Please help us with our first house purchase

[Helpbuy]

Hi,
We are looking to buy our first house. Going to do house viewings this weekend. Will really appreciate your inputs on what we should we be looking out for, the questions we should be asking.
For example, is there anything in particular we should be asking regarding boiler, the roof, insulation, windows,....? Anything at all will be very helpful.
We are new in the country so don't know much about the process as well. Thanks a lot.

Find out the sellers situation - are they in a chain (eg are they trying to buy somewhere, have they found somewhere, how long is the chain of buyers ahead of you)

A lot of other stuff will come out in a survey and through solicitors enquiries. You could ask when the boiler was fitted and if there is a current valid safety certificate but unless it is rented out, there is no obligation to have one.

Get a good solicitor - don't go with what the estate agent is suggesting, they get commission and the solicitors are often rubbish. Ask here or with people you know in the area for recommendations

Look up on Rightmove and Zoopla all possible information about houses, do a “drive through“ a day or 2 before to get a feel of local area. Try to imagine your life in there e.g you are coming home: where do you park (whatever you need to park), where do you put clothes, where is space for dining table/ bed/ wardrobe, etc. The viewings are often quite short so it’s better to come prepared with list of things you need to check, rather than hoping to check them at second viewing. EAs don’t like people who look very long and too careful, it might go against you (unless the property is dead end then they love you a lot) We did this mistake at first and lost a few times on popular properties. EAs like easy going buyers who go in and straight away love everything.

Have a look at www.moveiq.co.uk, it has some useful 'viewing' tips.

As viewings are so short it would be worth asking what the vendor is going to leave, so you can plan your purchases ie curtains.

Do you know whether it's the estate agent doing the viewing, or the owner of the house? Because I wouldn't expect the estate agent to be able to answer questions about the boiler, insulation, whether curtains are being left, etc. Neither of the estate agents we've used when selling asked us for that kind of information, so how would the estate agent know?

One of the key things for the viewing is to look out for things that would affect the amount you'd be willing to offer - because if you don't find out about them until the survey and try to negotiate at that point, you don't want the seller to turn around and say, "No - you should have identified that at the viewing and made your offer accordingly". So look for things like blown double glazing, signs of damp, any signs of movement in the house (cracks), etc.

I look at the general state of the outside - guttering/state of the window frames/ generally does it look like someone has taken care of the house?

Storage inside - where would the ironing board etc go?

If you work at home, is there enough space to do that esp if your partner needs to work at home too. Not necessarily a home office but spaces where you could work. I work in our dining room, for example, and I'm glad after this year, we unwittingly prioritised having a dining room when we moved.

Look at the immediate neighbour's houses. I learnt the hard way that people who leave random bits of cars in the garden don't always make the most considerate neighbours.

There are a lot of lists out there of what people should ask which are a great starting point, but as a pp said, estate agents doing viewings often don't know most of it. We got a lot of "I'll have to check" and "I'm not really from that office." Sometimes, owners don't know either. Between that and how brief viewings can be, I found it easier to view and then email in questions like that if we were interesting in going further (also a good way to find out how communicative the estate agent is) rather than asking a lot during a viewing.

If talking to an estate agent, I found most useful asking about other interest in the property and generally talking about what you're looking for and how it fits this or other properties they know of.

Take photos and videos, particularly of anything that's concerning so you can get other opinions and be able to use to talk about things later because if you're doing a few, it can end up kinda blurring together.

These are really trivial things but drove me mad about a house I bought a few years ago, so I always check them now!

1. Water pressure from the shower - is it strong enough? My shower dribbled out water and I HATED it

2. Number and location of plug sockets - are there enough, and are they in the right places?

Nothing you'd turn down a dream house for, but things that can make life just that wee bit harder!

Good luck

Thanks a lot everyone. Super helpful.

If you do go ahead with the purchase, or any purchase in the future, make sure you get a full, proper survey. I didn't and lived to regret it.

Confirm that the property is owner occupied or not, and if it is tenanted whether they have been served notice. It can take 6 months at the moment with COVID for a landlord to get tenants out of a property. When I rang up estate agents to book viewings I asked then and immediately discounted any that were rented out for this reason plus they tend to be in a poorer condition overall