Some buyers set out to find a Complete and Total Disaster when they are shopping for a new home. Is that what you’re looking for? Because we come across them periodically and can point you in the right direction.
Most buyers don’t want to do quite that much work on their new home, so they stick to the upper half of the quality chart shown above. The real challenge is knowing whether the home you like is actually move-in ready or if the seller has spiffed up the most visible areas to try to trick you.
My personal favorite home type is the Time Warp. These homes are often single-owner properties that have been loved for decades. The owners took extra good care of them – replacing the mechanical systems as needed and doing all the annual maintenance. But what they haven’t done is modernize. Everything is original, making it seem like you’re walking through the set of a TV show.
Most homes fall somewhere in the middle of the chart. Owners have done an okay job of maintaining the property, and maybe they updated the kitchen, or a bathroom, or whatever at some point along the way. Other parts of the home will need attention sooner rather than later. Buyers have to sort through the pros and cons to figure out if the place will work for them.
One of the first steps in a home search is figuring out what you hope to find. And for most, that involves trade-offs between size, price and the types of repairs you’re willing to take on.