5 Homes To Think Twice About Before Buying

Most buyers don't lose money because the market crashed.

They lose money because they bought the wrong house. At the wrong price. For the wrong reason.

This episode is a warning label.

After touring thousands of homes and closing hundreds of transactions, we've watched buyers fall into the same expensive traps over and over again.

Sometimes because their agent didn't know better. Sometimes because their agent just wanted the sale.

We're breaking down the 5 types of homes that quietly crush your resale value, drain your wallet, and leave you stuck.

One of them looks amazing on Zillow… until you step outside.

One of them has a simple "golf ball test" that tells you everything you need to know.

And one of them? It's actually an opportunity hiding in plain sight—if you know how to read between the lines.

These aren't "never buys." But they ARE homes that require serious due diligence before you sign.

Because any house can make sense at the right price.

But only if you know where to look.

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Transcript

Rachael Novak:

[0:33] All right we are back and today we are talking about five homes that you should think twice

about before buying okay and this is like coming through the lens of touring thousands of homes

over my career and your career as well and transacting hundreds and hundreds of times like i've

just kind of seen the trappings that buyers fall into that can be really expensive mistakes that they

make and that a lot of times the agents either are unaware of or they don't tell the people about

because they just want to get a sale.

Mike Novak:

[1:03] Yep.

Rachael Novak:

[1:04] Whatever it is. So this is going to be talking to you, the agents to coach your buyers and also

just to buyers in general, you know, just to be more alert into like, what are some things you should

really watch out for? And these are not like hard stops. Like you shouldn't buy this house. These

are just like caution signs, like really think twice, do your due diligence and decide if buying this

home with this potential flaw still makes sense. And I think that any home can make sense at the

right price. But that price has to take into consideration the potential flaw or defect this home has.

Mike Novak:

[1:38] And this is especially true for people who are buying this house not as the forever home, but

specifically as one that they do plan to resell five, seven, eight years down the line. to buy the next

big forever home. So like, if your plan is future resale, you have to be thinking about these things.

Rachael Novak:

[1:58] Yeah. And for some reason, like, you know, that move up buyer has disappeared in the last

five years. Like most buyers, for some reason, they feel like they need to buy the dream house

now. And that's really not the way that real estate has ever been designed. You know, you know,

it's, it's better to get your foot in the door and get like a less expensive, you know, stability of

homeownership, a place that you can really call your own and then upgrade that home like five to

eight years later. So side note, we do always tell people like, please don't buy a house unless

you're going to stay there for at least three to five years.Mike Novak:

[2:31] Yes, yes, exactly.

Rachael Novak:

[2:33] That would be like any home you want to think twice about for sure. Like is the place that you

would live in for less than five years.

Mike Novak:

[2:38] So exactly.

Rachael Novak:

[2:39] But let's jump right into it. The first one is the home that's off the busy road. This is like a really

big red flag to me. It's not a deal killer per se, but it is definitely a cautionary sign that you should

think twice about it, right? And this is going to be like those major arterials that go in and out of

cities, right? So obviously, like, you know, we live in Snomish County. I wouldn't buy a house off like

Highway 9. But I'd also think twice about like, you know, for those, no, Mary's are like 88th Street.

Mike Novak:

[3:06] Right?

Rachael Novak:

[3:07] Like roads that have very busy traffic on them. Those homes are always going to be harder to

resell they're going to sell for less money and the reason why is that no one wants to live off of

main road exactly it's busy it's dangerous for kids it's just not like a great experience yeah exactly

that's one that i would really caution you on.

Mike Novak:

[3:25] I couldn't agree more.

Rachael Novak:

[3:27] And you know i think some buyers pick up on that themselves but i think some agents are

afraid to name it and and i.

Mike Novak:

[3:34] Totally agree and i think you know i think we talked a week or two ago about how you know

people use like part of the value that we provide as agents is navigating people sometimes away

from things that they may not see so you know if you if you're showing a home like i i literally just

went this yesterday i showed i showed a new buyer a couple of really beautiful townhouses all

throughout snohomish county she's figuring out what community she wants to live in and one of the

houses that we went and saw the community is immediately off of a big thoroughfare and granted

it's gated but every time she would come out of that driveway she is having to turn on to like she'd

have to take a right every time and then go around to get to the freeway you know what i mean so

like and so i pointed that out and i said so if if this would be an option just remember like you likely

wouldn't be able to turn left here ever you would be waiting forever and even turning right you'd

have to scoot on out of there and then you have to go all the way around hit the freeways is that

going to be efficient for your lifestyle right yeah.Rachael Novak:

[4:29] Potentially getting an accident pulling.

Mike Novak:

[4:31] Out of your driveway yeah maybe.

Rachael Novak:

[4:32] You have like a teenage driver like we do and you just don't want to put them in that situation.

Mike Novak:

[4:35] Not happening so.

Rachael Novak:

variation of.

[4:36] The second one would be the home that backs up to the highway or the freeway so kind of a

Mike Novak:

[4:42] The first one similar you.

Rachael Novak:

[4:43] Know in our area this would be like i5 405 you on highway 9 like roads or cars are going like

50 miles an hour plus.

Mike Novak:

[4:51] Yeah you.

Rachael Novak:

[4:52] Don't want to get that home that backs up to that.

Mike Novak:

[4:54] Because a lot of them have like their truck routes too right so it's very loud it's so very yeah

and it's non-stop right all day every day all night overnight yeah and.

Rachael Novak:

[5:04] So when you go to resell this home you're going to disqualify like nine out of ten buyers the

second they go outside and you may be you may be able to even hear it inside you know.

Mike Novak:

[5:13] It unfortunately it's never you're totally right because it's it's never something that people are

like like it's the first thing that people are like no i don't i don't want that period it, The house has to

be so nice and so well put together and so beautiful inside or soundproofed or whatever that it

would make it worth it. You're having to overcome that specific detail of the house with every single

buyer.

Rachael Novak:

[5:37] Yeah. And again, if you had the right price, maybe it makes sense, but it's going to be

something you have to deal with every day. It's going to eventually drive you nuts.Mike Novak:

[5:43] Yes.

Rachael Novak:

[5:43] People say you get used to it, but I think you actually just grow to resent it.

Mike Novak:

[5:47] I would agree with that.

Rachael Novak:

[5:48] So the third one is the home that's got the lipstick cosmetic flip to it.

Mike Novak:

[5:52] What do you mean by this, Michael?

Rachael Novak:

[5:53] This is the home that sold four months ago for $300,000 less. And you can literally see the

layers of paint holding things together. Okay.

Mike Novak:

[6:03] We call this, what this reference is, is like lipstick on a pig, right? Like you're just putting

makeup on something that's not very cute. And hoping that they don't notice.

Rachael Novak:

[6:13] Right. And the thing to really watch is that the best cosmetic flippers, they actually will spend

some money in the kitchen and bathrooms so that you overlook the rest of the house. Like they

know that that's where the decision making is going to lie. And so they spend money there and they

do things like, you know, nice full extension dovetail cabinets and drawers and things like that.

Quartz counters, which grabs people when they walk into the house. but then when you start like

looking a little bit closer and like opening up closets and things you're like this is kind of a piece of

shit.

Mike Novak:

[6:40] That's helping out this duct tape right and so you got.

Rachael Novak:

[6:43] To really watch out for that and the best way to like spot this is just slow down when you're

touring this type of home and look at the details.

Mike Novak:

[6:50] Right is.

Rachael Novak:

[6:51] This just been thrown together or is this home been really well remodeled.

Mike Novak:

[6:55] Right i'm gonna give you a tip on this one because i i again i walked through two flipsyesterday two houses that we saw and one of them was really really well done and how I knew it

was really well done was because every single door had been replaced and the hinges inside the

doors and the interior doors all matched the hardware everything was new that means I knew that

person who did that that flip had attention to detail is very well done so if you're walking through

something that has a flip look at the doorknobs look at the hinges on the doors look inside the

closets like Mike said if things are not matching then you know that they cut corners on a couple of

the cosmetic things. And you never know where they also cut corners on mechanical or structural

systems.

Rachael Novak:

touched the attic.

[7:37] Well, that's exactly what I was going to say is oftentimes these cosmetic flips, they haven't

Mike Novak:

[7:42] Right.

Rachael Novak:

[7:42] They haven't touched the crawl space. They haven't touched the furnace. They haven't

touched the water here. Like maybe people don't see those. Yeah. These are like the expensive

systems of the home that you're going to have to deal with later. And they know that most people

are going to look at them.

Mike Novak:

[7:53] Exactly.

Rachael Novak:

[7:53] So just watch out for that. Okay.

Mike Novak:

[7:54] 100% agree.

Rachael Novak:

[7:55] And I'm not trying to like, you know, say don't go buy a remodeled house, but just look really

carefully. And like you said, Rachel, look at the attention to detail. If you see attention to detail in

what you're looking at, that's a really good sign. So number four is the home that has foundation or

structural issues. If you get the home at the right price, I don't think this is a huge deal, but you

know, like we live in Everett or our offices in Everett and there's a lot of homes that were built in the

late 1800s, early 1900s that have settled massively. I'm talking like two to three inches in corners,

right? And this issue can be fixed, but a lot of these have like post and pier foundations. They don't

have poured in place foundations. And if you want to pour it in place foundation, which is really

what you want in a house, you're talking about jacking this house up and then pouring that

foundation underneath it and then dropping it back down the place, which is like a hundred

thousand dollar extra space. So again, if you get the right price, it could make sense. But a lot of

people don't even pick up on this. And I can like see it because of my building background. I walk in

the house because the whole, I feel like I'm, I'm walking on like an angle.Mike Novak:

[8:51] Right.

Rachael Novak:

[8:52] And I can see everything just kind of drifting towards one corner of the house. And then I can

see that doors don't close smoothly.

Mike Novak:

[8:58] Right.

Rachael Novak:

[8:58] The doors, when they don't close and they're rubbing at the top or the bottom that's a huge

red flag that.

Mike Novak:

[9:03] Something has settled a lot so i had i had a couple of sets of buyers years ago in the north

everett neighborhoods and they were specifically looking like these older homes they wanted when

they wanted the character they wanted all that well it got to the point where as we were going

through some of these properties like i kept showing them like this is this flooring is not good so i i

brought a golf ball and i would literally i would put it in on the floor in the middle of the living room

and we would watch it like how fast it would roll to one side. So tip, if you're looking at those old

homes, or if that's what is possible in your neighborhood or what you're looking for, Just be aware

of that. Look at that.

Rachael Novak:

[9:37] And this ties into financing issues too. Like a lot of people that are, you know, using low down

payment options like the state bond program, FHA, VA, those loan programs have really stringent

property requirements. And so if the home needs a roof, if the roof is caving in, if the foundation is

crumbling or it's leaning too much, like that's going to get called out in an appraisal and you're not

going to get a loan on the house.

Mike Novak:

[10:00] Right.

Rachael Novak:

[10:01] There's certain criteria that has to be met for this home to qualify for financing. and

oftentimes these kinds of issues will keep it from being qualified for that.

Mike Novak:

[10:07] Yep, totally.

Rachael Novak:

[10:08] Less of an issue for conventional financing. The final one we got for you today and you see

this one a lot is the home that went under contract and comes back on the market. Not always a

red flag but something you need to dive deeper in and we need to keep in mind when homes come

off the market oftentimes they have inspection contingencies. A buyer may or may not even do theinspection and oftentimes they just change their minds. They get payment shock when they see the

payment quote. shame on those lenders that don't run payment scenarios before the person offers

on the house.

Mike Novak:

[10:37] Exactly.

Rachael Novak:

[10:38] So they see their payment for the first time once they're under contract, which is horrible.

And then they decide, hey, I actually don't want to buy this house. They back out. So in that

instance, you know, not a big worry, but you don't know if that's what's happened or not without

digging deeper, you know? So just proceed cautiously, try to get your agent to figure out from the

listing agent why it came back in the market. Sometimes they'll tell you the truth. And sometimes I

smell bullshit a mile away.

Mike Novak:

[11:00] Yeah, exactly. And I'm going to play devil's advocate on this one, too, because I do think that

especially in the market that we've had in 2025, like I'm excited to see what 2026 turns out to be

and what it looks like. But in 2025, I would say that there were so many buyers that came out of

contract in the initial inspection contingency because of that sticker shock or because of cold feet

or whatever. And so there was actually a, at that point for buyers to where instead of saying, what's

wrong with the house? Be like, oh, shoot, like, was nothing wrong? And do I have an opportunity to

go swoop in and get this thing while the sellers are emotional?

Rachael Novak:

[11:39] Yeah. For my VIP buyers, I actually watch back on markets really closely.

Mike Novak:

[11:42] Yes, exactly. That's what I'm saying.

Rachael Novak:

[11:42] But I also know how to figure out what really happened. You know what I mean? So if you're

an agent, just, you know, make sure you're doing your due diligence for your buyers, leading them

straight, you know, and doing your homework on the property. Yeah, exactly right. But those are

like the five big ones. You know, if you avoid these five issues, you should do really well buying real

estate and making money over the long term. Like I said in the beginning, try to buy with at least a

five to eight year perspective. Like, hey, I'm going to be in this home for that period of time because

it's expensive to sell a home in Washington. There's commissions, there's taxes, there's title and

escrow fees. It's going to take that long to have the home reasonably appreciate. So you make

money when you go to sell, which is ultimately like everyone's goal.

Mike Novak:

[12:17] Yeah, exactly. You're trying to build equity to build wealth.

Rachael Novak:

[12:20] Right. Exactly. So we're shooting this right before Christmas. So Merry Christmas. Happyholidays. There you go.

Mike Novak:

[12:26] Happy New Year. See you next time.