Buying the first home: when to engage Surveyors and how many times?

MaMoneyMaMoney

When it comes to first time buyers (but I guess this also applies for those who are not)...

When is the right time to engage a Surveyor?
Is it the right time before making an offer?
If you had 2 properties you would like to make an offer, I guess you would have to pay a surveyor twice, right?
How does it work in general, do Surveyors come, do their job, give you the results and that's it? You don't need them anymore after that?

And what makes a Surveyor a good surveyor?

I don't mind paying a higher fee, but if I have to, I want to know why I'm paying the price I'm paying and what I'm getting out of it. I mean, what are the qualities a good surveyor should have?

#99Questions

Thank you all in advance. :beer:

Tom99

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]https://www.ricsfirms.com/residential/moving-home/surveys/rics-consumer-guide-home-surveys/
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[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]You only employ a surveyor when you have agreed to buy a property at a certain price, its been taken off the market and you have probably appointed a solicitor and got your mortgage lined up.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]A good surveyor will be the one who spots all the faults you would like to know about, but you have no way of telling which one that would be.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]A more expensive surveyor does not mean a more accurate survey.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]There are various sorts of survey you can have, set out on the RICS website I think. The most basic would be a valuation survey which you will need to pay for if you have a mortgage .[/FONT]
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AnotherJoe

MaMoneyMaMoney wrote: »

When it comes to first time buyers (but I guess this also applies for those who are not)...

When is the right time to engage a Surveyor?
Is it the right time before making an offer?
If you had 2 properties you would like to make an offer, I guess you would have to pay a surveyor twice, right?
How does it work in general, do Surveyors come, do their job, give you the results and that's it? You don't need them anymore after that?

And what makes a Surveyor a good surveyor?

I don't mind paying a higher fee, but if I have to, I want to know why I'm paying the price I'm paying and what I'm getting out of it. I mean, what are the qualities a good surveyor should have?

#99Questions

Thank you all in advance. :beer:

I dont know what your job is, but lets say, its a window cleaner.

Would you expect to be paid just the once for cleaning two houses? :rotfl:

Your lender will appoint a surveyor to value the property. They will often offer to increase that to a more in depth survey, possibly of several types of increasing severity, at what will be a cheaper cost than engaging a surveyor separately in addition.

Note that most (all?) surveys will mention a whole range of scary sounding things which are no cause for concern, but will potentially lead you spending even more money on pointless experts such as electricians, builders, gas fitters etc

And they will have more caveats in their survey than actual wording.

So, spend wisely and decide whats necessary and whats not. You dont need to employ a surveyor on a new build for example or even a newish house as long as you look carefully. A snagger would be a better spend on a newbuild.

DD265

We've waited to get our mortgage offer (i.e. 'our' house is SSTC) before arranging our survey. Already paid out a fair bit on searches, and didn't want to find ourselves throwing another £500 after it then not being approved for the mortgage.

I think what usually happens is the surveyor you book only comes out once, but they often make a number of backside covering suggestions that you get a specialist (or several) in to check XYZ and then you have to decide whether to engage said specialist or not.

As previously suggested, the older/more unusual the house the more prudent it is to go for a higher level of survey.

My initial approach to find a surveyor was to open a load of links to registered firms from RICSFIRMS.com, close any websites I didn't like (either the design, the way the blurb or lack thereof was written etc) and then to get some quotes online. I discarded anything significantly higher than the others, and now I need to google for some reviews to make my final choice. I may even call up under the pretense of asking a question to get an impression of the firm that way. If the reviews are all rubbish I shall have to start again. I'm hoping that'll leave me with a good one!

Davesnave

MaMoneyMaMoney wrote: »

And what makes a Surveyor a good surveyor?

Ask if you would be able to ring or speak directly to the surveyor after they've reported to have anything you aren't sure about clarified verbally.

They ought to accept this willingly.

The practical upshot is that all the written caveats frequently leave a bad/confusing impression, so it's often better to get a straight answer verbally on the things that matter most.