When purchasing a home you should always consider that one day you will sell it and that it must appeal to the next buyer. While some shortcomings can be addressed, such as adding landscaping or changing the paint color to make the home more appealing, you need to be careful buying a home with negative features that cannot be addressed or would be economically prohibitive. You may want to use the AlphaHomes Showing Checklist below for this purpose.
AlphaHomes Showing Checklist
General Considerations
- Near Amenities (near and convenient, but not adjacent to swim/tennis/parks/shopping?)
- Area contains primarily single-family homes (rather than apartments?)
- Are surrounding neighborhoods comparable (of equal or greater value to this one?)
- Power Lines (are they a safe distance away, rather than near or adjacent to the home?)
- Surrounding Properties (are they residential/preferred or does commercially zoned property share your property line, create an unappealing view, near a retention pond?)
- Neighborhood Position (is this home inside the neighborhood, rather than one of the first ones as you turn into the neighborhood?)
- Does this home fall under a homeowners association?
- Is this property free from any known or pending changes that will negatively affect your property values (for example – road widening or school zoning changes?)
Outside
- Trees (in good shape — not weak or threatening house?)
- Street (is the home on a quiet street, Cul-de-sac, or dead end street?)
- Property (Is it located on level ground, rather than high on a steep hill or downhill from the street?)
- Yard (Is it an appropriate size for your family, is it comparable to other homes in the neighborhood?)
- Exterior (is it attractive?)
- View from the property (is it enjoyable?)
Water
- Gutters (good condition?)
- Basement (dry?)
- Slope of Lot (slopes away from the house on all sides?)
- Downspouts (discharging away from perimeter of house?)
- Yard (well drained with no indication of standing water or erosion?)
Major Structural and Systems
- Age of Home?
- Roof age
- Heat System Age
- Air Conditioning System Age
- Water Heater Age
- Plumbing Type (interior)
- Main Water Service Line type (exterior)
- Siding Type
- Mold (is there an existing or previous problem?)
- Termites (is the home currently under a bond?)
Interior
- Does it have a nice floor plan?
- Is there a circular flow through the home overall?
- Is there a nice flow of the traffic pattern in the living areas?
- Does the Master Bedroom has walk-in closet
- Does Master Bath has separate tub and shower units
- Do you have to walk through one room to get to another (For instance, must you walk through a bedroom to get to a bonus room?)
- Are rooms appropriately sized for your needs?
- Are there enough rooms for your needs?
- Is there enough storage space?
- Is there access to the back yard from the interior of the house?
- Is there access to the garage from the interior of the home?