No viewing on house----help

Albala

diggingdude wrote: »

Floorplan is the biggest thing for me. I discounted many houses which didn't have a floor plan (one I bought didn't have but I already knew the type of house). It's hard to imagine layout as the property looks small

I so agree. I spent a year or more looking for a suitable house for us, as we have some very specific requirements. Trying to construct a floorplan to work out if a house could be made to work for us was such a ruddy chore that unless the house looked very convincing in all other respects, I didn't even bother, I just looked elsewhere. One agent in the area doesn't do floorplans or room measurements. :(How barmy is that? I really didn't bother with any of those. I was a 200 mile drive from the area, so popping in to view places or even driving to look from the outside was not an option.


In the end, I actually had to work out a floorplan for one likely house. It took me hours. We did view, and I was about right; I had even worked out that the agent's room measurements were wrong, and in what way. One reason I'd previously dismissed the house was that they had described the master bedroom as a full yard smaller than it really was in one direction....


I'm in the position of knowing how to do this stuff because of my job, not everyone can, and I was still narked the agent hadn't done one. I also found that some agents' floorplans on other houses were wrong- and I mean, very wrong. Doors where the photos showed there were no doors, for example. Seriously, these things ought to be right. :mad:

There ought always to be plans, preferably dimensioned plans.

Crashy_Time

AdrianC wrote: »

Ask me when there's enough information in the listing to form a view. Right now, the issue isn't the asking price per se - it's the abysmal details. And they're all we've got to go on.

How much with the details we do have though?

Crashy_Time

Albala wrote: »

I so agree. I spent a year or more looking for a suitable house for us, as we have some very specific requirements. Trying to construct a floorplan to work out if a house could be made to work for us was such a ruddy chore that unless the house looked very convincing in all other respects, I didn't even bother, I just looked elsewhere. One agent in the area doesn't do floorplans or room measurements. :(How barmy is that? I really didn't bother with any of those. I was a 200 mile drive from the area, so popping in to view places or even driving to look from the outside was not an option.


In the end, I actually had to work out a floorplan for one likely house. It took me hours. We did view, and I was about right; I had even worked out that the agent's room measurements were wrong, and in what way. One reason I'd previously dismissed the house was that they had described the master bedroom as a full yard smaller than it really was in one direction....


I'm in the position of knowing how to do this stuff because of my job, not everyone can, and I was still narked the agent hadn't done one. I also found that some agents' floorplans on other houses were wrong- and I mean, very wrong. Doors where the photos showed there were no doors, for example. Seriously, these things ought to be right. :mad:

There ought always to be plans, preferably dimensioned plans.

Walking round the house gives you a good idea of the floorplan IMO.

Slinky

Crashy_Time wrote: »

Walking round the house gives you a good idea of the floorplan IMO.

So it does, but the poster lives 200 miles from where he's looking. Would you drive 400 miles in those circumstances?

eamon

Feel sorry for the OP. Buys a new build house on an estate that is still building 3 years later. Will not get his money back.


Sack the current agents and get a better one after you have taken and implemented the advice. Labelling one of the top floor rooms as a study/office isn't a bad idea and solves your 4th bedroom issue.

Crashy_Time

Slinky wrote: »

So it does, but the poster lives 200 miles from where he's looking. Would you drive 400 miles in those circumstances?

No, I would take the train and try to view 8-10 properties over a couple of days.

Slinky

Crashy_Time wrote: »

No, I would take the train and try to view 8-10 properties over a couple of days.

You assume the OP is looking for a property of which there are many available. We were having to do 220 mile round trips to view single properties in the area we were looking at as there wasn't much available. And a train trip being about 7-8 hours round trip in and out of London.

Crashy_Time

Slinky wrote: »

You assume the OP is looking for a property of which there are many available. We were having to do 220 mile round trips to view single properties in the area we were looking at as there wasn't much available. And a train trip being about 7-8 hours round trip in and out of London.

Take the plane then? The point is that when you walk around you see what the floor plan is, using that as an excuse why a house isn`t selling doesn`t work for me because there will be loads of potential buyers in the local area who don`t need to commute to view. The issue is usually price.

Albala

Slinky wrote: »

You assume the OP is looking for a property of which there are many available. We were having to do 220 mile round trips to view single properties in the area we were looking at as there wasn't much available. And a train trip being about 7-8 hours round trip in and out of London.

Our situation exactly. We worked with pictures and floorplans. Working out floorplans when there isn't one is a nuisance, and for many houses without one I just didn't bother, I simply wrote them off. Incidentally, w.r.t. another post, viewing a house is no substitute for a floorplan if you may need to alter things- just walking round a house you can't easily work out what rooms could be knocked through, etc.

Crashy_Time

Albala wrote: »

Our situation exactly. We worked with pictures and floorplans. Working out floorplans when there isn't one is a nuisance, and for many houses without one I just didn't bother, I simply wrote them off. Incidentally, w.r.t. another post, viewing a house is no substitute for a floorplan if you may need to alter things- just walking round a house you can't easily work out what rooms could be knocked through, etc.

What % of buyers realistically want to "knock through" anything though? They want a house at a decent price they can paint/wallpaper and live in. If the house ticks other boxes most people will view without a floorplan IMO, it is price that is usually the sticking point, not the lack of a floorplan (which they could get anyway if they really wanted it)