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How to Hunt for a House

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house hunting

Ready to hunt for a house? Follow these expert tips to find the perfect home for you.Searching for a new home? Follow these expert tips to find the perfect house that fits your needs and budget.Find your dream home with this ultimate guide to house hunting—insider tips for a smooth and successful search.

Discover how to hunt for a house effectively with smart budgeting, research, and negotiation tips. While hunting for a house, it’s crucial to remain realistic, organized, and thick-skinned. If you don’t approach the process with a clear sense of your budget and expectations, you can either get carried away and buy a house you can’t afford or settle for less than you deserve out of frustration. Knowing what’s most important to you ahead of time will make house hunting easier.

Prioritize Your Needs

Here’s a list of standard home features to think about when deciding what matters most:

Type: House, apartment, duplex, etc.

Location and views: Near water, city skyline, etc.

  • Price: Including taxes and insurance costs
  • Size: Square footage
  • Land: Lot size or acreage
  • Schools: Quality of nearby schools
  • Privacy: Distance from neighbours
  • Appreciation potential: Chances the home will increase in value

Share your priorities with your real estate agent. Let them know which features are non-negotiable (like a maximum price) and which ones are flexible.

If you’re buying a single-family home…

If you want to live in a freestanding single-family home, consider whether you’d rather buy a new home or a previously occupied one.

If you’re buying attached housing…

In general, apartments, townhouses, condos, co-ops, duplexes, and other attached housing units give more space per dollar than freestanding houses and often provide amenities that don’t come with a home (pool, gym, clubhouse, and so on). Yet buying & hunting for a house type of real estate comes with its quirks and complications.

When you buy into a condominium or co-op, you’re joining a community, both legally and financially. Membership in that community can limit your freedom to renovate, have pets, etc. In a co-op, nearly every decision about the building is subject to the co-op board’s decision. In a condo, the purchase contract will likely include rules about what you can and can’t do. So if you’re buying a condo or co-op, make sure to:

Understand your rights once you own the property
Carefully read all legal documents and contracts.

Hire a good lawyer to review the contracts you sign

House-Visiting Tips

Most home buyers spend a few weeks looking at properties before finding the right one. On average, they see about 15 homes. Here are some tips to remember while you shop:

  • Ask the seller or tenants not to be present during the showing.
  • Don’t be influenced by furniture; it will be removed when the seller moves out.
  • Take note of upgrades you might need to make, like replacing carpets, painting, or updating appliances.
  • Please pay attention to the neighbors and ask about them.
  • Look at the views from every window.
  • Imagine how the house will feel in different seasons and weather conditions.
  • Ask about the home’s systems, like plumbing, electricity, gas, heating, air conditioning, cable TV, and internet service.
  • Ensure the floor plan offers enough space for your family, furniture, and storage.
  • Think about how the property would handle natural disasters like floods or earthquakes.
  • Take notes and photos to help remember each house you visit.

Open Houses

It’s a good idea to visit open houses in neighborhoods that interest you. In an open house, the real estate agent hosting the house invites anyone to come and take a look. Open houses are usually held on Sundays. You can find listings in your local newspaper or drive around neighborhoods you like and look for “Open House” signs.
Open houses are free chances to explore a neighborhood and its homes before you hire a real estate agent. Just be cautious of the agents at the open houses—they can sometimes be a bit too pushy.

Home Buying as an Investment

Though one of your goals in buying a house should be to find a home you love, remember that the home you buy will likely be the most significant investment you ever make. To make a good investment, a house must be priced reasonably and have a strong shot at appreciating.

Comparable Market Analysis

If you’re interested in a specific house, the best way to get a sense of how much it should sell is to ask your real estate agent to prepare a comparable market analysis (CMA). A CMA is an analysis of sale prices of homes sold within the last six months that are similar—in terms of neighborhood, size, age, condition, amenities, and so on—to the houses that interest you. If a house you’re interested in is listed for a much higher price than what is shown in the CMA, it’s overpriced and may not be a good investment

Three Principles of Home Pricing and Appreciation

There are three general principles of home pricing and appreciation (rising value) that can help you spot homes that might be suitable investments.

1. Conformity: The more “unique” a house is, the fewer potential buyers there will be for that house. The more a house matches the style and value of nearby homes, the better it is likely to increase in value.

2. Progression: Properties of lower value are raised by proximity to properties of higher value. It’s better to buy the cheapest house on an expensive block than the most expensive one on a cheap block.

3. A house’s value may decrease if it’s close to lower-value homes. So the most expensive home on the street is unlikely to appreciate rapidly, even with the renovation

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