Buying your first house is so darn exciting! Keep an eye out, though—as someone who doesn’t already have experience buying a home, you might overlook some of the smaller things that can really spell trouble down the line. The first house I owned was a renovated summer cottage—and it had so many problems that I didn’t know about until I moved in: faulty wiring, walls insulated with old clothing behind the drywall, a shot well, a finished attic with no ventilation.