Viewing a house, tips please!

[lushlonglocks]

Hi everyone! Now we finally have enough money saved up for a deposit after months of hard saving we are starting to look for a house suitable to buy! It is going to be our first house and we are starting on the bottom of the ladder (small, 2 bed, terraced etc) to hopefully upgrade in a few years! We are viewing our first property tomorrow so could anyone please give me any advice on what to look out for or any questions we need to ask? In addition to the obvious damp, cracks, water, boiler etc? Thanks in advance! X

 

[Mobile Manicure]

Try and suss out what the neighbours are like. :Scared:

Find out exactly what is included in the property. We once viewed a house and the owner said she would leave the mangled old shed if we paid an extra £150. That put us right off so we declined on the whole house. Some want extra for carpets, the built in appliances, light fittings etc. Some sellers can be completely pathetic about this.

If you go ahead and put an offer in the estate agent should give you a list of fixtures and fittings included in the price.

 

[lushlonglocks]

Thank you! Never crossed my mind about fittings apart from kitchen/bathroom! Ive made myself an enormous list but still feel like im forgetting things! Feeling really nervous now... Eeeeek! 😁

 

[Meira]

It's a good idea to take note of which direction the garden faces. I didn't realise until after our second viewing that the garden only has 1 corner of sunshine in the morning 😩

Fittings and fixtures can be negotiated. We asked ours to remove a fireplace as our couch wouldn't fit otherwise. (Unfortunately they also took the TV Ariel off the roof too!)

Have a look at the water pressure in the bathroom upstairs, that can be important. And if there are built in appliances make sure you get copies of the guarantees if relevant.

Good luck xx

 

[Mobile Manicure]

Take a good look at the roof. They are costly to replace. And check all the windows for condensation and/or mold.

 

[Dream Nails]

Make sure the loo flushes and the house alarm works. Both didn't in our house when we bought it
Vicki x

 

[lushlonglocks]

Thanks everyone! Going to feel really cheeky now walking around somebody elses house checking their toilets and taps haha! X

 

[lushlonglocks]

Also, if we are happy with the house would you recommend we ask about the chain? No chain on our end but we want to move in ASAP so dont want to be waiting months on end! X

 

[Meira]

Also, if we are happy with the house would you recommend we ask about the chain? No chain on our end but we want to move in ASAP so dont want to be waiting months on end! X

Definitely ask what their position is! The house we were buying was chain free but she owned it under a shared ownership so it took twice as long to complete as effectively we were dealing with two sellers - the owner and the housing association who owned the other %. Also make sure you know if the house is freehold or sharehold and if so how long is left on the lease.

 

[Danella~Vibrant]

Have you got your mortgage agreed in principle? As you're chain free and with mortgage agreed you will be in a strong position. Like others have said. Check the roof, guttering, windows, sills, look for any cracks or signs of damp. If any work needs doing ie kitchen is old and needs updating then factor that in if and when you make an offer. When viewing my current house I also took a compass to check the direction of the garden..lol

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[KHS]

Make sure you also take a drive down the rd at night, some places look lovely by day and a different shady world by night.



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[MissyMuffin]

Check out the neighbours, they can ruin your life! Drive down the road at different times of day. Walk along too. Look for noisy motorbikes etc. check the gardens for rubbish. Look for groups of kids, football in the street etc.
my boss loses sleep cos neighbours play music so loud at night.

 

[EmJ]

Deffo neighbours. Me and my partner are currently looking and the main thing for me is the neighbouring area. If it's your house then it's your control and you can fix/make it look nicer etc but there is absolutely nothing you can do about dodgy neighbours!!

 

[Penny Vintage]

I'm glad I came across this as I want to buy this year and have no clue really!
But one thing my dad said is if you think a house is the one, take trips down to the road at random times of day and night (different days as we'll) to see if there's school kids, people from pubs or clubs walking through etc, and also the parking situation if your near a station or town. I saw a flat years ago with my mum, which did the big sell of being in a cul de sac with a mini park there. When we went, it was a ghost town with chavs sitting in the park smoking and eviling us as we parked! The flat inside was perfect though..

 

[Meira]

Another good tip we heard was it's better to buy the almost perfect house on a good road rather than the perfect house on a bad road! At the end of the day you can make improvements to any house but it's better to be in a good road and will be easier to sell later on.

 

[sallyyummymummy]

Have a thorough survey done - it might seem like a lot of money to spend but better to spend it and know theres nothing wrong than not bothering and finding you need to spend thousands on something. As someone has previously mentioned find out what the sellers position is - we are stuck living at my in laws until June (been here since week before xmas) as the lady selling the house we're buying is buying a new build on a new estate. We don't mind as we're in no chain at all, its a private sale & we've got a bargain! But if you're desperate to move this could be a problem. Good luck!

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[Gee]

I'd also find out how long it's been on the market for.

We're currently selling & buying, we had a bidding war on ours but chose the lower offer as they are first time buyers so no chain.

Also the house we are buying has been on for a while so we put a cheeky offer in and got £16k off the asking price

Also make sure the boiler works!