Viewing a house tomorrow - what do I need to look out for?

[WombatStewForTea]

DP and I are first time buyers. This week we've got a meeting to finalise our mortgage in principal and also start looking at houses. What on earth should I be looking for when viewing houses? We don't need to worry about 'the area' as all of the properties we're interested in are in the village where we live now.
Any tips? It's all very grown up and scary!

[Travelledtheworld]

View it at least three times in different weather and at different times of the day to see which rooms are sunny and which could be gloomy.

View in pouring rain to see if all gutters and down pipes are working. Is it likely to get flooded in any way?

Parking yes. That's a big issue for most people too.

House buying is hard work. Don't let it get you down.
Good luck.

[PennyDropt]

Yes to location. And where it faces, morning sun coming in in the morning is important as is evening sun in the garden for bbqs. Noise - check it is bearable if near a road, this depends on if you have dble glazing or no. Is there a cupboard for Hoover / coats.
Get survey to really check all showers and drains/ plug holes.
Years ago we bought a house where a new doorway had been diyed, it had no lintel or planning permission, so had to be felled in with supports. Not sure if this can happen now but be wary of diyers.

[Silvercatowner]

Look at the neighbours garden. We once sold a house where the neighbours were selling cars illegally off the front drive (it was a contributory factor, they were doing FAR worse stuff though - think shootings......). We were upfront and honest - most viewers asked what the neighbours were doing (it was very obvious). The only people who didn't express any interest were the people who made an offer and bought the house.

[Clearoutre]

Unless you're buying your forever home be practical about the future...when on a view imagine YOU'RE the seller - do you feel confident that it's a great home for a lucky new owner or that issues exist (such as those mentioned...bad layout, lack of storage etc) that need 'smoothing over' and distracting from. You may be able to gloss over them now for your own needs but they may put you in a weak bargaining position in the future.

[ivykaty44]

Look for potential
Look in places like corners of rooms - any signs of damp
Look at the roof
Look at the guttering
Look in the attic
Look at the parking
Look at the traffic noise

[yogamonkey]

Is there a pavement??? We found our house, it ticked all the boxes then realised we couldn't just walk anywhere. Quite a bummer really as we now have 3 young kids and I have to drive everywhere.

[ProfessorPreciseaBug]

Wombat,

Assuming you liked the feel of the house yesterday you now have to look for the small details..

What is the construction? timber frame, solid brick (indicated by being able to see the ends of bricks as well as the long sides) or cavity wall (only the long sides of the bricks on show). If cavity wall, has it been insulatated and if so, is there a guarantee?
Look all round the outside to see if it has recently been painted. If so look very carefully for signs of cracking in the walls. Not all cracks are bad news, but you need to know why they are there.
Look at the gutters. Are there any blockages or sign of leaks?
Look at the roof. are there any missing tiles?
Is there any sign of dampness inside.. especially if there is a valley in the roof.
Look at the windows. What condition, double glazed? do they need repainting or possibly replacing!
Look at the internal doors, do they all open and close easily and not swing back ... signs of the door not being verticle which in turn may indicate settlement.
Look at the bathroom (obvious) but for the condition. Is there mould around the shower/bath. Any sign of dampness in the corners.
Sniff the lace for mould... it has a sweet musty smell. If you can smell any you are looking at a lot of money... but it does offer the cance to make a really sharp offer.
Look at the kitchen. Do the cabinet doors all hang well? is it worn out? Replacing a kitchen is not difficult but will cost at least £3k
Look at the wiring. How old are the light switches and plugs? They go a bit yellow with age. Old ones may indicate the need for a rewire..

Don't be put off if these things need attention... you simply change your offer price and do them yourself... (you can do any building work yourself except gas instalation and wiring, both of which need a qualified tradesman) however, don't bother trying to do bricklaying or plasterwork .. it is a very skilled trade that takes a lot of practice to get a good finish.

Good luck and do tell us how you are getting on...

[Postchildrenpregranny]

Am going to go against the trend saying'fall in love,feel it's right for you' here. I would of course endorse all the comments about structural 'stuff'
IMO Location Location Location is what matters-if you are buying in a village this may be less of an issue except possibly for traffic noise
When we bought our present house nearly 30 years ago we were getting a bit desperate as it felt like prices were going up hourly.We had sold (11viewings 3 offers in days) We wanted a 4 bed detached in the catchment area of the better local schools .We ended up £40,000 over original budget
Our house is basically a 1950s box. I certainly didn't love it and didn't see it as our forever house-it didnt have a kitchen big enough to eat in which is something I really wanted .And the garden was smaller than in our previous house .But apart from needing rewiring and new windows it was in good nick .And it had potential- for example I could see that by blocking off two doors in the kitchen we would gain a lot of space and we did eventually add a conservatory extension to it .We knocked out a hall cupboard to give access to a downstairs loo ,originally acccessed from the garage And it would be possible to do a loft extension We didnt bother as we never managed a third child.But I would point this out to a buyer.Its very well built and we aďded cavity wall insulation
But on the positive side
The rooms are a really good size-considerably bigger than more modem houses The master bedroom is huge as It's over the garage(no en suite though-but a little shower cubicle and a basin)The bathroom is quite small but you can't have everything
It has a proper porch and weve added a coat and shoe cupboard
Really big drive and wider than usual garage
It's very light -principal rooms have windows on two aspects
Garden is SE and back of house gets morning sun
There are no houses behind us so garden is relatvely private
It has a proper landing which makes it feel more spacious

But it's real plus us that it is within five mins walk of a row of shops,it's off a main route into town and the bus service is good but its quiet .And walking distance of all three of the schools my DDs attended

I suppose my reservations at the time centred on the fact it was a bit boring and souless I really wanted a Victorian or Edwardian property of which there are lots here .But we couldn't afford one
And the decor was dated as the owners were in their seventies and had owned the house since new

I would recommend meeting the owners and not just the Estate Agent if you can .I 'm convinced our vendors sold to us because the lady liked me and we had a 2 year old at the time and I was pregnant-she wanted it to go to a family who would raise a family there as they had done.I think I'd feel the same And it was reassuring that they loved the house and had been here 30 years. On a more serious note you should be able to judge if they really want to sell/are likely to mess you around .

We have decided to stay(now retired) and about to embark on a second round of renovations We've done the really expensive stuff so its a matter of decor.I think I love it now ....It has worked very well as a machine for living and I like to think we have given it soul

[apismalifica]

I guess you know if you are at risk of flooding already, but could ring an insurance company for the property and ask for a quote just to be sure there are no nasty surprises. Some things you can change, some you can't. Good light is important, remember the sun moves during the day, just because a room is sunny at 10am it may not have any light at all after lunch. I like evening sun in the dining room, and enough sun that's not blocked out by other buildings to keep it light for as much of the day as possible. In terms of the structure, the survey will help BUT surveyors don't always do detail, they can't lift carpets to check for woodworm or rot etc and may not be able to spot asbestos if it's covered (can be an issue if you want to cut into it). They should be able to spot subsidence but not necessarily dodgy drains which could cause a future problem. Sniff test for damp - it's a good time of year for that, maybe bounce on the floors to see if there are any signs of wobbly joists. Is there an servicecare contract in place - will tell you if the gas is safe and boiler has been serviced? Condensation problems can be tricky if it's due to poor construction/insulation, but sometimes just an extractor fan in the bathroom/kitchen or new windows is all that's needed - the EPC should offer some info about that and what can be done to raise the energy performance - easy to forget to look at the EPC! Have any structural alterations passed building control? Your mortgage company is unlikely to lend if the house is non-standard construction and I'd avoid anything unusual like that as a first buy. If it's a village, local gossip may tell you why the vendors are moving, if it's because they don't get on with horrible neighbours, noise issues or something antisocial like too many large barking dogs nearby, or thin walls. Look for Japanese knotweed in the garden as it's a pig to get rid of and affects the value of a house, ditto big hedges or even unsuitable trees - although I like trees, some can get too big and can quickly grow into a problem, block your light and if they belong to neighbours they may not want to cut them down. Ask around and see what people are planning, are any neighbours intending to build a monster extension? They may have decided to wait until after the house you are looking at has sold before they do anything formal about it. I once got an architect in to look at reconfiguring a horrible house I was buying and the vendor was so impressed at what was a very inexpensive and effective alteration he took it off the market and employed MY architect! Almost everything can be fixed if you buy at the right price so it depends on how hot your local housing market is whether you decide to ask for a price reduction for any problems.

[Colsgirl]

There's masses of great advice been given...I'm a surveyor, and my top tip is not about roof works, wiring or asbestos at all. It's this: try to take a friend with you on the second viewing - someone you trust, with reasonable judgement, and who has previously bought a house themselves. Someone with no emotional investment in you buying, or not buying the house! They will see all the things you are blinded to by enthusiasm/desperate urge to be settled/falling in love with the house. There is ALWAYS another house. Good luck!

[camelfinger]

Some really good advice here, but if you follow all of it you probably won't find anywhere. If a property is in a good location then properties will be snapped up even if the guttering isn't perfect or the windows need painting. Figure out what's most important to you and what you'd have to spend to make improvements. Good luck!

[Twixthecat]

Have fun!
Don't get too emotionally attached to any thing you see. Things do often go wrong which means things fall through. Until you have the keys it might not happen unfortunately!

It really depends what you want out of it. Do you want to try and grab a bargain and do it up yourselves? Or prefer to be able to move in and do nothing more than hang the curtains? What will your budget be for any changes you want/ need to make?

Thinking about future also really important. Where would children sleep? Big family, small family? Upstairs or downstairs bathroom important? Do you want a separate lounge or prefer open plan living? Do you like to have guests round a lot? Could you accommodate them, there cars etc?

And of course as already mentioned parking. Not just for you but for visitors - if you have/ expect people to come to see you often? My mum refuses to go to my sisters house by car as parking is such a nightmare - so hardly ever goes.

Also storage - we go camping a lot and when we were looking having somewhere not upstairs to store the tent and stuff was a priority! It just depends what's important to you.

Oh and watch all those day time location location location programs on catch up for more ideas!

Good luck!

[notinagreatplace]

I think the most important thing is really knowing yourselves well. Some things will be important to lots of people but not to you and vice versa.

I know lots of British people especially really care about natural light for instance - I really couldn't care less. I'm sat in my house right now and this thread has made me realise that I don't even know which way it faces!

On the other hand, I care deeply about having a gas cooker. I have lived with electric cookers before and detest it.

Everyone's different!

I am also not greatly emotional about houses - for me, buying a house is a rational decision, I think through what I want and I find the place that most fits that. But I have friends who are much more affected by space and how somewhere "feels" and, of course, if you're like this you need to wait for the place that speaks to you.

[mrsjskelton]

Type of heating and age of boiler for example. We bought our house knowing the boiler was at least 10 years old and could plan to replace it.

[ameliaesmith]

I've just bought a place and the previous residents have left it full of junk, try and get concrete assurances from the seller that it will be cleared before they leave, wish we had!

[LemurintheSun]

Look out for any dodgy points the sellers/estate agent may be trying to distract your attention from - generally behind them as they point towards the beautiful view...

[MonkeyRisotto]

I once rented a house that someone was trying to sell - it was a self-build that had been shoe-horned into a corner patch of land on an existing estate.

Living with it, you could see all the corners that they'd cut, but you probably wouldn't notice on a viewing.

The bath took literally 30 minutes to fill to a usable level, because they'd used really narrow piping to save money. The shower was equally pitiful, and I love a powerful shower.
The heating pipes were all cheap plastic with pushfit connectors, and you had to watch for them popping apart.
The kitchen floor was a massive bodge job - large slate tiles, which were obviously seconds, and they'd unskillfully fitted them themselves - I don't think a single one of them was flat, and some were broken.
There was nowhere to dry towels/clothes, I put an extending washing line in the utility room, but it wasn't ideal.

I could go on, but those were the main points.
They ended up moving back into it when I left, as they just couldn't sell.

[Teddybe4r]

Location, Location, LOCATION is THE MOST IMPORTANT factor in property choice. Believe me, in the past I made a bad couple of purchases because I did not give the Location enough priority in my choice of a home!!. Visit the property area at different times of the day AND evening, to determine whether there are any surrounding issues near the property. You can REPAIR property faults, but you often cannot solve location problems!!

[jazzy57uk]

We bought a house last year in the town we have lived in for 18 years. The neighbours are a nightmare: shouting, swearing, drinking, smoking, drugs, police, late night noise etc. We asked about the neighbours when we looked round and it was glossed over. There's not a lot you can do about it, they were hardly going to tell as no one would buy the house! Good luck!

[cs54]

Look at what you are buying look beyond the cosmetics.
A property thats never been touched has honesty. When you buy a property thats been flipped all you can see are the cosmetics, whats been hidden?
Any work which would have required building control approval, so any extensions to the property are there copletion certificates to cover the works. Those cerificates cover materials and workmanship. So look beyond cosmetic finish, avoid Mr DIYer and keep your wits about you.
I would look at lots of properties make rational choices rather than emotional as its easier to walk away then from a property you love thats just money pit.

[cs54]

Visit house at night, whats the area like after dark?
Never believe an estate agent their only interested in selling

[newmumwithquestions]

Loads of good advice on here. Hope all the suggestions haven't put you off!
My two are check if the garden gets any sun and at what time of day, and if you can check the water pressure.
It's stressful buying a house but it's also fun. Enjoy it 😄

[cs54]

Look out for subsidence, unlevel floors cracks in walls and ceilings. Cracks between internal walls and external walls.
Ask yourself why the peoperty has been newly decorated before selling, a bit a filler can hide a nightmare.

[CheshireGirl38]

• Get a full survey done if you decide to buy
  
• don't overstretch yourself on the mortgage even if you're really tempted
  
• don't get anywhere with a flat roof
  
• look at: price; number of bedrooms; location (a smaller house in a better location is always worth it); an open plan house is better for keeping an eye on the kids

[CheshireGirl38]

Sorry forgot this one:
Try and do a viewing early evening when the neighbours are in so you can gauge noise levels