Home Buyers listen up, buying a home can be a complicated process and a lot of things happen during the  process that makes it challenging for home buyers to catch the little things. Financing, legal issues, paperwork, neighbourhood research, price research, finding the right schools, advice from friends and family… the list goes on and on.

Based on my experience, here are 4 things that home buyers often fail to notice about a home during the home buying process.

Outside noise or distractions

It’s easy to become so focused on the home itself that you loose sight of the bigger picture. Believe it or not, the biggest value of your home is not the house itself, but the land it’s built on and location it’s in. Step into the backyard, what do you hear? Is there a busy road or a rail road track nearby? Are you in an area affected by airplane noise? These are just some of the factors that can have a negative impact on your quality of life and are easily overlooked during the excitement of buying. Just a few moments of observation and due diligence can save you years of regret.

The Neighbours

Related to the first point, what are your potential neighbours like? Believe it or not these people can and will have an impact on your quality of life and the future value of your home. Some easy tips I recommend, look at the homes on the street, what do you see? On average are they in the same, better or worse condition than the home you are interested in? If they’re in the same or better condition then that’s a good sign, but if they are significantly worse and you are looking at the best home on the street I’d think twice, especially if building equity is your goal.

Lawns are for landscaping, not cars. If you see this think twice!

Storage Space

Critical to a happy home and often overlooked by younger home buyers is storage space. You have stuff and my bet is as the years go on you will acquire more. Where will it go? There’s nothing worse than living in a home where you don’t have enough space to store your things.  Here’s an insight about storage, if a home shows very well then chances are the owners or their Realtor brought in a home stager and I’ll caution you, don’t underestimate the power of home staging. It’s designed to make the home feel bigger and more functional for the buyer but rarely does it reflect how the owners actually live in the home. My advice is to get past the presentation and really look at the room. If it’s a living room with one love seat and table and nothing else ask yourself where the rest of the stuff goes that you will need on a day to day basis? The “Sparse Living Concept” is fine for selling but the way you sell a home and live in it are usually two very different things.

Basement

Having shown hundreds of homes, I can confidently tell you the order that 90% of home buyers look at a house in. First, they make their way to the kitchen, looking at anything on their way there (bathrooms, den…ect). After the kitchen they almost always head upstairs to look at the main bathroom and master bedroom. This is how home tours work and it’s designed this way. When I look at homes I do the exact opposite. I start in the basement because that’s where the majority of potential problems will occur- furnace, electrical, foundation. Then I go to the back and look at the yard. My thinking is that there’s no use getting excited if the bones of the house aren’t up to par.

There you have it, four critical mistakes home buyers often make when looking at homes. It pays to have someone with you that can help to objectively value the place and make sure you are getting the best home. If you are looking for a home in Mississauga or the west GTA let’s talk!