House hunting - things to avoid

mi-key

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?

It is pretty normal for them now not to let you view a house unless you can prove you can buy it ( mortgage in principle for FTB or that your own house has already sold ). It saves them wasting their time showing around people who can't afford the house, or have no intention of buying and are just having a nose around, or those who don't even have their house on the market yet.

It could be after 8 viewings they think you are just time wasters. Personally if I had looked at a house on right move and liked it enough to view it in person, I would be fairly sure if I was going to make an offer after an initial viewing. Maybe not within a few hours ! but within a couple of days. 

adindas

Emily_Joy said:

I am trying to compose a list of things one should avoid, if at all possible, when buying a house in a relatively small town (say population under 70 000). This is what I have at the moment.

1. Bathroom on the ground floor behind the kitchen while all bedrooms are on the first floor

2. Loft conversions - based on my observations these are usually done badly, with leaking showers etc

3. Toilet next to the dining room/kitchen/lounge.

4. Rooms without central heating, unless it is a sun room.

5. Bathrooms in the middle of the house - nowhere near external walls.

Would be very grateful for more contributions.

To me the most important things is the price to be compared with similar properties in the surrounding, so you will not have the problem when you sell it later.

Other things like rooms lay out could still be redone later if the price is good and there is allowance for it through the reduction of the price.

diystarter7

Postik said:

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.

Hi

Its a no and a bigger no.
One of myfriends  bought a house on a corner, dated house, one of the few in the area with OSP, this was years ago but they did it up, took the front hedges trss down, new half walls, iron railings, new roof, new drives, eye catching door when most people were having white DG doors and new, newsi BM's and Mercedes - several attempts to break in, stealing from the garden as the the garden was easily accessed over a fence from the pavement -at times sat in the garden, one time a bottle came over the fence from the road side - the area was ok but my friends first language was not english a few youbs took offence to taht - after the 7th attempted break-in they moved

Corner house unless a mansion type with other mansions and no narrow roads

Corner houses are more likely to attact atention of  crims.

housebuyer143

diystarter7 said:

Postik said:

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.

Hi

Its a no and a bigger no.
One of myfriends  bought a house on a corner, dated house, one of the few in the area with OSP, this was years ago but they did it up, took the front hedges trss down, new half walls, iron railings, new roof, new drives, eye catching door when most people were having white DG doors and new, newsi BM's and Mercedes - several attempts to break in, stealing from the garden as the the garden was easily accessed over a fence from the pavement -at times sat in the garden, one time a bottle came over the fence from the road side - the area was ok but my friends first language was not english a few youbs took offence to taht - after the 7th attempted break-in they moved

Corner house unless a mansion type with other mansions and no narrow roads

Corner houses are more likely to attact atention of  crims.

In think you need to look at the whole area. Every house on a corner isn't a criminals dream. 
I live on a corner and no crime, no antisocial behaviour, hardly any cars, peaceful. Maybe if you are looking in the centre of a city, but most houses on a corner are fine and have none of the issues you mention. 
It's likely the place your mate bought wasn't particularly nice. Not sure not being on the corner would have helped much.

mi-key

housebuyer143 said:

diystarter7 said:

Postik said:

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.

Hi

Its a no and a bigger no.
One of myfriends  bought a house on a corner, dated house, one of the few in the area with OSP, this was years ago but they did it up, took the front hedges trss down, new half walls, iron railings, new roof, new drives, eye catching door when most people were having white DG doors and new, newsi BM's and Mercedes - several attempts to break in, stealing from the garden as the the garden was easily accessed over a fence from the pavement -at times sat in the garden, one time a bottle came over the fence from the road side - the area was ok but my friends first language was not english a few youbs took offence to taht - after the 7th attempted break-in they moved

Corner house unless a mansion type with other mansions and no narrow roads

Corner houses are more likely to attact atention of  crims.

In think you need to look at the whole area. Every house on a corner isn't a criminals dream. 
I live on a corner and no crime, no antisocial behaviour, hardly any cars, peaceful. Maybe if you are looking in the centre of a city, but must houses on a corner are fine and have none of the issues you mention. 

True, thieves look for easy targets. A house on the corner with a decent alarm, security lighting and CCTV will soon put them off. 

Emily_Joy

mi-key said:

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?

It is pretty normal for them now not to let you view a house unless you can prove you can buy it ( mortgage in principle for FTB or that your own house has already sold ). It saves them wasting their time showing around people who can't afford the house, or have no intention of buying and are just having a nose around, or those who don't even have their house on the market yet.

It could be after 8 viewings they think you are just time wasters. Personally if I had looked at a house on right move and liked it enough to view it in person, I would be fairly sure if I was going to make an offer after an initial viewing. Maybe not within a few hours ! but within a couple of days. 

I imagine you have quite a bit of experience so that you can judge by rightmove listing, know what questions you need to ask the estate agent when arrange a viewing. We are not there yet...

diystarter7

housebuyer143 said:

diystarter7 said:

Postik said:

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.

Hi

Its a no and a bigger no.
One of myfriends  bought a house on a corner, dated house, one of the few in the area with OSP, this was years ago but they did it up, took the front hedges trss down, new half walls, iron railings, new roof, new drives, eye catching door when most people were having white DG doors and new, newsi BM's and Mercedes - several attempts to break in, stealing from the garden as the the garden was easily accessed over a fence from the pavement -at times sat in the garden, one time a bottle came over the fence from the road side - the area was ok but my friends first language was not english a few youbs took offence to taht - after the 7th attempted break-in they moved

Corner house unless a mansion type with other mansions and no narrow roads

Corner houses are more likely to attact atention of  crims.

In think you need to look at the whole area. Every house on a corner isn't a criminals dream. 
I live on a corner and no crime, no antisocial behaviour, hardly any cars, peaceful. Maybe if you are looking in the centre of a city, but most houses on a corner are fine and have none of the issues you mention. 
It's likely the place your mate bought wasn't particularly nice. Not sure not being on the corner would have helped much.

Hi
No as per my post you quoted, not at more risk than most others on their road and in a corner is where you get street aftr street of alrge mansion type houses but in london where often OSP is rare, you have a corner house and one of the few with that, not nice. The area was nice but crims travel and start to targe same properties.

The mate, nice place, not for us as hardly a house with OSP and property there averaging 800k and almost all houses are O/O and or privately rented and a few conversion flats.

Thanls

rigolith

Consider that you won't be able to buy fossil fuel cars in 7 years time, and EVs are already a better option in many cases.

Lack of charging at home is going to cost you thousands to use public chargers instead.

1616six

This thread to me feels pointless - there’s a buyer for every house and we all have requirements.. and taste!

Id never buy a house without a decent size driveway but if you can’t drive or don’t own a car, you’re obviously not going to be bothered.


Before we bought, I’d said for years that I’d never buy anything other than detached and I’d never buy on an estate… we fell in love with a semi and it’s the 7th house into a small (3 roads) estate so I’ve actually ended up going against even my own must haves but we love it and have no regrets.


For me having lots of driveway space, a garage an an enclosed rear garden is more important than things like a decent sized bathroom… we have 2 cars and a big campervan, we are outdoorsy types so a nice garden is important.

Everything is personal. I know someone with a lovely apartment in a city centre but I couldn’t think of anything worse than having people around me above, below, left and right with no garden and a space in a car park.. they love it though! 

mi-key

Emily_Joy said:

mi-key said:

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?

It is pretty normal for them now not to let you view a house unless you can prove you can buy it ( mortgage in principle for FTB or that your own house has already sold ). It saves them wasting their time showing around people who can't afford the house, or have no intention of buying and are just having a nose around, or those who don't even have their house on the market yet.

It could be after 8 viewings they think you are just time wasters. Personally if I had looked at a house on right move and liked it enough to view it in person, I would be fairly sure if I was going to make an offer after an initial viewing. Maybe not within a few hours ! but within a couple of days. 

I imagine you have quite a bit of experience so that you can judge by rightmove listing, know what questions you need to ask the estate agent when arrange a viewing. We are not there yet...

I think these days it is more normal to do your initial research and viewing online rather than in person, and only go and view once you are fairly sure the size, layout, area etc... may suit you. Cosmetic stuff like decorations will always get changed anyway.

Of the 8 houses you viewed, did they look like they would be suitable for you from the rightmove details? If not then its probably not worth going to see them in person.