Finally after years of going back and forth with this idea, it looks like it's finally happening. My wife and I found a few properties we're interested in and sent out emails and we're going for viewings soon. Money/bank/mortgage isn't a problem, but I'm a bit nervous on more practical things that I should really look out for. Stuff like small gotchas and non-obvious stuff like "if your house has a red roof in Japan it means…" or whatever other quirky stuff an inexperienced buyer might not know about. Especially stuff I should be asking/digging into with the current owners/estate agent during the viewing.
To give some more context, luckily we're looking in an area where my in laws live and where my wife grew up, so they are very familiar with the location/neighborhood/area. My in laws will help us with the kid and attend the viewing as well so they can give us some advice and already my mother in law (who knows everything about everyone) advised us not to look at some properties cause they were in a bad part of town (land-wise) and the infrastructure was not good etc etc. We'll be relying on their wisdom a lot on making the final choice, but I figured maybe people in here have some cool tips to share as well.
I've already covered my bases on stuff like not buying too old (we're only getting 5 years or less, we don't care about buying new), knowing how stuff depreciate, not buying for "profit" but just to live in, etc.
Also I heard mortgage is tax deducible for the first 10 years so we'll probably go with a 10 year mortgage plan, if that makes sense.
EDIT: I kinda feel bad not replying to everyone but I am reading the responses and taking notes, thanks for all the advice!
by morgawr_