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If the house you are bidding on has any of the following, then you may be able to negotiate a lower price.
- Backed up to a shopping center or land that is zoned for business.
- Backed up to a street with lots of traffic. You'll hear it at night.
- Houses that have any kind of flat roof, for example on a room addition.
- The biggest, most expensive house on the block.
- A house with chipped paint, or a damaged roof, though you may use as a bargining chip at negotiations. You may get a lower price and use the savings to make the repairs.
- Avoid any house that you did not have a home inspection firm review.
- In an area that puts your kid in a bad school, or far from their school.
- In a noisy area like an airport or other industrial area.
- In a high crime area, or one that you must drive through to get home.
- In a neighborhood with high homeowners association maintenance fees.
- In an area prone to flooding when it rains. Visit the house when it's raining.
- A house with only one bathroom. It's very difficult to resell.
- In or near a 15 MPH school zone.
- Neighborhoods with no code enforcement: boats, commercial vans, etc.
- A house with no central heating.
- On a steep hill. This can be a problem in icy winters in northern states.
- Overpriced "premium view" lots. If you can't get a decent price, don't buy.
- Only has a one car garage or a carport. These will be hard to sell.
- In a neighborhood where property values have not increased much.
- 2 bedroom, 2 bath homes are a lot harder to resell than 3 bedroom, 2 bath.
- You don't want a house with a tiny master bedroom or tiny closets.
- A weird architectural design that you'll have a hard time selling later.
- Anywhere near a landfill, or near a water treatment plant.
- Close to the beginning of the block. You'll get all the traffic.
- The lot that gets headlights of all the cars turning onto the street at night.
- Corner lot near the entrance to your street. You'll get tracks in your lawn.
- On a street that's hard to get in and out of, i.e., long traffic light, or busy intersection, or a street that you have to drive past and make a U-turn.
- On a golf course. Expect broken windows. Some people love it, some don't.
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