How many times did you view your house before buying?

[Tigerblue]

Just wondering how many times others look/do research on property they are buying/bought?

We've looked at our new house to be four times. We looked twice, our sale fell through, so 7 weeks later when we had a procedable sale went back to look again to make sure it's how we remembered. We've just gone back for our fourth viewing just before we buy, just because we're excited, not because we really needed to. We are lucky to live quite close (two mins walk away) so I've walked up the road nearly every week because I'm excited and also to check out things raised on survey. Vendors have seen me!!

The couple buying our house have only viewed twice. They still seem interested in that they've suggested the final completion date. Haven't got a clue how they are and none of the neighbours have seen anyone driving past slowly, eyeing the place up.

I suppose there's no right or wrong. Perhaps some people don't like to look too much in case it doesn't work out.

This house. I didn't. We knew the house next door but one; this one came up at a good price and DH offered and then told me. He'd have withdrawn if I'd disagreed.

Last house - once and it was waaay out of our price range. The builders then went bust and the price was reduced massively (1991), the agent phoned us it was still a push but we had a chat over the phone and offered £5k less and it was accepted. We went to see it again the next weekend and knew we had done the right thing. Every other house we had looked at had been pale in comparison.

Three consecutive houses, two views each time.

Once before offering (looking at a small village, about 100 houses and 50 of them too small for us). Then another time with the surveyor before exchanging. If there was more on the market I probably wouldn't have even come to view, but I love it. The rooms looked small in the photos, but one of our living rooms is bigger than the entire downstairs of our old house in England.

Once for our most recent house before offering (London so that's the only option).

Twice on our previous flat (market was easier then)

Didn't view it on the inside at all before putting an offer in! We knew what we were getting.

Once before making an offer, then once again with the children so that they could see where we were moving to before it happened (and I could make plans for work to be done, where furniture was going to go etc).

It was only the second house I'd seen too, but I had done an awful lot of internet-based elimination of possible properties.

Four houses.......first one we both saw twice before offering.

Second one, my DH went to see while I was at work, offered and had it accepted, all in one hour!! Good job I liked it, grrrr.....

Third house, new build, bought off plan.

Fourth and current one, I saw for seven minutes, on my own, DH was overseas, offered 30 minutes later! (Saw it twice more before completion).

DH saw it for the first time when he returned to the country six months later!!! Luckily he loved it.

RCheshire - anything major would have been picked up on the survey, and as for minor things, such as windows not opening or showers not working....well, we knew we were buying a doer-upper so it wouldn't have made much difference.

But it is true that I made the decision to buy it in less time than I would take choosing a pair of shoes. I just knew it was the one.

Some stuff of course gets picked up in the survey. But having had a couple of building surveys there is quite a lot (unless mine were poorer than I realised!) that does not get checked:

• do appliances work
• proving the heating system
• checking the sockets work (rather than just viewing the fuse box and commenting on the age of the elctrics)
• water pressure
• shower pressure
• lights work

Some of these aren't a big deal against the cost of a house, but get too many nasty surprises and it can build up.

In my experience this all generally stuff surveys exclude and estate agents are careful to exclude from their particulars.

Some can also be a little health and safety conscious when it comes to investigating roof spaces to check felt and timbers.

One of my big recommendations nowadays (having not done it for the first buildings survey I commissioned, but did for the second) is attending with the surveyor. They will make a lot of comments whilst walking around that they would never commit to paper in their report.

Agree different if you're stripping a house right back and starting again

Once. Had to put offer in next day or it would have gone to someone else.

But that was in 2006.

Made offer and had it accepted without even seeing inside. Did eventually get to go inside once before exchanging contracts. I wasn't buying it for what the inside was like, but it turned out to be lovely.