House hunting - things to avoid

mi-key

lookstraightahead said:

mi-key said:

P.S. Especially for @mi-key: we made an offer which was accepted but while we were arranging a survey cash buyers came along with a lower offer and the vendor chosen them.

Sorry to hear that. That is the danger if you don't act quickly though sometimes. Even though the doom mongers on here say nobody is buying and sellers are desperate to sell to anyone, it only takes one other person to come along and you miss out. 

Maybe if you had made a higher initial offer then the seller would have turned down the cash buyer...

I'm not sure that those who think the market has slowed down or think prices are coming down are doom mongers. To many that's a good thing. Nothing wrong with things stabilising. 

I'm certainly not a doom monger - I have a lot of equity in my house but it was mayhem a few months ago and I think it's good to see it calming down.  That's a positive move as far as I'm concerned.

No the doom mongers are the ones who think sellers are now so desperate to sell they will take any low offer they can just to get rid of their house, and they are lucky to get one buyer interested.

Sadly as Emily as illustrated, it only takes one other buyer to come along with a better offer or in a better position, and the house will sell to them

RelievedSheff

user1977 said:

AFF8879 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.

To be honest that seems way more to do with the area/neighbourhood being problematic than the house being on a corner plot…

Indeed, I've never previously heard of corner properties being generally problematic. Sounds like a localised issue.

We seem to have a "thing" for yellow brick corner plots. Both of the properties we have bought have been yellow brick built on a corner 🤣🤣🤣

No security issues with either and both have been light and airy due to the extra windows with decent sized plots.

RelievedSheff

To the OP.

Don't go into viewing property with lists of must haves and must not haves based on what other people say.

Just go and buy the right home for you.

If you bought it, down the line, someone else will. 

Emily_Joy

mi-key said:

Sorry to hear that. That is the danger if you don't act quickly though sometimes.

No reason to be sorry. The house had quite a few red flags so probably better this way. It would have been less than a week between the acceptance of the offer and the surveyor's visit, so I think we acted pretty quickly!

Emily_Joy

Bolt1234 said:  I have never rented.

Nothing wrong with renting while you are at uni or have a temporary 1/2/3 years job contract. Nothing wrong with renting if you need to relocate for whatever reason and there is no suitable house on the market in the area.

EssexHebridean

Emily_Joy said:

Bolt1234 said:  I have never rented.

Nothing wrong with renting while you are at uni or have a temporary 1/2/3 years job contract. Nothing wrong with renting if you need to relocate for whatever reason and there is no suitable house on the market in the area.

Nothing wrong with renting full stop! For many people, it is their only option for various reasons, and for many others, it’s simply what they prefer! 

angelasocks

Personally couldn't give a care about how out of date the cosmetics are but

Not on a main road because of my cats risking them getting run over.

Has driveway that has a garage or room to build one.

Structurally sound

Location important as I've lived in this area all my life.

EssexHebridean

angelasocks said:

Personally couldn't give a care about how out of date the cosmetics are but

Not on a main road because of my cats risking them getting run over.

Has driveway that has a garage or room to build one.

Structurally sound

Location important as I've lived in this area all my life.

Years ago when we were looking to buy a flat we dismissed one with a rubbish chute because at the time we had a fairly adventurous cat, and we could just imagine her exploring and WHOOOSSSH! 

Emily_Joy

Noticed a few of them at the back of the house, about 1m from the wall, maybe less... the note reads "inspection cover". Haven't seen them before. Any guesses?

RelievedSheff

Its a drain cover or services cover.

Every property will have some. They provide access to the drainage (or other services) for any maintenance required.