One Thing That Buyers Often Neglect to Do

There’s one thing that I’ve always recommended to buyers over the years, that they hear,  but almost never take my advice on.  When we’re at a property they’d like to buy, usually doing an inspection, (since we’re there for hours,) I recommend that they go outside and knock on a few doors, in order to meet some of the neighbors.

I think buyers sometimes feel shy, or they’re so excited by the house that they don’t want to leave, even though they could possibly find out something really important about the neighborhood, and what the neighbors are really like.

The inspection contingency time period is the buyer’s time to investigate EVERYTHING about a potential home purchase, including of course the house itself, possibly the sewer line if it’s an older home, and school and crime data if that’s important to you. I have a friend who lives a few houses away from one of the city’s most notorious drug houses, and she had no idea until she moved in, that there would be constant traffic coming and going, along with a host of unsavory people.

You need to know if there’s a childcare center in a house nearby, or a church that’s not apparent at first – both can create parking issues.  You’d certainly want to know who’s got a dog-breeding operation in the neighborhood, with tons of loud barking, and really anything and everything that could affect your enjoyment of the home for the coming years.