House hunting - things to avoid

Emily_Joy

mi-key said:

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.

None of the estate agents offered online viewing. I am actually not sure what it is.

mi-key

Emily_Joy said:

mi-key said:

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.

None of the estate agents offered online viewing. I am actually not sure what it is.

I meant viewing the photos online on rightmove, looking at the floorplan and size of the rooms etc.. .  A lot of the listings will also have a video of the house. You don;t need to go directly to an estate agent. Look at the houses you like on rightmove, make a shortlist, and only then contact an agent to do a viewing in person. 

housebuyer143

Emily_Joy said:

mi-key said:

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.

None of the estate agents offered online viewing. I am actually not sure what it is.

You can look at the floorplan, photos, maybe a video, room sizes on the ad. Then you can drive by it to see the location and plot and street view it on Google and see the surrounding areas and what is around. 
Then you can look at police crime stats for the street to see how the area compares. 

You should be fairly sure the property is suitable in all these before you go and view it. 

Granted the first one or three you might not be able to translate a floorplan and room sizes into reality, but once you have been that many it will be fairly obvious from a listing if the house is the right size before you go. 

lookstraightahead

What we think we want (not just houses) is totally different from what we realise we actually want. Experience shows us differently. Open mind is the best approach.

 And if we admit we need to be flexible with what we think we want, we open the door to all kinds of opportunity.

a list of must haves (in advance) narrows our choices.

Emily_Joy

housebuyer143 said:

You can look at the floorplan, photos, maybe a video, room sizes on the ad. Then you can drive by it to see the location and plot and street view it on Google and see the surrounding areas and what is around. Then you can look at police crime stats for the street to see how the area compares. 

Driving by did not really sound that attractive as the houses in question were about 90 miles away from where we normally live/work. To us it made perfect sense to actually go inside and see the houses as well.

1616six

lookstraightahead said:

What we think we want (not just houses) is totally different from what we realise we actually want. Experience shows us differently. Open mind is the best approach.

100%!

The house we have recently bought is not on paper what we had as our requirements but we love it. 

We also went completely against the done thing and bought the first house we viewed - it was one of those things where everyone is saying oh no you need to view others if only to see what else you can get for the money etc. We tried find another to view as a comparison but nothing took our fancy, I think if and when you find a house, you know. 

Don’t go in with a huge list of must have this and don’t want that.. when you find your home, you’ll know it. We always fancied an en suite but haven’t got one, our bedroom door is next to the bathroom though so does it really matter? I think people want the moon on a stick and find themselves searching forever a lot of the time.

housebuyer143

Emily_Joy said:

housebuyer143 said:

You can look at the floorplan, photos, maybe a video, room sizes on the ad. Then you can drive by it to see the location and plot and street view it on Google and see the surrounding areas and what is around. Then you can look at police crime stats for the street to see how the area compares. 

Driving by did not really sound that attractive as the houses in question were about 90 miles away from where we normally live/work. To us it made perfect sense to actually go inside and see the houses as well.

An the more reason to do research first if you are going 90 miles. Street view is an invaluable tool. 

Emily_Joy

housebuyer143 said:

An the more reason to do research first if you are going 90 miles. Street view is an invaluable tool. 

We did more than "desktop research". We rented a place in the area for a couple of weeks. It was during this time that we had the first 3 viewings.

TBagpuss

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 access and youths hanging around. This is generally speaking not always

I'd also avoid buy the best house o the road a house with a drive where others don't have it and looks great and nice 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 my friends  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 that - 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 attract attention 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.

Yes, it sounds as though in your friends case they may have ended up having the nicest looking house in the immediate area , and having removed the hedges they made it more visible and made access easier.
Being on the corner is unlikely to be what caused the problems. 

TBagpuss

SprostonGreenHead said:

I can't get my head around this idea that some EAs have that people go looking around houses that they can't afford to buy. I am sure there are some very weird minority of people out there who have nothing better to do, but really, is it a problem enough that demanding proof of ability to buy is required?

I had it with one EA, who actually wanted bank statements and I got quite annoyed with them and said to-the-effect of "do you really think I'm gonna drive 5 hours up the country with my family to view a property I cannot afford to buy!? No, I'm not showing you my bank statements with proof of deposit. Here is my offer-in-principle, take it or leave it". This did the job.

I think that there are people who look at properties which are more than they can afford and will then try to negotiate the price down - obviously  there is nothing wrong with that but just as there are sellers with unrealistic expectations about price, there are also buyers with unrealistic expectations about how much they can haggle. 

Also, in many cases the agents aren't concerned about whether you can afford the house, they want to try to get you to provide information nd agree to use their mortgage broker, and they want to know how much you can afford so they can advise their client, the seller, whether you are likely to be able to increase your offer.