Tell me about owning a House

Otherwise get a full survey, structure and utilities, especially electrics. At least you'll find if there's anything wrong and you could use it to bargain the price down if it needs work done.

walter kranz said pretty much everything that needed to be said. I also think there was mention of getting in a home inspector before you signed any binding contracts -- that is SUPREMELY important. If it turns out that there are MAJOR issues with the property that NEED to be addressed and the improvements needed to correct those issues will end up breaking your financial back, then it might be best not to go into the property. But it sounds like you've lived there happily for awhile, so maybe those issues won't come up, and the inspection will just let you know where it is that you need to concentrate on when it comes to home repairs. (Also, if this property is older, the inspection will probably bring up all sorts of "this property is old" issues, e.g. the way the electrical plugs are set up. Most of these won't be particularly worrisome, but hopefully the home inspector will let you know which issues being raised are minor ones and which ones will probably need to be taken care of.)

PMI gets taken off automatically when you pay off roughly one-quarter of your principle, or you can request it be cancelled if your house has appreciated so that your remaining principle is around 3/4 of its value (I'm not sure if 75% is the right figure, but it's in that ballpark), though in the case of the latter there has to at least a two-year history of on-time payments built up.

Just thought I'd mention it in case it's an issue. With all the issues that buying a house entails, I had forgotten about the PMI thing until the closing day when I had to sign, so it was like getting reminded at the closing table that there was an extra $125/month that I had to factor in to my budget/be accountable for coming up with...

Apart from that, I'd say getting an inspection is essential, and get an inspection company with a great rep in the community. Also, I think it helps that you said your neighborhood is up-and-coming. I think the big thing about buying a house is buying one that you could envision being sellable (desireable) to others. A good general litmus test is asking yourself, "Would other people want to buy this house in the shape/geographic location that it's in now (in case I ever need to move)?"

Also, I'd say don't underestimate the yard/outside of the house, and the factors those might entail. Big shrubs that look like they could easily get unwieldy to manage? Trees growing over the house (which could be an easy entry point for animals/insects)? It's also good if you get to see the house on a rainy day, so you can get a sense of where the rainfall goes.

So many things to consider...good luck!

I would be curious as to why the owner is selling. If for example they bought the house cheap 30 years ago, it's completely paid off, and the rental income is more than the property taxes, I would wonder why they would sell. Is there a big problem they know about? Is the rental just too much of a hassle? There obviously won't be any clear answers to this but maybe you'll have a gut feeling about it if you learn more.

Get a realtor to help you out here. You know how much the rental income is since you live there but a realtor can help you find out what the current property taxes are, how much the owner originally paid, etc. You obviously need to get a different realtor from a different company than the one who is selling the house. Note that you don't have to pay them anything. They get 3% (I believe) when the house sells and I think in most cases the seller pays the realtor fees (does anyone else know for sure?).

It's worth mentioning that if the owner is asking 70k you don't necessarily have to offer that much. If 70k is a stretch for you but 60k would be a no-brainer, then make an offer and see what happens. Again, a realtor will help you out here with the necessary paperwork & everything. You can figure that at this point the owner would like you to buy it because otherwise he probably has to evict you and the other tenants and clean the place up to get a good price for it. It will definitely sit on the market for a while if he's trying to show it with people still living inside. So he's probably hoping that you'll buy at the asking price and save him a big hassle. You can probably use this to your advantage.

This brings up the big question: why this house? If you are really interested in buying, it probably doesn't make sense to settle on this house simply for convenience's sake. Have you looked around at other houses on the market in your area? It's likely that you can get a place for cheaper with no rental to hassle with. I wouldn't think about moving as a hassle so much as it being a cost (the cost of moving plus the cost of lost business) which you can then factor in when you compare this house to other places in the area.

And finally, when you figure out what your monthly costs are going to be, don't forget to factor in home insurance. I don't believe that's been mentioned yet.

Has anyone done geothermal energy? Both our furnace and AC unit are extremely old, and when you add up the cost of replacing them plus the modest energy savings plus all the incentives and tax credits, it might actually make economic sense for us to do. I guess the main environmental benefit is really that you are switching to electric and therefore have the future option of more sustainable power sources, although the pure energy savings is not meaningless.

I have an in-law unit that I rent out, and apparently it's not well-connected to central heating (one small corner vent that doesn't do much to heat the space), and so my tenant has to resort to using a space heater, and which, of course, is increasing our electric bill by a fairly large amount. I've looked around and as far as I can tell, space heaters are all going to run at 750W-1500W, so that's not a great solution IMO. Is my only real option getting a contractor to connect the unit to the central furnace?

Anyone dealt with property line issues? I have a very strangely shaped property where parts of what you'd think are my neighbors' yards are actually mine - they are literally separated from my yard by features (a retaining wall and large rocky/sloped area) and not even very easy to access from my yard - you kind of have to climb to them.

I have no immediate use for the area, and the neighbors' kids play in it and my neighbors are great people and I'm 100% fine with the current setup. The problem is I'm concerned that an adverse possession situation could come up down the line, more likely with a subsequent owner than them. Is there some way I could mark it as part of my property or put something on the land, maybe even something their kids could use freely, without having to fence it or put stakes in the ground or something? Maybe I need to talk to a lawyer.