Wow, it's amazing to read this thread and see how many things could be a problem! Nearly everything one could think of has already been mentioned.
When I bought this house, I had already "researched" the neighborhood in a sense; Frank lives next door, and had for 11 years so I been over there nearly every day and knew all about the neighborhood (and liked it). Another factor that I discovered is that the joy of living next door to one's sweetie can compensate for some fairly minor stuff.
I guess I can contribute the idea of thinking about the landscaping, and how much it may cost to change it to the yard you want. My yard was literally a jungle, very unkempt with several of the most gigantic water oaks around plus scads of other trees and bushes not to mention wildlife. I am more of a "nothing but grass" kind of gal. I knew I'd have to have the jungle removed in order to be happy. So, I mentally added my own estimate of the cost to have all that removed, to the cost of the home when deciding on my offer. Then right after I moved in I had the yard re-landscaped, re-graded, and new dirt and sod brought in, not to mention all new concrete work, and so on. That was costly but worked out nicely, because it was an expected expense and I got what I wanted.
Think about the laundry room; is it too small? New, oversized HE washers and dryers can be larger than washers and dryers that people bought 50 years ago. In my case the dryer door hits the wall when less than fully open, and it's impossible to get my laundry cart past the dryer to the washer. We figured out a makeshift way to deal with the problem, sort of. I could tear down walls but this is easier. It would have been nice if the laundry room had just been a foot wider.
Are there plans to re-do the street? That can go on for months or years and could be annoying. They were tearing up our street when I moved in, and it was tricky to get the moving van to my house. But they finished just a week or two afterwards so I haven't had to deal with it since then.