My realtor and I spent a lot of time touring different houses, trying to find the one that felt like home for me. There were tons of houses on the market to choose from, but they each had their positives and negatives. Some houses were pretty in the pictures, but not great in person. Some houses cropped out the surroundings, which were dumpy houses or main highways. When I first hired my real estate agent, I was very clear that I wanted something that wasn’t going to cost me a lot of money to upkeep. I didn’t mind putting in work to update a house because it would add value to the home, but the bones had to be good. One week, I toured two different homes that were promising. After touring both, I asked my real estate agent to contact the sellers and ask for documentation of their HVAC maintenance. I wanted to see the age of the HVAC system, and also how well maintained they were. HVAC systems cost thousands of dollars, but they were crucial for comfort. I wasn’t willing to spend money on a house and a brand new furnace and air conditioning system. One seller sent back four years of HVAC maintenance. From the paperwork, I could tell there were no issues. The other house had only two documents. They didn’t show any major problems, but I could tell that it wasn’t maintained as well. I ended up putting an offer in on the first house because the HVAC system was taken care of and I knew I wouldn’t have to replace it soon.