How long do you take 'viewing' a property?

Old_Git

I am in the process of buying at the moment .Only moving 0.2 miles .
But I knew more than the agent did and he used to live in the development I am buying in .
Agents ask question to suss you out .
Are you a FTB ,chain free ,mortgage in place ect.

First viewing 20 minutes ,really wasn't sure but put an offer in .I didnt do the second viewing until my offer was accepted,which took a month .I didnt phone them I let them do all the running.
Second viewing 10 minutes to view plus 20 sitting in the lounge chatting to the agent about a property I wanted him to rent out.

sterl1ng

Tancred wrote: »

Clipboard and pen? Are you a surveyor?

10-15 minutes is all you need to decide whether a property is right - unless you want to do your own survey.

Well that would be to take notes but also asks questions I have written down and to note down answers so I don't miss a trick. Plus I've got so many questions from various websites so need to put in one doc so i'm not too overbearing

I guess its a bit like a meeting a future spouse - you know after like 5mins or so if you want to take it further :rotfl:

Tancred

sterl1ng wrote: »

I guess its a bit like a meeting a future spouse - you know after like 5mins or so if you want to take it further :rotfl:

Probably after one minute. :rotfl::D

That's the problem with blind dates.

Tancred

DaftyDuck wrote: »

You serious? Spend anything from £100,000 to £500,000 or more, based on a 15-minute look?

I allow an hour for first viewings. I take a copy of the details. I check them as I go round, I add notes, I ask the agent for a second walk-round without him there, I do indeed do my first initial survey - state of d!cor, any recently-moved furniture covering up something, copper pipes everywhere, or older, and signs of leaks, wiring new or old, any older-style light pendants or dodgy fuse-box, any sign of woodworm, damp, moss in gutters, a good look over all boundary walls at neighbouring properties, check the water pressure, hard or soft, water softener, age of boiler.....

I have left a property afetr onl a few minutes, with an obvious apology that it's not right for me, and explain why (to the agent, at least).

A house is a house. You can spend ages checking all this but the key things are:

1) You like it
2) It's big enough for your furniture
3) It's in a safe and convenient area
4) It's in an acceptable state of decoration etc.
5) The price is right

Everything else is superficial. If you're too fastidious you'll never find anything.

Tancred

G_M wrote: »

If instead of a £300,000 house (or whatever) I was buying a £5000 2nd hand car, I'd be taking it for a test drive, checking the clutch with a hill start, and looking underneath for rust.

What's the difference?

A car is a machine that is designed to be used constantly - a house is a totally different thing.

G_M

Tancred wrote: »

A car is a machine that is designed to be used constantly - a house is a totally different thing.

:rotfl:

:T

Lokolo

Tancred wrote: »

A house is a house. You can spend ages checking all this but the key things are:

1) You like it
2) It's big enough for your furniture
3) It's in a safe and convenient area
4) It's in an acceptable state of decoration etc.
5) The price is right

Everything else is superficial. If you're too fastidious you'll never find anything.

Even 4) isn't really a thing. You can always decorate it to what you like!

I spent 15 minutes. Once on my own, then second time with parents. Worked out spaces, where I can put things, what I didn't like about their setup. Made a note of storage, cupboards and what would need updating, what I could live with what I couldn't.

Worked out well.

Dukesy

We spent probably half an hour viewing our current house. One viewing, that was it. However, we were buying to renovate and we know what we are looking at, all we really viewed for was to check that there was nothing truly nasty lurking, as whilst we were happy to carry out major building works inside, rewire, replumb, strip out walls, floors, windows, doors etc, we really didn't want to have to pay out for a new roof, for example. If I was buying with the intention of moving in and leaving the place as is, I would certainly spend more time looking over the place and ascertaining that it was really suitable.

martinsurrey

Tancred wrote: »

A house is a house. You can spend ages checking all this but the key things are:

1) You like it
2) It's big enough for your furniture
3) It's in a safe and convenient area
4) It's in an acceptable state of decoration etc.
5) The price is right

Everything else is superficial. If you're too fastidious you'll never find anything.

No in fact quite the opposite.

A buyer who goes in to a viewing asking everything that is important to them or could put them off is MUCH more likely to buy after an offer than someone who just looks at the colour of the paint.

An informed buyer won’t get spooked by a survey, because they already have a good idea of what it will show and what they are buying.

Is this going to be another of the “Tancred knows best” threads, if so I’ll go get my popcorn?

Better_Days

Tancred wrote: »

Clipboard and pen? Are you a surveyor?

10-15 minutes is all you need to decide whether a property is right - unless you want to do your own survey.

I know quite quickly if I don't like the property. But I like to have a really good look if I think it is a possibility. Then it can easily take 45 mins to look round the house and garden. I want to take my time, after all, I am spending, in effect, my life savings. (Thinking about it, I dither more than that over which model of new washing machine to choose )

If you are looking at a lot of basically similiar properties in a town or city I can see that you might not need so long. But if you are looking at different properties, with different layouts and different pro's and cons I think it is important to really take your time when looking round. It is also a good opportunity to suss out the vendor and the more you get them talking the more you will ususally find out.

A surveyor isn't going to be interested whether or not the layout and set up of the property is going to work for you.

And I always take a pen and notepad when I view.