15 Questions to Ask When Buying a House

Picture this: You’re in the thick of house hunting when you finally stumble onto the perfect home. It’s got those granite countertops you’ve always wanted, a big backyard for the kiddos, and a cozy garage that’ll keep your car frost-free in the wintertime.

So, you should definitely tell your agent to make an offer, right? Not quite!

Before taking the plunge on a house, you need to ask some important questions to make sure it’s the right choice. To help you dig into the right info, here’s a list of 15 questions to get you started.

Let’s dive in!

15 Questions to Ask When Buying a House

Here’s what to ask when buying a house:

1. Does it fit my housing budget?
2. How much are closing costs?
3. How much will I need to furnish and decorate?
4. What’s the location like?
5. What are the schools like?
6. Is the location prone to natural disasters?
7. Are there any problems with the house?
8. How old is the roof?
9. How old are the appliances?
10. What’s included when I buy?
11. What are similar homes selling for?
12. What’s the reason for selling?
13. How many days has the house been on the market?
14. How much are the property taxes and HOA fees?
15. What do utilities typically cost each month?

The first question you need to ask yourself when looking at any house is: Does this house fit my budget? It’s really important to make a good home budget and stick to it so you don’t wind up with a huge payment you can barely afford. That’s a recipe for disaster. If it happens, your house will own you—and you need to own it!

So, how do you know how much house you can afford? Keep your mortgage payments to no more than 25% of your monthly take-home pay (including property taxes, insurance, homeowners association fees and private mortgage insurance). That way, you’ll have breathing room in your budget and enough money left over every month to put toward other important financial goals, like investing for retirement.

For an easy way to get a good idea of your house-buying budget, use our free Mortgage Calculator.

Another money-related question you should ask is how much you’ll pay in closing costs. As a ballpark estimate, you’ll probably pay around 3–4% of your home’s purchase price in closing costs.¹ So, if you’re buying a $300,000 home, you’ll likely have to pay $9,000–12,000 in closing costs.

Make sure you save up enough cash to cover closing costs on top of whatever you save for a down payment.

3. How much will I need to furnish and decorate?

If you’re buying a home that already looks exactly how you want it to, complete with your ideal paint colors and a full set of furniture, throw a party! But if you aren’t one of the lucky few in that crowd, you’ll need to figure out how much work you’ll need to do in the furnishing and decorating department.

It may be as simple as buying a $20 can of paint and transporting furniture you already own from your current space to your new one. But you might need to go a step or two further—like purchasing new furniture.

Find expert agents to help you buy your home.

If that’s the case, only buy furniture you can pay cash for—whether that means buying new or used pieces. Do not fall into the trap of using a payment plan from a furniture store or a buy now, pay later company like Klarna or Afterpay. Taking on consumer debt on top of a mortgage will leave way too much of your paycheck going out the door in payments.

Keep your financial goals on track by decorating one room at a time if you need to. You might have some empty rooms for a little while, but your budget and your future self will thank you!

Asking about the location is a big one. There are several important things you’ll want to know about a neighborhood before you move into it, like:

• Distance from work: There’s nothing wrong with a longer commute, but you do want to know what you’re getting into. Especially in bigger cities, the neighborhood you’re looking at may not be as close to your office as you think.
• Distance from schools: Chances are, you don’t want to drive your kids an hour to school every morning.
• Convenience of shopping: How far is the nearest grocery store? How many grocery stores do you have to choose from?
• Distance from friends and family: Everyone needs community in their life, and that can be really tough if you’re too far away from your loved ones.
• Property values in the area: You want to buy a home in the bottom price range of its neighborhood—those homes are much more likely to increase in value and sell faster. Also, you should avoid buying a home in an area where property values are going down—that could make it tougher to sell later.

Getting some clarity on these details will help you decide if a certain location or neighborhood is the right fit for your wants and needs.

If you have (or plan to have) any kids, asking questions about the quality of the school districts near your potential home is obviously a big deal. But even if you don’t have kids, keep in mind that a home located near good schools could be more valuable when it’s time to sell. 

If you’ve never lived in an area that has hurricanes or severe weather warnings, you’ve probably never had to think about how to protect yourself. So, ask if your new home is located in an area where tornadoes, floods, wildfires, earthquakes or ice storms are common. Then make sure your home insurance covers any natural disasters that your area is prone to. If it doesn’t, you may need to buy extra coverage. (Our RamseyTrusted^® local insurance agents can help with that.)

The answer to this question isn’t always easy to find on your own, which is why you absolutely need to get a home inspection before you buy. Sure, your seller is required to report any known problems, but they could always leave something out (accidentally or intentionally).

A good home inspection will give you info on the safety and performance of things like the roof, foundation, electrical system, HVAC system and plumbing. If any red flags pop up, you can either pass on the house, request the homeowner resolve some or all of the issues before closing, or see if you can negotiate for a lower price and fix the problems yourself once the home is yours.

Most roofing experts say an asphalt roof has a lifespan of around 20 years. So before you buy a house, you should ask an important question about the roof: How old is it? If the roof is approaching the end of its life expectancy, it could cost you over $9,000 to replace it.² You don’t want a surprise roof replacement messing up your budget.

Imagine moving into your brand-spankin’-new house only to find out all the appliances are pretty much busted. Not good, huh? Well, if you know certain major appliances are on their last legs before you buy the house, you can avoid that unwanted surprise. Plus, you can probably work out a nice deal with the seller.

So, ask about the current life expectancy of all the items that come with the house and when they might need to be replaced. This includes stuff like the HVAC system, water heater, washer and dryer, refrigerator, stove and dishwasher.

You’ll definitely want to ask what’s included with the house you’re buying, especially since some states have different laws about the stuff that should be included in a home purchase. Don’t just assume you’re buying all the appliances, light fixtures and window treatments (like blinds or drapes) when you make an offer. If you do, you might find yourself upset when there’s a gaping, empty space in the kitchen where the refrigerator used to sit.

Next, you’ll want to dig into the home price. Specifically, you’ll want to know what similar homes in the area are selling for. The answer to this question can show you if the home you want to buy is set at a fair price.

Not an expert in local real estate economics? No need to worry! This is a question your real estate agent can help you answer. They’ll have insider knowledge of current home sales and home types in the area where you’re looking to buy. And just so you know the lingo, this is called a comparative market analysis (CMA).

See if you can find out why the seller is leaving, because digging into their motivation might give you some extra negotiating power. For example, if a seller is leaving because they got a new job in another city and need to move quickly, they might be more willing to work with you on the price to get it sold faster.

Asking this question could also give you some insight about the quality of the house. While your seller probably won’t come right out and say, “I’m leaving because this place is a dump!” you should be a little concerned if they can’t give you a clear reason for why they want to move—like wanting to upsize or be closer to family.

There are two sides of the coin on this question. On one side, the longer a house sits on the market, the more likely the seller will be flexible on price. On the flip side, a house that’s having trouble getting sold could have some issues you need to look out for.

So, if a house you’re interested in has been sitting on the market for a while, dig in with your agent and see if you can get to the bottom of why. If there are no red flags, you may have stumbled on a chance to get a discount.

To give you a frame of reference, the average house spent 55 days on the market in September 2024 across the U.S.³ Now, that number may look different in your local area, and it may also fluctuate based on the time of year. Every market is unique, so ask your real estate agent to give you an idea of how fast houses are moving in the market where you’re shopping.

Your mortgage won’t be the only monthly expense attached to your new home—you’ll also have to pay property taxes, homeowners insurance premiums and, likely, homeowners association (HOA) fees. You don’t want to be blindsided by any of those costs, so figure out how big those bills will be before you buy a house.

For reference, the average monthly HOA fee for a single-family home is $300 a month.⁴ Property taxes and insurance costs will vary based on where you live and the value of your home.

You’ll also want to dig into a home’s typical utility costs before signing the dotted line. Ask the seller how much they pay in a typical month for water, electricity and heating or air conditioning. Or, better yet, ask if you can see one of their previous bills for each utility.

You’ve Got This!

There you have it, folks. Now you know the top questions to ask when buying a house—which is like having a secret weapon for a stress-free home-buying experience in your back pocket. But here’s the deal: It’ll only work if you use it. So, go ask these questions!