Home buyers report worth it? Or pre offer digital property condition report?

[Littlebeausheepish]

Hi I am looking into buying a house down in south west London, we are about to put an offer in on a property, which does need some work doing as it is a property which has been lived in by a young family and property is about 100 years old.

I wanted to know what people think about the home buyers report? it seems as though people often get this but seems both expensive and then can you really use this in your price negotiation, what are peoples experiences?

A friend of mine tried a digital property condition report but have not seen much about them before, but seemed helpful as she said to do it before we put the offer in, cheaper & quicker and gave some of the answers to costings but not many providers out there and also not sure how they get accurate costings of the property with just the pictures I send over?

Would love to hear what people think please. Would be very helpful.

I had someone try and negotiate price with me, I shut it down right away and they paid as agreed. Most of the time these surveys only seem to throw up what a savvy person would spot when looking round, and so often sellers wouldn’t expect things like blown double glazing or a poor roof to be a surprise.

I had a home buyers report, £800. It missed a major defect with the roof and damp coming through from a rotten window frame. It was full of mentions of requiring specialist survey for this, that and the other. I should have saved the £800 and put it toward the £3,000 cost of repairing the roof.

Full structural survey on a 100 year old house for me.
I don't know what a digital thing is.

I think if you use them as a rough guide they can be useful. They point out the areas you need to investigate more but that's it. I wouldn't buy without one but if the house was old or very unique I would definitely go for the next one up.

Never heard of the other one. Can you explain it a bit more?

A 100 year old house is likely to have lots of things that need sorting at various degrees of urgency.

We’ve not long had one done on a Victorian semi that has indeed thrown up lots of things we didn’t or couldn’t see, but will likely cost a fair bit. We had the top tier survey done (£900) which recommended a damp and timber specialist (can’t remember exactly, maybe £500?) - even the top level survey is an overview, and they’ll pass on to specialists for things like damp and electrics. Part of me didn’t want to bother, but the overly cautious part of me felt I should. That one came back with a load of significant rot and damp problems in the floors downstairs - we’d never have known they were there until the floor caved in! I’m quite relieved they were spotted so we can do something about it, even if it was extra outlay at the beginning. We’re pricing up the cost of getting it all sorted at the moment. Forearmed is forewarned and all that.

My Level 2 survey found fungus in areas (because of leaks) not seen by walking around the house , it needs an invasive check because of this so personally I think it’s worth getting a survey. I see it as saving me money in the long run which could be a costly job to remedy it in my case…

The digital property condition report my friend sent to me, was a digital version of homebuyers where you could upload lots of images of the house and do a guided tour, then they sent through the findings for you based on local knowledge and apparently work with many surveyors who can validate 90% of what is photographed.

I think quite new as havent seen many people have this but looked good, plus was cheaper than home buyers and she did it before they put an offer in as didnt need to arrange for the surveyor to go around.

I know a lot of people on here are not a fan of doing a chip off the back of a homebuyers report so this is why this seemed to me to be a good option and we wouldnt be messing the seller around, as would be more informed. Might actually try doing both as then can be belt and braces, its such a big decision that want to get it right!

I would skip the digital report and spend all the cash on a thorough in person one.
You cannot possibly survey a house properly without visiting it.

I've put 'not worth it' but not because it's expensive but because you need a full structural survey on a house that age.
If you don't need to arrange for the surveyor to visit that also tells you something about the problems the report can actually find.

2 half surveys don't = 1 full one

How does the digital one work exactly? Who’s doing the photography? Honestly don’t worry about the seller being put out by having a proper surveyor coming round, it would be more hassle for them to sort the photography for a digital survey if that’s how it works. The digital one doesn’t sound great to be honest, so much would be missed either accidentally or deliberately.

a digital version of homebuyers where you could upload lots of images of the house and do a guided tour, then they sent through the findings for you based on local knowledge and apparently work with many surveyors who can validate 90% of what is photographed.

Ehhh?? Are you saying the homeowner takes a photo and sends it to someone who just looks at it? 😮 And how does local knowledge help with that particular house? No two houses have the same issues even if they are attached to each other. Your friend was conned.

The buyer when viewing the property takes the photos, as they go around the property on the 2nd or 3rd viewing. It can then provide costings from these phots and also highlight some of the more detailed surveys to get opposed to homebuyers survey which often recommends other detailed surveys anyhow. It really helped my friend get an understanding of the costings and the likely issues, it actually suggested a asbestos inspection which the homebuyers report even missed.

Seem as though this vote also agrees that the homebuyers surveys are too expensive and a waste of money, feel like the digital property condition seems to do a lot of the same things but for less money and quicker, plus if do actually need some more detailed surveys then can put the good money on the more detailed or electrical surveys for example.

Will keep you posted as to how it goes!

We recently bought and sold. Buyer spent £600 and the bloke was in our house for 30mins.

We didn’t get one on our purchase as we know it needs work - I’d rather spend £1500 on starting the work than on a report telling me what I already know.

Seem as though this vote also agrees that the homebuyers surveys are too expensive and a waste of money, feel like the digital property condition seems to do a lot of the same things but for less money and quicker

Er, no, quite the opposite, noone has agreed digital is a good idea. Are you actually here to advertise digital surveys?

The digital one sounds like a terrible idea and completely worthless. The reason people such as myself are pretty critical of property surveys is that so often you are paying good money and getting half-arsed information in return. The solution to that is not to pay good money for even more half-arsed information!

If the house is old enough, and/or you are inexperienced enough to need a survey, then get a proper one. If you think you know enough about properties that you can get by on the kind of basic information you'll get from this digital business, then you may as well do with nothing at all.

"also highlight some of the more detailed surveys to get opposed to homebuyers survey which often recommends other detailed surveys anyhow."

I can do that for you now without even seeing the house, and save you the money. Asbestos, Gas Safety Check, Electrics, Damp Survey. Recommending other surveys is not a useful service, it's a disclaimer that these are things the surveyor didn't and won't check properly.