House hunting is one of the most exciting stages in the home buying process – you get to visit houses for sale to see how they stack up against your needs and wants.
It’s also a part of the process where many first-time buyers make mistakes. Some people get swept up in the excitement, and overlook the flaws of a property. This is where a house hunting checklist comes into the picture. If you create a checklist of the things you need and want in a home, you’ll have a much easier time with the house hunting process.
Your Checklist – Needs vs Wants
The first thing you should do is create a checklist of the things you truly need in your home, and a separate list of things you would like to have. An easy way to do this is to draw a line down a piece of paper, dividing it into two columns. Label the left side “Need” and the right side “Want.”
Start with the things you need – such as the number of bedrooms, the location, or the size of the section. This will help you narrow your search down, allowing you to weed out houses that don’t meet your needs. If you use a real estate agent to help with the house hunt, this checklist will be a useful tool for them as well.
Other Things to Look For
So what else should you look for during the house hunting process, aside from the basic criteria? Look for signs of disrepair, mould, structural damage, standing water, view obstructions – anything that raises a ‘red flag’ in your mind. Take a notepad with you when house hunting and jot down faults or concerns as you come across them. A Land Information Memorandum (LIM) report can also identify issues or potential problems in and around a property.
Just keep in mind that you can have a more thorough home inspection after you make an offer on a particular house. You can make your offer contingent upon a successful home inspection. That way, you can back out of the deal if the home inspection finds faults or problems which are unacceptable to you.
for relevant checklists check out this post.
