Cresting - Good to hear you are doing some of the basic repairs yourself. As noted early on, a set of TOOLS is important.
Don’t know how rural you are (or if it is actually important) but developing your workshop can save you big money in the long run.
All of the trades make big money when you are the one paying for them to come out and do some work. Finding someone that only charges $50/hr. might be a challenge.
If you are in any way “handy” with tools now is the time to start developing that skill.
Again, not sure your situation, but I search tools through the classifieds (Fbook and Clist) and find them used. Older tools are often still very good and sometimes American made.
3600 sq.ft. Is a nice size. Hope you do have space for a dedicated shop. Our house is about 3200 and I have most of the basement (then again, I’m a retired Shop teacher).
While searching for tools and being a new home owner realize that this time is a “window of opportunity”. When We built our home (literally) my wife would come up with ideas - “Chris, could we maybe do this?.....”. My standard response was “Sure, but I’ll need some new tools....” This went a long way helping to develop the shop.
Same idea goes for the yard - buy quality tools here. Trying to kill crap tools is an exercise in frustration. They last long enough to make the job miserable. I am still using the Stihl chainsaw that we bought in ‘88 to build the log house. It is the only one I own because it is reliable. Ditto our lawn mower (hard to believe THAT one. It’s a Gravely tractor).
Welcome to home ownership. The more you can do, the less you pay out.

Start saving for a lawn mower and trimmer, or hire someone. Shovels, pruners, and other garden tools. Your best bet is to go to yard sales to pick most of these up. Even if you see a broken handle, it can be replaced.

If you are handy, you can do most any repair yourself and save a ton of money. If you aren't, start learning. I'm not saying its the best, but Ask This Old House is free and can teach things in the process. Be careful with Youtube as anyone can post improper information there.

Best of luck with your new home and if you need help, we are here for you.

Setting aside money for repairs \upgrades you will want to make. It adds up quickly.
I know most believe it to be overkill but I generally have a real estate lawyer look over the contract. Cheap insurance to make sure everything is right with the contract. If something goes sideways during or after the close they have a vested interest in getting it squared away.
ETA:This is one of the largest purchases you'll ever make. Not the time to cheap out on expert advice. The realtor represents the sellers not you.

If you haven't done this before, might want to pick up a couple of generic home owner info books. Things like "The Family Handyman 100 Things Every Homeowner Must Know", or Black & Decker's "Complete Guide to Plumbing", etc. There's a bunch out there and they'll probably include things you haven't thought of but other's have been bit with, so it's inexpensive information that might save you more than they cost sometime in the future. A perusal of the home repair or diy handyman sections of a bookstore (yeah, a real brick & mortar version) might help add to your knowledge-base. Just a thought.

Good wishes for your -moving on up.
You have had the home Inspected. Now do some of that yourself: interior and exterior.

Everything that moves and/or distributes or controls or senses something -- you test it.
From light switches (timers, light sensors) every electric outlet to windows operation smoothly;
inground sprinkler. Roll a marble on each section of floor (is/has the house settled?)
sight along the walls & ceiling for waviness and repairs. Note the location and type of pipes
exhaust, bath vents, dryer vent-- Everything.
Rooms that have and exterior corner --examine for vertical cracks in the paint as this may be an indication of the house settling.
Check also your power electric wire. Many Electric Companies say that you own the wire from
the knuckle to the breaker panel (if it has old style fuses request that it be upgraded before
you close.) And again -- best wishes & enjoy.

Pre-closing walk through, verify that everything is as it should be.

Watch for new damage from the previous owner or the movers or in my case appliances removed that were specifically named as included in the sales agreement.

Been down that road once, 24 hours before closing we had to threaten legal action to resolve the matter, missing appliances named as included in the sales agreement. Problem was the listing said no appliances, sales agreement said appliances included. My agent called to verify which was correct, the listing agent's assistant said the agreement was correct so we went forward on that statement. Oops.

If you don't have a lawn mower and trimmer, buy a couple of cheap junkers and save up for a good ones like a Honda mower and trimmer.

quote:

Originally posted by Oz_Shadow:
Insurance, property taxes, and possibly HOA assessments

Check the age of the HVAC system and water heater. 20 years and you are on borrowed time.

Basement? Ask about flood history and check for sump pumps. ....

lots of good answers above --

the HOA one mentioned above bit us in the ass once -- they did a 'special assessment' a few years after we moved in to cover some lingering unaddressed maintenance issues in the community common use areas...

you should look to see the HOAs financials and covenants prior to move in -- especially if there are high dollar common areas like tennis courts, pools, walking trails etc...

----------------------------------

Make sure you have a good realtor first. Not just someone that is a relative, or friends relative. After the purchase have a good home inspector. A good realtor will know who they are and should give several names for you to pick from.
Get a new survey and try to get the seller to pay. This is especially important if there hasn't been a recent survey.
Also get owners title insurance, not just the one that covers the bank/lender. To cover boundary and other issues, you need a survey or there will be a number of exclusions in the fine print of the title insurance policy.
Since this sounds like a resale home, look around for other items you may need and negotiate them into the deal. Things like washer, dryer, maybe some furniture, lawn mover, etc.
Often the other people will end up getting new appliances and furnishings and have different needs in their new home and will be glad to save on moving expenses.
Hopefully you will be putting 20% or more down so you don't get stuck paying PMI which only protects the bank and is expensive.

Be prepared to pay for the propane in the tank. The seller may ask for reimbursement and, depending on the size of the tank and how full it is, the amount could be significant.

Considering he's on septic, well water, and a propane tank, that sounds rural. So much less likely to have a HOA involved (though still a possibility).

And if it is rural, check to see if it's eligible for a USDA Rural Development loan, and then talk to your lender(s) to see if that's a good option for you. That's what I used to purchase my new house. Interest rates are lower than a conventional loan, and it doesn't require you to put any money down. Payment is generally still lower than conventional, even with the quasi-PMI if you don't put at least 20% down. (RD loans don't have PMI per se, but they do have a 0.35% annual fee until the loan amount is less than 80%, so it's effectively a cheaper form of PMI.)

With such ridiculously low interest rates, even lower through USDA, I just financed 100% of the house. I can make more through investing the money I would have put towards a down payment. And I won't be needing equity out of the house anytime soon.

You might be able to do similar.

As suspected, there is no HOA or restrictive covenants.
I’m a veteran, so it’s a VA loan.
Doing 100% financing with 2.5% interest rate.

Read through all the above ... and lots of great information.

Something I thought of, and may of missed above, but if the sellers have done major work on the house check to see if permits were issued and inspected.

"Put an offer on a house - could use some advice"

It's already too late!

It's only 5 years old, but you'll probably need a new roof in 10-15 years. And roofs are getting more expensive. I'd get as good an estimate as you can for what it will cost to replace when the time comes, and start saving now in a separate account.

Of course you can do the same for anything else with a finite life span, but you can probably handle a new refrigerator when yours is done. Coming out of pocket for $25-50k for a new roof is a different story.

quote:

Originally posted by honestlou:
It's only 5 years old, but you'll probably need a new roof in 10-15 years. And roofs are getting more expensive. I'd get as good an estimate as you can for what it will cost to replace when the time comes, and start saving now in a separate account.

Of course you can do the same for anything else with a finite life span, but you can probably handle a new refrigerator when yours is done. Coming out of pocket for $25-50k for a new roof is a different story.

This, always put money away for future maintenance. As things pop up at always the worst time.

Congrats Creslin. And 2.5% is a great rate !!

Check to see if the home has perimeter drainage and where the outlet is.

Put aside some $ for year 1 repairs - the home inspector is not going to find everything and every home has its skeletons.

Long story short:GET A LAWYER TO CHECK THE DEAL!

I was about 23 (1974) when I bought my first house, night before closing I met a lawyer (at a local jaycee meeting) and was casually taking about the purchase. He offered to go to the closing with me rate of 1/2 of 1% of purchase price. Sounded like a good idea so I asked if I could have a bit of time to pay his fee, no problem he says.
I was buying on a land contract, lawyer shows up and looks at paper work. Several items of concern, a few of them were completely illegal per real estate laws of our state. He gently threatened to report realtors involved to the state.
Ended up terms got corrected and the sale price was lower because the current owner had ah, um, fudged a few things also.
Lawyer said he would send me a bill but never did.

quote:

Originally posted by GaryBF:
"Put an offer on a house - could use some advice"

It's already too late!

True. My advice is also too late for the OP but others may benefit: before you start seriously looking at houses, engage an experienced realtor as a buyer's agent. They are paid by the seller, but you get what you pay for, so get references.

Lots of good advice here. Massachusetts is different than a lot of states so things sometimes seem weird to me when reading these realty threads.

We are an "attorney state", meaning there is always a buyer and seller attorney reviewing the P&S. I realize that isn't the case everywhere. Usually you'd have that figured out, as well as a buyer's agent, before an offer. I'm assuming you have an agent if you made an offer.

On the attorney, if not too late, look for a flat rate "home purchase" deal. Some attorney's charge by the hour and that can get crazy if things go south.

I'm also curious if your offer got accepted. The market is crazy busy here and a VA loan 100% finance would be a very poor offer for a variety of reasons. First, if it doesn't appraise for full value the deal falls apart. In this market (at least in MA) houses are going for way over asking and appraisal can be an issue. Sellers want to know that the buyer will cover over appraisal costs. Second, VA has rules for state of repair. If the seller doesn't want to fix a handrail or repair chipped paint, or stuff like that, the deal may fall apart.

As far as repairs and stuff, as others said, budget for it. But if you don't have the cash you will figure out how to fix it yourself. That's how I learned. Good luck!