Buying in El Paso?

10 Crucial Tips for Home Buyers in El Paso, Texas (Part 1)

Getting Started with Your Home Search

If you're thinking about buying a home in El Paso, Texas, this video is for you. We're going to be talking about 10 red flags to watch out for when searching for homes. This is part one, where we'll cover the first five red flags. We've got five more equally important ones in part two, so definitely check that out.

Red Flag #1: Weird Floor Plans or Bizarre Layouts

This issue is really important. With new homes, it's not usually a problem because new builders understand what buyers want. We've pretty much figured out what works: most buyers want an open floor plan and contained bedrooms, however they're positioned.

With resale homes, though, you can get some weird things. Sometimes people do remodel jobs-a lot of them DIY-and you end up with really bizarre layouts. For instance, there's something called a pass-through bedroom. Maybe somebody decided they had a three-bedroom house and wanted to add a fourth bedroom, so they stuck up a wall somewhere. A pass-through bedroom is where you literally have to walk through a bedroom to get into a deeper part of the house.

We've seen these when showing houses and they're always bizarre and weird. What does that mean for whoever is living in that bedroom? Zero privacy. Plus, it might not even be able to legally list as a four-bedroom if there isn't a closet or if it doesn't meet code requirements. Layout is super important. The functionality of the floor plan is crucial. Make sure you find a layout that works for you and your family.

Red Flag #2: The Age of Big Ticket Items

When you're evaluating a home, look at the age of major systems. We're talking about the roof-which has its own red flag-but also the HVAC system, the water heater, and other big-ticket items.

Here in El Paso, the heat definitely changes the lifespan of these items. For an HVAC system, you're looking at 10 to 15 years with general maintenance. With really good maintenance, you can get 15 to 20 years. Some people even see 18 years before they break.

The water heater is going to be 8 to 12 years. Remember, here in El Paso, the water is basically loaded with calcium and magnesium, which settles at the bottom of the tank. This causes overheating of the bottom of the tank, creates more strain on the heating element, reduces efficiency, and obviously creates corrosion over time. So definitely check out these items because they're going to have a shorter lifespan here than in other areas.

Often, sellers can tell you how old these items are, which gives you a good idea of what to expect. Ideally, you'd get a house with a new HVAC and new water heater. But if you're buying a resale home, honestly, you don't have a ton of control over that. It's something you should keep in mind because it's probably going to affect your maintenance costs down the road.

Red Flag #3: Evaporative Coolers Instead of Central Air

In El Paso and drier climates, there are two different types of AC units you can have. Most people from other parts of the country are used to what we call central air or refrigerated air. That's the newer type of air conditioning that most newer homes have.

However, older homes here have what are called evaporative coolers or swamp coolers. They work by evaporating water and blowing that coolness into the home. But there are problems with evaporative coolers.

They're not great for larger square footage homes. Buyers coming from humid climates don't understand the limitations. Swamp coolers only work in dry climates. When humidity rises-like in the monsoon season, which is summer here-they lose most of their cooling power. Summer is exactly when you need them to work the most, but they can't cool down the home adequately. They might cool a home only 10 to 15 degrees below outside temperatures. If it's 105 degrees outside and you can only cool your house to 90 or 85, that's not going to cut it.

They also require more maintenance. They need to be winterized. Because they're evaporating water constantly and the units sit on the roof, a lot of water runs down the pitched roof and they inevitably leak. Watch out for this. When you're looking at a resale home, is it an evaporative cooler or refrigerated AC? That's going to make a big difference.

Red Flag #4: Roof Type and Sun Exposure

Here in El Paso, the intense sun definitely changes the lifespan of your roof. El Paso homes mainly have flat roofs, tile roofs, or shingle roofs.

Let's talk about flat roofs, which are pretty popular here. Typically, with good maintenance, a flat roof can last 20 to 25 years. Without good maintenance-which most people don't do-it's going to be 10 to 15 years.

There are many things that cause flat roofs to start failing. Clogged drains, ponding water sitting on the roof for days, seams that split-even though it doesn't rain a lot here, when it does, letting water sit on the roof is a problem. The big thing that people miss is coating reapplication. This is the main maintenance that people overlook. They don't think it's important, but it really changes the lifespan of your roof.

By contrast, most people are used to pitched roofs with shingles, and those do just fine here. They actually do better here than in other places because we don't get a lot of rain and wind. The only thing we really get is sun, but shingles and tile roofs can handle sun no problem.

Since a lot of our homes have that modern flat roof style, that's what everyone freaks out about. A flat roof is basically a rolled membrane that you coat with a sealant to make it waterproof. Sometimes there are seams. When the sun hits them and they start to open up, if you don't recoat every 3 years or so, water's going to get in and it's going to be a problem.

If you take care of it just like your HVAC and these other big ticket items, it's going to last. But for most people, it's out of sight, out of mind. Flat roofs typically function fine, but that's why the home inspection is really important.

Red Flag #5: Overpriced or Underpriced Homes

This one should seem obvious, but let's say it anyway. A big red flag when searching for homes is if the home is overpriced-or even underpriced. The trick is that most people aren't real estate agents and don't have the tools to really know if a home is overpriced or underpriced.

That's where you need a great real estate agent who's going to do a comparative market analysis, look at the data, and make sure you're not paying too much for a home. That's the worst case scenario, right? Nobody wants to overpay.

If a home is underpriced, that suggests there might be some issues with that home. It's a red flag that you might be willing to eat if you're going to get a home for a better price. But it's really important to investigate the aspects of the home that matter so you're not buying what turns out to be a lemon.

These are the first five red flags. We've got five more that are equally important, but we'll get to those in the next episode.