Buying a house: the biggest, most life-changing purchases we're likely to make. Yet it seems that some of us are a little flippant when it comes to property purchasing.
Related: This is the most viewed Zoopla house on the market – we can see why!
Terry's Fabrics has conducted a survey of 1,000 people to dig up some clues about how much buyers really know before buying a home. So what have they learnt?
The average time we take to view a property before buying it
Well, firstly, 22 per cent of respondents reportedly spent less than 30 minutes viewing their home. A mere 35 per cent view their prospective home for two hours or longer. The problem with not surveying your home-to-be more carefully is that off-putting issues like mould, street noise, leaky plumbing or faulty plugs may go unnoticed.
One of the most startling findings is that 60 per cent of us actually spend more time deciding on where to holiday than where to live. Wow!
An average holiday for a family of four costs £4,792 – that's £238,877 less than the average UK house price of £243,639. So what's possessing us to spend more time thinking about holidays than homes? Answers on a postcard...
The five things we wish we’d checked before buying a property
Despite those figures, Brits are racked with regrets about not asking more questions on viewing their property. These are the five main things we wished we'd found out more about:
- How warm the house is in winter (30 per cent)
- The state of the doors, windows and roof (24 per cent)
- The plumbing and any leaks around the toilet/shower/bath (20 per cent)
- How noisy the neighbours are – ideally by visiting at nighttime (16 per cent)
- Electrics and plugs (10 per cent)
These shouldn't come as any surprise, considering that 12% of those polled admitted that the biggest issues they'd encountered with their homes were leaks, mould and plumbing problems.
It's something to bear in mind the next time you're on the market for a new pad.
The five excuses we give for not spending more time viewing a property
If you're wondering why we're so darn hasty when it comes to putting an offer in on a new home, it's simple: we're just worried about competition from other buyers. 30 per cent of Britons polled made an offer because of this sense of pressure. Here's a full list of excuses!
- Competition from other potential buyers (30 per cent)
- Lack of properties in your desired area (24 per cent)
- You've already sold your house (20 per cent)
- Urgent need to upsize (14 per cent)
- Financial difficulties (7 per cent)
Related: Live in the South East? Move here and save £124 a WEEK!
The lesson here? If you're looking for a new home, make sure you're armed with questions at your next viewing.
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