property difficult. If there is nowhere to put the lawnmower or your tools, then where do they go? You’ll likely have to buy a new shed and lose room in your garden.