Property condition vs. your desire for perfection.
(The home will not be perfect. Guaranteed.)
[Note: A word about new builds. Some clients think they are going to guarantee themselves a perfect house by buying a new build which is, after all, brand new and presumably without fault. There are many reasons why a buyer might want to buy a new build home. Few are compelling. (I will be writing about this in a later post. Working title: "Why I don't like new builds".)]
One of the strongest arguments for an existing home (as opposed to a new build-which I will deal with later) is that it still stands. It hasn’t fallen down and has thus demonstrated an ability to survive in spite of all the human and environmental challenges it has faced.
Key To Success: Realize and accept the fact that the home you buy will not reveal all its secrets (good or bad) to you immediately. You will learn new things about your home and its environs every year you live there. If early (pre-purchase) evaluations are done with the proper focus, more of those surprises are likely to be happy ones than not.
Let’s say that after a couple of onsite viewings with your exclusive buyer agent (EBA), you choose to submit an offer on the property in question. Assuming that you are able to achieve a basic meeting of the minds with the seller regarding price and terms, the next step is a deeper evaluation of the property to assure yourself that what you are buying is what you think you are buying. (I will address the processes of value estimation and offering strategies in later posts.)
A thorough general home inspection performed by an experienced and objective professional is the first step. More specialized inspections or tests may suggest themselves or be recommended by the home inspector. A short list of such issues might include (in no particular order).
- radon testing
- lead-based paint risk evaluation
- asbestos risk evaluation
- roof, electrical, plumbing or HVAC certifications
- structural evaluation
- chimney or fireplace inspection, cleaning and certification
- water, moisture or mold evaluations.
Key To Success: A properly focused pre-purchase evaluation of a prospective “target” home needs to begin with the understanding that no homeowner (seller) will ever have all maintenance fully up-to-date.
Ignorance, laziness, lack of funds, lack of time, physical incapacity and incompetent DIY work are six common contributors to property condition defects.
Differences between diligently maintained properties and those with deferred maintenance are often obvious but sometime not so obvious. When attempting to make reasonable assumptions about the condition of a property the client perceives as being “on the bubble,” I recommend what might be called the “extrapolation” rule of thumb. If there is a pattern of small but easily visible defects left unrepaired—or—(perhaps even worse) DIY repairs are done incompetently, we may reasonably assume that larger or more significant repairs may remain undone or be done incompetently by a DIY homeowner.
As long as a client harbors the notion of finding “the perfect home” the purchase threshold is raised too high and very suitable homes are likely to be rejected.
Accurately identifying the most important aspects of a home to that home buyer-ones that connect with them emotionally-is the first step towards happiness with a particular property. Without that step, they find themselves “locked up”, looking at home after home, with none of them quite meeting the criteria and the buyer getting more and more frustrated.
Robert A. did everything right!
It takes courage and maturity for buyers to face the emotional suffering (dramatic, but true) required to select among the myriad choices facing them. But in the end, for the client who does the work necessary to deal with those difficult and emotional choices, it will make all the difference between being truly happy in their new home…or year after year experiencing the logical (and negative) consequences of their shallow decision-making process.
Thus grief still treads upon the heels of pleasure: Married in haste, we may repent at leisure.
What do you think about the idea of a “perfect home”? Do you agree with my analysis? What would you add…or dispute? Are there other dimensions that should be addressed and weren’t? Please share your ideas.
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