Winter house hunting
Saturday was the first snowy showy day of the year. Roads were not so bad away from town, but Arlington, Cambridge, and Somerville were pretty miserable. One agent (Arlington) bailed out of her appointment with us (we saw it Sunday.) I moved an office discussion meeting to Davis Square because I was unsure my office parking lot would be clear enough to use.
Generally, I think showing property in dismal weather is a waste of time. Safety should be first and foremost. If it really dangerous on the roads; stay off them. From a purely real estate perspective, it is hard to judge a house in poor natural light conditions. You cannot get a good sense of a house in poor natural lighting. In the middle of a storm, you don?t get to see how a house handles the storm either; that happens later.
If you are picking through the winter leftovers, there are things you can see now that you may not notice in the spring. There are also things you cannot see.
Some things to look for after the storm:
Walkways: Look for places where melting water will puddle and refreeze along walkways. These will need your attention anytime there is snow on the ground. Also notice how much sidewalk needs to be cleared. This time of year, that house on the hill is much less attractive with its 32 steps! Also corners are a lot of work.
Landscaping: snow-cover covers flaws in landscaping. You need to look more carefully, and study snowless pictures, to avoid surprise craters and rocks. An extreme version of this is a story I heard recently about an abandoned car being left on a property. The property closed during last winter and the new owners discovered the abandoned wreck after closing. (I am not sure that one passes the smell test, but it is a great image.)
Drainage: Downspouts freeze and get damaged. Icicles hang from gutters and invite ice dams.
Insulation: If the attic is insulated properly, the heat from the house doesn?t get to heat up the underside of the roof to melt the snow. It is common to see melt around skylights, which do not insulate all that well. You can spot similar gaps in insulation on a roof with a finished attic. In finished attics, the insulation is along the underside of the roof; if the insulation has shifted, heat will find its way out of the house. This shows up as melted patches. In unfinished attics, the insulation is in the floor, so it is harder to identify specific spots where the insulation is not doing enough to keep the house heat in.
Wet basements: they show up when the snow is melting, not when it is falling or fully frozen.
Natural Lighting: houses are unusually dismal when the snow if falling. Also be aware that they are exceptionally bright when there is sun and snow on the ground. The snow reflects and exaggerates the sunlight.
