I buy a new house every week.
One was a loft in River West that I fell for because it had lots of light and was built with heavy-duty soundproofing.
I bought a townhouse just north of Hyde Park, then a condo in Highland Park, a ranch with two master bedrooms in Huntley and, for sentimental reasons, a cute little house with yard and detached garage in Romeoville.
I jest. Or do I?
I haven’t ever put down a deposit, signed a contract, closed or moved into one of “my” homes.
But I do write a column, the House Hunter, for the Tribune’s Saturday New Homes section. Week in and week out for more than three years I’ve been trooping through models in the city as well as the suburbs–Oswego, Antioch, Michigan City, Tinley Park.
I’ve checked out Chicago’s downtown, Uptown, Bucktown, Bronzeville, Streeterville, 95th and Commercial, Rogers Park.
I’ve looked at studios for $89,000 and raw condo space at $5 million.
No matter the size, price or location, every time I look at models as the House Hunter, I am the consumer.
I’ve learned a lot about buying places to live and have had great feedback from readers. I’d like to share some of this with first-time buyers.
Let’s go.
Do your homework
It’s amazing to overhear twosomes in sales centers discovering for the first time some of the really basic stuff about where and how they want to live.
Know what you want. Not down to the minutiae of colors and fabrics, but the broader strokes. If you’re buying alone, think things through; if you’re buying with a partner, talk things through.
City or suburbs? Which direction, neighborhood? House, townhouse, condo, loft; high rise, three-flat? How important are the kitchen, number of bathrooms, size of closets? A biggie: In-unit washer-dryer or laundry room?
Get out and look, get a feel for neighborhoods, know your transportation needs and what matters to you. As a first-timer, this home will be the biggest investment you’ve ever made.
Know what you can afford
When I ask Realtors and sales agents about what first-timers don’t know, many say first-timers frequently have no idea what they can afford. They haven’t stopped to figure out and compare on a monthly basis what they’re paying for housing now with what they will pay in the future.
Some first-timers don’t know how to arrange for a mortgage, don’t know whether they’d be pre-approved or pre-qualified–or what those terms mean.
They’re not dumb, just not prepared.
My “poster children for preparedness” in this case are the couple pictured on the front of this section, Tom and Johnna Monroe, who moved–with their daughters, Hannah, 3, and Gracie, 3 months–on June 22 from the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago to Lakewood Falls in Romeoville.
They had been renting and when their high rise converted to condos, that–as well as their expanding family and shrinking mortgage rates–propelled them from “half-hearted thinking about buying” to full speed ahead, according to Tom Monroe, an attorney.
He says they started “playing around” by surfing the Web, “getting ideas about what to look for, different areas, prices. We didn’t want to max out. It was important to us to figure out what we could pay,” he says. Talk about doing their homework. Even before stepping out of their apartment, they knew they’d be going from two salaries to one, considered city vs. suburbs–far out for better value, close in as a time saver– and easy access for a car commute.
“Early on,” says Tom Monroe, “we decided on new construction.” Neither wanted to deal with time-stealing remodeling.
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Only then did they start their legwork, according to the couple (both just turned 30) “and that was the easy part.”
They started visiting models, knowing their needs, wanting to get a feel for the place they’d call home.
“When we walked into a four-bedroom Lakewood Homes model, we knew right away it was perfect. We are so happy here,” says Tom Monroe.
Go for new construction
Would I dare say otherwise? It’s the area I cover.
But, beyond that, I believe it’s best, especially for first-timers. Inevitably, when buyers decide in favor of an existing home, they’re inheriting the previous owners’ taste, wallpaper, mold, appliances, leaks and cracks. I josh. There may be no negatives at all, but I doubt it.
Look at models
Speculators, builders and architects can study a floor plan and feel what the room or house will be like. Not most of us and not many first timers. I strongly advocate touring models, checking out every closet, location of the commode, relationship of one appliance to another and more.
Buying a three- or four-story townhouse? Walk up and down all those steps several times during the course of your tour. Visualize doing that several times a day (sometimes carrying or chasing a child) for the next 10 years. Still breathing?
Look, touch, measure. Time-consuming? You bet. Better now than after you move in.
Pack the proper hunting equipment
For me, that’s a camera, legal pad, pens.
Early on, I took copious notes about the models I visited but after seeing about a dozen in one subdivision, it took too much time and effort to reconstruct those details into cohesive memories.
Now, I ask for the floor plans of all the models, then tour them just to get a feel for what’s being offered. I want to be accompanied by a sales associate who knows what he or she is talking about. Beware of the salesperson who gushes over the decor or color of the walls but doesn’t know what “cultured marble” is, whether or not the building is wired for the Internet, one who talks about storage lockers but doesn’t show them to you.
The second time around, I want to be on my own. So should you. I really mark up those floor plans with pluses and minuses (cracked stucco, garish decor hiding poor construction, good views).
I shoot pictures as memory joggers. Nothing’s better than notated floor plans and photos to help in deciding whether to go back or not. Besides, photos can reveal a lot of things you missed.
Go with experience if you’re not sure what you want or don’t know the territory.
When I asked some first-time homebuyers what tips they’d pass on to others making a first plunge, management consultant Henry Caffrey said without a moment’s hesitation, “Get a good Realtor.” In his case, this was Colette Cachey, a Baird & Warner Realtor who specializes in city properties, new and established.
Caffrey, in his mid-30s, got to know a little about Chicago while studying for his MBA at Northwestern University’s J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management. He thought then that if he ever lived in Chicago he’d head for “some tree-lined street in Lincoln Park.”
So when he moved from a high rise rental in Cleveland, he opted to rent before buying. He knew what he wanted and what he could afford and, unfortunately, the two didn’t match up in Lincoln Park.
Enter the pro. Cachey tells her clients to make a wish list, and spends time up-front with them talking lifestyle and priorities.
Caffrey says he got “emotionally comfortable” with Cachey, so that by the time they started looking at models, “she really knew what I wanted.”
They went scouting to five, maybe eight places over a half-dozen weekends spread over a couple of months–until they got down to two choices.
He says he “never felt that she was going around thinking `These are my listings, why don’t you buy one?’
“I knew that with each place, we were getting closer, because she was always narrowing down. There were times I thought about compromising, we were that close.”
But Cachey wouldn’t hear of it. “There’s always going to be another one,” she’d say.
And, one day, there it was. Everything Caffrey wanted: A two-bedroom “great big, airy top-floor loft with skylights–and on a tree-lined street!”
But Cachey wasn’t satisfied; she thought the loft would need an air-conditioning unit with more tonnage, and besides the one on the deck was “so ugly.” They worked out a good price/aesthetic deal with builder Pat Gibbons: a better AC unit trellised over, to camouflage it.
For your own sanity, don’t pack 10 visits into one day.
I’ll always remember the frustrated, agitated couple who practically stormed into a sales center near the end of the day, he saying, “We were here this morning and we’ve looked at eight or nine other developments today and we remember that we liked something about this place but neither of us can remember; so do you remember what we liked?”
Even God did one chore a day over seven days to do a good job.
Think square footage
This may seem far-fetched but knowing the numbers is essential.
First, you’ve got to know how much space you’re living in now so you can compare that with what you’re buying.
If you’re cramped in a 950 square-foot apartment, think of that, relative to the one-bedroom condo you’re considering that’s 830 square feet.
Space can be deceiving–especially when you’re mesmerized by decor or abundant cabinets. A wall of mirrors is a sure sign the builder/decorator team is working hard to give the illusion of space.
Ask: Does the listed square footage include the balcony, the finished basement, the indoor-heated garage?
All this is especially important for twosomes merging their lives and their stuff.
Say they’re moving from two apartments that add up to 1,750 square feet into a converted loft that looks so big because of the open floor plan but has, they find out later, about 1,100 square feet with much of that space in the glorious great room and very minimal space for closets, cabinets, storage.
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Close your eyes to the dazzle of decor.
Too many faux ferns or potted palms, overdone “window treatments” and ugly furniture can distract the eye from minimal space and poor workmanship.
I love developments that have even one model devoid of any furnishings. Yes, it’s painted and the flooring is in but there are no coverups. This is looking at the “bones” of a house.
Watch out for upgrades
I’ve heard from too many first-timers who feel cheated or duped by upgrades they thought were part of the house and price.
Know the difference between standard amenities (what’s included in the base price), upgrades (better quality, higher price), options (a full bedroom in place of the loft).
I also love having at least one model that has all the standards. It may not be flashy but it shows what you’re paying for.
Don’t believe a single word that comes from a salesperson, builder, company executive–nothing, nothing unless it is in writing.
And, not in your handwriting (as in notes), but an official piece of paper that enforces every single thing you are told. Know the difference between a deposit, a contract, a closing.
Don’t be afraid to ask anything. My brilliant cubicle neighbor, financial columnist Bill Barnhart, believes “there’s no such thing as a dumb question.”
Get a lawyer–a real estate lawyer
That means a specialist, not the one who does everything from personal injury to divorce cases, not your neighbor, not your brother-in-law (not any relative–unless she’s your mother).
Take your time
This is just a beginning. There’s so much more. Examples: What do assessments include? Before buying, check out the model and the community for a second and third time, at least once at night. Look for a homeowner, ask about the builder’s follow-through and reputation, problems and plus points.
Whether your budget is $95,000 or $300,000–a new home is a big investment, one meant to bring you joy.