Nervous First Time Buyer

Dead right it is. Check everything you need to, if they try to put you off it may indicate problems. You're forking out a lot of money so make sure everything is to your satisfaction. If you have any particular concerns mention it to the surveyor for him to check out.

Make sure everythings working and look for leaks, damp patches etc. Take as long as you need you don't want to regret it later. Again, any concerns get a specialist (surveyor, builder) to look at it) at the very least it may give you room to negotiate the price down.

Are you sure you want to buy now ? IMO we are at the top of a house price bubble and a major correction downwards is in the offing. Waiting may save you money, again IMO, others on this forum would probably disagree ............... it's your decision.

If you want to read more about the housing market (mainly from a 'bearish' perspective) look at some of the threads on the house price crash forum ..............

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This is a difficult area, and you are as likely to go wrong by being over-cautious as you are by being cautious.

Try and look at the property objectively. Wander around it and talk to the neighbours if you can. Get a feel for the owner and the quality of the neighbourhood. I wouldn't personally trust a surveyor's report, so I'd be wary of commissioning one for £500 or whatever it costs.

Do your own surveying. Does the roof sag? Are there cracks in the walls? Maybe some new rendering to cover them over?

Be suspicious of new decorating. Are the windowsills rotting? Has the property been loved and cherished or neglected? Switching off the heating during the recent ice age might hint at the latter. Or just as easily it might not.

Go with your instincts.

Look long and hard at the environs. Down the road from here in Surbiton there were dozens of boarded up shops and derelict buildings. That should have put us off buying, right?

Now the boarded up shops are expensive bars and restaurants. Try to buy in a place that is going up, as opposed to the 50% of places that are (relative to other places) going down.

Congestion Charge Flood Plain - *very* important - check the DOE site Transport - roads, rail, airport. Future development or likely development Schools - are they good? Read the council's "Unitary Development Plan" to see what it plans for the area Mine shafts and landfill and gypsy sites and potential for any of this.

...Then trust your instinct.

snip

there is not much to add to the excellent advice troy has provided.

1) you may want to look at to find out what kind of people live in the vicinity.

it is free to register on the site and you enter a postcode to find out more. you can even see what price nearby properties have been changing hands for.

2) consider looking at the house again with friends or parents who could see things you may have missed

3) visit the place at night to see if it is serene - without gangs of drunks / hooded chavs roaming the streets.

4) be brave. as troy indicated, you can easily talk yourself out of proceeding. look to the future - your own home and the freedom.

5) be sure to have a contingency reserve of cash for unforeseen expenses.

First thing to remember is that the seller wants to sell the property. He is most likely not interested what happens after the sale, and will not tell you about faults (if any). Even if you ask direct questions, the answers will be either "I am not sure" or "Oh yes , it was working fine when I last used it". Either of which is of no use to you.

You should, if only for piece of mind, engage a building surveyor to report on the property. A full building survey (aprox £700) may not be required, as the property is quite new, so a 'Homebuyer Survey and Valuation' (aprox £350) may suffice. Don't rely on the mortgage valuation survey, as it is just that - a valuation.

You not only want to know if things are working and in good repair now, but also if things will need replacing in the short and medium term. If you commit all your money to the property now, you want to be sure of no major repairs or replacements in the near future. A survey will give you this information, which you can them use to negotiate a discount with the seller.

Heating, plumbing, drainage should be tested and appliances turned on. The roof should be inspected for leaks or rot. Double glazing units check for blown seals, rooms checked for mould and condensation or other dampness. Any flat roofs should be checked for age (when last refelted) and wear

Structural problems may be fairly obvious, but less obvious things like a faulty gas flue or wiring problem will not be so easy to see, but costly to remedy.

dg

Hello snuggles. That is cool to hear you are planning to buy a house at a high market price when financially stretched. Please stay in contact as when the house prices crash I may put in an offer to the mortgage company when it repossesses your house and you are left in financial ruin. Nothing like cashing in on another guys misfortune ;)

Not really, see below.

If the heating is off, the plumbing system has probably been drained to prevent frost damage, and so getting it all fired up is a non-trivial exercise. Remember that you are as yet at a stage with no commitment, and to expect the seller or the seller's agents to go through this rigmarole for every potential purchaser who may or may not go on to put in an offer would be a monumental waste of time and effort.

I don't know what standard practice in English house buying contracts is, but up here in kiltland it's pretty normal for one of the offer conditions (which is usually accepted) to be that all the services are in full working order. That is enough to ensure that they either will be, or else must be repaired at the seller's expense. So there not really anything to worry about.

Where does the OP say that it is at a high market price?

Where is the connection between the house value dropping and the OP not being able to afford the mortgage repayments?

Why does a house repossession mean financial ruin?

How have you determined that a poster with the name 'Snuggles' is a guy?

Financially streteched does not mean 'can't afford'. Property is still the best investment with high short term gains. If the OP can afford to buy then that would be a good investment. Buy property, give up a few trips to the pub etc if needed, and make thousands in a few months. Seems like a good deal to me.

dg

It wouldn't deter me from putting in an offer, since the offer isn't binding and is only a small first step. But I probably would ask to see the central heating turned on if I had concerns about it, since one would expect there to be no objection to that, and it only takes about half an hour before you can tell if the radiators are heating up.

20 years old is nothing. The cost of replacing the fan in a boiler, or a pump in the system, is very modest compared with other potential expenses and repairs. There might be damp patches, rotten woodwork, leaking flat roof, slipped tiles, a bath or shower that causes water to drip through the ceiling below, etc.

In English conveyancing it is usually a standard question along the lines of "please confirm that the central heating is in proper working order" to which the seller might give an evasive answer. If it turned out to be defective you would have no claim (the usual rule being caveat emptor) unless you can show that the seller was aware of the defect.

If you can't afford a surveyor to look at electrics and heating then you won't be able to afford the repairs when everything is broken.

If you can afford a surveyor to look at electrics and heating then you will be able to afford the repairs when everything is broken.

Yep deffo Turtill

And finally, and one I prefer, if there's anything wrong with the electrics and heating then the money you saved by not paying for a survey will pay for the repairs if anything is broken.

I would ask to see some documentary proof of when the heating system was last serviced.

You should be able during a viewing to switch on the heating and at least check that all the radiators are hot with no cold spots.

Indeed. IME a surveyors report is so likely to be full of caveats, weasel words,and get outs as to be essentially useless, so that if the heating doesnt work, the best use you'll get out of having a report is that you can burn it to keep warm. So make sure to ask for a paper copy, not an electronic one.

Not if it needs rewiring and a new boiler.

They should be able to look over the electrics and see how new they are but this won't bear any relation to whether they work or are safe.

Someone else has mentioned records of central heating servicing but these may not be available.

Do they not have electrical surveyors?

Agreed! As agents, it was usually repossessions where everything was drained down and turned off, so at the first request to turn things on, we would ask the lender, they would say no - take it or leave it, and that was the end of the matter. Also the same with most probates and landlords, (in fact most empty drained etc. properties).

What this meant was that the eventual buyer, (brave or otherwise), would often get a good deal, as the not so brave, (and nervous), would avoid these houses like the plague.

Standard practice is generally that it is for the buyer to satisfy themselves that things work, or dont work, and once exchange of contracts has taken place, it's over to the buyer, warts and all!

In message , The Todal writes

Even if they were aware, it depends on the way they have given their "evasive" answer.

Also, dont forget that part of the reason that "we" give evasive answers is because buyers will often turn "honest" against a seller.