What questions to ask when viewing

[PriOn1]

I am moving soon to a new area and am looking to buy a house.

I have found a house I like the look of. It has good street appeal, is in a good area, and is structurally sound, but isn’t selling. It’s on a hill, so no obvious flood risks.

I’m fairly sure it’s because the decor is awful and because it looks like changing the decor will be much harder work than just painting. Think seventies-style orange and brown wallpaper, artexed ceilings and one of those big ugly stone asymetrical fireplaces with cubby holes that take up half the wall.

The house is empty in the photographs.

I can’t actually go myself at the moment. I live too far away and can’t get time off work to visit so I have asked a friend to go look round on my behalf.

What questions would it be good/reasonable to ask? Will the estate agent give out information on how likely the owners are to drop the price if asked?

And what would you look for when viewing such a property? Are there specific things that would make it particularly difficult to redecorate?

I would probably not buy until I’ve seen it myself, but when I move to the area, I would like to get going as fast as possible, so if I can start with the most information possible, I hope it means I can get a bit ahead of the curve.

What would you want to know and what questions would be best to find out how much to offer?

Any suggestions appreciated.

Not an expert, just some ideas- on a hill (ask about subsidence risk/ history)? Look at roof, age of property, Internet connections, check mobile reception, age of boiler, look for signs of damp, ask why not recently lived in, see it yourself, look at ceilings for leaks, if not redecorated, why? (Wallpaper could hide damp, cracks), check mould, think about redecoration costs, just painting is one thing, but adding double glazing thinking about heating costs is really important now.

My current place had been on the market ages, we got such a bargain. It was an elderly lady living there and nothing wrong with property except redecoration. But she put everyone off following them around and with it being so cluttered (in fact, she missed off a room calling it a coat cupboard, it was a room with a window (think box-bedroom sized) and only realised when we moved in. If there's issues, it's not necessarily a bad thing, you just need to factor it in to what you offer.

Re- Estate agents dropping price question, it will depend on how long it's been on the market. If its empty, the situation and if seller needs money (if a family selling after owner has died). But also, your position. Cash-buyer quick to move will be preferable or first-time buyer. Personally, I'd be reluctant accepting an offer from someone that has sent their friend and hasn't seen the property themselves as it suggests they're not invested to the process. So, maybe send your friend and pop along quickly if you think it sounds good.

Also check parking, neighbours, crime rates, nearby things like schools, petrol stations, shops. Sometimes you don't know a problem until you see it e.g. a run-down pharmacy opposite would put me off as lived near one before and pharmacy attracted unusual types, got broken into regularly and was a pain parking-wise.

Thanks. Mobile reception and internet connection are good things to find out.

My friend lives close by, so knows the area. Street view tells me it’s in a fairly well to do area with drives and garages. It’s also very close to my new job.

I’m going to be chain free (my house is effectively sold in a country where gazumping and last minute changes are legally not allowed).

I’m moving to Scotland, so bidding is done through a solicitor, I think.

And my circumstances mean I literally can’t come before I move to the UK. Popping along quickly isn’t an option.

Sounds good. Houses with garages/drives are fab from asb point if view/ nice area. Check burglary rates online as where houses are older and not as overlooked/ e.g. leafy with trees, they can be targeted. Just make it clear why you can't pop along then and get friend to explain the new job nearby so they know you're serious.

I'd check the water pressure.

By running the taps?

Will do.

I guess checking the electric and number of sockets would be good too. From the pictures, it looks to me like it was decorated in the seventies (or maybe even the sixties). I recognise the style of tiles in the kitchen and bathroom as some I saw regularly when growing up.

Yes for sure. And in Scotland (difficult to tell if rural from post), you might want to check it has gas, sewerage (could be oil collective, cesspools). Might also want to check winter road accessibility depending how far north?

If first impressions from your friend are promising and they can give a general idea of condition then could you get a builder / skilled tradesperson to look round on a second viewing to try to get an estimate for what needs to be done to inform your offer?

Could you put up a link to the house on here?

People will probably be able to tell you why it isnt' selling. It could be factors that don't actually matter to you. Like houses with poor schools in their catchment areas are harder to sell but that might not affect you (apart from when you go to sell it on). Also, the floor plan is very important, that should be on the EA details.

Surely it is possible to get a professional in to do an assessment ? I think there are people that do this.

Probably cost a K or so, but they are more likely to pick up on stuff than your friend would be and will issue a report.

Also, if your friend misses some massive and obvious problem, how are you going to feel about that ?

Basically there are a lot of "problem" houses around on the market - houses with big issues that do not sell because they are massively overvalued based on the issues they have. These issues may be quite difficult to detect - often the owners will sit them on the market for ages hoping that someone who doesn't care about the issue, or more normally someone that doesn't spot it turns up. Careless/non viewing buyers are their best hope ...

Of course, if there are any massive issues, you might hope they would be trapped at the survey stage ...

Just to say if the house is empty the water should be turned off as part of empty house insurance. So flushing the loo or checking taps might notbe an option unless the EA knows where the stopcock is!

I just bought a problem house.

It was obvious from the photos it needed redecorating but also had other issues:

Boiler was broken - no hot water or heating

Bath leaked

Sink was blocked up

Loft showed evidence of leaking in the rain - had to get a roofer in and he sorted the gutters and repointed the chimney

Gas fire was capped as it had failed a safety inspection

Spent about 10k so far and more to come...

Ask why the sellers are selling, and whether any sales have fallen through (and if so, why).

Are the electrical sockets surface mounted? If they are and there aren't that many of them, I'd assume that the whole house needs a rewire and new distribution board.

There may well be older plumbing in situ, with some lead pipes still in place. I'd check under the sinks to see if the pipework looks recent, although there might still be lead pipe from the mains to the house which you'd want to upgrade.

Your friend should also look in the loft at the insulation and the underside of the roof (hopefully the EA will not veto this, I wouldn't be impressed if they did). She could also look at the gutters and downpipes from outside, for dripping and moss (and weed) growth.

Check for springy floors, especially around floor edges on the ground floor. There shouldn't be too much give. The kitchen may have a solid floor rather than floorboards with a sub floor void - if it does this would probably need to be dug out as it tends to breach DPC. Properties that have been empty for a while might smell a little fusty, especially older ones that haven't been updated. Hopefully your mate can tell the difference between the smell of damp issues and the smell of unvacc'd carpets...

The house has already been assessed by a surveyor. A “house report” is provided, paid for by the seller, which is standard in Scotland. There’s nothing particularly concerning on it and it was built in the seventies, so not too old.

It’s not really that I need advice on why it’s not selling. There are no rooms that are really going to be particularly attractive to live in until they’re done up because of the very dated decor. In addition, it’s a rather odd setup - a bungalow with a dining room centrally, which originally had a smallish window, which someone has built a conservatory outside, so now the room is quite dark. To make matters worse, the already dark room has been wallpapered in a fetching shade of orange.

It’s close to being too big a job for me to tackle, but I am swayed by the shortness of the drive to work.

Just realized I said previously it might have been decorated in the sixties, which it can’t have been if it was built in 1970 😂

And no fusty carpets as it’s all bare floorboards, so there’s another immediate cost.

Old Artex might have asbestos. That won't necessarily come up in a home report, it certainly didn't for friends of mine...

How long has it been up for sale? If it isn’t going to a closing date, I’d definitely want my own survey on it.

The housing market in some parts of Scotland has been slowing. Depending on how long it has been on the market the valuation in the seller's survey may no longer be accurate and be showing too high a figure.

Ouch! Do you know how old? That’s definitely worth getting checked.

Almost six months and the price has already been reduced once.

No closing date.

Do you think the standard survey is not good enough? Do you have any idea how much a better survey would cost?

I did wonder whether it might be worth having a couple of things checked out that were raised in the original survey to get a better idea of the cost of correcting them.

It’s still less than six months, but a whole raft of other slow houses seemed to sell in August. This house had its price dropped by 5% in August, but is still there and when my friend called for an appointment, there didn’t seem to be any urgency or sense that she should come soon as there were others interested.

Would an estate agent tell you how much interest there’s been?