Buying a new house can be an extremely exciting time. Because of that excitement, it can be easy to rush into buying a house that may appear perfect for you without giving it a thorough look.

There can often be red flags that are overlooked or hidden when house-hunting, but are extremely important to take note of. Tell tale signs that the house you鈥檙e interested in may not be what you think. They are often subtle and can go unnoticed. Be sure to take extra caution when house-hunting and be on the lookout for these red flags. 

Odors / strong air fresheners

If you walk into a home and the first thing you notice is the strong smell, this is a very important indication that something could be wrong. No smell should be so overwhelming that it hits you right when you enter a home – whether it be an air freshener or an odor. If it鈥檚 an odor, such as pet urine, this could indicate that carpet is saturated with it and needs to be replaced. Or if you鈥檙e smelling a strong air freshener, it could be that the owner is trying to cover up a smell of a worse problem in the house. Either way, pay attention to strong smells when house-hunting. 

Random fresh paint

Not all fresh paint indicates something is wrong, which means you need to be on the lookout for random fresh paint. If an entire room was repainted to match the owner鈥檚 new couch, there鈥檚 nothing to worry about there. However, if you notice random spots that have been freshly painted – maybe just half a wall in the kitchen or a random spot in a bedroom – these are things to take notice of. If fresh paint is random, it鈥檚 likely that the owner is trying to cover up something, which brings us to the next red flag: water stains.

Water stains

Random fresh paint often is hiding water stains on walls or ceilings. Other times, home owners may not bother to repaint over these yellowish or brownish areas and you might see the actual water stains when viewing the house. Water stains can indicate the house has leaks, which are never a great sign. Water can rot the structural wood of the house. So, be sure to look for them on walls and ceilings when touring a house and it鈥檚 not smart to make an offer on a house with prevalent water stains. 

Mold or moldy smells

Most mold isn鈥檛 a toxic type such as Stachybotrys, but no one wants a mold problem in their house. Even if a home doesn鈥檛 have toxic mold, regular mold can cause respiratory problems, headaches and other illnesses. Be sure to notice any mold smells or mold spots in a house before making an offer. If you smell mold, but don鈥檛 see it, check areas such as under the sinks, around windows and in basements. Mold can indicate problems with a house such as leaks and can cause things such as drywall or carpet to need replacement. 

Foundation cracks / problems

If floors in a house are out of level and the slope is very noticeable, this could mean there are problems with the foundation of the house. Structural issues can cost thousands of dollars to fix and may not be worth the house. This is why it鈥檚 important to not only notice foundation problems such as sloped floors or cracks in the foundation, but to have a structural engineer inspect the foundation of a house to assess any damage and repair it might need.聽

Insects

Before making an offer on a house, be sure to look out for signs of insects, specifically signs of termites. A major sign of termites are brown droppings on the floor near a wall or multiple walls. Other major indications can be mud tubes on the foundation of houses and a hollow sound when you knock on wood. Termites can cause serious foundation issues and can often put house contracts in jeopardy.聽

Everyone鈥檚 selling / location problem

Lastly, the location of your home is everything when house-hunting. Don鈥檛 just pay attention to the house you鈥檙e looking into, but take notice of the neighboring homes and subdivisions. Are there many homes for sale? Have a mass of people been moving out of the area recently? If the answer is yes to both of these, that might indicate that there鈥檚 a problem with the area such as a rising crime rate. Be sure to look into the location of where you want to live before you start touring houses to save yourself some time. 

Ultimately, researching areas before house-hunting can save you a lot of time. Although it’s important to look out for all of these red flags while you鈥檙e touring houses, hire a professional inspector to inspect the house you鈥檙e interested in. Inspectors will catch all of these red flags and more, which can save you even more time when looking for the perfect home.聽

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Every year during we鈥檙e completely engrossed in the NCAA鈥檚 giant 63-game basketball tournament, analyzing every piece of data to make sure our final picks are perfect. But how can we apply this data-driven thinking to house hunting and perfect both picking a bracket and finding a home?

Here are five things to consider:

1. Beware of Cinderella story teams

There are always Cinderella stories in the rush of March Madness, but typically in the tournament. The same could go for home prices that seem too good to be true. A slight fixer upper in a nice neighborhood could end up being the perfect home long-term, while a home that鈥檚 two-thirds of the market value could be in desperate need of renovation. And on average, than most homeowners expect, so what looks like a good deal could end up costing you more.

2. Top seeded teams are like great neighborhoods

If it seems like , it鈥檚 because they do. Kansas has been in the tournament 27 consecutive times, Duke 21 times, and Michigan 19 times. Good teams don鈥檛 rise to the top because they鈥檙e lucky, they work hard and a great deal of investment goes into them. The same can be said for great neighborhoods 鈥� popular zip codes are always in-demand because they offer the best combination of amenities and accessibility, although there are always up and coming areas of town.

3. Data is a helpful guide

Despite having access to statistics like and to help narrow down the field, crafting the perfect bracket is difficult. It鈥檚 important to do the proper homework before selecting a dream team 鈥� or a dream home. Taking advantage of tools like mortgage calculators to determine how much home you can afford will put you in a better position when it comes to strategic decision-making.

4. Don鈥檛 always choose the home team just because it鈥檚 familiar

Analysts at say that 鈥渉omer bias鈥� or selecting your alma mater purely for sentimental reasons is a common error. The same goes for homes. Nostalgia and familiarity may attract you to certain locales, but don鈥檛 count out during your home search. Think of Oakland, California or Brooklyn, New York, neighborhoods whose reputations have changed; concentrate your search in the hot neighborhoods of the future.

5. Generally, follow that gut instinct

According to , 鈥淵ou are 18 times more likely to be killed by a waterspout than to forecast an entire 63-game tournament accurately.鈥� So, after all the data mining and online research is done, remember that your gut feeling is there for a reason. Whether it’s the fact that a certain team always folds under pressure, or that the undeveloped lot next to that well-priced dream neighborhood could be developed into something less than desirable, it’s never a bad idea to listen to your gut instinct, even if the data says otherwise.

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Working with families as a professional organizer, I’ve learned that needs are different for a family with teens. With little ones, you want a bedroom close by your own room and a big yard where they can run and play. With older kids, your shopping list becomes an interesting combination. You want and need space to be together and interact. And at the same time, your teen needs space to be alone and to grow.

Here are some different factors to consider if you鈥檙e house hunting with teens or soon-to-be teens.

Eating

Eating often becomes a 24-hour-a-day sport with teens in the house. It鈥檚 hard to keep teens filled up, and it鈥檚 not just the boys. Teen girls raid the refrigerator as well. Accompanied by several friends, they really can eat you out of house and home.

As your family ages, their consumption of food will increase. Unless you want to go to the store every other day, you need increased food storage. A second refrigerator becomes extremely useful. Not many houses will accommodate a second fridge in the kitchen, but as you house hunt, see if you can find a convenient location for an extra one. That might be in the laundry room, the garage, the basement or, as was the case with one house that I owned, the under-the-stairs closet. If a refrigerator figures centrally in your home, you can research many聽 online.

Keeping clean

The laundry cycle never seems to be complete. The more kids grow, the bigger the clothes and the fewer items that fit in a load. Couple this with increased sports and extracurricular activities, and there are mountains of laundry to do each week.

When house hunting, keep in mind your growing laundry needs. Having a highly functioning laundry room with space to sort, fold and hang becomes very important. A laundry room on the same floor as the bedrooms can really save steps and time.

Our space vs. their space

You鈥檒l still want a place where the whole family can gather for movies and family time. But as your tweens turn to teens, you may find you both like a little separation. The gang may be over for video games or movies with plenty of giggles and yelling. You might want to read a book or binge-watch your favorite show. As everyone grows more independent with their own interests, having a second living space is a good idea. This way you can separate activities as needed, but come together for family time.

Different hours, different schedules

When you had a small baby or young child, you wanted to be able to hear them. You looked for a home with a nursery right next to your own room. Even with the child just across the hall, you鈥檇 break out the baby monitor and plug it in.

With tweens and teens, you may not want to hear them quite as much. Even if you swore to never yell 鈥渢urn that music down!鈥� it might happen. Especially on the weekends with no school the next day, energetic teens can stay up much later than their parents listening to music, watching movies and chatting endlessly on the phone. It鈥檚 all in good fun, but if your body clock is on more of a 10:00 PM bedtime schedule, you may wish you鈥檇 chosen a house with a split bedroom plan. As you house hunt, consider if having your bedroom somewhat separated from the teens might be a good idea.

No reservations needed

If you are lucky, your home will need a revolving door. Groups of teens will come in and go out, and it is a good thing: it means your children鈥檚 friends love to come to your home. The bonus is you see your own child more often, get to know their friends and form special friendships with them.

Wherever there are teens, there is bound to be food. No matter your family size, look for a home with space for extra seating at the kitchen table or around the kitchen island.

Plan a parking lot

One change families find as their kids grow into teens is a continual car shuffling. Your teen driver needs a place to park. If she chooses to park behind mom, inevitably mom is going to be the one who needs to get out of the driveway first. Or, if you are sharing a car, there will always be someone who needs to go somewhere and the car is gone. If you have a teen, you鈥檒l most likely have multiple cars. In addition to your own child, there will be friends popping in and out, and some of them will have cars too.

As you house hunt, consider parking. Where will you put the extra cars? Check to see if there are any neighborhood restrictions on the number of vehicles allowed, or any no-parking signs posted that might become a problem down the road.

Even though your teens are just a few years from heading out the door and living on their own at college or an apartment, you still want a new house to feel like a home to them. Ask them if there are any particulars that are high on their interest list. Keep in mind that house hunting is a great time for a discussion on finances, budgeting and even future plans.

This guest post was written by professional organizational expert聽. Lea provides families with advice on how good planning in the home can help boost the enjoyment level for everyone. Lea writes tips on homes and family life for The Home Depot.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post House hunting with teens: What to put on your 鈥渕ust-have鈥� list appeared first on Blog | 皇冠体育app.

Explore the neighborhood

Go for a virtual walk around your target suburb with . This feature allows you to take a virtual tour of the city streets, even letting you to step into local businesses like restaurants and stores that have indoor maps available.

lets you zoom out to get a better idea of the surrounding area. You can map out nearby parks, grocery stores, and essential services like the fire department and police station. Get an idea of where they are in relation to the properties you鈥檙e considering and how they鈥檒l affect service or even noise in the area.

Create custom maps

As you come across homes that you鈥檙e interested in visiting, mark them on a map. not only allows you to pin places of interest, but you can also add notes on each location and include directions to each listing in case you鈥檙e planning an offline visit.

My Maps also lets you upload photos and videos that you鈥檝e taken at these locations to your map, making it into a multimedia guide. You can change the titles of markers, marker colors and shapes on your map to indicate different things, making it easier to distinguish between places that you鈥檝e visited or even color-coding homes by category or some other designation (i.e. green homes, multi-generational homes etc.).

Collaborate in your search

Once you鈥檝e created your annotated map and marked any attractions in the area that you鈥檇 like to visit, you can share the map with your family and have them weigh in and comment on it. They can share what they like and dislike, add homes to the map, and easily eliminate undesirable properties without even having to leave the house.

You can also share the map with your real estate agent, who can add newly listed houses that might not be on your radar, remove homes that have sold, or even add commentary based on their area expertise.

Other features

Google Maps also has mashups, where other sites present their data in ways that may be useful to you during your search for a new home:

• : Find out how walkable your target neighborhood is. Walk Score also lets you evaluate your transportation choices and get a commute report, explore safety and area amenities, and plug into what the locals are saying about the neighborhood.
• : Instantly displays any address in Google Street View without you having to access the actual Google app.
• : Pulls up a satellite view of any location.
• : This tool lets you calculate area, which you can use to determine the area of a plot of land, measure a roof, or even to measure a perimeter if you鈥檙e trying to figure out how much fence you鈥檒l need for your new home.

Most of these features can be accessed online and via mobile as well, so you don鈥檛 have to be glued to a computer. And since you can visit any city in the world, using Google Maps is especially useful if you鈥檙e relocating.

How have you used Google Maps in your search for a home? Did we leave anything out? Tell us in the comments section below.

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