Check prices in advance

Is it possible to look this up somewhere? Or just ask per-property?

Good point about insulation.

Council tax band is usually on the particulars, if actual amount isn’t you can look it up on council website.

Actually it’s still 1% at £250,000.00 weirdly, it’s 3% at 1p more.

Yeah I thought as much – I didn’t bother checking at what ££££ the higher band triggered.

“Check prices in advance”

Is it possible to look this up somewhere? Or just ask per-property?

In England and Wales you can see the Council Tax band a property is in at the VOA website.

Though you could just ask each property owner about costs (water, Council tax, energy usage) to give you an idea.

Buy in Bulgaria.

Towzer – fair enough, I stand corrected!

As others have mentioned location, location, location. Its the one thing you can’t change.

Don’t buy anything you don’t think you’ll be able to sell

Do see past dodgy décor- its amazing the amount of people who cant.

Its highly unlikely you’ll find the perfect house in a good location no matter how much money you have to spend so be prepared to either make some compromises or do some work.

hmm, saved the thread – also looking as a first time buyer in brizzle…

Do see past dodgy décor- its amazing the amount of people who cant.

Absolutely – we bought a house for £43k less than asking (which was still substantially less than modernised house prices anyway) on a popular development – it had been on the market for a while when all houses normally sell very quickly.

All because of decor like this…

I’ll have to try to remember to take a pic of that bedroom tonight now we have decorated it. The front room remains the same though.

Check out the neighbours.

Schools home time and home-from-the-pub-oclock on friday. If they’re the house every kid goes to after school, or they enjoy a few farkin drinks with some banging music and a fat reefer, that’s when you’ll know about it. If you can stand it, check out whether they’re all still up at 3am blazin up the ganga in the back garden. OTOH if they’re obviously retired, friendly and cutting fancy shapes in the privet, you win, buy it now.

Surveys are expensive and tell you approximately nothing.

A good local solicitor, one you can physically go and visit, is absolutely most definitely worth it. Find one. Do not get a budget solicitor. Our last transaction, the vendors had a budget solicitor. He nearly naused up the sale, and ended up ‘only’ costing us a couple of months rent with assorted delays and a generally half arsed effort.

paint is temporary, you can change it

lastly, houses are bloody expensive to buy and fix, are you sure you really want one, bikes are shiny and cheap and fun, by comparison.

paint is temporary

Paint is temporary, Artex is forever.

Mr monkfinger.

The obviously retired and cutting privet hedges can be just as bad neighbours as the party crew.

Yes. I’d prefer the party crew.

onone – sorry meant to post more than a link but got interrupted, as the OP isn’t single probably irrelevant – but it really helped me, and luckily I had a Mon-Fri lodger for years

OP – see right move ‘House prices’ tab ‘Find sold house prices’ if you remember the sales details this will let you see how accurate asking prices are (hint if you find a relevant sold property google on the house details (street and no, town)- you might find the orig estate agent ad )

Get yourself a list of your wants, needs and like to haves and tick off each house against it after your first viewing.

Try to think beyond the day you move in and to look further than decor too but perhaps consider:

How new are the Windows, Roof, Front Door, and will they last for the next 10 years or need replacing or repair?

How old are the Kitchen units, hob, oven, extractor fan and most importantly the boiler. Have they been serviced and will they need replacing in the next 5 years?

The survey will only tell you so much but ring the surveyor after the report comes through for a friendly off the record chat.

Neighbours and location. Nothing is more important. Try and meet them when you look at the house.

Always be prepared to walk away no matter how perfect you think it is.

And some from our most recent purchase.

If the garden is filled with cute wildlife like frogs and hedgehogs and you have a dog, it won’t be for long.

If it’s got a lovely wood stove and they assure it’s all great, get it checked.

Rap on the wall plaster if it’s an old house. If it sounds hollow you’ll end up replacing it.

When you make an offer, choose one that makes you cringe. If they reject that, offer a grand more. repeat.

When you make an offer, choose one that makes you cringe.

Excellent advice. If your first offer is accepted it was too high and you’ll never know what you could have got the house for.

Having said that we’ve just bought a house and our first offer was accepted but that was only because another couple had already offered what we decided would be our opening offer and had that rejected so we knew where to pitch our offer which was accepted.

When you make an offer, choose one that makes you cringe. If they reject that, offer a grand more. repeat

Good advice but could quickly descend into farce:

Vendor: So the house is on the market for £337,000. Would you like to make an offer?

Buyer: Yes, would you accept £1000?…

etc

Excellent advice. If your first offer is accepted it was too high and you’ll never know what you could have got the house for.

Depends. Sellers aren’t expert negotiators. Sometimes putting in a decent offer will mean you get the house and get it taken off the market right away, potentially for less than if you negotiate for longer and give other people a chance to bid it up. We’ve certainly got a house cheaper than I reckon we would have otherwise this way.

And if I was a seller getting offers 1k up at a time, I wouldn’t consider them a serious buyer – a good chance that they’re going to mess around and or pull out of the sale later on. The price isn’t the only thing you’re considering as a seller.

When you make an offer, choose one that makes you cringe. If they reject that, offer a grand more. repeat.

I agree

Our house was on for £435k, the agent told us it was about to be reduced to £425k that day so thought that a price of around £420k should get it, and we would ‘really’ be getting £15k off the asking price (nice try).

I offered £385k.

A bit of too-ing and fro-ing and we eventually got it for £392k.

Couple of things I leaned…

1. ALL houses, including brand new ones, have problems. Do not let this scare the living daylights out of you. If you get a survey done, it’s job is to tell you problems, it will, there will be lots. You only have to worry about the really big ones, the immediate ones, the expensive ones.

2. For sale prices are borderline meaningless. The value of a property is what someone is willing to pay for it today. May people are just chancing their arms, for example, there is a tiny bedsit round the corner from me. Its been on the market for £70k for over a year, not sold. They took it off the market just before xmas, its back on now at £99k. In reality, to most people, its probably worth about £50k. I’m guessing they wouldn’t accept an offer of that.

3. Do not fall in love with a place until you have the keys in your hands. Some people might say, do not fall in love with a property until you have paid off the mortgage! There are loads and loads and loads of houses that would be suitable for you. If one wont accept your offer etc just keep looking.

4. Save money. Save every single penny you can before you buy. You thought bikes were expensive…

Save money. Save every single penny you can before you buy. You thought bikes were expensive…

I fear this, see the counter logic is I should buy a new bike now, as there will be no spare money ever again… :-/

I get the point about problems – if not problems there’d be stuff we wanted to change. What are the big things to look out for? Anything obvious to check?

Looking at the roof as suggested above seems a good shout, as does looking at the general quality of electrics – replacing electrics or plumbing seems like a messy job that’d result in a lot more needing done. But what else?

Pretty much anything has the potential to be expensive so you can’t just look for a couple of things.

Pretty much anything has the potential to be expensive so you can’t just look for a couple of things.

Oh I get that, I’m not after an exhaustive list, just any tips.

E.g. I’m assuming problems with the roof or obvious structural problems are bad times, likewise electrics, windows.

Obviously things can be fixed tho, expensive is fine, so long as the property is less expensive because of it. Though TBH I’d prefer to pay a little more for somewhere with less to do, not really after a project.

Personally, the only thing I would really worry about is if its going to fall down, or degrade rapidly. ie if the walls, floors, roof are all sound then I’d be happy with it. Nothing else is urgent*.

Electrics is a good example. Unless a house has been completely re-wired in the last 15(ish, give or take 5 or 10, etc etc), it will “need” a complete re-wire. Some people wouldn’t move in till it was done, others could live there for 25 years before selling it without having it done. The sensible people would factor in that it needs doing at some point, and perhaps do it while re-decorating, or when funds allow.

*unless you have babies on the way, then it has to be a bit better than just a shelter.

Unless a house has been completely re-wired in the last 15(ish, give or take 5 or 10, etc etc), it will “need” a complete re-wire

Really? Does anyone re-wire a house every 15 years? 😯

Ours is 25 years old and the electrics are pretty much okay but for it not having an RCD consumer unit – not the end of the world but I do want to sort it.

I think the regs have tightened up dramatically in the last 15yrs so prior to that is probably a little bit cowboy builder lottery.

If your a first time buyer then the things to worry about are what the mortage company will with-hold money for. Damp, structural issues, subsidence etc.

we rewired ours – but we found a multitude of sins in the bits of wiring the previous owner had touched so decided it was safer-

found a heap of the old wiring was still the rubber coated stuff from when the house was originally put up and the old bakelite switch backs were still there from the same time.

how ever – i had planned to do it from the outset – along with the boiler pipework and radiators – as i plan to live here for a long time.

Trust your gut instincts. If you have a bad feeling about something, walk away.

There are always other houses.

If you fall in love with somewhere, take a friend or someone along on your second visit. They could be a voice of reason. Once you fall in love with a house, it is easy to see over problems which isn’t always the best thing to do.

Sorry, when I say “need” re-wiring, I mean in the survey type sense. Not that it will actually need doing, but the survey will say it will.