When to visit the house again?

Pepperoni

We had our offer accepted on a property mid-March. We'd like to visit again prior to exchange of contracts, just to double check everything is as it should be and also to start taking measurements for a few things.

Would you try to do it as close to exchange of contracts as possible? Or does it not matter?

I have it in my head from somewhere that you must visit close to exchange incase anythings changed from viewing stage, as it's how the house is at exchange that counts (if that makes sense!).

ETA; We obviously want to limit the amount of visits we make for the vendors sake more than anything.

hounsehunterftb

Of course. No harm in asking the vendor to arrange for that.

For ours we had have three viewings (one before the offer and two after). The third one was to specifically check the house as tenants had moved out and the house was empty.
That gave us an estimate of what all we need to buy and what all is there (We bought furnished house. Vendor agreed to leave the furniture as he didn't need it and was previously rented property)

Our vendor gave us his mobile phone and asked us to get in touch if we wanted to view the house or even move furniture after exchange and prior completion. Really nice man. Planning to go for another one just prior the contract exchange as we do need to take a few measurements.

Red-Squirrel_2

I've never bothered with this 'pre-exchange' viewing, I don't think most people do tbh.

You could drive past and make sure it's still standing i suppose, but if the vendors are living there it probably is.

Pepperoni

Haha! Thanks for that.

Will just do a viewing sooner rather than wait for exchange of contract stage. (I'm taking my father to look at their electrics to see if we need to have an electrical report done, he's an electrician).

tiredoflife

We went to look at our new house last Monday to measure up ( house vacant and no curtains at all) and spent a good half an hour there. We are hopefully exchanging this week. Id just make contact and ask. Likewise, our buyer has also been over a couple of times too.

Pepperoni

Thanks. I'd like to visit everyday if I could but conscious of the vendors. I guess as a seller myself I know that if my buyers want to visit I'd be cleaning the house and having to hide away toys again etc and it's just inconvenient!

Nikkinakkinoo2017

We had an offer accepted in April and went back in first week of May. However we did it because our 10 year old son is anxious about moving house so we asked the seller if it was ok. As people said to me at the time, you are spending a hell of a lot of money here, go see it if you want to see it xx

Pepperoni

I'd also like to take our children to see it but feel like we also need some time without them to measure and make lists and such! Maybe we'll do two visits between now and completion...

Fosterdog

We had three viewings, two before offering and one while the sale was well underway. First was obviously just a normal first viewing with the EA present, as we were first time buyers we had a lot of things to consider that we hadn't thought about prior to first viewing.

Second viewing was because we were pretty much ready to make an offer but just wanted to check a few things out, between my shift work, the tenant at the times shift work and the EA only working hours that both me and tenant were unavailable it was all arranged for us to view on a Sunday with just us and the tenant. Gave us the chance to ask about things that maybe a landlord and EA would want to avoid telling us. We then made our offer.

Around ten weeks later tenant had vacated, landlord had been there clearing out and doing some bits and pieces so we had another viewing to see what it was like now it was empty and to take final measurements and photos and to plan the work we were doing once completed.

It was only the next street over from where we were renting so we passed it every day anyway so knew there was nothing serious like a fire, flood, break in or anything going on before completion.

JP08

We've got a second viewing booked for the place we're purchasing. But that's because I now have survey report in hand and want to see the scale of the problems first hand.

saajan_12

I would strongly advise on a viewing just before exchange. You will be agreeing to buy the property broadly in the same condition as it was at exchange. You should insure the property between exchange and completion, however
- Any damages before exchange aren't covered so you need to check you're happy paying the offer price for the condition at exchange. Yes the vendors are living there so it won't have burned down, but since they are leaving they might not bother to fix smaller issues which may escalate by the time you move in.

- Any actions by the vendors would likely not be covered by insurance (unlikely but we had a thread recently where a vendor was doing building work to an external wall days before exchange)

If you're doing a viewing anyway, the disruption to the occupants is the same.. may as well measure etc at the same time as the final day-before-exchange check