Check the flood maps and the US geological survey maps for flood zones.

Check out your police department website for crime in the area and sexual predators that live in the area.

Exorcise the demons along wif yer dawgs :)

Good luck!

Much has been said, I won't repeat it. One thing I have done when buying is hang out near the house at various hours. Since they live there, park your car close by and bring a book. Get a feel for neighbors, noises you may not anticipate, people coming and going. Is there a flight path over the house, trains running at weird hours, drug dealers two doors down, dogs barking all day when the owner goes to work.......

You'll know if it's the one for you the moment you walk in.

If you don't get that feeling - it's not the right one.

Buying in an area with lots of rainbow flags and unusual yard art will increase your odds of success on appreciation.

I bought my house that was built in 1988. It was previously owned by 2 fireman, the first bought new, lived there for 4 years before selling to his friend who lived there until i bought it in 2017.

When I first checked it out what struck me was the 3 car garage, covered with pegboard and a large utility sink with dry erase board above. On the whiteboard was all the part numbers for oil and air filters along with the mileage for his vehicles and dirt bikes.

It also had a larger than needed water heater along with a 2 year old HVAC system that was top of the line.

I knew the place would be in top shape and the home inspection proved it.

The only drawbacks I've come across so far is that being a fireman he had a lot of free time to do his own home improvement projects and lets just say his construction knowledge was a bit lacking. Nothing major, just having to do a lot of "while you're in there and have it apart" adjustments when doing minor repairs.

Good luck on the new home!

They paid us to know how to take it apart not put them together.

You can also check spotcrime.com for crime in the area.

As for roof age, not sure how it is in Houston, but in North Texas, roofers will tell you that age is not critical because chances are that hail will take it out before it ages.

-Doesn't apply to Texas but a Radon test is beneficial. Mine has a dual covered sump well to pull air from under the slab. After I get around to re-leveling the basement towards the sump drain, the concrete floor will be resealed which should make a difference. A finished basement might have to be torn up to retrofit this type of mitigation.
-Also a mold test.
-New carpet and construction may have some off-gassing for a few years.
-The chinese drywall fiasco is probably over.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orangeburg_pipe for sewer mains were used from the 1860s through the 1970s. They are about due.

Make sure there's a good beer/liquor store nearby. Walking distance would be a plus!
Seriously... the home inspector I think I'd pay multiple inspectors. One for the structure, one for the HVAC, One for the Plumbing and one for the Electrical... unless you have a company that deals with all the mechanical aspects then use them... I'm not a fan of "home inspectors" because I've never met one that knew anything about what they were looking at.

Thanks, everyone. We offered full asking price. They seem to be waiting to see if they get a better offer. We might be back on the search.

Hope you only gave them 24 hours. I wouldn't let them use my offer to get someone to make an offer.

I'm not sure if there's a time limit on the offer.

I'd like to withdraw the offer, but we're going to keep looking around until we get a response.

If we don't get this one, it just wasn't meant to be.

Mold test would be good here

1) Fourth Ward, so just west.
2) Absolutely, we'd love to have a recommendation for an inspector.
3) Closing won't be for 45-60 days, so yeah, taxes should be paid which is nice.

Yep, I'm all over HCAD!

Couple more items I thought of.

The garage facing north was a big plus for me - especially in the sunbelt (as you are as well) - it helps to have some shade when working on my stuff in the garage and driveway.

Also - a 2 (or more) car garage was a priority for me. It's freaking amazing how many homes here had their garages converted to either an extra bedroom or a sun room. Must be a retiree thing. :rolleyes:

I've always liked corner lots too. Not always possible but living on a dead end street really cuts down on traffic.

This is the second home for me on a corner lot and a dead end street. Here the road ends at the coast guard station. Unfortunately the city allowed a developer to build some condos north of me up by the inlet so that increased traffic a bit. I can still go out at night though and there are times with zero vehicles going by for quite a while, which is nice.

Have a body of water nearby can also be a plus if you enjoy that kind of thing.

Good luck, Steve - I'm excited for you and yours!

Yes, you want the places that you wouldn't want to be hot facing east and/or north. You don't want a bedroom or garage facing west or south if you can help it.

our last house had the garage converted into a room. After we'd been there a while we converted it to a garage. I can't imagine why you would give up a garage.

Corner lots are nice, but there are far fewer of them so that'll come farther down the list.

Damned, you're in the safe area! I figured you were looking more North of Washington, in the industrial area.

PMing you with an inspector.

We just bought in the area bounded by Hillcroft/Renwick/Beechnut/Bissonnet, it's a nice area with a bunch of original 3BR/2BA 2 car garage mid-century houses, which have retained their value enough that they're not being torn down for McMansions. We've been renting about 4 blocks NE of there, in a neighborhood which IS being torn down and modified so fast it's hard to keep track.

I had my buyers agent try something similar. He showed the house to another couple after we wrote up an offer. I fired him on the spot, rescinded my offer and found another agent.

I had a selling agent try to pull that trick on me. I told them that my offer was now non-negotiable and off the table in 24 hours so take it or leave it. They back peddled quickly and accepted my offer.