Property viewing questions

[francienolan]

We are currently in the process of obtaining our agreement in principle and our broker has let us know what the figure is likely to be, so once it is in place we can start to view homes. As he's given us an idea of how much we can borrow I have bookmarked a number of houses on rightmove to look at when we are able.

We are first time buyers and I have never viewed houses to buy before! Just rental flats. I was wondering how long a viewing would take and how many you tend to do in one day? I assume Saturdays are the busiest days for them, do any allow weeknight evening viewings or is that not really done?

There are several villages we like so there are a few in each village worth looking at. I feel like it would be best to go down for a whole Saturday and view as many as possible there, and get a feel for the town etc, but was wondering what was normal and what to expect?

In case it makes a difference on timings we are looking at 2-3 bedroom houses.

Takes about 15 mins! Tell the agents what you want as they'll get you viewings of houses before they go on rightmove.
If you like it - poker face! If you put in a lower offer you don't want the agent or owner to know it's your dream home.

Look at loads. Go for slighly out of your price range - you never know they might reduce. Be prepared to wait. It can take months and months to find somewhere and then it might be in a chain.

Hi You can book viewings for any time / day that suits the vendor and estate agent. We have just bought a house in a new city some distance away and booked out a whole day to view as many properties as possible. It's often better to do a weekday if you can as the agents get booked up at the weekend and may not be available to show you round (if the vendor is not happy to do so). You will need a time table to keep track of your viewings across multiple agents and be prepared for a lot of hanging around or mad dashes from one house to another depending on how your day pans out! Also try and leave some spare time for any new properties that the agent suggests. We ended up buying the last house we saw that wasn't officially on the market at that point. Good luck!

Thank you both very much!! Good idea telling the agents what we're looking for as well, will definitely do that.

We're looking at the moment too.
We have usually had two or three booking scheduled for one viewing session, last week we did 5 in one morning but they were on the same new build estate so slightly different, and all horrible. We usually spend up to 15 mins in the property. You can tell pretty quickly if it's somewhere that interests you or not. Have found viewing on a Saturday to be better than mid week (have had a couple of mid week ones cancelled on us at short notice). And reach out to multiple agents.

We’ve allowed viewings on properties we were selling on weekday evenings - it’s a good time for working people who live nearby.

When we’ve been looking for properties to buy, we’ve usually done what you suggest and booked 3-5 viewings in the same area on a Saturday. I prefer to allow an hour between viewings so I don’t feel rushed and have plenty of time to find the next place/have a toilet stop etc.

A comment on the “poker face”: a few compliments can be well received and ease your way to a cordial negotiation. But yeah, don’t forget this is a negotiation and don’t reveal your maximum budget at this stage.

Most of our viewings took between 15 and 20 minutes. Shortest was about 5 minutes as we were late due to very bad traffic and the estate agent had to meet the next people. Luckily wasn't the house for us so 5 mins was enough time.

We viewed some in the evenings, managed to fit max 2 in one evening. On Saturdays we viewed more, I think the most we saw was 5 in one day as the estate agents don't always have slots.

Took us 3 months to have offer accepted. First one someone offered more, second one they pulled it from the market, third one again someone offered more and finally the last time it was accepted as the sale from the first house we had offerend on had fallen through due to their buyers pulling out. Looking for houses ended up being the worst part for us, things went pretty smoothly after and we weren't worried the vendors would pull out as they had found their dream house they really did not want to lose.

15 minutes is a bit short if you don’t know the street or the area. However being pleasant to the owners and smiling a bit is just normal behaviour. You don’t need to keep a straight face if you like something. If you don’t like something, don’t comment on it. Yes, you will negotiate but there no need to be poker faced when visiting. Sometimes vendors like people and will sell to who they like, not the miserable penny pinching viewer! You are in a great position as a first time buyer so vendors should be told that. It’s perfectly ok to negotiate and smile!

You should register with agents. They will let you know about properties before they turn up on Right Move. Often decent ones are already sold on that site in popular areas! Don’t forget On The Market and Prime Location.

Agents will often set up several viewings in a day. You can also get evening viewings but always go back in daylight if it’s dark! You see more outside in daylight. Also colours and imperfections show up more.

I would also add , when your looking at houses and see a house you like , go back and just sit in the car for 5/10 minutes at a few different times such as early evening, school times if its near a school etc. It will give you an idea of what to expect it you do decide to settle in that area.

All great advice, would also say that don't assume being a FTB puts you in a better position - we found it a bit of a shock that for some vendors being a FTB was a distinct negative

Reasons: FTBs can be over cautious, can have unrealistic expectations and therefore try to get an above budget property and knock the price down (seemed an odd on this, as most people do, but I think they meant after offer), get cold feet, don't know what they are doing and therefore delay the process etc etc

All very unfair as we were none on those!!

Oh and this website was fab, if you haven't bought before the process can be daunting and no-one handholds you through it, this takes you through all the steps

hoa.org.uk/advice/guides-for-homeowners/i-am-buying/

Thank you all! Very helpful!

At this time of year, we preferred to view in daylight at weekends rather than in the dark in the evening.