Tuesday, November 06, 2012

5 key questions to ask before buying a house


When you are about to buy a house, there are many things to have in mind. We all know it is not an easy task since, besides finding "the" place, you need to check that everything is in order and in perfect conditions, in order to avoid future headaches. For this reason, we will now mention 5 key questions you need to ask before choosing a house to buy.

First, you should check the whole construction. You need to check and find out about the conditions of the plumbing system; the conditions of the walls; check if there is no damp; etc. A recommendation is that you ask a friend who knows about this (an architect of civil engineer) so he/she can find out about this stuff.

Secondly, before buying a house you need to check its location. Not only do you need to check that it has good access to the rest of the city, but also if it is safe, if you have shops nearby, if it is not too dark (due to lack of lighting), etc.

Third, you need to find about the administrative fees you will have to pay monthly. Apartments in Argentina and in other countries have a monthly fee used to pay the super, the person in charge of the administrative business of the building, to save for future repairs, etc. You should bear in mind that if the building has a swimming pool, a garden, and/or other common areas, you will have to pay more administrative fees each month for maintenance.

An important question for those with a car is if the building offers parking. If so, you will also need to find out if you need to buy it separately, and if there is one available, since sometimes people from outside the building own the spaces. Moreover, if the building does not have parking, you need to find out if you may park on the streets, if you may have trouble finding space, etc.

Lastly, you may want to find out about the building's rule of conduct; for example, which are the rules over loud noises, pets, general repairs of the building, etc.

Anyway, you should make all the questions you can think of, since you will buy the apartment and you need to know all about it before doing so. Moreover, you should ask a specialist, find out opinions from different people, talk to neighbors, and make sure you don't have any doubt before making this big step of buying your new house.