{"id":7134,"date":"2022-12-18T16:34:59","date_gmt":"2022-12-18T22:34:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/?p=7134"},"modified":"2023-04-24T13:43:52","modified_gmt":"2023-04-24T18:43:52","slug":"more-things-to-check-before-you-buy-a-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/more-things-to-check-before-you-buy-a-house\/","title":{"rendered":"MORE Things to Check Before You Buy A House"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In 2015, I wrote this post: <a href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/justins-rules-for-buying-a-house\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Justin&#8217;s Rules for Buying a House<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>These were things that I had learned when I was shopping for a house in 2002, and solidified in to a tangible list when a couple of friends of mine were house shopping in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>After shopping for a house in 2019 and moving out to the country, here are a few more things I&#8217;ve added to my list.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_81 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\"><p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<\/div><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/more-things-to-check-before-you-buy-a-house\/#stuff-from-the-first-list\" >Stuff From the First List<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/more-things-to-check-before-you-buy-a-house\/#more-stuff-to-add-to-the-list\" >More Stuff to Add to the List<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/more-things-to-check-before-you-buy-a-house\/#get-to-know-the-neighborhood-before-you-live-there\" >Get To Know the Neighborhood BEFORE You Live There<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/more-things-to-check-before-you-buy-a-house\/#bonus-tip-if-you-are-shopping-for-an-apartment%e2%80%a6\" >Bonus Tip: If You Are Shopping For An Apartment&#8230;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/more-things-to-check-before-you-buy-a-house\/#check-for-flood-plain\" >Check For Flood Plain<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/more-things-to-check-before-you-buy-a-house\/#check-any-nearby-manufacturing\" >Check Any Nearby Manufacturing<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/more-things-to-check-before-you-buy-a-house\/#check-your-cell-phone-signal\" >Check Your Cell Phone Signal<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/more-things-to-check-before-you-buy-a-house\/#make-sure-you-can-get-high-speed-internet\" >Make Sure You Can Get High-Speed Internet<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/more-things-to-check-before-you-buy-a-house\/#get-a-good-home-inspection\" >Get a GOOD Home Inspection<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/more-things-to-check-before-you-buy-a-house\/#avoid-home-owner-associations\" >Avoid Home Owner Associations<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/more-things-to-check-before-you-buy-a-house\/#sewer-vs-septic\" >Sewer vs Septic<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/more-things-to-check-before-you-buy-a-house\/#propane-vs-natural-gas-vs-electric-vs-fuel-oil\" >Propane vs Natural Gas vs Electric vs Fuel Oil<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-13\" href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/more-things-to-check-before-you-buy-a-house\/#conclusion\" >Conclusion<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Edit &#8211; 12\/29\/2022<\/strong>:\u00a0 Added HOA, Septic vs Sewer, and Propane vs Electric vs Natural Gas<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"stuff-from-the-first-list\"><\/span>Stuff From the First List<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/justins-rules-for-buying-a-house\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Justin&#8217;s Rules for Buying a House<\/a>.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Don&#8217;t buy a house at a &#8220;T&#8221; intersection, or you might end up with a car in your house.<\/li>\n<li>Ensure glass walls and large glass patio doors don&#8217;t face the setting sun, or your house will get too hot in the summer.<\/li>\n<li>Avoid corner lots, especially in busy areas or adjacent to a busy road.\u00a0 Put in a picket fence to keep people from cutting across your property.<\/li>\n<li>Make sure the house is up-stream from water runoff.\u00a0 Live at the top of a hill, or make sure the property has adequate downhill drainage, so that your house won&#8217;t flood during heavy rain, and your property won&#8217;t turn in to a swamp.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Property&#8221; is land.\u00a0 &#8220;Improvements&#8221; are the house and other structures built on top of the land.\u00a0 Make sure you buy <em>property<\/em> rather than just buying a house on a tiny piece of land, because property is a better investment than buying a house.<\/li>\n<li>Make sure the foundation is good, because fixing a bad foundation is going to be very expensive.<\/li>\n<li>Trees add value, but make sure they are not positioned where they can affect your foundation or plumbing.<\/li>\n<li>Make sure your electricity is delivered underground.\u00a0 This will save you from numerous and lengthy power outages.\u00a0 When I wrote this in 2015, land (phone) lines were still common &#8211; today, data and voice services are delivered wirelessly or via underground fiber.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"more-stuff-to-add-to-the-list\"><\/span>More Stuff to Add to the List<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"get-to-know-the-neighborhood-before-you-live-there\"><\/span>Get To Know the Neighborhood BEFORE You Live There<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>This is something I have been doing for quite some time.\u00a0 Once, we moved three times in one year due to complications with my job, and in the middle of all that, we temporarily ended up at a less-than-desirable apartment complex until we could find a decent place.\u00a0 The apartment\u00a0<em>seemed<\/em> like a nice place to live, and that&#8217;s how it was represented to us &#8211; working-class families that kept to themselves.<\/p>\n<p>Although that was somewhat true, there were also some serious problems:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The family in the next building over, who would honk their horns and play loud music all day and night, and have loud, screaming arguments out in the parking lot.\u00a0 We had a baby at the time, so that was fun.<\/li>\n<li>The neighbor who threw parties every other weekend, making it impossible to park near our own apartment.<\/li>\n<li>The security gate that was often broken, allowing anyone to drive in the the complex, making theft and vandalism not uncommon.<\/li>\n<li>The neighbor who accidentally set his apartment on fire.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And, the area was less than desirable from a crime perspective.<\/p>\n<p>We were there less than six months, but here are the lessons we learned:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Check the crime statistics.<\/strong>\u00a0 There are numerous sites online where you can check not just crime, but income, schools, and other quality of life statistics.\u00a0 Unfortunately, property crime is everywhere these days, which usually consists of people stealing stuff off of your porch or off of your property.\u00a0 However, areas with high property crime are obviously bad.\u00a0 Avoid areas with violent crime and robberies.\u00a0 Areas that have a lot of public intoxication or &#8220;disturbances&#8221; may also be problematic, especially if this is near a business.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Drive around the neighborhood, and observe.<\/strong>\u00a0 Walk around the neighborhood.\u00a0 Drive around during the day.\u00a0 Drive around at night.\u00a0 Drive around on a Friday or Saturday night.\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Are there nearby businesses?<\/strong>\u00a0 Are patrons of those businesses going to be problematic?\u00a0 For example, a nearby bar might attract rowdy patrons, or a pawn shop might inadvertently encourage property crime.\u00a0 Does parking for the business overflow in to the neighborhood?\u00a0 You don&#8217;t want a continuous flow of strangers near your house, and if parking is really bad, you don&#8217;t want your driveway continuously blocked.<\/li>\n<li>Are there nearby <strong>nuisance properties<\/strong>, that will attract blight and crime?\u00a0 Are there any empty lots that are overgrown or collecting trash?<\/li>\n<li><strong>Are the houses well-kept?<\/strong>\u00a0 Are the houses and properties maintained?\u00a0 Houses with even minor damage that goes unaddressed could indicate that the residents are either renting, or just don&#8217;t care about their property.\u00a0 Are the lawns mowed?\u00a0 Maybe some of the lawns aren&#8217;t perfect, but an overgrown lawn could indicate a nuisance property.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Are the people polite and friendly?<\/strong>\u00a0 Are they dressed appropriately?\u00a0 Obviously, people probably aren&#8217;t going to be walking around the neighborhood dressed in their finest clothes, but people who dress like a vagrant\u00a0<em>might<\/em> be vagrant, and people who dress like gang bangers\u00a0<em>might<\/em> be gang bangers.<\/li>\n<li><strong>What kinds of cars are parked in the streets and driveways?<\/strong>\u00a0 Nicer cars probably indicate higher income, but on the other hand, cars that are wrecked or poorly-maintained might indicate the opposite.\u00a0 Do you see any tuner cars, hot rods, or motorcycles?\u00a0 If so, you might be hearing them race up and down the road at 2 AM when you&#8217;re trying to sleep.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Again, drive around at night and especially on a Friday or Saturday<\/strong>.\u00a0 Is your potential neighbor in a garage band?\u00a0 You might want to know that.\u00a0 Is the corner house the weekly teen party house?\u00a0 You might want to know that.<\/li>\n<li>We are taught our entire lives not to judge by appearance, and most of the time, doing so is probably morally wrong.\u00a0 But, when you are shopping for a house, <strong>you should judge the people, cars, and even the entire neighborhood by appearance<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>If you feel comfortable doing so, talk to the neighbors.\u00a0<\/strong> If the seller has any dirty secrets to hide, I guarantee that there will be at least one neighbor who is willing to rat them out.\u00a0 Likewise, people will tend to be fairly honest about their neighborhood, especially if there are problems.\u00a0 Hand out a few bottles of wine &#8211; bribery works.\u00a0 This is where having soft skills is helpful, and if you don&#8217;t, ask for some help from a sociable friend.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Knowing what to expect helps you make a better, more informed decisions, and avoid negative surprises.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"bonus-tip-if-you-are-shopping-for-an-apartment%e2%80%a6\"><\/span>Bonus Tip: If You Are Shopping For An Apartment&#8230;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>On top of the issues we had with the apartment complex, we had issues with the apartment itself.<\/p>\n<p>The manager showed us the &#8220;demo&#8221; apartment, which was in perfect condition &#8211; go figure.\u00a0 The actual unit had some issues:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The front door&#8217;s threshold leaked when it rained.\u00a0 They refused to fix it properly, and eventually we ended up with rats because they could crawl underneath the gap.\u00a0 Not kidding.\u00a0 Finally, I bought a can of spray foam, but we ended up moving out shortly thereafter.<\/li>\n<li>We were right around the corner from the dumpster.\u00a0 &#8220;How convenient&#8221;, I thought.\u00a0 &#8220;Taking the trash out won&#8217;t be a problem!&#8221;\u00a0 \u00a0I hadn&#8217;t taken in to account that the only dumpsters I had ever been around were in <em>office parks<\/em> where people mostly throw away paper and boxes, not spoiled food and used diapers.\u00a0 The smell was horrible, and with the right wind, the horrible smell would blow right in to our apartment, especially after they removed the threshold from the door.<\/li>\n<li>Everything in the apartment was old and worn out.\u00a0 The cabinets had been painted 100 times, and the handles were loose.\u00a0 Some of the interior doors didn&#8217;t close properly because the hinges and hardware were worn out.<\/li>\n<li>Aside from being next to a dumpster, the apartment was also in a high-traffic area, so we had cars driving past our windows all times of the day and night.<\/li>\n<li>The upstairs neighbor apparently juggles cannonballs as a hobby.\u00a0 In addition to literally stomping around all the time, giant crashes coming from our ceiling was not uncommon.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The best way to avoid this situation is to <strong>have the manager show you the exact unit they intend to rent to you<\/strong>.\u00a0 They will make up excuses about how &#8220;it&#8217;s not ready yet&#8221;, fine, call me back when it&#8217;s ready and I&#8217;ll look at it.\u00a0 They will make up more excuses about how they &#8220;can&#8217;t hold it for you&#8221;.\u00a0 Don&#8217;t care.\u00a0 Knowing in advance that the door threshold is broken, or that the apartment continuously smells like garbage, or that there are traffic and parking problems would have been nice to know.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Be aware of the second-floor trade-off:<\/strong>\u00a0 Moving in and out is <em>much<\/em> more difficult on the second floor, and you have to carry your groceries (and other stuff) up and down the stairs all the time.\u00a0 However, the second floor of an apartment is significantly less likely to be targeted for crime, and is usually much more quiet.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"check-for-flood-plain\"><\/span>Check For Flood Plain<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>If your house is in a flood plain, insurance will be very expensive.\u00a0 Google for where to check.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"check-any-nearby-manufacturing\"><\/span>Check Any Nearby Manufacturing<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>My new house is down the street from several manufacturing facilities.\u00a0 Before we closed on it, I googled each one to make sure they don&#8217;t use or make large quantities of toxic chemicals.\u00a0 For example, if they have train cars full of solvents shipped in every month, there is a chance, however small, that those solvents will get spilled at some point and either poison the water table or release a toxic cloud.\u00a0 Fortunately, in my case, they make stuff, which always involves chemicals in small amounts, but not in enough volume to put my family at risk.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"check-your-cell-phone-signal\"><\/span>Check Your Cell Phone Signal<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Believe it or not, this has happened to me twice, and almost a third time.\u00a0 Having a decent cell signal is so ubiquitous these days, you just don&#8217;t think about it.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Two houses ago, I had PrimeCo when I moved in, which eventually became Verizon, and while I lived there, I ended up switching to Sprint, and then AT&amp;T.\u00a0 My AT&amp;T phone, issued by the company, had such poor service that I had to go stand in my front yard if my boss called me.\u00a0 Not super-convenient.\u00a0 Eventually, the service got better over time, and by the time I moved out, it was pretty decent.<\/li>\n<li>We bought a house in Mesquite in 2003, where we lived until 2019.\u00a0 When we first moved in, I was on AT&amp;T, and had a decent signal, but my wife, who was still on Sprint did not.\u00a0 She switched to Verizon, which was OK at first, but eventually got so bad that she couldn&#8217;t even get a cell signal inside the house, and they ended up letting her out of her contract.\u00a0 In retrospect, I <em>probably<\/em> should have seen that coming, since they are both CDMA.\u00a0 However, she switched to Cingular (who eventually became BellSouth (again) and then AT&amp;T (again)) after that, and never had an issue again.<\/li>\n<li>When we moved out to the country in 2019, I checked the entire property to make sure I got a good cell signal, since I knew I would need it for work.\u00a0 I checked both phones &#8211; work and personal.\u00a0 AFTER we moved in, however, I found out that there were line-of-sight issues from my new home office.\u00a0 Eventually, I upgraded to a new phone, as the old one was a few years old at that point, and the new phone fixed the signal issues.\u00a0 Initially, however, it was very frustrating when I couldn&#8217;t take a call occasionally or had poor voice quality.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"make-sure-you-can-get-high-speed-internet\"><\/span>Make Sure You Can Get High-Speed Internet<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Wait&#8230; isn&#8217;t high-speed internet ubiquitous these days?\u00a0 FAR from it.<\/p>\n<p>The chances are pretty good that you will be living within one or two geographical monopolies:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>One that&#8217;s operated by traditional &#8220;phone&#8221; services companies, including AT&amp;T and Verizon<\/li>\n<li>One that&#8217;s operated by traditional &#8220;cable&#8221; service companies, such as Comcast<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>With the advent of &#8220;convergence&#8221;, all three of these companies offer the same services &#8211; namely, TV and internet.\u00a0 Since each of these owns their own internet backbone, they are also known as &#8220;tier 1&#8221; ISPs.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, just because they own access to your area, there is no guarantee that they actually\u00a0<em>deliver services<\/em> to your house.\u00a0 Because this is accomplished by running a physical cable (usually underground), they tend to do this in areas where they expect higher return on the investment it takes to run the cable, which means they tend to target higher population densities first.\u00a0 So if you live in a rural or even semi-rural area, you probably can&#8217;t get traditional ISP service.<\/p>\n<p>Although there are companies like Spectrum that\u00a0<em>only<\/em> handle the distribution, and basically sell you access to one of the tier 1 ISPs, these tier 2 ISPs tend to have limited distribution areas for the same reason:\u00a0 They can&#8217;t spend lots of money dragging distribution cables through sparsely-populated areas and still expect to be profitable.<\/p>\n<p>Since my new house is in a semi-rural area, this was exactly the case.\u00a0 When I did a &#8220;zip code&#8221; check before buying the house, I got all sorts of options.\u00a0 However, when I went to actually sign up for services, I quickly found that none of the tier 1 nor tier 2 ISPs delivered service to my exact address.<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, I had exactly one option, Nextlink Internet, and fortunately, they turned out to be pretty decent.<\/p>\n<p>Nextlink and many other &#8220;rural&#8221; ISPs uses terrestrial radio, which means that you can get internet access anywhere within line-of-sight to one of their towers.\u00a0 Also, fortunately, I&#8217;m apparently 3,000 feet from a Nextlink tower, with clear line-of-sight &#8211; the closer you are, and the better your line of sight, the better your bandwidth.<\/p>\n<p>The next step down from terrestrial radio is cellular, 3G \/ 4G \/ 5G.\u00a0 Although the 3G &#8220;mobile hot spots&#8221; kind of suck, the newer 4G and 5G offerings are more like traditional ISP service.\u00a0 The plans aren&#8217;t cheap, and the bandwidth isn&#8217;t great, but it&#8217;s better than nothing.\u00a0 Of the various cellular internet offerings, T-Mobile seems to have the best.<\/p>\n<p>If you can&#8217;t get cellular, the\u00a0<em>next<\/em> step down is satellite &#8211; for example, Hughes.\u00a0 Satellite requires an expensive, up-front equipment purchase, which includes installing a satellite dish on your house.\u00a0 Satellite is known for higher latency and lower bandwidth, and monthly service is not cheap.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Before you buy, make sure you check your exact address to see who can deliver internet service to your house.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Also, make sure that if there is a geographic monopoly (highly likely), make sure it&#8217;s a company you&#8217;re willing to deal with.\u00a0 For example, Comcast has a reputation for having the worst customer service of any ISP in the US.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"get-a-good-home-inspection\"><\/span>Get a GOOD Home Inspection<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>When we bought our house in Mesquite in 2003, the home inspector did a really good job.\u00a0 Fortunately, there were no major issues with the house, and only a few minor repairs were required by the former owner before we bought it.<\/p>\n<p>When we bought our current house in 2019, the sellers talked us out of a home inspection by offering a home warranty in its place.\u00a0 In retrospect, we should have gone with the inspection, because there were a lot of things that were not done properly, and should have been caught.\u00a0 On top of that, we had to have the AC unit replaced in our second year here, and there have been tons of minor inconveniences, such as light switches that are worn to the point of failure.\u00a0 And, after our 3rd claim due to various issues, the home warranty company dropped us.<\/p>\n<p><strong>NOT having a good home inspection could cost you tens of thousands of dollars, not to mention years of hassle over the lifetime of your ownership.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Make sure the inspector checks:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The roof<\/li>\n<li>ALL major appliances<\/li>\n<li>Hot water heater(s)<\/li>\n<li>Central heating \/ air<\/li>\n<li>AC condenser unit(s)<\/li>\n<li>Electrical panel(s)<\/li>\n<li>All electrical switches, outlets, and receptacles<\/li>\n<li>All drains, faucets, and fixtures<\/li>\n<li>Sewer and plumbing, and septic if applicable<\/li>\n<li>signs of water damage<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"avoid-home-owner-associations\"><\/span>Avoid Home Owner Associations<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The purpose of a Home Owner Association (HOA) is to set policies and standards for its residents, and then enforce those standards.<\/p>\n<p>The intent of a HOA is to keep property values high by maintaining certain minimum standards, such as having approved paint colors, requiring lawn maintenance, and imposing dictates around parking.\u00a0 Often a HOA is started and managed by the builder of the development, who writes the initial by-laws (regulations), appoints board members, and conducts regular meetings.\u00a0 After a few years, the HOA is handed off to the residents to self-manage.<\/p>\n<p>Some HOAs offer perks, such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Private parks<\/li>\n<li>Gated community<\/li>\n<li>Community center, swimming pool, gym, and other facilities<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Residents pay dues that fund facilities and services that are shared by the HOA.\u00a0 Although some HOAs don&#8217;t provide any services, and the dues pay only for the cost of maintaining shared facilities and administering the HOA itself, others offer more extensive services that might include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Lawn care for its residents<\/li>\n<li>Maintenance services for its residents, including house painting, exterior repairs, interior repairs, and the like<\/li>\n<li>Assigned parking<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>All of this sounds great &#8211; you get to live in a neighborhood that&#8217;s nice because everyone has to follow the same rules, your property value is typically higher, and you get to enjoy all of the nice perks offered by your HOA.\u00a0 However, a HOA can have its down sides.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>The HOA Board<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The HOA board meets regularly to conduct the business of the HOA:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Review proposed rule changes.<\/li>\n<li>Review and approve matters before the board (for example, can Joe at 1234 Any st paint his house blue).<\/li>\n<li>Review complaints and infractions.\u00a0 The HOA assigns a person or persons to walk around the neighborhood in order to ensure that all of the residents are complying with all of the rules.\u00a0 In addition, residents can complain about each other to the HOA.\u00a0 If the HOA finds that a complaint or infraction is valid, they can penalize the resident, which might range from a warning to a fine.<\/li>\n<li>Review and approve any changes to vendors and vendor contracts.<\/li>\n<li>Review and approve a budget.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When the HOA is first formed, it&#8217;s largely managed by the builder, whose primary interest is in selling more houses within the development.<\/p>\n<p>As time progresses, the HOA is run by its residents, and at first, things are still probably OK.\u00a0 However, over time, any position of power, however minor, tends to attract tin pot dictators who derive their own sense of importance from being able to control other people.\u00a0 These are the same people who run the PTA at your local school, and for the same reason.\u00a0 They are completely, otherwise ordinary and unremarkable, except that they wield a\u00a0<em>tiny<\/em> modicum of power over everyone else, and because of this, everyone else must be nice to them.\u00a0 Except that as a board member of a HOA, they can literally terrorize people they don&#8217;t like by fining them for every minor infraction, or disallowing any request (such as:\u00a0 &#8220;may I put up a picket fence&#8221; or &#8220;may I paint my house blue&#8221;).<\/p>\n<p>Because there are a plethora of shallow, power-hungry people out there, what might start off as neighbors-helping-neighbors must eventually devolve in to tyranny.\u00a0 Once one of them gets elected to the board, they immediately drive out the &#8220;good neighbors&#8221; and fill the board with other shallow, power-hungry sycophants.<\/p>\n<p>The HOA board might be &#8220;good neighbors&#8221;\u00a0<em>right now<\/em>, but you&#8217;re always one board member away from paying a fine because your grass is 1\/2 inch too long, or your front door is painted the wrong color.\u00a0 Google &#8220;HOA horror stories&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>The HOA Can Legally Steal Your House<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In America, a person&#8217;s house is their castle.<\/p>\n<p>Unless, of course, you live in a HOA.\u00a0 You see, when you buy a house in a HOA, you are required to agree to the HOA&#8217;s by laws, which is legally equivalent to entering in to a contract.\u00a0 In this case, the &#8220;contract&#8221; states that the HOA is allowed to fine you REAL MONEY for anything that the board deems to be an infraction of the rules.\u00a0 Hell, they can make up NEW rules that apply specifically to YOU, and THEN fine you for not being in compliance.<\/p>\n<p>And, if you refuse to pay the fines, or can&#8217;t afford them, or if you fail to pay the annual dues, the HOA can put a <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lien\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lien<\/a> on your house, which means that they basically own part of your house until you pay your debts to the HOA&#8230; plus interest, of course.<\/p>\n<p>If you sell your house, the first money from the sale of the house goes to the HOA to pay your lien.\u00a0 And if you fail to clear your debt within a couple of years, the ever-so-helpful by laws allow the HOA to foreclose on your house in order to resolve the debt.<\/p>\n<p>In kind of a worst-case scenario, let&#8217;s say that a tree falls on part of your house.\u00a0 The HOA can fine you that very same day for:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Having a fallen tree in your yard<\/li>\n<li>Your house is in a state of disrepair<\/li>\n<li>Did your car get dented by the tree?\u00a0 Well, you get a THIRD fine for having a wrecked vehicle in your driveway.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>All of this stuff takes time to clear up &#8211; good neighbors understand this.\u00a0 But a petty bureaucracy doesn&#8217;t.\u00a0 They can fine you THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS PER DAY until you get everything resolved.<\/p>\n<p>So, your insurance pays for the car, the tree, and the house, but it takes a few weeks to get everything done.\u00a0 In that span of time, you&#8217;ve racked up $15,000 in HOA fines, which you can&#8217;t afford, and which the insurance doesn&#8217;t cover.\u00a0 So the HOA can attach a lien to your house.\u00a0 And, by the end of the year, if you don&#8217;t resolve the debt, they might be able to foreclose on your house to resolve it.\u00a0 There are plenty of &#8220;HOA horror stories&#8221; where people end up owing more in fines than their house is worth.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Don&#8217;t ever put your fate in someone else&#8217;s hands &#8211; avoid a HOA at all costs.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"sewer-vs-septic\"><\/span>Sewer vs Septic<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>If your house is on city sewer service, all waste water from your house drains in to a large, underground pipe buried under the street or alley.\u00a0 The city sells you water, and charges you a percentage of that for &#8220;waste water&#8221;, which is the fee the city charges for maintaining the sewer.<\/p>\n<p>If you DON&#8217;T have city sewer service, then you have a septic tank, which is a big tank buried out in your back yard somewhere that catches all waste products.\u00a0 In a traditional septic system, the tank only holds solid waste, and &#8220;lateral lines&#8221; disperse waste water in to your yard &#8211; for example, when you take a shower or do the dishes.\u00a0 In a sprinkler system, you have multiple tanks, one of which is a\u00a0<em>liquid<\/em> tank.\u00a0 Once the liquid tank reaches a certain height, a pump forces all the water from the liquid tank out through a sprinkler system located somewhere on the property.<\/p>\n<p>If you have a septic system, at minimum, you will need to have it cleaned out periodically &#8211; this could be as much as $300 every year or two.\u00a0 Depending on the type of system, you might need to add chlorine to the liquid tank, or use other additives (such as Rid-X) to maintain your septic system.\u00a0 And, you will probably experience more clogs than a sewer system.<\/p>\n<p>Eventually (after 30 years or so), you will need to have your septic system replaced, which could be a significant expense.<\/p>\n<p>A septic system isn&#8217;t bad, but you need to be prepared for the extra cost and maintenance required.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"propane-vs-natural-gas-vs-electric-vs-fuel-oil\"><\/span>Propane vs Natural Gas vs Electric vs Fuel Oil<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>How you heat your house, food, and water could drastically affect how much you spend on energy.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If your house is all electric, your stove, oven, dryer, water heater, and central air are all heated by electric energy.\u00a0 Usually, this is the <em>most<\/em> expensive of the three options.\u00a0 Electric appliances usually require a special 240-volt breaker, a circuit with heavy-gauge wire, and a special 240-volt receptacle.<\/li>\n<li>If you are in a development with natural gas, some of these appliances might run on natural gas instead of electricity.\u00a0 Natural gas is usually very cheap compared to electric, but not everything runs on gas.\u00a0 For example, most houses with gas still use electricity for the dryer.<\/li>\n<li>If you are out in the country, it&#8217;s not uncommon for some of these appliances to run on propane.\u00a0 If this is the case, you will have a large, cylindrical propane tank somewhere on your property.\u00a0 You will need to have someone come out periodically and fill your propane tank.\u00a0 The first time they come out, tell them that you&#8217;re new to propane and ask them to explain it to you.\u00a0 They will explain the gauge, the cut-off valve, and help you figure out how much propane to buy, and how often.\u00a0 When you buy propane, you buy it in gallons, and the price per gallon is anywhere from $3 to $5.\u00a0 In my case, my current house uses propane for the stove, oven, and central air, but the dryer and hot water heaters are electric.\u00a0 We have a 250 gallon tank, which can be filled to 80% (200 gallons), and anything at or below 20% on the gauge means we need to reorder urgently.<\/li>\n<li>If you live up north, it&#8217;s not uncommon to have a central heater or boiler that burns fuel oil.\u00a0 Like propane, you will need to know how much to buy, when, and how to know if you&#8217;re running low.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Always make sure you know how your energy is supplied, monitor your usage, and plan for your energy costs.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"conclusion\"><\/span>Conclusion<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>In addition to <a href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/justins-rules-for-buying-a-house\/\">everything on the first list<\/a>, make sure you take in to account the following, before you buy (or rent) a new house:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Check a crime map online.\u00a0 Make sure the area isn&#8217;t known for violent crime, nor excessive property crime.<\/li>\n<li>Drive around the neighborhood, especially on Friday and Saturday nights to make sure your future house isn&#8217;t on the neighborhood drag strip, or that the corner house isn&#8217;t the local teenage party hangout.\u00a0 Drive around the neighborhood during the day to make sure that the people are friendly, and that there are no sketchy situations such as excessive foot traffic, overgrown lots nearby, at the like.<\/li>\n<li>Talk to the neighbors to see what they think of the neighborhood.<\/li>\n<li>Make sure your future residence is not in a flood plain, nor in range of a factory that might be using toxic chemicals.<\/li>\n<li>Make sure you have good cell coverage, and that you can get internet service.<\/li>\n<li>Avoid a Home Owners Association at all costs<\/li>\n<li>If you have a septic system, make sure you know how to maintain it, and be sure to schedule clean-outs.<\/li>\n<li>Natural gas is cheaper than electric.\u00a0 If you have propane or a fuel-oil system, know how to monitor it, and plan for refueling.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For apartment-dwellers:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Make sure the manager shows you the EXACT apartment you will be renting.<\/li>\n<li>Consider the second floor, which might be more quiet, and farther away from crime.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 2015, I wrote this post: Justin&#8217;s Rules for Buying a House. These were things that I had learned when I was shopping for a house in 2002, and solidified in to a tangible list when a couple of friends of mine were house shopping in 2015. After shopping for a house in 2019 and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-other-stuff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7134"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7269,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7134\/revisions\/7269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}