Viewing a house for the first time

[ColinJ]

Ask about the neighbours and if there has been any trouble with/from them. Sellers have a legal obligation now to tell the truth regarding troublesome neighbours.

My sister was interested in buying a property. It looked a bargain - a 3 bedroom semi with a garden for a very affordable £55k. I smelled a rat and looked at the sales history ... it is up for sale for the 5th time in 10 years and the price has fallen from a high of £135k. It is in a short cul-de-sac and a search in the local paper revealed the following reports - 3 different residents convicted for car theft, one dead heroin addict, and someone convicted for making racist threats. Streetview showed one house boarded up and daubed with graffiti. She decided to focus her search elsewhere ...

 

[TreeHuggery]

if you're looking at older houses, think you need a different set of questions - you're undoubtedly going to have do some renovations at some point - so I'd be looking at finding out if its is Grade 2 listed, if its in a conservation area etc - while both sound lovely, it means that carrying out any work such as replacing windows is a nightmare, as like as have to be replaced with like, colours of paint can be restricted etc....

 

[summerdays]

I would make sure you visit several houses. Years ago when we first went looking we almost bought the first house we saw, we were just excited at the idea of buying a house, and it would have been a huge mistake on a housing estate with a reputation.

I have to visit a house more than once to know, so forget checking everything such as do all the doors work, is there wood worm etc, you can investigate that on a second visit. First visit I'd just concentrate on your key points that you aren't prepared to compromise on, whether it's the access to the garden, no neighbours, which way it faces, everything else can wait till next time if it passes the first hurdle of having those things and wanting to go back. And maybe gentle questioning on how quick they want to sell, and if they have found somewhere already.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

We have 3 lined up for tomorrow morning. 1 I think I'd already empty and had been on the market a while, now on its 2nd estate agents. It's neighbour has also gone up on the market in the last week which is curious so I will be doing late night passes and weekend passes of it if we decide we are interested. The 3rd may have an issue that we may not want looking at the environment agency's flood risk maps. It is right on the edge of a flood risk zone where zones 2 and 3 actually meet on the other side of the road...

I suspect none of them will tick all our boxes. The first is likely to come the closest but I think it is also over priced but need to dig further and look at the road's history.

However it will also give us both a lesson in handling estate agents and liking around the place. We are tick boxing our must have tomorrow from the inside... Outside has already been done for me to have bothered even making an appointment to go around because I'm still not that mobile!

Ironically one of my ridiculous requirements is that I want somewhere I can see either a sunrise or sunset from. Much as I like where we are now, it is on a hollow and you can't see either and I miss them badly after 12 years of having both of them.

 

[Mrs M]

I go on, if it feels right buy it.
Not been wrong yet.
Maybe just lucky though.
Good luck.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

I go on, if it feels right buy it.
Not been wrong yet.
Maybe just lucky though.
Good luck.

Indeed, there does seem to be an awful lot of "rules" that people apply to something quite simple.

 

[andytheflyer]

You never get everything you wish for - you just have to decide which items on the wish list are non-negotiable. For me, cycling distance to the local (village) shop is non-negotiable as it saves you getting in the car to get the pint of milk you forgot earlier.

And the Ice Cream Farm is full of Wirral and Chester cyclists at the weekend - dunno about @Crackle though! Try Old Ma's instead!

 

[neil_merseyside]

You should tell us the areas you're looking at as someone with local knowledge can give you an insiders opinion?

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

You should tell us the areas you're looking at as someone with local knowledge can give you an insiders opinion?

Rural or semi rural within 15 miles radius of Stockton Heath. Drawn out on a map this is a frighteningly large area! But ruling out anything bigger than a small village does refuge it to a sensible size!

We are currently on the very outskirts of Cuddington, Northwich. We are happy to go north of Warrington as well but have no desire to be alongside a railway (unless it is like to line we live next to now which is 2 trains an hour, 1 in each direction) or a motorway. Convenience to shops or schools is not a consideration or necessity.

We are off up to the Wigan area this afternoon for an explore. We sort of know it a bit because my S-I-Ls family lives there and we were to uni in Preston as well, but we need to have a look at changes to the address since we were at uni!

Tomorrow is an explore around the area north of Chester but south of Helsby. We have seen a property in Thornton-Le -Moors (?) which might meet our requirements being down a dead end road... So we want to have a look at the place from the outside not knowing the asserts at all. And there is a place near to Elton that looked interesting but again we don't know the area at all, so if you know anything about those places?
We have pretty much ruled out anything due west of SH and due east for obvious reasons but places like Holmes Chapel are still an option. Luckily I grew up for my teenage years in Stoke/Newcastle so know that area but we are weary of buying anything on what would end up being the wrong side of HS2 because of the obvious issues when it is constructed. Middlewich, is as a result also completely out of the question as is the surrounding area.

 

[ColinJ]

My sister was interested in buying a property. It looked a bargain - a 3 bedroom semi with a garden for a very affordable £55k. I smelled a rat and looked at the sales history ... it is up for sale for the 5th time in 10 years and the price has fallen from a high of £135k. It is in a short cul-de-sac and a search in the local paper revealed the following reports - 3 different residents convicted for car theft, one dead heroin addict, and someone convicted for making racist threats. Streetview showed one house boarded up and daubed with graffiti. She decided to focus her search elsewhere ...

I had another look ... THREE houses boarded up!

We drove up there to have a look, out of curiosity. It felt horribly claustrophobic driving down to a little turning circle. While we turning, two young guys pointed at my sister's car, jumped down off the wall and came towards us. We did not hang about to find out whether they were friendly or not!

Good luck with the house hunt, SNSSO!

Another thing to doublecheck is the legal status of the property. My sister bought one which was supposed to be freehold but turned out to have a complicated history. It had been leasehold since it was built but the London company which owned the freeholds for the entire street had gone into administration. The Crown had legally taken over the freeholds and she was issued a legal notice that the state would not be requiring ground rent etc. Until she got that in writing she could not get a mortgage. It caused months of delays!

 

[Ganymede]

Oh yes I've just remembered another horrendous pitfall with older houses, it's quite rare (so not meaning to terrify you!): Chancel Repair Liability

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chancel_repair_liability

So don't buy a house on glebe land!

 

[ufkacbln]

Providing there is nothing wrong screaming at you, and it is practical to do so....

Visit and then step away from the house

Go back on couple of occasions including School Run, rush hour and a mid to late Saturday evening (and without getting arrested for stalking) see what it is like when the pubs chuck out. Go back when it is a sunny day as well.

Also if you like the house, sit down and compare it to yours - you know where your bodies are buried faults and shortcomings are - list them

Then go back and have a second visit armed with all the information and ask the questions

 

[summerdays]

Oh yes I've just remembered another horrendous pitfall with older houses, it's quite rare (so not meaning to terrify you!): Chancel Repair Liability

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chancel_repair_liability

So don't buy a house on glebe land!

I can't remember what we did, there was some option (huge insurance scam), where you could pay £20 to take out insurance to cover you as long as you didn't know that you were definitely implicated. I've a feeling that it no longer applies and the church had to state before a cut off date not long after we bought in 2012, and so I can't remember if we paid up or took our chance!

 

[ufkacbln]

Wait until they go on holiday and then squat for a week?
You will soon find out about the local neighbours!

 

[Mrs M]

See if they've made an effort to present the house well for viewing.
If they haven't bothered to ensure it's clean and tidy then they may not have cared for other things.
We recently bought a flat for letting and the first one we looked at was filthy so we walked away.
The one we bought had upgraded kitchen and bathroom and had been obviously well looked after.