How To Handle House Viewings (Viewing Houses)

Member Name: collingwood21

Product:	Viewing Houses
Date:	07/08/09 (159 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Can be exciting if you view somewhere nice that you can afford

Disadvantages: Rude estate agents that rush you

House hunting is not the most exciting activity in the world and can even be downright stressful, especially if you seem to be up against legions of psychic house hunters who always get to the good ones before you, or if you are a first time buyer in today's "difficult" market. I have had some experience of viewing houses (and flats) over the years - mostly as a renter, but more recently when I have been searching for a first home to buy. I have read research by Abbey that has found the average homebuyer spends just 96 minutes viewing properties before putting in an offer - that is apparently 43 minutes less than the average time we spend choosing our holiday or which computer to buy! As a result, half of home buyers experience some sort of problem when they move in that could probably have been avoided if they had spent more time researching the property beforehand, and 10% wished they had visited the property they bought more often before making an offer. This advice is based on my own experiences and is mostly aimed at buyers, but I hope it will be useful for renters looking at properties as well.

1) Determine what you can afford and what you want from a property as it will save you a lot of time and energy if you figure out your requirements before arranging any viewings. Ask yourself how many bedrooms you need, whether you want a garden, if a garage, allocated parking or off-road parking is necessary, and if it is important to be very near to amenities such as a school. What style of property are you willing to consider - would a flat be OK, or does it have to be a house? Is it more important to you to have a bigger property or a nicer area to live in? Which areas can you commute easily to work from? We found it useful to create a list of "must haves" (such as double glazing, central heating, two bedrooms, close to a bus route into town) and "would be nice to haves" (a garden, a garage, a third bedroom) and then compared them against listings in our price range - you may also want to have a list of "mustn't haves" (such as a lot of renovation required) as well. Those that ticked all the "must haves" and avoided the "mustn't haves" are worth considering for viewing.

2) The internet makes searching for potential houses much easier than when you had to hike around estate agents and wait for the local weekly paper to publish house listings. Use this resource to your advantage to find the agencies that offer the sort of property in the sort of location you want, and target them to save wasting time. It is fine to register with several agencies, and actually this increases the chance of finding a house that is right for you. You can register with agents for alerts when something new matching your needs comes on to the market, but I found most of these services to pretty useless, either taking ages to inform us of new houses, informing us of things we had already seen and rejected, or alerting us to houses that in no way matched the budget or criteria we specified. I found it better to instead do regular searches of the relevant agents' websites and rightmove.co.uk myself.

3) If you see something you like, be quick about arranging a viewing - if the house is desirable to you, you can bet it is desirable to other buyers as well. Be prepared to be as flexible as you can about viewing times so you can see it promptly.

4) Try not to arrange too many viewings in one go, or you'll get tired and irritable and be less able to make an informed decision about whether it is a real possibility or not. I found that three in one day was my limit, any more than that and the travelling between properties and rushing to make multiple appointments just got a bit too much. If you are doing multiple viewings in one day though, make sure you have left yourself sufficient time to view each property properly and then get to the next one on time.

5) If you are house hunting in an area you are unfamiliar with, allow extra time to take a look around the neighbourhood. A short drive or walk will allow you to see what the area outside the street to you are viewing in is like, where the local shops, post box, bus stop, school, etc is and whether there might be any potential problems nearby (e.g. is it close to a stream that may flood or would the pub down the road be a potential noise problem?). This helps you to decide of this is a location you would feel happy living in and if it suits your lifestyle. For instance, I like being within walking distance of a shop (I don't want to have to get in the car every time I run out of milk or want a newspaper), so checking for how close local amenities were to houses was important for me.

6) Your viewing starts before you even set foot in the door. Before going inside, check the exterior and satisfy yourself that it looks cared for - are there roof tiles missing, a broken gutter, window frames in poor repair, anything that clearly needs fixing or might be a problem later on? One house I viewed looked very nice from the street, but when we approached the front door we could see a large crack developing in the brick work, and another even bigger one in the back garden wall, which ruled out the house regardless of the exterior as it could have meant serious (and expensive) problems further down the line. Also consider points such as how good the street lighting is and how busy the road is likely to be, an even more important consideration if you have children.

7) If the seller is in when you view the property, then respect them. Be polite, and keep your opinions about their terrible taste in carpet to yourself! If the seller likes you then it may eventually be to your credit if you decide to make an offer on the property, as they may feel more inclined to accept it. Keeping on good terms with the seller can only smooth the buying process as well.

8) Don't be afraid to ask questions about the property. Questions such as why the owners are selling, how long they have lived there (if they are moving on after only a few months you might want to ask yourself why) and how long the property has been on the market are all important (just why has no one bought this apparently nice house after six months?). Also consider what fixtures and fittings the owner is including in the sale, and budget for having to buy carpets and curtains if they are being taken. If the seller is out and the agent cannot answer your questions then be prepared to phone or email the agency to ask again if you think you might be serious about a house.

9) If you have children, then try to avoid bringing them to your house viewings - your little darlings could be a bit of a distraction.

10) We found it useful to print out the listings of houses we had booked viewings for and take the relevant printout with us. This acted both as a reminder of price and what the house had to offer, and a place to jot questions and notes before, during and after the viewing. After a lot of viewings houses can tend to blur together and it would be useful to remember which one had the lovely garden and which the grotty kitchen!

11) If you like a house, don't allow yourself to be rushed around it by either the seller or the agent. At one viewing we had, the agent turned up late and tried to get us around a house in two minutes flat so he could dash off and meet a buy-to-let investor that he clearly felt was more profitable and important than us. As it turned out, we decided we didn't like the area in the time we had spent waiting for the agent, but if we had then we would have insisted on a thorough viewing and complained to the agency about his unprofessionalism if necessary. Needless to say, we didn't pursue any further viewings with that particular agency.

12) Don't view a property alone if you can avoid it. It is safer to have someone else with you and they will be able to give you a second opinion even if they are not directly involved in the purchase.

13) Try not a view a house on an empty stomach. I know this sounds like a trivial thing, but if you are hungry you will be in a more negative mindset before you set foot inside and be tempted to rush so you can get off and have some food.

14) If you already own your own furniture, try to work out if it will fit into the house you viewing or if you are prepared to get rid of it if it won't. If you are unsure and like the house, measure the furniture up and take a tape measure with you on a second viewing to make sure. Remember that empty rooms can look deceptively large, so it is best to check objectively if your prize items will fit in before committing yourself to the purchase.

15) If you are serious about a place, arrange a second viewing before making an offer, preferably at a different day or time to your first viewing. If your first viewing was after dark, make sure your second viewing is in daylight so you can examine the exterior of the property clearly. If there is an attic or basement or other areas that were difficult to access in your first viewing, make it clear to the agent that you need to see them on your second viewing so they can make the appropriate arrangements in advance - and take a torch with you so you can poke about in any dark corners!

16) Find out where the boiler is and have a look at it. One that looks new is a plus point, and one that looks old and creaky could mean a big bill coming your way in the near future if you decide to buy. If you are unsure, ask the agent to find out when the boiler was fitted and when it was last serviced.

17) Look out for damp patches, mould, cracks or evidence of major DIY around the interior - or sellers and agents doing anything that may distract you from such features. One house I viewed recently had a fitted kitchen that had been built by the owner, which looked nice from the outside, but opening the cupboard doors revealed really shoddy materials and workmanship, and damage to the floor and walls. It would have cost hundreds of pounds to sort out. Likewise, another house was in poor repair apart from one suspiciously newly painted wall in the bathroom, which we strongly suspected was hiding something nasty.

18) Don't be put off from an otherwise good house just because of the bad decor. Walls can be repainted, carpets and light fittings replaced - these things are only cosmetic and can be changed fairly easily. It is the size, layout, location and features that really matter.


I hope this has been useful to someone - please leave comments if you have any other tips or ideas, I would love to hear them (but hope not to need them in the near future!).

The following websites might be useful if you are viewing houses:
www.which.co.uk/advice/viewing-a-house/index.jsp
www.rightmove.co.uk
http://www.ourproperty.co.uk/guides/how_ to_get_the_most_out_of_viewing_a_house.html

Summary: How to view houses, based on my experiences