First viewing for first time buyer - Questions to ask?

monkerhostin

Hi guys,

Looking to buy our first house and have an appointment set up to view a detached house that was built 40/50 years ago. I have been reading the comments in other threads, but as this will be our first ever viewing for a house - was hoping for some advice on any important questions to ask, especially for a house of that age. Thanks for any assistance

Atlantic Dawn

See what the BER rating is, if really bad it might need big investment early on to modernise the heating and insulation.
See what condition the roof, windows and external doors are in, pricey jobs to put right.
Potentially may need to rewire the house.
Bring a compass to see what direction the rear garden faces, south facing best for the sun, see if rear garden is overlooked.

Mint Sauce

Ask stuff about the plumbing and heating, electrics, build type, ie, timber or concrete frame/construction. Windows and external doors, original or replacement and when.

Is part of a chain, are current owners requiring the sale as part of a mortgage, do they already have another place lined up, or has it been empty.

The area, are other houses rented or privately owned.

Near by units/premises. Ie, shops, pubs, are they empty or occupied, could attract unwanted passers bys or attention.

TBH, if it turns to a potential interest, you could end up viewing a few times, and questions will come as you get used to viewing it and other places.

Try not to appear over keane on a first or second or later visits, allowing the EA to get a higher price.

Good luck with it OP.

baldbear

How long is the house on the market.
Any offers. & how long ago was offer put in.
Have the owners found a place to buy.

Ask about attic & Have a look at other houses from Google earth in the area & see if their attics have been converted if you want to go down that route in the future.

The online BER rating number will give you some info. about year built, insullation etc.

We found that info such as local schools,neighbours etc was up to us to find out for ourselves. EA agents aren't going to tell you the guy next door is a neighbour from hell.

Visit the area in evenings,weekends to suss out if their is any anti social behavior.

Good luck.

CreepingDeath

Mint Sauce wrote: »

Ask stuff about the plumbing and heating, electrics, build type, ie, timber or concrete frame/construction. Windows and external doors, original or replacement and when.

Certainly ask all the questions, but don't rely on the answers being accurate or legally binding. Only rely on your own professionals.
And if you get to a sale agreed stage, get a surveyor, plumber and electrician in to give the place a once over for a house that old.
If they say there's X thousands of work to do, you negotiate on the price then.

For me, I'd be looking for
- any obvious cracks inside and outside of the house, especially around window and door frames. Do the doors open and close nicely - ie. no movement of the door frames over time.
- lead pipes in the plumbing
- do the electrics look modern
- do they have a telephone line / check broadband availability - there might be an ancient phone line limiting you to 3Mbs from the local exchange
- does the heating system/radiators look new
- have they had an insulation work done, cavity walls pumped, rafter/attic insulation etc
- is the roof, and in particular the chimney structurally sound. Sometimes if there's a big aerial hanging off it it will rock the chimney in high winds over time causing cracks. If you have a binoculars, bring it.
- do the soffit and facia look okay, have they replaced them with low maintenance plastic or are they still the original wooden ones. Are the gutters okay.
- has Irish water installed a meter and identified any leaks from the property? I believe there's a deadline for fixes on that.

JoeySully

You can do a lot of searching online before you go and see it.

ask the estate agent to email you the BER report or to give you the ber number and MPRN
Check the BER report at https://ndber.seai.ie/pass/ber/search.aspx

check Myplan.ie for flooding and lots of other info http://www.myplan.ie

Check the local county or city council online inquiry system for any current planning permission on the house and for any recent planning applications in neighboring houses. A lot of old houses for sale may have extensions that will need retention planning but you wont be told about it until you get to the contracts stage. Check that there are no open planning requests as these will cause a considerable delay.

Google earth the property and take a look at street view, sometimes you can see more that on year in google earth if google has passed the house more than once.

checks when you are there -
Are there old fuses in the fuse box or are they all trip switches. this will likely need to be updated if there are any fuses.
Are all the trip switches up ? if not what are the ones that are down for??


your engineer will only do a visual inspection so if on initial inspection you think it may be for you then
Flush all the toilets. Turn on all the taps to full blast. does the shower work and is it powerful.
Bang all the doors,
Jump on the floor upstairs
open all the windows.
ensure before you go to view the house that the estate agent has keys for all external and internal doors.
Is there an alarm? do they have the engineers code?
Get into the attic, any mouse traps ?
Is there a boiler ? can it be seen working?


why not post a link? I'm sure nobody will care if you say what you looking at

billymitchell

Excellent question Op. I remember seeing in the motors thread a couple of years ago thread(seems like to have become a sub forum now) which was for first time car buyers, and things to check out about the car before buying. It was/is full of useful information for somebody who is not experienced in buy cars.

Link:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056198864

An accommodation and property one(even just a sticky thread)for people renting and buying could also be a great idea. (Speaking as somebody looking to buy their first house also)

monkerhostin

Thanks for all the replies and all the tips, will try and put all the info to good use as we try and navigate our way through the house hunting process.