Speaking to neighbors before buying the property ?

Newtown

We have finally got the mortgage offer issued.

I was wondering if its OK to go to neighbors and ask questions about the property. (is it rude ? do you think it would be a problem ?)
(Any structural issues. what kind of area it is . any noise problems etc etc )

(we are buying an apartment)

also what sort of questions you think will be helpful ?

I dont know how to approach it

Any help will be appreciated.:beer:

Rosemary7391

If I had time I'd probably invite you in for a cuppa. Make sure you're friendly, start off with why you're there and you won't go far wrong

G_M

Newtown wrote: »

We have finally got the mortgage offer issued.

I was wondering if its OK to go to neighbors and ask questions about the property. .....

I dont know how to approach it

Is it 'OK'?

I would never buy a property without speaking to them.

a) to suss out what my prospective neighbours are like and
b) because they will tell you far more about both the property and the neighbourhood than the seller, or EA, evere would.

I'd also talk to the postie, the cornershop owner, the publican, anyone else local I could find.

Knock on the doors?

Mojisola

G_M wrote: »

I would never buy a property without speaking to them.

Do you suggest taking a cake with you?

G_M

You say that as a joke, but actually, not a bad idea!

Have a bag of cupcakes and hand one out as the door is opened when you introduce yourself.

It's sure to break the ice!

If the neighbour still declines to speak to you, you've learned a whole lot about the neighbour!

Cakeguts

We found out from the neighbours of the last house we bought that the previous owner had left the house for several months during which time a pipe burst which brought down the living room ceiling and flooded the kitchen. It had all been repaired by the time we viewed the property. We did get the joists checked though.

Rosemary7391

G_M wrote: »

You say that as a joke, but actually, not a bad idea!

Have a bag of cupcakes and hand one out as the door is opened when you introduce yourself.

It's sure to break the ice!

If the neighbour still declines to speak to you, you've learned a whole lot about the neighbour!

I think I'll do just that when I move... although the sign of good neighbours should surely be that they have cupcakes on hand ready for stray visitors??

tealady

Have cupcakes for stray visitors? Not in my house, no chance. A cake tin would be wasted on me as they wouldn't get that far!
However if a prospective buyer knocked on my door , I would give them an honest answer (I hope!)

QueenJess

After a terrible experience with neighbours (thankfully in a rental place we could leave), when we were house hunting we would always chat to the neighbours to make sure they weren't likely to be a problem. I generally left it to hubby as I am a bit shy chatting to total strangers, but generally we found people were friendly and happy to chat.

Hubby generally started with something along the lines of "Sorry to disturb you, we are thinking of buying the house next door/over the road etc. Would you recommend this as a nice place to live?" and just be polite and friendly. People tend to be happy to chat more often than not and you can usually ask questions based on what they say to find out how long people have lived in the area, if they have had any trouble with anyone else or burglaries etc.

Other questions will depend on the place in question and if you have any concerns yourself. As it is a flat have they had trouble with parking, other people, turnover, figuring out who lives where and if it all seems friendly/they all know each other or keep themselves to themselves (any renters or all purchasers), any problems with extending leases or repairs etc for common areas. Just chatting will often tell you exactly what type of place it is and whether people are likely to cause you a problem.

moneyistooshorttomention

I'd pretty much got a couple of the neighbours here sussed before moving in personally:
- :eek: one couldnt wait to put their head out the door and give me a darn good once-over look. I got that right as to what I thought they were probably like:cool:

- With another one = It was readily possible to work out they were chavs and might "throw their weight around". Got that right too:cool:

But I still think it's probably a good idea to ring on relevant doorbells and ask. Yep....mine would be the house that is now pretty well-maintained/modernised and I wouldnt be "nosying" outside my house to check you out - but I could certainly give quite a long list of relevant facts about the road/neighbours by now:cool:.

So - I'd tend to say = look for the cared-for/modernised house with no visible sign of anyone "sussing you out" and ask them.

DaftyDuck

Of course, visiting the neighbours before exchange does have the downside that, in certain cases, your prospective neighbour-to-be will bribe the seller to not sell the house to you.

I'm sure this is rare, but can imagine wild circumstances where it might be more likely