Buyer's Guide:
Starting a Home Search
When you first meet with your Weichert Sales Associate, use our Home Buying Wishlist to focus your priorities for your new home. Once you have narrowed them down, it's time to start visiting properties. It's easy to get distracted by someone else’s décor or landscaping, but this is simply decoration and easily changed. Paying attention instead to the environment and the construction of your potential new home can save you a lot of headaches down the road.
Use our House Hunting Checklist to keep track of the homes that you tour.
What to Look for in the Property Survey
Sometimes a homeowner will provide a survey or it can be obtained from the township. A survey will offer a wealth of information about the property you are considering during your home search, including potential restrictions to land use.
Survey information worth noting:
- An easement grants a legal right for an entity to use a piece of property that they do not own. This is granted most often to utility companies for power or cable lines, but can also be used for preservation or conservation purposes. If the property comes with an easement, research all of the terms because it may end up affecting the value of your home in the future. It might also limit how you are able to use the land or how the owner of the easement may use it in the future.
- In addition to the property lines, a survey will often show the location of any well or septic system on the property. The location may interfere with any construction or landscaping you’d like to do.
- A survey will define the boundaries of your property and confirm if there is encroachment (a violation of property rights). It can happen when either owner is unaware of the exact location of the property boundaries or intentionally chooses to ignore them. Encroachment can sometimes be solved with a conversation between neighbors and other times must be resolved in court.
Protecting Your Investment While Keeping an Eye on Resale Value
Many consider a home more than a place to live; it’s an investment. There is always the hope that it will appreciate in value both with time and as you make additions and upgrades. Shopping with an eye for eventual resale can pay off later, even if you don’t plan on moving soon. Although no one can predict the future, buying a house with resale in mind might help your investment grow.
Location is a big contributor to the resale value of a home because it is permanent. Some factors to consider that can influence buyers are the quality of the neighborhood and the schools, a spectacular view, low crime rates, future development, local amenities, distance to highways and proximity to public transportation.
Buying a Home with Resale in Mind
To many people, a home is more than a place to live; it’s an investment. There is always the hope that it will appreciate in value both over time and also as you make additions and upgrades. Shopping with an eye for eventual resale can pay off later, even if you don’t plan on moving soon. Although no one can predict the future, buying a house with resale in mind might help your investment grow.
Location, because it is permanent, is a big contributor to the resale value of a home. Some factors to consider that can influence buyers are the quality of the neighborhood and the schools, a spectacular view, low crime rates, local amenities, distance to highways and proximity to public transportation.
For help understanding listings, read our Resource Center guide to decoding an MLS listing.
Key Takeaways:
Starting a Home Search
Check the windows and doors during your home search. If more than one does not open and close easily, it could be a sign of a structural problem.
Fresh paint, scented candles or air fresheners may be used to cover larger problems when a home is for sale.
Home surveys are significant because they can reveal easements and potential property disputes.
Always consider resale value when looking for a new home by evaluating the quality of the schools, the distance to highways and proximity to public transportation, even if these items aren’t important to you.