Buying your first house is one of the biggest and most exciting things that can happen during your life. For most people, it involves saving large amounts of money and a lot of research into the location of where they want to live.
When it comes to actually looking at houses in the areas that you like, how do you know when it’s time to stop comparing houses and put an offer in? Or if you fall in love with the first house you see, what’s to say that you should even compare it to any others?
How Many Houses Do People View Before Buying?
According to an article by What Mortgage from February 2017, the majority of home buyers view six or more properties before they make the decision to commit to buying one. Using data from a Your Move survey, it reported that 41% of people viewed six or more properties, whilst 80% viewed three or more.
What Do People Consider When Viewing Houses?
Research carried out by Vileda in 2016 showed that the things that prospective buyers found most important were the views from windows and storage spaces.
Other features that viewers spent time looking at included distinctive or period features and the height of ceilings. In contrast, floors hardly got a second glance and nobody checked to see whether the oven was clean inside.
What to Compare When Viewing Houses
The types of things that make a big difference to daily life which you should use as comparative factors when viewing different houses include:
- Size, number and layout of rooms
- Storage space available
- Size and maintenance of a garden
- Whether there is already outside storage like a garage or shed
- Whether there is parking available
- Which fixtures and fittings would be included
- How new the electrics and heating system are
- Whether the property has been damaged e.g. by a previous leak
- What the neighbours are like
- How many other houses are for sale on the same road/street (in case it’s an indicator that people don’t like living there)
- How close you are to local amenities
- Which way the house and garden face
- Is there double glazing?
- Is there evidence of any damp?
Advice About Buying Your First House
Our conveyancing specialists are able to support you throughout your entire house buying process. If you’re moving house and a good service at a reasonable price is important to you, contact our conveyancing solicitors today.
