2nd house viewing today, what specifics to look at?

Fresh paint.  What’s it covering up?

Never mind paint!

Fresh patio. What’s it covering up?

As above, visit on a Sunday afternoon when all the neighbours are at home, cars are parked, kids are playing, etc. and see if you still like it.

Position of sun.

More apparent in winter . A low sun and less daylight may mean a cold feeling gloomy  house in the shade on winter days.

There are loads of guides online. At this point you want to be going with your head not your heart.

We got a survey, it was an old house now coming up to 130 years old. It has plenty of character (flaws) some of which we saw in the second viewing and quite a few things we didn’t.

There will be problems, its a question of how much will they cost to fix and/or can you live with them. So I’d be thinking about big jobs that might be disruptive – Kitchens, Bathrooms, Heating etc. as others have suggested.

That said, some of the rooms we thought we would be able to just move into, we really couldn’t. Carpets and walls looked a lot worse once the furniture was out.

We had little to no furniture/stuff at the point we moved in. But now, we have everything so I’d be taking a tape measure to understand what could be moved from our current place and what would need to be replaced (tables, wardrobes, beds and other big stuff).

Also be prepared that, even if you spot flaws you didn’t see first time around, the vendor may not be willing to move much on price and there may be other potential buyers so weigh up whether or not getting a bit knocked off the asking price because the boiler is a bit old is worth losing the house over if it is otherwise ideal for your needs.

Ask to see their survey, land registry copies, searches, etc and see if the jobs were done, do the visible boundaries match, etc

Look for stickers on the boiler (additive date, serial numbers that indicate age, etc), consumer unit and dates on uPVC inside the opening lights. Ask for any service records

Do a local authority building regs and planning permission check. Free and available online, shows FENSA, electricity and boiler installations if reasonably modern

Swap phone numbers. Saves messing around with estate agents to answer simple questions

Neighbours as posted, that and the sun, you can’t control either.  Everything else is fixable.

Swap phone numbers. Saves messing around with estate agents to answer simple questions

I certainly wouldn’t do that – and if you do only give your current land-line. I’d not want the buyers of my old house calling me up over every little issue (and some flippin’ will!).

Look at it from a distance.

House on our street (20 yrs old, raft foundation) has a 20-degree lean. Bloody obvious from 100m away. Home Report was “Slightly uneven floors”.

New owners were devastated. Everyone else was, “but it’s so obvious!”.

Check planning applications.

Friend was going to buy a house. Pointed out the new quarry would put a tipper lorry past it every 60s !

has a 20-degree lean

*goes off to nosy at Google Streetview*

Main unexpected expense for us (after asbestos removal – part of which was at least highlighted by survey) was electrics. We ended up doing a full rewire.

Our consumer unit had been replaced in 2013 – which was obvious by eye and building control records – but still had all the original 60s wiring which wasn’t in good condition.

Ideally unscrewing a light pendant or at worst a light switch if you get the chance would indicate whether you’ve got old black/red or newer blue/brown wiring. If the former, depending on age you could get an electrical inspection alongside your survey.

After purchasing and having an electrician start to add some sockets, it took him all of 2 minutes to identify that we needed a rewire, which could have been several £ks to negotiate over!

Swap phone numbers. Saves messing around with estate agents to answer simple questions

I certainly wouldn’t do that – and if you do only give your current land-line. I’d not want the buyers of my old house calling me up over every little issue (and some flippin’ will!).

It can actually be very usefull if both buyer and seller are on the same page… it takes a fair bit of stress out of the situation if either sides conveyance solicitor or the estate agent is dragging their feet, as you can ‘collude’ with each other and gang up on the offending party.

I did just this when I bought my house and it worked very well.

That said, I recently sold my late nans house, and after all the ‘nickle and diming’ and requesting ‘nit-picky’ price reductions at the 11th hour, from the buyers, I’m glad it was purely through the solicitors and estate agent, so it really depends.

depending on age you could get an electrical inspection alongside your survey.

Would that not be demanded by the mortgage provider anyway (if applicable)?

With a cash transaction it’s obvioulsly ‘buyer beware’ and do your own homework.

*goes off to nosy at Google Streetview*

Here you go:

It’s even more obvious in real life.

Wow, didn’t expect so many replies, thanks all.

So that was a bit of a let down. We turned up and the estate agent said that, after being on the market for a year with no interest, an offer had gone in today. Other party not proceedable as still need to sell theirs, and the offer has been declined.

Looking around a second time we noticed a lot more little issues, nothing too major but it would require a new kitchen (estate agent nearly pulled a door off when showing us around it) and bathrooms are dated, new windows throughout and a front door would be needed immediately as there is an incident gap at the bottom letting light/air/water through.

Adding these all up, we were aware of some from the 1st viewing, we had a figure in mk d what we would be prepared to offer and a max price. When talking the estate agent let slip what offer had been declined and it was £20k more than our thoughts. So unfortunately it looks like a no for this one. Seller is a little delusional holding out for the amount they want, even EA said they were getting frustrated with seller.

So to keep looking. A little disappointed but it has highlighted what we want so just got to keep looking.

Thanks all!

but it has highlighted what we want so just got to keep looking.

This is the most important bit. Look at lots of houses, including ones you think are wrong for you. It’ll mean when you see the right house you’ll know straight away. Good houses sell fast so it helps to be able decide quickly. If the house has been on for a while there’s probably an issue somewhere.

It’s amazing how many times you hear of people doing a second viewing and suddenly there’s been another offer. If you like the house and are willing to live with the problems until they’re sorted I’d put you’re offer in making it clear there’s not a penny more coming but keep looking at others too

@StrilingCrispin – Did you do any geometry at school? That’s not 20 degrees!

All great advice that I’m absorbing for future reference but agree with the one comment saying if you like somewhere you might just have to suck up some issues especially if you’re in a popular area with housing pressure.

Not all buyers will be as diligent as everything on here so you are basically competing with people who are going to overlook these things and if there’s not a lot of suitable houses in your area then you could end up losing out a lot.

Re estate letting slip the other offer. Are you sure? These guys are not your friend they are there to get the best price possible for the seller and therefore themselves. If you like the place what have you got to lose by putting in your offer especially as the other offer wasn’t ready to proceed. It’s not just the offer amount that decides whether it’s accepted it’s the likelihood that the buyer will complete in a timely manner.

That’s true myti, I lost out on two houses despite being the highest offer. One went to a cash buyer and one went to someone they knew. If you can offer something other than more money, like flexibility with moving dates or no mortgage required or whatever, then you might not need to be the highest.

We didn’t check inside the kitchen cupboards because, well, it seemed a bit invasive. I wish we had, it always had a foisty smell. When we ripped the kitchen out a couple of years later the damp and mold behind it was pretty horrendous!

We had an offer knocked back down the street, they had an offer from people renting and we had two properties to sell first. We now realise we dodged a bullet: multiple permanent potholes in the road; food delivery vans and lorries double parking; near a food outlet (litter and vermin); near a cafe open till midnight (car doors); students renting either side; near a noisy pedestrian crossing, difficulty parking. The interior of this place was amazing but all of these issues would have loomed large had we bought it. So, we bought a place up the road, away from all this and with parking. The other place was still on the market when we moved in.

Also be prepared that, even if you spot flaws you didn’t see first time around, the vendor may not be willing to move much on price and there may be other potential buyers

This is the downside of being an informed buyer in a market full of uninformed ones.

Wouldn’t it be good if you could leave a trustpilot/tripadvisor style review following a viewing. It’d be a great leveller.

“We didn’t put an offer in because the vendor had clearly been chuffing on the white stuff when choosing the decor.”

“The estate agent was an exemplar of why we need a B-ark right now.”

“Wiring was clearly executed by someone with a penchant for ECT.”

“1976 called and would like their bathrooms back”

At the end of the day – no house is a home so, no matter how much you like this house, it isn’t your home and you will find a house that will become your home.

Viewing a 60’s semi tomorrow. Any thoughts on the different shades of mortar and general shape of the brickwork on the gable end? I think OP’s query was resolved so hopefully not an issue asking here.

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Partial repointing job?

As above, have a look at the survey to see if this was picked up previously.

Difficult to see but some of the bricks look a bit shaled too https://www.turnbullmasonry.com/common-causes-spalling-bricks-fix-crumbling-masonry/

Take a careful look at the dormer windows (guess from upper window), they can be an expensive fix (take some binoculars 🙂 )

Check under carpets for any asbestos filled floor tiles.

Location. I used to cycle through a dip on my way to work.
In winter it was like jumping into the sea the  bottom was bloody freezing. Always felt sorry for the people living there.

I know open plan is all the rage but just think about heating that space. We put a wall back up so that we knew we could have at least one room super snug .

I would always go at several different times of different days to park up close by and just see what the neighbours/noise/vibe was.  When I worked five days a week in an office my Saturday morning lie was part of my ritual, so 8am one Saturday parked it took no more than 30 minutes to discover just what a rat run the road on which my potential purchase was located.  End of interest.

Join the local Facebook group and look through the history. The local busy bodies will make it clear if there are issues orna road is a rat run for an a road.

That looks like the wall ties may have failed and they had to re-build some of the gable at some point. Or someone has had a go a repointing it piecemeal. The brick pattern bottom left looks odd. I’d hijack a builder to come along and give it a squy.

Thanks All. There was the odd spalled or cracked brick but the pattern looked regular. The higher sections which haven’t been re-pointed are definitely being penetrated (SSE facing). Already offers over asking by the time I turned up. Could be great house…