Coming to terms with the fact that the house you've been meaning to buy is a lemon can be a challenging thing. When you fall in love with a house, you do everything to fight for it, even to the extent of rationalizing its faults to yourself. For example, a couple ready to invest on real estate decides to try to break into the Gilbert real estate scene. They look at Gilbert homes for sale and find a gem of a fixer-upper. If the couple falls in love with the place, chances are they may be tempted to overlook or rationalize some faults that they see in the house. Granted that no house is perfect, you should still learn to recognize a lemon when you see one. Here are a few indications that the house you're looking at may not be a sound investment in the future:

It has obvious cracks along the walls and on the foundation.

Cracks are not things that you should ignore. Hairline cracks come naturally as the house ages, but obvious cracks that line the walls and especially on the foundation could indicate serious structural issues in the house. It's possible that the foundation may not have been built well enough to withstand the weight of the house or there's water damage somewhere that's weakening the foundation. Have a house inspector inspect the house and check if the cracks you see on the walls indicate any serious issues in the structure.

The roof needs to be replaced.

Unless you're getting a huge discount on the house (huge enough that you'll have enough money left to buy a new roof), it's a bad idea to buy one with a roof that needs to be replaced. You should also check whether there would be any issues with the house supporting a new roof. The idea is to avoid situations where you can buy a new roof but, for some reason, some structural issues will prevent you from properly installing it.

The floor is not level.

This isn't immediately obvious but there are some houses that aren't level. In other words, the house is a bit tilted. To determine if you're buying a tilted house, just bring a carpenter's level with you when you visit a house and put it on the floor. Depending on how tilted the house is, correcting this structural issue could cost tens of thousands of dollars, not to mention the inconvenience it will cost you in the future.

The doors and windows don't close properly.

Some people think that doors and windows that don't close properly are because of age or because they need oiling. Sometimes the reason why they don't close have to do with the fact that their frames have warped, or the walls they are attached to have begun to get skewed. Again, this is an indication of structural issues or water damage that could cost a lot of money to correct.

If you're unsure of how to check for these things, it's best to have a home inspector check out a house for you before you commit to buying it.