Questions to ask Estate Agents.

Appolonia1

Hi,

I wasn't sure if this should go in "Accomodation & Property" or "Home & Garden", so apologies if its in the wrong place.


I’m looking to buy a house, and how nothing about DIY or house maintenance. I’m trying to educate myself a bit, so that I don’t look like I haven’t a clue when I’m asking questions of estate agents. At the moment I feel like estate agents could tell me anything, and I don’t have the knowledge to challenge them or ask insightful questions.

The houses I’m looking at generally need a bit of modernization (e.g. houses built in the 60s which haven’t had much done to them since).

Windows :
• Some houses have double glazing. How can I tell if its good quality double glazing or not? Does double glazing ever need to be replaced – what signs would indicate it needs to be replaced?

Electrics :
• What should I look out for here? I look if the light-switches look modern. Also I look if the fuse board is a modern style.
• How can I tell if the house needs to be rewired?
• E.g. last week I looked at a house and the estate agent pointed out a light fitting in the ceiling, and said it would clearly need to be replaced. I didn’t know why. It looked like a little black cup attached to the ceiling, with wires coming down to the bulb – it looked normal to me!

Radiators and Plumbing :
• What should I look out for here?
• Are these items combined – e.g. if an estate agents talks about a pump, is that for both heating and hot water? Sometimes they refer to a pump, but I think they mean a boiler.
• How can I tell if radiators are ok, or need to be replaced?
• How could I tell if plumbing needs to be redone?

Insulation :
• Is there any way to tell what kind of insulation the house has?
• Are there questions to ask which would help me get an idea how difficult it would be to insulate external walls? E.g. I’ve heard of some kind of blocks where insulation can’t be pumped into external walls, since the openings in the blocks are not aligned. What questions could I ask to understand how the external walls are built?
• Some estate agents say the walls need to be “dry-lined”. Is this a form of insulating?

Damp :
• How can you tell a house has damp – the smell, wallpaper peeling off walls, mould growing? If none of these, is it just something the surveyor would look into?


Thanks for any advice for a novice house hunter!

BabysCoffee

All of these questions could be answered in your survey imo.

You would get a survey done after your offer is accepted.

Or you could bring a more building savvy friend along to viewings.

The estate agent would not know the answer to all of these questions.

Cuddlesworth

Appolonia1 wrote: »

Windows :
• Some houses have double glazing. How can I tell if its good quality double glazing or not? Does double glazing ever need to be replaced – what signs would indicate it needs to be replaced?

If there is any condensation or clear water marking inside of the window, the seal is gone on the glazing. MAke sure the windows themselves still fit the surround and seal correctly. If they have warped they will need to be replaced.

Appolonia1 wrote: »

Electrics :
• What should I look out for here? I look if the light-switches look modern. Also I look if the fuse board is a modern style.
• How can I tell if the house needs to be rewired?
• E.g. last week I looked at a house and the estate agent pointed out a light fitting in the ceiling, and said it would clearly need to be replaced. I didn’t know why. It looked like a little black cup attached to the ceiling, with wires coming down to the bulb – it looked normal to me!

Thats not a easy one, the front could be great but the back end wiring could be in bits.

Appolonia1 wrote: »

Radiators and Plumbing :
• What should I look out for here?
• Are these items combined – e.g. if an estate agents talks about a pump, is that for both heating and hot water? Sometimes they refer to a pump, but I think they mean a boiler.
• How can I tell if radiators are ok, or need to be replaced?
• How could I tell if plumbing needs to be redone?

Again, not easy. Irish people tend to do things piecemeal and ignore the older picture. You can have old solid rads that put out no heat with a brand new boiler cause the other one packed in. Or a gas heater with pumped hot water tank, reliant on a electric immersion.

Appolonia1 wrote: »

Insulation :
• Is there any way to tell what kind of insulation the house has?
• Are there questions to ask which would help me get an idea how difficult it would be to insulate external walls? E.g. I’ve heard of some kind of blocks where insulation can’t be pumped into external walls, since the openings in the blocks are not aligned. What questions could I ask to understand how the external walls are built?
• Some estate agents say the walls need to be “dry-lined”. Is this a form of insulating?

Since its summer, you need to ask specifically if there was any work done. Otherwise, since its 60's housing, assume its cavity wall with some fibreglass thrown into the attic.

Appolonia1 wrote: »

Damp :
• How can you tell a house has damp – the smell, wallpaper peeling off walls, mould growing? If none of these, is it just something the surveyor would look into?

Look for brown staining on the walls and ceiling to show water ingress or leaks from pipes or the roof. Marks high in the upstairs rooms are indicative of a roof problem and may involve serious work. Also look out for a very smooth glassy surface on the plaster that is different to the rest. That will be marks painted over with a gloss based paint to hide the water stain.

Rising damp can be seen in the lower walls both inside and outside, it is a very serious issue. I'd google image search it for a multitude of examples. That is one to stay away from.

Other than that, damp and its associated smell can be quite common in houses that were occupied by pensioners for years and shouldn't throw you off completely.

Cuddlesworth

BabysCoffee wrote: »

All of these questions could be answered in your survey imo.

You would get a survey done after your offer is accepted.

Or you could bring a more building savvy friend along to viewings.

The estate agent would not know the answer to all of these questions.

It can help to spot some major things before you get to the point of getting a survey done.

The_Conductor

Bring someone who has a good idea of things to look out for- with you to the viewing- it'll save time and money later. Unfortunately- as alluded to above- most of your list of questions are things the estate agent is not going to know the answer to........

Appolonia1

Thanks for the advice everyone – it was very useful!

I didn’t know what kind of details is reasonable to expect the estate agent to know – I understand they don’t have to tell you anything, but if you ask a direct question, they should answer truthfully/to the best of their knowledge.
It’s a good idea to bring a more building-savvy friend – I’ve viewed about 40 places, so couldn’t ask them to come to them all, but maybe to second viewings for the ones I am very interested in.
I know the survey would answer all these questions, but I’d like to have a basic level of understanding of the work needed. I’ve already used some of your tips Cuddlesworth – on condensation inside double-glazed windows.

Thanks again - I’ve a lot more research to do! Heating/plumbing systems have me mystified!

ryan101

You really need a proper, experienced, surveyor. Don't decide on any house until you get that report.
From a Joe Soap's point of view :
A single window is not that expensive to replace, and on an average 3 bed semi D all the windows and doors can be replaced for about 5-6k
Electrics - The only person worth checking this out is a registered electrician, they'll do a full test and report for about 300
Plumbing and heating - Is the pipework in the hot press well done or not, and does the heating and all the rads work, that's about all you can check yourself. Budget for replacing the oil burner anyway, as most older ones are very inefficient
Damp - obviously look for damp, a good dry house is obviously better than one with a damp feel to it.
Even when buying a fairly new semi, you should allow 20k for all the repairs updates and redecorating / painting
Attic insulation, pipework in attack, timber in attic, roof condition - chances are when you are viewing you are not going to see the attic, if you are serious about the house, on a second viewing get into the attic and have a look at the overall condition, your surveyor will check the rest.
When buying an older house with more work to do and where updating is required allow a min. of 40k

If I was buying a house, even a very new one, I'd be budgeting for having to do a fair bit of work to it, especially energy upgrading work, I've never seen a house for sale yet that doesn't need it. No matter how nice the decor, you really are buying a shell.

bovril

Appolonia1 wrote: »

Insulation :
• Is there any way to tell what kind of insulation the house has?
• Are there questions to ask which would help me get an idea how difficult it would be to insulate external walls? E.g. I’ve heard of some kind of blocks where insulation can’t be pumped into external walls, since the openings in the blocks are not aligned. What questions could I ask to understand how the external walls are built?
• Some estate agents say the walls need to be “dry-lined”. Is this a form of insulating?

Each ad for the house must specify the BER number (although some can be missing if they've been newly put up by the estate agent and they are awaiting the report to be done). You can then go and look up the BER report here https://ndber.seai.ie/pass/ber/search.aspx.
This will give you an idea of the age of the house, sometimes the makeup of the walls etc. It will also tell you how energy efficient the house is so it will mention if there is insulation lacking in the attic for example.

Dry-lining is a form of insulation that goes on the inside of the walls of the house. It's essentially big boards of insulation with plasterboard on one side. http://www.lowenergyhouse.com/insulated-dry-lining.html . You can get it in different thicknesses depending on what level of insulation you need and also how big your rooms are. If your rooms are small you probably don't want the thickest stuff as your rooms will become smaller. These dry lining boards are fitted to whichever walls you want insulation on and usually skimmed in plaster afterwards. There is a grant for this type of work from SEAI.

I would highly recommend paying for a survey some time after you go sale agreed on the house and this survey will cover most of your questions above especially on windows, plumbing, electrics etc.

ryan101

Dry lining is also a work around for a damp issue

Cuddlesworth

ryan101 wrote: »

Dry lining is also a work around for a damp issue

A bad one. All you end up with is black mould growing behind the lining putting spores into the environment.