Viewing a house for the first time

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Right, I have managed to avoid the minefield of questions that i got bombarded with by the estate agents and have an appointment to view a house.

We've never been round a house before with the intention to buy, only ever to rent where it wasn't quite so important and tbh, we have only rented 2 houses in the last 20 odd years so we haven't exactly had much practice at viewing houses - the house prior to the one we are in now, was a case we went to the area and saw it, went for a walk on the common (MOD training area) and decided that unless the house was a complete wreck we would take it before we had even seen the property And whilst we stayed there 12 years, I don't think that approach is really going to work well for buying.

We don't have kids, we have 1 car, 8 bikes and no idea on what to look at or ask... But I know what our priorities are though, and we have sat down and discussed them. We have carefully selected the properties accordingly.

So please fire away on Q's we would need ask, things we need to look at/look for/look out for etc.
Thanks

 

[Lullabelle]

Water meter?, garage space? access to the town centre/train station?

 

[Fnaar]

Ignore their furniture and decor ... look at the building itself.
Try to find out condition of boiler, heating, roof and if there are any leaks

Sunshine likelihood (i.e. which way the house faces, garden etc)

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Water meter?, garage space? access to the town centre/train station?

the water meter is a good point. I have always been on a private water supply and septic tank until now, (and frequenlty oil fired central heating which 1 of the properites we are viewing is). Garage or shed has already been taken care of and tbh town centre is not exactly the sort of property we are looking at.

 

[Pale Rider]

Visit the house at a couple of different times without visiting.

This will help you establish if the street is full of noisy children at tea time, or if half the town parks there to go to work.

 

[phil_hg_uk]

Can you get decent speed broadband

 

[welsh dragon]

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.

look at the outside. Are there lots of kids making a lot of noise, kicking balls against walls. You might think its great to see kids playing outside, but hearing balls being kicked against a wall for hours isnt funny. Go and see a potential property at different times of the day. Are there a lot of teenagers hanging around at night. What do the other properties look like. Are they well taken care of.

and before anyone says anything, im not saying that every child is a menace, but you could be very unlucky.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Visit the house at a couple of different times without visiting.

This will help you establish if the street is full of noisy children at tea time, or if half the town parks there to go to work.

That has been our first step with each house so far, though admittedly only the once for each place. We have been to all of them beforehand and dismissed most as a result - cycled passed 2 of them last weekend and established that the ice-cream farm at Tattenhall is exceptionally busy and the houses just down the road from it are as a result not for us which was a real shame, but there we go.

Make sure you can easily and quickly get to several suitable roads/tracks for riding. The house might look ideal but is it located in the right place for both your lifestyles?

the ones in the area we don't know are the ones that are going to be problematic... we will have to visit them several times I suspect. And I have the landranger maps ready to sacrifice to hand... they will be going on to the wall shortly with areas crossed off and houses marked and dismissed (so I can keep track of things). It is rather like selling everything I own and going off to cycle....

 

[Col5632]

Try and not let decor put you off, ask why they are selling, find out if you have any neighbours and what like they are

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

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.

look at the outside. Are there lots of kids making a lot of noise, kicking balls against walls. You might think its great to see kids playing outside, but hearing balls being kicked against a wall for hours isnt funny. Go and see a potential property at different times of the day. Are there a lot of teenagers hanging around at night. What do the other properties look like. Are they well taken care of.

and before anyone says anything, im not saying that every child is a menace, but you could be very unlucky.

you should know me better than that! Neighbours, what are those?

 

[Lullabelle]

the water meter is a good point. I have always been on a private water supply and septic tank until now, (and frequenlty oil fired central heating which 1 of the properites we are viewing is). Garage or shed has already been taken care of and tbh town centre is not exactly the sort of property we are looking at.

I meant is there easy access so you don't have to drive long distances, take 2 buses if you need to go for grocery shopping, GP appointments, dentist etc....

 

[Milkfloat]

the house prior to the one we are in now, was a case we went to the area and saw it, went for a walk on the common (MOD training area) and decided that unless the house was a complete wreck we would take it before we had even seen the property And whilst we stayed there 12 years, I don't think that approach is really going to work well for buying.

Don't discount this approach totally, you are buying a property to live in, so you want to have to live there. Decor, boilers, walls etc can all be easily changed, but location and external influences are much harder to fix.

 

[Cheddar George]

In my experience the most important thing is to try not to walk dog s**t through every room in the house.

 

[welsh dragon]

you should know me better than that! Neighbours, what are those?

I do. thats why i said it. You never know though.

 

[swee'pea99]

I'm sure this is so obvious as to be not worth saying, but if someone had said to me before I bought my first flat to look around the immediate area as well as at the flat itself I might not have woken up to find myself two miles from the nearest boozer.