The aesthetics of a home are important but there are many other items that a home buyer needs to focus on when looking at home during a showing. Lynn Norusis with the FOCUS on NoVA Real Estate team goes through the not to sexy items a homebuyer should focus on when taking a look at a home for the first time.

As a potential new home buyer getting into a home that is potentially the home of your dreams it is very exciting as soon as you walk through you’re taking in the paint scheme; what type of floorings do they have; how has the kitchen been updated; what’s the layout of the home; have the bathrooms been redone? You’re really envisioning you living in that space.

And that is super important, however; what a real estate agent is doing, and should be pointing out to these potential buyers, is some of the not so sexy things that are really, really important with a home:

• potential signs of water damage or a potential water issue
• the foundation and the walls to see if there’s any sign of a potential structural issue of the home
• look at the house and how a house sits on a lot because that’s really important to know about the potential drainage of a home
• are those gutters actually moving away from the home?
• is there any water that’s potentially pooling around the house?
• the topography of the home is it set on a lot in a way where there’s potential water that’s going to be flowing towards the home
• the age of utilities (HVAC system, furnace, hot water heater, etc.) As we know everything has a time stamp on it and for those utilities it’s really important, and potentially can be really expensive, when it comes time to having to re-up those and get new appliances in.   We’re taking a look at some of those bigger issues to determine how much we really need to make sure we get up front of the home inspector for them to determine if it’s a potential issue or any other professional who is going to be able to give that expert knowledge on the item.

If you have any questions about Northern Virginia real estate, reach out as we are happy to help.