buying tips

Before making an offer on a house, it helps to know what you can afford, what the home may be worth, and which terms you’re comfortable with. After all, once you find a place you really like, things can move quickly, and that’s not the best time to start figuring out your limits. In this post, we’ll go over six things to do before making an offer so you’re ready when the right home comes...

There’s really no set number of times you should view a house before buying it. In practice, many buyers feel confident after 1–2 viewings of a specific home, and some experts recommend at least two for serious contenders (first emotional, second methodical).  Basically, though, you should just aim to attend enough viewings to be comfortable with the property and be sure you haven’t left any...

There are lots of reasons a seller may reject an offer. It may be because of the price, conditions, closing date, competing offers, or other terms that don’t work for them. The frustrating part for buyers is that an offer can look perfectly reasonable on paper and still lose out for reasons that have little to do with price. In this post, we’ll look at the main reasons sellers reject offers,...

In most cases, you should consider buying a house with a shared driveway if the legal access, maintenance responsibilities, and parking rules are clear and workable. Sure, a shared driveway may not be ideal, but it isn’t automatically a problem either. You just need to understand how it is owned, used, and maintained before making an offer. In this post, we’ll explain how shared driveways work,...

You can usually tell a house is a cheap flip when it looks shiny and new on the surface, but shows underlying issues upon closer inspection — think uneven floors, lingering moisture, or half-updated plumbing or electrical. And it’s something that you’ll want to spot, because the “new” look can distract you from problems you’ll be the one paying to fix later.  In this post, we’ll...

Choosing to walk away after a home inspection can feel dramatic. But if you’re staring at a report packed with warnings, photos, and a dozen things labeled “recommend further evaluation”, it can be hard not to at least consider it.  Just don’t consider it for too long. In most contracts, your inspection contingency comes with a deadline, and that’s usually the window that protects your...

Buyer fatigue has a funny way of sneaking up on you during house hunting. It’s like one day, hopping around from home to home is exciting, and the next it feels like a part-time job you didn’t apply for. The good news is that, as annoying as it can be, buyer fatigue is super common, and it doesn’t even mean you’re doing anything wrong. You may just need to make a few changes to your...

Figuring out if you’re making a reasonable offer on a home doesn’t necessarily mean sitting down with your calculator. It’s more about looking at a variety of factors, like the asking price, similar homes' prices, the market in general, and the condition of the home, and seeing whether the price makes sense when you put all of it together. Let’s take a closer look at each of these...

In most cases, a house is a good deal when the price, the condition, the ongoing costs, and how the home fits your life all line up in a way that makes sense for you.  Sure, finding a half-decent home at the lower end of your budget is nice. But if you really want to find the best deals, you need to look beyond the sale price. Here are five signs to look out for. 1. It’s Priced Fairly for...

The biggest red flag in a home inspection is usually an issue that affects the home’s structure or safety and creates uncertainty that’s hard to price or fully understand before you buy. Of course, not all inspection issues are equal. Some may sound scary, but end up being pretty straightforward to fix. Then there are others that look minor on paper, yet introduce the kind of long-term risk that...