1. What’s the history of the house? Many state disclosure forms and laws require the sellers to divulge a number of things about the history of the property—in NJ it’s called a Seller’s Disclosure–from how old the roof, furnace and hot water heater are, to how well it’s been maintained, to what systems have/had broken down and when they were repaired and how. However, you might like to go deeper, finding out such things as whether the property was a rental, whether they recommend a set maintenance schedule (grab the gardener’s number, if you like the lawn, and, while you probably can’t wait to build your first snowman, you might not be so keen on what comes with it, so find out who takes care of snow shoveling/plowing?) for any part of the property, or whether they are aware of any interesting stories about past inhabitants or uses of the property that might provide useful or just plain old interesting information. When I bought my first home in Maplewood, NJ, I found a treasure trove of pictures and information about my home in the town’s library, believe it or not, as a former realtor had bequeathed all his records to the town. I had found photos of my home before there was any landscaping done and also found out that my garage and carriage house were additions to the home.
This also gives you the opportunity to do key things:
2. Where to go and who to know? Home sellers can be the best source of information that doesn’t seem super important, but can actually take a long time to figure out yourself, like which of the 7 pizza parlors has the best pizza? Or which dry cleaner has the best service, pricing or does the best alterations? When is the neighborhood block party if there is one? Does the block/neighborhood have their own directory? Are there any emergency contact telephone numbers you should have other than 9-1-1?
3. What surprised the Seller’s when they moved into the same home? Pleasantly or otherwise – moving in is always the occasion for a surprise or two or three.. The Seller’s might have been surprised at how friendly the neighbors were, or weren’t; which of the neighbors has a similar profile to your household so you can quickly forge new friends, or on a completely different note, how much light a particular room gets at a given time of day, how many people could fit around the table in the dining room at Thanksgiving or how noisy/quiet the school across the street is, or if there are any unusual parking laws or conditions you should be aware of for you and for future guests? If they were surprised, you might be, too – so it’s great to know what shocked them before you move in and also what were the pleasant surprises that they found made living there so special.
4. Where is it and how does it work? Where do you take the trash out to, and on what day(s) of the week? If garbage collection is a paid for service, who is/are the service provider options and how do you get a hold of them? Where are the emergency water and electrical shutoffs, the breaker box and the utility meters? Where’s the thermostat or the special wrench that turns on the gas fireplace? How does that work? Was the home wired by Comcast or Verizon or some other service provider? Did the home have wireless? How did it work? Were there any peculiar dead zones for wireless or cell phone reception? Some of these are things a good home inspector will cover, others NOT, but if yours didn’t or you weren’t able to make the inspection, some kind home sellers will happily brief you on many of these items.
Then, there are things like appliances, landscape lighting, outdoor electricity outlets, outdoor water faucets, sprinkler operating systems, landscaping drainage issues or remediation apparatus you should know about, the possibility of septic tanks (if you are in a more rural area, especially), basement sump pump(s), pool filters and covers and hot tubs, which general home inspectors might not even look at. Most home sellers will know how to operate these things – and will gladly share that information with you. (For the most part, if you want these types of speciality systems looked at and evaluated before you remove your contract’s contingencies, you have to hire the sort of contractor who works on these specific things to look at them, i.e. an HVAC contact for the Central Air Conditioning, a slate roof contractor is you have slate, a lawn sprinker system contractor if you have it.)
5. Is there anything you’d like to leave? There are really two aspects to this question. First, you might have your eye on some item of the seller’s personal property—especially if you are moving from a much smaller apartment/home into a larger one–like a perfectly-sized print or perfectly-shaped breakfast booth, that you’d like to buy from them – if so, make an offer!
And second, the seller might get partway through their move when they realize they want no part of patching up the wall behind the flat-screen or trying to angle that impossibly long couch back out the window they had to bring it in through, so they’d rather just leave it—from the “cheaper to leave her rather than cheaper to keep her and pay to move her (yes, I took the liberty of flipping them).” I’ve seen sellers offer very nice pieces of furniture and electronics to buyers, gratis or for a price, when offered the opportunity, with the goal of being a win=win for both parties.
6. What did I forget to ask? Whether you’re a new homeowner or new to the area, this is where you throw yourself on the seller’s mercy and ask them to tell you anything you might have forgotten to ask. It’s not overkill to exchange phone numbers or email addresses – now, every transaction isn’t this friendly or cordial, but many are or could be—and remember, its more than likely that the seller will still get some mail and/or an occasional package delivery that will need to be forwarded, so it’s to their benefit to exchange contact information. It’s definitely in your best interests to leave the transaction on good terms with the seller, if possible, for reasons karmic and utilitarian.
Asking this question can get you all sorts of useful information, like:
- the fact that you get 2 free bulky trash pickups every year, or need to make special arrangements—especially since moving into a home can end up creating a quick accumulation of bulk items (carpet removal is but one such example).
- advance notice of the block party that’s coming up the weekend after you move in, and
- a warning that if you let your weeds grow too tall in the spring, the fire department will ticket you.
Despite the fact that real estate transactions can get adversarial on occasion, especially in more challenging markets, the fact remains that the average home seller wants to be helpful, and wants their home’s buyer to be happy. When these two wants collide, if you ask the right questions and in the right way, you can save yourself untold amounts of research, time, money and energy!