Homes You Should Never Buy in Seattle | Real Estate Red Flags Explained

Should you ever buy that house? Have you ever like toured a home and you felt like you found one that was a good deal only to get kind of that nagging feeling in your gut that something might be off? That is totally understandable. I am Emily Cressy. I'm a Seattle real estate broker and today I want to save you from a few real estate regrets that can really cost you money and emotional anguish in the long term. I have owned lots of property, dozens of rental property units and things like that and so some are good, some are bad and I hate for people to make mistakes that really bug them with you know money and headaches. So let's get into you know whether you're buying your first home, upgrading to a new home, investing in a rental property. I want to get into a few types of properties you should never buy no matter how good the deal seems. So let's dive in. Okay first, homes with major structural issues can be a real problem. I'm not just referring to sort of squeaky floorboards or a crack in the driveway. I'm talking about shifting foundations, cracked beams, rotting support walls, the kind of problems that could literally break down the house right? So if a home inspection comes back with phrases like structural engineer suggested, take that as your cue to walk away. Repairs like these aren't just expensive, they're disruptive, time-consuming and in some cases they can make the home uninsurable and trust me you don't want to buy a home that you can't insure. Okay so number two category is properties that are in high-risk zones. In the greater Seattle area that usually means flood zones, landslide areas or places right on fault lines where earthquakes would occur. Okay and I know some of these homes are in gorgeous areas the home up on the bluff in Magnolia or Lake Washington but beauty comes with the price and in this case it's often sky-high insurance premiums or total denial of coverage. So especially in the flood zones this has been becoming more and more of a problem. So you're looking at a farm like up in Sohomish County or Skagit County then beware. Before you fall in love with those types of places you got to double check the FEMA flood maps, the slide risk maps and ask your lender about zoning. There's no point in buying a dream home if you're gonna stay awake every night losing sleep you know when it's raining. So the other thing to be aware of is wildfire prone areas. Same deal with summers getting hotter and drier many insurers are pulling out of those zones or charging a small fortune to protect houses near fire zones. So look at your budget and your peace of mind and try to avoid those types of properties. Third I want you to avoid homes with unresolved legal or zoning issues. This is the kind of hidden problem that most buyers never see coming. Here we're talking about homes with title issues. Maybe there's the title report which your insurance is meant to cover but sometimes there are things on there that are disclosed but you didn't realize. So it's good to look at that with a title professional and I always recommend that people read their title report so they know what's actually on there including any kind of right-of-ways for the property that they may not have been aware of. Okay like imagine a situation like this where a client almost buys a duplex in West Seattle with an illegal basement apartment unit. It looked great on paper but it wasn't zoned for multifamily use and if they'd moved forward they could have been forced to rip out the entire setup after closing. So before you go under contract we always have a title company do a thorough title search and if anything is fishy we get it fixed before moving forward. Number four homes in declining neighborhoods. Okay yes Seattle's real estate market feels like it's always going up and it's evolving but some areas actually go down in value. I have seen buyers get wooed by cheap prices in neighborhoods that have increasing crime, poor schools, declining property values and you can get stuck with an investment that isn't going anywhere. You know if you're not planning to hold it for five years if you're trying to sell it the next year you might be in trouble. So if you're not sure how a neighborhood is trending ask your realtor for some hyper local data and we can drill down and see what's going on and we can show it to you so that you have proof and you can make a smart decision. You want to look at comparable sales, you want to look at days on market, want to look at recent sales volume and talk to the neighbors. That's almost always a wonderful source of information. Drive by the property at night, see what's going on, trust your instincts and do your research. Remember real estate should build wealth not drain it. Number five let's talk about DYI disaster properties. Last but not least the handyman specials with the weekend warrior upgrades. And don't get me wrong because I do I love a good home improvement project but when I walk into a home and I see uneven tile, janky plumbing or electrical work that looks like it was done from a YouTube tutorial I get nervous because what seems like you know a fun flip and people watch HGTV and they can do that themselves it can turn into a code violation nightmare and if the work wasn't permitted or wasn't done to code then guess who gets to fix it after you move in? You! Yay! So always check for permits, ask about whether work was done by licensed contractors and if something doesn't quite look right it probably isn't. My favorite is when I go to a house that's actually owned by a contractor that's for sale and they have furnished it with remnants like every room has a different type of flooring because they got just enough to do the flooring for that one room but it doesn't match throughout the entire house. Different types of tile, different bathrooms, kitchens, all you know all different places. It's very amusing actually but it can be unsoothing it stimulates you in a weird way that makes you feel like things are off. So I'm curious now if you've ever bought a home that you regretted and so if you have I would love to hear your horror story about that so you could put it in the comments and now that we've walked through kind of these red flag properties I would like to see if you have any other questions so again put that in the comments and I'm here to help. Maybe you have your own list of red flags, a funky smell, a weird layout, something that the home inspector said that changed your mind and scared you away from the property. Drop a comment and tell me your horror story because you never know who you might help by sharing your experiences, right? People are obviously watching this video because they've got some niggling concern in the back of their mind that something is going wrong. So if you're ready to shop smart I'm here to help. Seattle real estate is very competitive and it's easy to fall in love with the wrong house if you're not careful but with the right strategy and the right team supporting you hopefully we can avoid some of these common pitfalls and find a home that truly fits your lifestyle and your budget. So if you're thinking about buying a home in Seattle or you just want to bounce a few ideas around feel free to chat with me you can call me shoot me a text message visit my website HomeProAssociates.com and I will guide you on this journey.