Things you wish you'd checked before buying your property

sgun

We checked everything we could think of. Drainage surveys, spoke to the parish council about potential planning, even took a soil sample! Our vendors were odd and wouldn't answer any of our queries, really simple things like had the 30 year old boiler been serviced regularly (it had, so why keep it a secret?). Then they got cross because it took 6 months to get to completion. And we knew we would find things that had been hidden or were more in need of repair than we thought as this is the way of house selling and buying. I'm sure the person who bought my house is cursing me too at times for things I had hidden. 

So the moral of the story is...have a contingency fund. Know your absolute non-negotiables (soil for me, takeaways for some!)

chasingfreedom

MaMoneyMaMoney said:

DairyQueen said:

1) Always check the Council's development/neighbourhood plans. It's an easy way to find-out if a preferred development site is anywhere close. No planning application (yet) doesn't mean there won't be one along soon.

princeofpounds said:

Local planning applications.

This is an interesting one.

In your opinion, how could one best guard against this? What is there to guard against? What could negatively (or positively?) affect a property nearby?

We were interested in a house which was in a small side road with maybe 6 other houses. Very quiet little village etc. I checked planning applications and found there were plans to knock down 3 of the houses (old farm houses all linked together next door but 1) and build 4 mega houses on that land. They would have been at the bottom and side of our garden overlooking us where there was nothing at the time of viewing and the access to the building site was straight past the house so we'd essentially have been living in a building site for probably 2 years when we moved in! That on top of other work that needed doing in the house itself meant we abandoned the idea altogether. Coincidentally the plans said residents consulted start of December which is the same time as the house went on the market! Dodged a bullet!

Davesnave

sgun said:

 Know your absolute non-negotiables (soil for me, takeaways for some!)

Yes soil for us too. We carried a digging tool in the car, though in most cases it wasn't needed.

It certainly wasn't required here, because we had a mole working for us on the inside!

Greymug

Davesnave said:

sgun said:

 Know your absolute non-negotiables (soil for me, takeaways for some!)

Yes soil for us too. We carried a digging tool in the car, though in most cases it wasn't needed.

It certainly wasn't required here, because we had a mole working for us on the inside!

Just out of curiosity, why is soil important for you? Like, are you planting veg in the garden?

sgun

Greymug said:

Davesnave said:

sgun said:

 Know your absolute non-negotiables (soil for me, takeaways for some!)

Yes soil for us too. We carried a digging tool in the car, though in most cases it wasn't needed.

It certainly wasn't required here, because we had a mole working for us on the inside!

Just out of curiosity, why is soil important for you? Like, are you planting veg in the garden?

Soil has a massive impact on what you can grow. I work in horticulture. My garden is as important as the house. I live on the Whin Sill which had the potential for acidic soil (not necessarily a problem but the soil would need changing for veg). In our old house we were pretty much self sufficient in veg for 9 months of the year and this garden is smaller so I had to make sure I could still grow a good variety of plants. As it happens the soil is perfect if a little compacted in places. You can change anything about a house - you can't permanently change your soil.

Davesnave

Greymug said:

Davesnave said:

sgun said:

 Know your absolute non-negotiables (soil for me, takeaways for some!)

Yes soil for us too. We carried a digging tool in the car, though in most cases it wasn't needed.

It certainly wasn't required here, because we had a mole working for us on the inside!

Just out of curiosity, why is soil important for you? Like, are you planting veg in the garden?

As above. Nursery persons, now retired, but keen to avoid an uncooperative garden, just like we'd avoid a house with serious structural problems.

Greymug

Makes sense. Cheers

MaMoneyMaMoney

I like the soil discussion. What constitutes as good soil, then? Is lack of acidity enough? Or are there other characteristics the soil should have to deem it "worthy/safe for vegs"?

MovingForwards

I spent ages online searching everything imaginable about the property I wanted and county I was moving to. Never lived in it nor had anyone I knew and I had only driven through it once before viewing the flat to make sure I liked what I saw; only did two drive throughs and one flat viewing visit before moving in.

Searches included local area, immediate vicinity, planning permissions requested and rejected, how long the shops / other businesses had been going, looked for specific shops, flood risk, last time the road and area flooded, weather including snow, transport links, cost of transport, property sales over the years, police and news checks, used earth and maps to do 'virtual' walks around the area.

Found where other shops and businesses were in the wider eg DIY, supermarkets, clothes, home furnishings, furniture and anything else I may want over the years.

My phone browser had never seen so many different searches.

I even read and printed the CML book for my lender, to preempt anything my solicitor would encounter, did the same with my lender which made my broker's life a lot easier; I could gather everything up and send it over then if anything extra was required that would get sent when asked for.

Checked Registers of Scotland about the other flats in my block and looked up which had registered landlords. Same with a few other properties.

Dug up loads of old photos and history of the building and area too.

I had a lot of time on my hands as my purchase got put on hold for a bit. I was one of thousands buying just as Covid hit and not knowing it the lender (sub-prime) would suddenly pull the offer, but it all went through just took a few weeks longer.

sgun

MaMoneyMaMoney said:

I like the soil discussion. What constitutes as good soil, then? Is lack of acidity enough? Or are there other characteristics the soil should have to deem it "worthy/safe for vegs"?

Actually, sometimes acid soil is better. Quite a lot of plants including edibles like a slightly acid soil, some prefer slightly alkaline but around a pH of 6 will do for most stuff. For me it was more about the texture and nutrients content. Easy to judge quickly if you are used different soils. A pretty good measure is just seeing what is already growing  but here it was all turfed so I needed to take some soil (in secret).