House viewing checklist for those things you wish you would have checked?

[Stresssy]

I’m viewing a property on Wednesday, this is the 2nd viewing and I’m wondering if anyone has any ideas on what I should be looking for? Did you purchase a house recently and think, “I wish I would have checked that” ? My checklist starts with check the toilets flush 😆 and then my mind goes blank! I’m going in to this on Wednesday and leaving my feelings on the doorstep as I walk in. 🤭 I really feel like this house is the one ☺️

That the shower works. Properly.
First morning in our current house, we discovered that the supposed power shower was in fact a weedy dribble.
Ended up costing us tens of thousands, reconfiguring the whole of upstairs to put in two decent effective showers (and the associated remodelling).

Check which way the house faces . Never buy a house that faces north . The rooms will be cold and dark all the time.

If there are wood burners, get absolute assurance and evidence that they work and have been maintained. We bought a house with three wood burners and got them swept sometime later due to lockdown, all three deemed unusable. £15,000 to replace, and that was a couple of years ago. We didn't do it

This is very naive. Surveys don't do things like this. They are very superficial with a lot of arse-covering statements in them

This doesn't sound correct because south-facing gardens are sold as the dream?

Go and sit outside the house in your car at different times of day and evening. So you can experience the traffic and parking in the road on weekend and weekday

Is it by a school or shops or religious building or pub?

Where do people park to access these?

If you do not have a driveway - where will you park? Is there generally plenty of space or will you end up trying to park nearby but end up round in the next street?

Do any of the neighbours host large parties that park outside the house each Friday/Saturday evening

Be suspicious if they have lit scented candles = damp smells are being hidden

How do you do that on a 10 min viewing slot on the hottest weekend of the year ? 😂😂

This is very naive. Surveys don't do things like this. They are very superficial with a lot of arse-covering statements in them

Not if you pay for a proper one.

Agree with these. Apart from the getting locked in by a marathon….we have a motorcycle race which means are unable to get out during races and practices for a month a year. Everyone knows and puts up with it.

people aren’t going to get reductions for windows not opening or taps not working.

and how do you check the heating in middle of summer.

My house was bought from a couple who had four cats. When I bought it, I just sprayed Indorex spray everywhere. Then I introduced my cats a few days later. You’ll soon know if you get flea bites but they’re easy enough to kill off

Go to the house at different times of day, weekdays and weekend, to check parking, kids playing out, noise etc.

A N-facing house (at the back) with N-facing rooms will be dark inside, esp if the garden is quite short so that the house shades it from the sun.
This is not necessarily a bad thing, depends on your priorities.
House will be S-facing at the front and that will be extremely bright (& hot).
Very few houses are true N- or S- facing anyway of course, but if it matters to you take a compass & consider different times of year.

Everyones pretty much covered everything but I would also check the external stone work / brickwork - is the mortar in good condition - repointing is very expensive especially if it has to be replaced with lime mortar - this is a hard lesson learned and a mistake I won't make again.
Chimneys do they look in good condition ?
Loft space is it insulated and boarded and more importantly vented - if its not vented you get condensation and this creates mould.
Windows super expensive to replace - are they double glazed - do they open?
Boiler - age ? last service ?
How clean is it ? - this is something I overlooked thinking oh it just needs a good scrub but years of ingrained dirt is a nightmare.

xx

Don’t always believe what a surveyor says. We had a full structural survey and he didn’t find a quarter of the (very expensive) faults we’ve spend the last nine years rectifying.
Also, double check all taps, appliances, etc do actually work and are as advertised. We were told the oil-fired boiler had been fitted less than 5 years previously. Yes, it had been, but we weren’t told that that it was a second hand one from eBay and was over 30 years old. Most of the other fixtures and fittings were also second hand and on their last legs.
Finally, if you do go ahead, ask to go round a few days before to ensure nothing has been changed/get assurance that rubbish etc. will be removed and then do a drive past the day before completion to check.

Church or other local hall.
Also, geology. My parents bought a house by a break in the slope, where clay was n top of something else, and the side fell off the house. That house was by a gap where the builder had not filled in a house. Find out why there is a gap. The next house also had a gap and it turned out to be intended to be a school entrance. Still isn't. One place I looked at had a disturbed area visible on Google Maps satellite view. Not a sinkhole, but where they demolished a nursery to build two more houses. This is related to reports on flood risk and radon, and looking at cracks, is it an old mining area, that sort of thing. Look at the map on line or in the library.

This place had several of those ghastly arrangements. I actually measured them, out of interest, and worked it out when we moved in- those rooms, the frills and pelmets and other nonsenses were cutting out a good half of the light in most of those rooms. We ripped the lot out as one of our first jobs. My preference is poles, well above the window 'hole' and extending enough to each side for the curtains not to block any light at all when open. It made a heck of a difference. Even planning the same with our bay window, we stripped that down to just the curtain linings until we 'do' that room, pelmet, drapes, the lot all binned. And what a light room it now is, even though it faces North! It's great. Today, both light and cool!

Is there a pub nearbye? If so check it out, especially if it advertises Sky Sport and live music. If suspicious it may be a problem pub, as mine was, call the licensing department for complaints registered.