How long do you take 'viewing' a property?

katejo

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.

After an initial favourable viewing the keys things were more

1 Condition of roof, windows, doors, wiring
2. kitchen - whether it would be ok until I could afford to replace it
3. condition of boiler & central heating system

I took my Dad with me to look at it 2nd time round as he would be more knowledgeable about these things. The 2nd visit was longer.

lessonlearned

money - the whole point of a second viewing is that it gives you a few days in between to step back and take a breathing space - a "cooling off" period if you like.

Trying to cram two viewings into one by simply extending the length of time spent is really not the same as taking a little time to think it all through.

It really is best if you can do two viewings, the first really is just to rule out the absolute no hopers and make up a short list.

The second viewing is when you get down to the nitty gritty and have a good nose around, ask questions etc.

A first viewing is often one in which rose tinted glasses are worn.

The second viewing is when you should try and be a little more dispassionate. It's the time to look at the property with a clinicians' eye.

Take a torch to poke into corners, examine the roof space and check out the fuse box (often in the garage or tucked away away from the light) Take binoculars to examine the roof-line and check for missing slates, damaged fascias or leaking guttering. Open cupboards and fitted wardrobes to have a good sniff for damp and look for mould. Run taps, flush loos. Ask for a demonstration of the boiler to check that the heating is working.

You really are a caution at times. You take this whole buying and selling thing far too personally.

You take great exception to people "poking around your stuff" and yet you will need to do exactly the same. At least you will if you have any sense. If you don't you will end up "buying a pig in a poke".

From the moment your house goes on the market and you invite the world and his wife into your private space then you have to accept the intrusion into your privacy.

You can huff and puff and bridle as much as you like but you cannot realistically expect people to part with their life savings without them having a good old rummage and what might seem to you impertinent questions or comments.

Would you buy a pair of shoes without trying them on and walking up and down the shop. Would you buy a car without lifting the bonnet, checking out the boot and going for a test drive.

If you have items you would prefer viewers not to see then simply hide them away.

Bend a little. You are just being too intractable for your own good.

And please try to treat your prospective buyers with a little more respect. You seem to have such a jaundiced view of them - they really don't deserve the contempt you hold them in.

They are your customers not your mortal enemy.

Cash-Cow_3

It is bonkers people spend longer picking a TV than a house.

Tancred

katejo wrote: »

After an initial favourable viewing the keys things were more

1 Condition of roof, windows, doors, wiring
2. kitchen - whether it would be ok until I could afford to replace it
3. condition of boiler & central heating system

I took my Dad with me to look at it 2nd time round as he would be more knowledgeable about these things. The 2nd visit was longer.

1. Fair enough, but in a good modern house these shouldn't be a problem.
2. Yes - but also as above.
3. Well - every house these days has central heating. It's possible that the boiler might need replacing, but hardly a deal breaker in my view.

Tancred

lessonlearned wrote: »

money - the whole point of a second viewing is that it gives you a few days in between to step back and take a breathing space - a "cooling off" period if you like.

Trying to cram two viewings into one by simply extending the length of time spent is really not the same as taking a little time to think it all through.

It really is best if you can do two viewings, the first really is just to rule out the absolute no hopers and make up a short list.

The second viewing is when you get down to the nitty gritty and have a good nose around, ask questions etc.

A first viewing is often one in which rose tinted glasses are worn.

The second viewing is when you should try and be a little more dispassionate. It's the time to look at the property with a clinicians' eye.

Take a torch to poke into corners, examine the roof space and check out the fuse box (often in the garage or tucked away away from the light) Take binoculars to examine the roof-line and check for missing slates, damaged fascias or leaking guttering. Open cupboards and fitted wardrobes to have a good sniff for damp and look for mould. Run taps, flush loos. Ask for a demonstration of the boiler to check that the heating is working.

You really are a caution at times. You take this whole buying and selling thing far too personally.

You take great exception to people "poking around your stuff" and yet you will need to do exactly the same. At least you will if you have any sense. If you don't you will end up "buying a pig in a poke".

From the moment your house goes on the market and you invite the world and his wife into your private space then you have to accept the intrusion into your privacy.

You can huff and puff and bridle as much as you like but you cannot realistically expect people to part with their life savings without them having a good old rummage and what might seem to you impertinent questions or comments.

Would you buy a pair of shoes without trying them on and walking up and down the shop. Would you buy a car without lifting the bonnet, checking out the boot and going for a test drive.

If you have items you would prefer viewers not to see then simply hide them away.

Bend a little. You are just being too intractable for your own good.

And please try to treat your prospective buyers with a little more respect. You seem to have such a jaundiced view of them - they really don't deserve the contempt you hold them in.

They are your customers not your mortal enemy.

I take your point but what you seem to forget is that every house - unless a brand new build - will have something not quite perfect! You can do all the investigation you like but you need to weigh up your options - what other houses are you looking at and how does it compare?

As for ruling out the no-hopers you do that just by seeing the pictures and location on the EA website or on Rightmove/Zoopla. When I bother to view a property I am already considering it seriously. The surveyor will tell me what I need to know - that's what I am paying him for. If he finds big problems then I discuss it with the vendor and we see how best to proceed. I don't want to do my own survey.
Others want to - that's up to them.

Ciderarmy1987

Tancred wrote: »

I take your point but what you seem to forget is that every house - unless a brand new build - will have something not quite perfect! You can do all the investigation you like but you need to weigh up your options - what other houses are you looking at and how does it compare?

As for ruling out the no-hopers you do that just by seeing the pictures and location on the EA website or on Rightmove/Zoopla. When I bother to view a property I am already considering it seriously. The surveyor will tell me what I need to know - that's what I am paying him for. If he finds big problems then I discuss it with the vendor and we see how best to proceed. I don't want to do my own survey.
Others want to - that's up to them.

Ok but how do you decide what type of survey needs doing? get an idea of if you might need a specialist to look at something. electrics, heating etc etc? If they dont spend anytime looking at what "might" come up in a survey then you could easily over offer and then have to drop your price. Im sure as a vendor you would prefer people to get a better idea of what they are buying then stick to their price!

On top of this, are you really prepared to face to costs of get 2,3,4 surveys done on a house only to find out something like the roof is knackered or electrics are from the 1940s and then have to pull out and lose yourself survey fee etc?

Tancred

Ciderarmy1987 wrote: »

Ok but how do you decide what type of survey needs doing? get an idea of if you might need a specialist to look at something. electrics, heating etc etc? If they dont spend anytime looking at what "might" come up in a survey then you could easily over offer and then have to drop your price. Im sure as a vendor you would prefer people to get a better idea of what they are buying then stick to their price!

On top of this, are you really prepared to face to costs of get 2,3,4 surveys done on a house only to find out something like the roof is knackered or electrics are from the 1940s and then have to pull out and lose yourself survey fee etc?

As a vendor I simply prefer someone who will pay without fuss - and ideally without a survey. Of course I accept that a survey is often necessary but what I don't want is a fastidious plonker who will occupy an hour of my time and then say he isn't interested. If you want a house without any issues, get a new build and bore yourself to death in a toytown estate. Any old house should be looked upon as a 'project' - no matter how nice it looks from the pictures.

Fortunately I've now sold my house to a landlord investor who isn't fussed about a survey and made an offer without conditions - thanks f**k for that!

Ciderarmy1987

Tancred wrote: »

As a vendor I simply prefer someone who will pay without fuss - and ideally without a survey. Of course I accept that a survey is often necessary but what I don't want is a fastidious plonker who will occupy an hour of my time and then say he isn't interested. If you want a house without any issues, get a new build and bore yourself to death in a toytown estate. Any old house should be looked upon as a 'project' - no matter how nice it looks from the pictures.

Fortunately I've now sold my house to a landlord investor who isn't fussed about a survey and made an offer without conditions - thanks f**k for that!

So are you going to get a survey down when you are buying?

Ciderarmy1987

Tancred wrote: »

As a vendor I simply prefer someone who will pay without fuss - and ideally without a survey. Of course I accept that a survey is often necessary but what I don't want is a fastidious plonker who will occupy an hour of my time and then say he isn't interested. If you want a house without any issues, get a new build and bore yourself to death in a toytown estate. Any old house should be looked upon as a 'project' - no matter how nice it looks from the pictures.

Fortunately I've now sold my house to a landlord investor who isn't fussed about a survey and made an offer without conditions - thanks f**k for that!

Oh and out of interest what did you price did you finally agree for your house? did you manage to get 265K

phoebe1989seb

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

No irony at all - I presume all my viewers are local. As I have commented frequently - I will be viewing properties the other side of the country (so cant go nipping in and out on a whim for extra viewings etc). Good sound logic prevailing there...:)

I'll forgive ya' for not having read any of my previous posts in which I stated that.....

Not sure how you can presume your buyers to be local.........?

Like yourself, we have moved long distance (twice - the first time 150 or so miles, the second around 200) so we are well aware - as I would expect you to be - that people aren't always moving *locally*

Likewise our buyers - apart from the first couple of times we sold, their current homes have ranged from around 30 miles away to 100+ - out of selling five times 3/5 have not been local buyers.

As you are suggesting, when we moved the last couple of times (the two long distance moves), we did one initial trip to view several *short list* houses and made sure our viewings were long enough to cover as much as possible without the need to return for a second viewing - unless of course, we felt we had found *the one* This was complicated by the fact our search area covered several counties in different directions from our starting point.

I do believe - as DH is always suggesting about me, LOL - that you need to invest in a broom as too many sweeping statements are being made