Getting Started  >>  Buyer's Checklist  >>  House Hunting Checklist

How can a house hunting checklist help you when buying a home? Let us count the ways! A checklist will help you remember what to evaluate when visiting each home. It will also help you keep all the details straight after viewing many houses, because you'll have everything on paper. Most importantly, a house hunting checklist will keep you from overlooking important details about a property due to the excitement of house shopping.

Basic Homebuyer Checklist for House Hunting

by Mark Nash

Touring homes can be over whelming to first time homebuyers. What to look for, what to ask about and what is good for resale, yes you need to think about that when your buying, can distract buyers.

Mark Nash, author of 1001 Tips for Buying and Selling a Home, has created a worksheet that you can use with each home you tour. It saves excessive note taking and keeps you focused on what you're looking for to compare and contrast potential homes.

I created a short list of the basic items you should keep in mind when you viewing homes the first time. Typically when you go back for a second showing you will want a more detailed list of what to look for. Locate a virtual tour of a property after you've seen it once to refresh you on features you have questions about.

Date:
Price:
Address:	
Condo Fees
Special Assessments Planned
Cats/Dogs allowed
Percent Owner Occupied				
Property Taxes				
# 0f Rooms				
#of Bedrooms
Master Bedroom				
# of Bath's
Master bath?				
Fireplace (s)				
Floor plan				
Functionality				
Wall condition				
Wallpaper?				
Closet space?				
Storage				
Attic				
Kitchen Eat in Space?				
Appliances				
Counter tops				
Laundry	
Furnace-age?
Central Air-Conditioning			
Garage/ parking				
Auto opener				
Driveway				
Yard size				
Fenced				
Roof Condition				
Windows				
Traffic				
Neighborhood				
Schools				
Curb appeal				
Notes

Distance 
Work
Public Transportation
Schools
Shopping
Recreation
Hospitals
Trash Pick-up
Other:Utility Costs

Mark Nash's fourth real estate book, "1001 Tips for Buying and Selling a Home" (2005), and working as a real estate broker in Chicago are the foundation for his consumer-centric real estate perspective which has been featured on ABC-TV, CBS The Early Show, Bloomberg TV, CNN-TV, Chicago Sun Times & Tribune, Fidelity Investor's Weekly, Dow Jones Market Watch, MSNBC.com, The New York Times, Realty Times, Universal Press Syndicate and USA Today.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mark_Nash

Your Own Checklist for House Hunting

Elsewhere on this website, you will find many more house hunting checklists to help you through the process of shopping for a home. My advice is to take bits and pieces of each house hunting checklist as needed to create your own customized checklist, full of the things that are important to you.

Here's what to take away from this: The house hunting process can be very exciting. And in that excitement, it's easy to forget certain checkpoints when looking at a home. In other words, it's easy to see the home through rose-colored glasses. This is where a good checklist comes in handy — it will force you through the steps of properly reviewing each house.

We hope our house hunting / home buying checklists help make your real estate experience a smooth one!