What's better: A 4+2 rancher in a so-so neighborhood, or a 3+1.5 Spanish-style in an upscale neighborhood? How about a perfectly maintained home with a long commute time vs a neglected home with easy access to good schools and freeways? Allen Wastler of CNNMoney.com sums up the typical house hunting expedition very eloquently: "My wife and various real estate inclined people have no problem balancing these equations in their head. Me? After a few weeks of house-hunting, all the candidates have melded into one big psychic conglomeration of architectural style and varying levels of upkeep. I know what I like and don't like ... I just can't remember it so well after about four house tours." Developing a scoring system can help sort out the features, benefits, and drawbacks of each house that you see so you don't risk being seduced by a stellar kitchen only to miss the fact that the house is poorly located. Investors have done this for a long time - rating certain features such as price, terms, location and condition before considering investing in a property. Wastler has set up a system that works for him, but may need modification for others depending on what's important to you. At least it's a good place to start, and you can make corrections to his system as you evaluate homes that you see. Here's how his system works: - Neighborhood: 25 points. You can either have a bad house in a good neighborhood or an overly upgraded house in a very poor neighborhood. Rate according to safety, street traffic, commuting distance (if important to you), general environment, lot sizes, and what is nearby (you don't necessarily want to be near liquor stores or pawn shops).
- Bedrooms: 10 points. Rate according to size and layout as well as usability.
- Kitchen: 10 points. Even if you don't cook much, a kitchen can be an important family gathering place. Rate cabinet and counter space as well as style and functionality. Consider whether granite countertops in a small kitchen are more important to you than a well-designed kitchen with tile countertops that you can upgrade later.
- Bathrooms: 10 points. Rate total number of bathrooms as well as the space in each bathroom and of course the quality of the fixtures. Good space with worn fixtures can often be updated pretty easily, bad space with good fixtures is likely about as good as it's going to get.
- Curb appeal and yard: 10 points. Consider lot size, setback from the street, the way the home looks from the street, backyard space and amenities. Some homes will never have good curb appeal without some hard-core remodeling of the front of the house. This is important not just for your comfort and pride of ownership, it also helps resale value when you decide to move on to another house.
- Driveway: 5 points. Many homes in Santa Clarita have ultra-short driveways that aren't even big enough for a Big Wheel tricycle. Others are so poorly graded that your car will bottom out every time you attempt to pull in. Cosmetic items such as cracks and stains can often be fixed, but the general layout of the driveway is harder to correct.
- Bones: 15 points. The overall structure and condition of a home should be considered. If the house has outdated plumbing, electrical, roof, heat and air conditioning, it will have to be replaced at some point. Consider the overall floor plan and traffic flow as well. Again, cosmetics like puke-green carpet can be corrected fairly easily, but moving walls is something that most homeowners won't want to tackle.
- Ceilings and stairs: 8 points. Tall ceilings and moderately wide stairways make for a more spacious feel to a home. Quite often tall ceilings can make up for the lack of square footage. Not so with lower ceilings - often these will make a home feel more claustrophobic. Narrow, steep stairways can often be overlooked if everything else in the home is up to par.
- Neat stuff: 7 points. Everything else falls into this category. Pool, spa, built in barbecue, huge family room, spa tub in the master bath, sun room and a wall mural could all fall into this category. If a pool is at the very top of your wish list, you may want to change your scoring system to give the pool the proper weight in scoring.
Once you've scored all of the features in a home, add up your total. The home with the highest score should either be the best choice or one of your top choices. You can print out a handy scoring sheet here: Allen's house score card. Missing from this scoring system is pricing, and of course you'll need to consider that as well. Also consider the qualities and features of homes that are in your price range and score accordingly. You may be looking for top of the line features on a starter home budget. If so, don't give the kitchen a 2 just because it lacks granite counters. It's usually better to get a good overall floorplan in a desireable neighborhood where you can add the granite counters later. |
