Homeowners: Give Me (First-Time Homebuyer) Your Advice

[SmokinwithWilly]

Don't paint rooms obnoxious colors if you want to resell any time soon. Bright colors are great, but expect to put 3 coats of paint on the wall to cover it up. 

[Inimicus]

It will not wait until next spring/summer for repairs.

 

 

If something needs to be fixed do it, waiting will only make it worse.

[thefuzz]

Make lists of all the things you want to do.

 

Get in the house, live there for a month or two, then arrange the list you made before closing in order of when you want to now that you are really living there.

 

 

First few things for us were new paint throughout, pressure washing the house and deck, flooring in the bonus room to make it more usable, putting up new blinds, and getting the grass looking better.

 

 

Next up: Kitchen counters, new cabinets, and re-doing the master bath and closet.

 

And after that: HVAC and a new roof.

 

 

 

 

This is coming from someone in the biz, before you drop a ton of money into these things, figure out how many years you want to stay in the house.  That will change the importance of your rankings.

[332nd]

Don't get all "manliy man" & tackle a project that you know to be over your head by yourself. If you fug up then you'll end up calling in a professional who has to fix your mistake & the original problem. That's damn near handing the pro blank check. (Especially if he's unscrupulous) If you're lucky, you know someone that can help you through it & they'll show you how along with some other tips for similar situations.

Also I strongly second what fitty 76 said about the termite inspection.

[captfluoro]

As someone said, don't try to fix everything at once, expect to be in it for the long haul.  You will find that your house will be in a perpetual state of change.  After five years you might want to repaint, after ten you might want to remodel.  Just save up for each project.  My wife and I have been in our house for 14 years (built brand new for us in 2000) and we are currently having the wall between our kitchen and dining room taken down to create more space and light. Next project will be our master bath in a year or so.  Hopefully you'll be lucky and find someone you like (plumber, contractor) for the big projects.  Word of mouth is the best form of advertising when it comes to home repairs.

[Datawire]

Get to know your neighbors. You really need to find out if they are assholes.

[mr beauxjangles]

A big "thank you" to everyone. This is exactly what I was looking for when I made this thread.