There are likely a million thoughts racing through your mind when purchasing your first home. What are the neighbors like? Will my dog like the backyard? How are the schools in the area? Is there lots of road noise at night?
No matter how hard you try to cross off every box and inspect every inch of the home, there’s probably still something that you missed. So to spare others the trouble of making the same mistakes they did, first-time homeowners have been opening up on Reddit about the lessons they had to learn the hard way.
Take note of anything that you want to remember when you’re house hunting, pandas, and keep reading to find a conversation with Jaime Seale of Clever Real Estate!
#1
#1 — Avoid buying a home with an HOA like it’s the plague!!!
Image source: Resident-Map6693, George Becker
#2
Any home improvement project, whether DIY or contracted out, will take longer than you expected and cost more than you originally thought.
Image source: TanLimes, Nataliya Vaitkevich
#3
The problems with your neighbors may be greater than the problems with your house!
Image source: Long-Regular-1023, Pixabay
#4
Go for a house with a simple, straightforward roof design. The more complicated it is, the more expensive it is to fix and maintain it
Image source: abdhjops, Scott Webb
#5
Make sure you know where and how to shut off the water
Image source: notsumidiot2, Sigmund
#6
Water is the enemy. Make sure it’s never pooling near your house.
Image source: teamakesmepee, Quick Sidekick
#7
The fixing never ends
Image source: condorsjii, Marian Florinel Condruz
#8
Plant a tree as soon as you move in
Image source: UnderWaterWelderGal
#9
Location -not just the neighborhood but the actual spot the home sits on- is important. My first home a great starter place, and I got lucky with no major issues until I’d been there for a few years. But I was on a main road, and it was noisy and DIRTY from the traffic. That was not something I could change or really work around, but I was so excited about the budget and the area and other things that I missed that major piece when I bought. (Young and dumb.)
You will never be totally prepared for all the things that can go wrong. I took a shower one day then walked down to the kitchen and found my tub was now leaking through the kitchen ceiling onto the stove top. Dinner, and my budget, were destroyed, and I went through three diy fixes before I had the money saved to call in a pro to fix it.
You can live with a lot of c**p when you can’t afford to fix it. After kitchen ceiling/bathroom leak fix number two, I left the ceiling open and just taped a piece of cardboard over it to keep from having to look at the bottom of my tub from the kitchen, but to still leave it accessible for the inevitable fail of my latest fix. Cardboard duct taped to the ceiling is SUPER classy, but I forgot about it unless someone else was over.
Anyway, home number one taught me a lot, and when I sold it, I had a list of key things to find in place number two based on my experiences. Cosmetic things were not high on that list, but a bathroom that wasn’t leaking into the kitchen was #1.
Image source: zettainmi, Julien Maculan
#10
Visit your perspective house at different times day and night. Don’t get surprised by loud neighbors, etc
Edit: traffic noise changes, lighting at night, etc. Yes, absolutely neighbors change, be prepared for that.
Image source: UrBigBro
#11
Grass grows at a speed that defies logic 🤣
Image source: WashuWaifu, Petar Tonchev
#12
If you can’t see it, it’s probably more f****d-up than you think.
Image source: very_mechanical, Jarek Ceborski
#13
You want a good/decent looking lawn. Try to kill it. That s**t will flourish. Don’t water or waste money on fertilizers. Just let whatever grow, grow. It all looks good. Actually that natural native diversity is even better and healthier.
Image source: buttbugle
#14
That small project that you think “oh yeah that should only take a couple hours at best” will actually take you 8 hours and 4 trips to Home Depot.
Literally even working on the smallest problems in our home (I.e. repainting the laundry room) uncovers something wildly unexpected.
Image source: johnny_soup1
#15
Make sure you study your potential neighbors. Buying a house is way different than renting, so you can’t just up and leave. We’ve been here a year and have to file a civil suit against our neighbors.
Image source: APD69, Dillon Kydd
#16
Never leave your hose on the faucet in winter
Image source: Enough-Competition21, John Nzoka
#17
You spend your time listening for water leaks like it’s a hobby. Any running water whatsoever makes the heart skip a beat lol
Image source: KBVan21, Luis Quintero
#18
Maintenance is a huge consumer of time.
Image source: ohlaph, Ksenia Chernaya
#19
The fact that I have a mortgage is some part of the public record, and there are hundreds of companies out there that just scrape that data and send junk mail that’s made to be confused with legitimate business in order to trick seniors into sending a check.
Image source: phblj, Brett Jordan
#20
You don’t have anyone living above or below you and it’s awesome. There’s always gonna be things but I wouldn’t change it for the world. Love it.
Image source: Schapattack_555
#21
Your monthly payment can and probably will go up. As insurance costs and property taxes rise so does the need for more escrow.
Image source: sideeyedi, Alexander Mils
#22
choosing which projects I want to f up myself and which ones I want to pay for
Image source: RoastedTomatillo, Tima Miroshnichenko
#23
There is good. There is never perfect. But it’s all yours.
Image source: SentimentalSediments, Wendy Wei
#24
I’ve learned, a project can takes year to complete – like a bathroom remodel. Saves you a c**p load of money, but the pros can get it done in a day or two.
Image source: sirguynate, Sidekix Media
#25
Don’t use the inspector your real estate agent suggests.
Image source: OlafTheDestroyer2, Kindel Media
#26
Houses make scary noises at night
Image source: mbvp
#27
Y’know the quote “the grass is greener on the other side”? I recently heard it rephrased as “the grass is greener where you water it” and it’s really changed my mindset around a lot of things (including homeownership).
Image source: ephemeral_radiance, Gustavo Fring
#28
Neighbors don’t instantly becomes buddies. Takes years.
Image source: bocepheid, RDNE Stock project
#29
Don’t feel as if you have to do everything at once. Take care of Hvac, plumbing, and safety issues first, and then move on from there as needed.
Image source: OrangeCosmos
#30
I’ve learned a lot about landscape, irrigation and odds and ends from beams to plumbing.
Looking for a home I didn’t check for things like where the placement of vents were in my house (they’re in odd places on the floor), didn’t check for outlet placement) or how furniture would lay out. It’s a historic home and I knew there were always gonna be issues like that after renting one, but I wish I’d though more about it since I plan to be here as long as possible
Image source: Mlliii, Markus Spiske
#31
Window treatments are expensive af. Just paid over $6k for 22 windows. And I did the install myself.
Image source: plastikman13, Rob Wingate
#32
Always buy a house on a flat lot.
Image source: DGAFADRC, Sieuwert Otterloo
#33
Take high quality video walkthrough of place before buying…not just pictures. Then compare when you buy/after moving in.
Some people should not own houses, as they don’t maintain them (or self repair) resulting in significant unforseen problems for the next owner.
Some inspectors suck, and miss a ton of things that they shouldn’t have missed or are just lazy.
Visit your house a few times at different times before putting in final offer paperwork.
Some places have unforseen things. Eg: terrible neighbors, businesses, Loud businesses. Methhead on corner was an ahole before going to prison. Everything else was amazing.
Drive from the home to work before buying. Some routes/houses aren’t worth the commute.
Image source: Zions_Fake_Papers
#34
Here’s an important one for those looking. If you buy underneath your comfortable mortgage budget it doesn’t mean you automatically have that extra money to spend upgrading the house. Also, envision the rooms as they are don’t count on blowing out walls here and there w***y nilly.
Image source: Roodyrooster
#35
That I don’t want to be a homeowner. Could be that we bought to much home (size wise), could be that I don’t care for the area. It was an amazing deal, we sold for close to double what we paid 4 years ago, and I can’t wait to get to our maintenance free, very nice but very manageable apartment rental space.
Always thought owning a home was a sign of success and being an adult, didn’t realize you had to actually WANT to do all the things homeowners have to do to make it worth it.
Image source: ryanb055, Pavel Danilyuk
#36
Buy the tools as you need them for projects and DIY everything you can. Saves a lot of money in the long run.
Image source: plastikman13
#37
I learned was aphids are and that I hate them.
Image source: ailish
#38
after a few years of ownership of an old house and learning to fix and maintain it, i honestly say I can be a professional home inspector or a handyman
Image source: IHate2ChooseUserName, Life Of Pix
#39
Not everything is an immediate issue. On the other hand, rake leaves.
Image source: louislemalaime, Doug Linstedt
#40
If you can’t spend $10,000 at a moment’s notice don’t buy a house.
Image source: thetzar, Alexander Mils
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