Chapter 1
Describe Your Dream Home

You Know the House You Want to Buy............................................. 4

Don’t Be Talked Into Buying the Wrong House................................. 4

Identify Your Ideal House Profile...................................................... 5

Must Haves: Mandatory Priorities............................................... 5

Hope to Have: Secondary Priorities............................................ 6

Absolute No Ways...................................................................... 6

Create a House Priorities Worksheet................................................ 6

Prepare a House Comparison Worksheet......................................... 8

You Know the House You Want to Buy

Given your family’s needs, tastes, and finances, you probably already have a good idea of the type of house you want to buy. Because this is true, we skip the typical first chapter in many home buyers’ books, in which the author compares such things as the joys of living on a dusty road in outer suburbia to the convenience of living in a townhouse in a major city. If you haven’t already thought these things though, you may need to do some critical self-evaluation before beginning your home search.

Already found the house you want and are mainly interested in the ins and outs of financing? Skip the rest of this chapter and move on to Chapter 2, How Much House Can You Afford?

Don’t Be Talked Into Buying the Wrong House

Like house prices nationwide, those in California fell during the recent downturn—but they didn’t fall as far, and many areas are rebounding strongly. Coauthor Ira Serkes says, “I’m seeing a shift happening, to a seller’s market.” Many California buyers still face an affordability gap between the house they’d like to buy and the one they can afford. Without an organized house-buying approach, you might be talked into compromising on the wrong house by friends, relatives, a real estate agent, or even yourself.

“Not me, I know my own mind,” you say. “Don’t be too sure,” we reply. Every day, confident and knowledgeable home seekers become so anxious and disoriented that they leap into a deal they later come to regret.

Tips on Searching New Places

Perhaps you’ve heard it said that choosing a house’s location wisely is as important as picking a good house. In a state the size of California, it’s a vast understatement to say you have a lot of locations to choose from. To help you think about specific California areas, we include Appendix A, Welcome to California.

Despite the title, Welcome to California isn’t meant only for newcomers to the state. Whether you’re a San Franciscan moving closer to a San Ramon job, a New Yorker relocating to Los Angeles, or simply someone unfamiliar with certain California areas, you’ll find a wealth of information. In addition, in Chapter 5 we discuss working with a local real estate agent to get essential information on neighborhoods.

But there’s still no substitute for your own legwork. Chat with friends and colleagues, walk and drive around neighbor­hoods, talk to local residents, read local newspapers, check the library’s community resources files, visit the local planning department, and do whatever else will help you get a ­better sense of a neighborhood or city.

Here is our method to ensure that you buy a house you’ll enjoy living in:

Firmly establish your priorities before you look at a house.

Insist that any house you offer to buy meets at least your most important priorities.

Do this even if, in buying a house that meets your top priorities, you must compromise in other areas.

In the following sections, we help you consider a range of house features, establish your priorities, and compare potential houses.

Identify Your Ideal House Profile

When looking for a house, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by the array of choices, from size to style to floor plan and fixtures. Then, there’s the issue of location—houses come in all sorts of neighborhoods, school districts, and potential hazard zones (fire, earthquake, and flood, to name a few). And, of course, price and purchase terms are crucial considerations. To cope with all these and at least a dozen other ­relevant variables, it’s essential to establish your ­priorities in advance and stick to them.

The first step is to identify house features most important to you by completing our Ideal House Profile, which lists all major categories such as upper price limit, number and type of rooms, and location. A sample is shown below, and a copy is included in Appendix D.

If you’re buying with another person, prepare your list of priorities together, so that each person’s strong likes and dislikes are respected; and you have any arguments before you’re with a real estate agent.

Getting price and financing inform­ation. Most people will have an upper limit on the house they can afford to buy and the maximum down payment they can make. If you need advice on these issues, be sure to read Chapters 2, 4, and 8 before completing the Ideal House Profile.

Must Haves: Mandatory Priorities

Use the Ideal House Profile to name what you must have in a house, such as a particular city or neighborhood. Since price is an obvious consideration, fill in the top section first. For example, under Upper price limit you might note $400,000, with a Maximum down payment of $40,000. Then fill in the rest of the form.

Pay close attention to the School needs category. If you have children, buying a great house at a great price in a lousy school district may mean years of paying for private schools. By contrast, paying a little more for a good house in an excellent school district may be a bargain in the long run. And if you plan to move in a few years, it will be easier to sell a house in a good school district, because that feature is important to many potential buyers.

If you have two kids, you might note that three bedrooms, excellent public schools, and a street with lots of children are “must haves.” If you plan to live in the house after retirement, a minimal number of stairs and short distances to shops and services may be “must haves.”

Hope to Have: Secondary Priorities

Once you’ve compiled your list of “must haves,” jot down features that you’d like but aren’t crucial to your decision of whether to buy. For example, under Type of yard and grounds, you might note patio and flat back yard in the “Hope to Have” column. Or under Number and type of rooms, you might list finished basement or master bedroom with bath.

Take a second look at your “Must Have” column. If you’re typical, you may wonder how you will ever afford a house with the features you’ve listed. Don’t despair—at least, not until you understand the strategies ­(discussed in Chapter 3) to help you buy an affordable house. For now, you might need to change a couple of “must haves” to “hope to haves.”

Absolute No Ways

Be sure to list your “absolute no ways” (you will not buy a house that has any of these features) at the bottom of the Ideal House Profile. Avoiding things you’ll always hate—such as a house in a flood zone, poor school district, or high-crime area—can be even more important than finding a house that contains all your mandatory priorities.

If you’re moving into a new-house develop­ment or condominium, be sure to check into covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs), which may be quite detailed and restrict everything from the color of your house to your landscaping. (CC&Rs are discussed in more detail in Chapter 7.)

Once you’ve completed your Ideal House Profile, you’re ready to create a House Priorities Worksheet, which will help you see how each house stacks up with your priorities.

Create a House Priorities Worksheet

Now it’s time to use the information collected in your Ideal House Profile to create a House Priorities Work­sheet for each house you visit.

Start by making several copies of the worksheet (in Appendix D) to allow for mistakes or the eventual scaling back of your priority list if it turns out you can’t afford all the features you would like. Then, enter relevant information on a master copy of the House Priorities Worksheet under each major category—“Must have,” “Hope to have,” and “Absolute no ways.” A sample is shown below.

Once you have completed your House Priorities Worksheet to your (and your partner’s) satisfaction, make several copies.

For each house you see, fill in the top of the House Priorities Worksheet. Enter the address, asking price, name and phone number of the contact person (listing agent or seller, if it’s a For Sale By Owner), and date you saw the house. As you walk around and talk to the owner or agent, enter a checkmark if the house has a desirable or undesirable feature. Also, make notes next to a particular feature if it can be changed to meet your needs (for example, an okay kitchen that could be modernized for $45,000).

Don’t Be Fooled by Staged Homes

House “staging” is now a regular practice in home sales. The right paint, furniture, music, and smells can create illusions that would make Martha Stewart and Houdini jealous. Furniture is often extra small to make the house look large. The point is to optimize the charms of a house.

So if you visit a house that just reeks of charm—look behind, above, and below. Imagine it empty, or with your own furniture, office equipment, kids’ toys, and toothbrushes.

Add comments at the bottom, such as “potential undeveloped lot next door” or “neighbors seem very friendly.” If you look at a lot of houses, taking notes such as these will help make sure you don’t forget important information.

You should seriously consider only those houses with all or most of your “must haves” and none of your “no ways.” If you visit a nice, reasonably priced house that doesn’t come close to matching your list and can’t be easily changed to do so, say no. Take the time to find a more suitable house; you’ll be glad you did.

Set up a good filing system. As the list of houses you look at grows, failing to adopt a good system may lead to revisiting houses you’ve already seen and rejected or making decisions based on half-remembered facts. For each house that seems like a possible prospect, make a file that includes a completed House Priorities Worksheet, the information materials provided when you toured the home, the Multiple Listing Service information, ads, and your notes. Or, if you are more digitally inclined, set up a simple database with key details on each house you visit. (For advice, see “Organizing Your House Search” in Chapter 6.)

Prepare a House Comparison Worksheet

If, like many people, you look at a consider­able number of houses over an extended period of time—or even in the space of a week—you may soon have trouble distinguishing or com­paring their features. That’s where our House Comparison Worksheet comes in.

Across the top of the form, list the addresses of the three or four houses you like best. In the left column, fill in your list of priorities and “no ways” from your Ideal House Profile and House Priorities Worksheet. Then put a checkmark on the line under each house that has that feature to allow for a quick comparison.

A sample is shown below, and a copy is included in Appendix D.

House Priorities Worksheet Here

House Comparison Worksheet Here

Ellen: How Not to Buy a House

I was a first-time buyer on a relatively tight budget when I set out to buy an older, attached row house in San Francisco. I wanted two bed­rooms, no (or a very small) yard, proximity to a downtown bus route, and walking access to a neighborhood market and bookstore. I looked for many months at houses that were completely unsuitable, far too expensive, or, with depressing regularity, both. So I broadened my search by reading the classifieds in the Sunday paper. When I saw that prices were more reasonable in the suburbs, I spent a sunny Sunday afternoon browsing in Contra Costa County.

At the first open house I visited, I met an energetic real estate agent who spun a wonder­ful word picture of the joys of suburban life: lots of sun, room for a tomato garden, and friendly neighbors. She showed me a split-level house with an apple tree in full bloom in my price range. Almost before I realized what I was doing, I signed on the bottom line.

That was the fun part. Soon I was getting up at 6:00 a.m., driving to the train station, and standing for the 40-minute ride to San Francisco. My fantasy about the joy of suburban life was just that. It’s hard to believe now, but I seemed to have temporarily overlooked the fact that I’m allergic to direct sun, detest tomatoes, and moved out of the suburbs to get away from overly involved neighbors.

Fortunately, I sold the house six months later, at a small profit. I went in with a friend and together we bought a house in San Francisco that meets my needs perfectly.