House hunting - things to avoid

Postik

The problem is, most of the things to "avoid" are based on personal preference.  The list is endless too (I notice nobody has mentioned substations, electricity pylons or private roads yet).

I found when house hunting it is about being sensible and making compromises.  When I moved there was not one single house I ever saw that was absolutely perfect in every single way.  I suspect even if you had a budget of two million pounds you would still end up making compromises somewhere.

When I was comparing properties I found it useful to make a list of all the positives and negatives which allowed me to score them against one another.

YoungBlueEyes

1) True in a way I spose. If you keep looking the next house will always be different in a better/worse way so you’ll always want to see one more…. 

2) Standard nowadays. They want to know you’re not just a time-waster who likes looking inside others’ houses. 

3) Also true in a way. When you walk into a house you kinda know if it’s right or wrong. Nothing wrong with thinking about it for a wee while though. 

Depending how ‘pushy’ the EA is being, 1+3 would put my back up. 

housebuyer143

Postik said:

The problem is, most of the things to "avoid" are based on personal preference.  The list is endless too (I notice nobody has mentioned substations, electricity pylons or private roads yet).

I found when house hunting it is about being sensible and making compromises.  When I moved there was not one single house I ever saw that was absolutely perfect in every single way.  I suspect even if you had a budget of two million pounds you would still end up making compromises somewhere.

If I was comparing properties I found it useful to make a list of all the positives and negatives which allowed me to score them against one another.

Ooo yes, add those to my list along with right of access through my property. No thanks.

Postik

housebuyer143 said:

Postik said:

The problem is, most of the things to "avoid" are based on personal preference.  The list is endless too (I notice nobody has mentioned substations, electricity pylons or private roads yet).

I found when house hunting it is about being sensible and making compromises.  When I moved there was not one single house I ever saw that was absolutely perfect in every single way.  I suspect even if you had a budget of two million pounds you would still end up making compromises somewhere.

If I was comparing properties I found it useful to make a list of all the positives and negatives which allowed me to score them against one another.

Ooo yes, add those to my list along with right of access through my property. No thanks.

My old house had right of access through someone else's property.  It did niggle me in case one day the neighour's changed and someone grumpy moved next door with a vicious dog.  But in the 16 years I was there it was never a problem.  The location of my old house was really, really good too... so again it's about compromises.

The substation thing I don't fully understand.  They are all over the place and I never really noticed them or thought about them until I saw posts on MSE where people were saying in no uncertain terms would they buy a property next to one.  If I found a house that was almost perfect in every other way I don't think I would turn it down purely on the basis of a substation being next door.

diystarter7

Hi

Apols if I got it wrong but I am a bit surprised that no one has mentioned the security aspect.

We would never buy a house on the corner unless its in a gated area as this often attracts crims, ie easier accesss and youths hanging around. This is genrally speaking not always

I'd also avoid buy the best house o the road a house with a drive where others dont have it and looks great and noce cars as it attracts more crooks.

I'd buy away from shops due to smells and schools due to parking/noise etc.

I'd not buy on a narrow road where taking car in/out of drive is very hard if others parked close/opposite

I'd look at/consider views once tree has shed their leaves in winters

Thanks

SprostonGreenHead

Emily_Joy said:

I would like again to thank everyone for their inputs. Price is not really that much of a concern. I am a bit puzzled at the moment by Estate Agents behavior, which seems a bit "pushy" to me. We started house hunting in November and have seen some 8 houses so far. We are now being told

(1) if we keep searching, we will not buy anything.

(2) they are not going to show us a house unless we can prove that we have a mortgage in principle for the full asking price (the house  in question is on the market since summer)

(3) we should make a decision whether to make an offer or not within a couple of hours of the first viewing. 

Is this normal nowadays?

Doesn't seem normal to me and quite frankly would find this a bit cheeky in the current environment!

1. is a ploy to get you to offer on something with them. Ignore it and make your own mind up. It's a daft comment.
2. I've encountered before with just one EA. It's annoying, but if you have a MIP, then flash it.
3. You should make an offer as and when you want to. It's your purchase and your life. Ignore as it's a ploy to get you to jump into making an offer.

Assuming these are all from the same EA, that's big red flags, and I would not trust an EA that said this stuff. I don't trust them anyway but I'd trust them less given the above. Don't let that stop you offering on a property via them though, just be on-guard!

Postik

diystarter7 said:

Hi

Apols if I got it wrong but I am a bit surprised that no one has mentioned the security aspect.

We would never buy a house on the corner unless its in a gated area as this often attracts crims, ie easier accesss and youths hanging around. This is genrally speaking not always

I'd also avoid buy the best house o the road a house with a drive where others dont have it and looks great and noce cars as it attracts more crooks.

I'd buy away from shops due to smells and schools due to parking/noise etc.

I'd not buy on a narrow road where taking car in/out of drive is very hard if others parked close/opposite

I'd look at/consider views once tree has shed their leaves in winters

Thanks

But what if you found a house that you absolutely LOVED, but it was on a corner?  And there were other houses you didn't like as much, but they weren't on a corner?

For me, I would have quite strong red flags against being on a noisy, busy road.  Or a private road with a very expensive, uncapped maintenance charge.  But things like being on a corner, having shared access or the road being narrow may or may not end up being an issue in reality.

Postik

Emily_Joy said:

(3) we should make a decision whether to make an offer or not within a couple of hours of the first viewing. 

Is this normal nowadays?

Had to laugh at this.  Of course, the vendor is going to turn down a perfectly good offer because you made it 2 days later instead of 2 hours later.

Robin9

Lots of steps up - or down

Skiddaw1

We did the checklist thing when we were house hunting. The house we moved to (our current home) actually ticked  just about every single box (including the 'wouldn't it be lovely if...' boxes).

Weirdly, however, it doesn't always follow- when we were previously looking (first sale fell through and we remarketed & started again a year later) we viewed a house which on paper should have been perfect and which even in the flesh (as it were) answered all our requirements but neither of us took to it at all. We later fell in love with a 'wild card' house, which didn't really meet many of our criteria at all (if our sale hadn't fallen through we might well have gone ahead and bought it) so I'd say don't be too hard & fast about anything. If you don't view you won't know...