 CHECKING WHAT’S THERE If you go on a search engine and look for a “home buyers checklist” you’ll find a number of different websites where each checklist is meant to help the home buyer with whatever the site is promoting or offering. There are real estate company sites, mortgage company sites, green building sites, and HUD sites. Each of these can be helpful when you’re trying to decide just what you’re going to do. On those sites one of the checklist items is often something like “have you decided just what you’re going to buy?” It’s right here where you can come a cropper if you are simply thinking so many bedrooms for so much money in a particular part of town. Because, as you’ll come to recognize after looking at betterhousesbetterliving.com and, even better, at the book, there are simply a whole raft of things that most people don’t think about when they’re in the home-looking mode.
This is where one of our checklists can help. There are two of them. The different checklists are geared to each of the two situations: - The Existing House Checklist. When you’re buying an existing house, you want to be able to check that the house covers your wants including those you’ve read about in Better Houses, Better Living.
| - The New Home Checklist. When you’re having a home built, you want to be sure that the plans don’t box you in and that you will get the user-friendly house you want.
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Each checklist is 52 pages, 5-1/2” x 8” and has over 300 check items which are arranged in the same order as the subjects in Better Houses, Better Living. The checklists are a lot of tips of things to look for. Each tip is referenced back to the page(s) in Better Houses, Better Living where that subject is discussed. The Existing House Checklist
Generally, in an existing house you can expect to find some things that aren’t perfect. The checklist will help you recognize these things before you make a commitment. If you’re a first-time homebuyer, this checklist will be a big help. It’s so easy to overlook things, particularly when you’ve never owned a house before. As a renter, you’ve learned to live with what you’ve got. As a buyer you should be able to do better. The New Home Checklist
Whether a custom home or an owner-builder home, your primary decisions will generally be made when reviewing floor plans. This checklist is laid out with this in mind to help you be sure you don’t overlook some small detail that could turn out to be a user-unfriendly flaw later on. If you’re considering a semi-custom home or a remodel, the checklist you’ll need will depend on how large the changes are. For big changes involving good-sized floor plans you’ll want the The New Home Checklist. For the semi-custom home where there is an existing basic plan and your changes are relatively minor you’d probably be better off with The Existing House Checklist. For relatively small remodeling jobs you could also use this checklist to be sure you haven’t overlooked something that could be included in the work to be done. A checklist comes as a free bonus when Better Houses, Better Living is ordered directly from Home User Press. Or you can order it separately on the Online Catalog page. | 
