Questions To Ask When Buying A House
House selling and buying can be a really stressful time. When you are looking around properties, you should come prepared. So I’ve put together a quick check-list of questions to ask when buying a house. That way you have an easy to refer to list to quiz the owner about, when you are on the hunt for a new property.
If you are selling your house, it would be useful to have this information to hand for any prospective buyer, so that you can answer their questions quickly and efficiently. It helps to build a rapport and also you are much more likely to secure a sale for your house if you are able to answer all the buyers’ questions. If you’re interested in expert advice and insights into the buying or selling process, consider consulting with professionals like Whybrow who are experienced in the real estate market.
When buying a house, buyers fear being gazumped, but when selling a house, the sellers fear being gazundered. If you are selling, you can learn more about gazundering and where to get gazundering insurance so that you can be protected from any unethical buyers. But the first rule of buying and selling is, be kind and treat others as you would like to be treated. It created a more harmonious and smooth buying and selling process for all.
How long have you lived here?
What are the neighbours like?
What surrounds the house?
What’s the council tax banding and how much does that translate to, per month?
Are you metered for water or is it rates? What are the current costs?
Does the property have both gas and electricity?
If no, what else does it have?
What are the costs for electricity (and gas) and how many people currently live in the property?
What are the broadband speeds like?
What is the mobile/data signal like (or perhaps check this when you are leaving)?
Do you know of any electrical issues in the property?
When was the boiler installed and when was it last serviced?
When was the house built?
Has the house ever been extended, and were all the relevant permissions granted?
What’s included in the sale? White goods, curtains etc.
Are there any or have there ever been any structural problems with the building?
Has there ever been any damage to the property? Structural, flooding etc.
What are the schools like in the area (if relevant)?
What facilities/amenities are there in the local area?
What public transport is available locally?
Is there parking allocated to the property (if not obvious)?
What else would you be interested to know, perhaps there’s a couple of questions worth adding to the list? Can you think of any other questions to ask when buying a house?
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Another great question is if they’re in a chain. If one deal falls through in the chain then it cause massive delays!
Good point James! That can often be the sticking point many moves, if the links in the chain don’t all happen at the same time, it can cause a lot of issues. Fingers crossed ours goes smoothly, but you can never tell!
Those are some great questions. Especially water charges, tax bands & public transport – those are things people could easily forget if they fall in love with a house! But all so important, also what comes with the sale. Thanks so much for linkig up with the first #BloggerClubUK, we really appreciate your support & hope to see you back this week x
Thanks Becky. I know. You need to ask all these questions to make sure that the bills and everything that comes with it, is in budget too. Otherwise you could get yourself into a right pickle. Thanks for hosting – see you later!
I needed this list when we were buying our house. Such a good list of questions we all need to ask when buying a house!
Thanks Emma – I thought it might come in useful. It’s nice to be able to share something like this with other people. Saves some time when there’s obviously a lot going on.
Good luck with the house hunting! It’s always hard to remember what questions to ask, especially when you love the property already. So this list is so helpful. #BloggerClubUK
Thanks Annette. Yes I know. It can all be a bit overwhelming knowing what to look for and what to ask. It’s nice to have a list of things. I go down them and check them off as we’re looking around.
structural changes are the trickiest things – it can all look great, but be a bit dodgy underneath. I really like the neighbourhood questions too – it would be good to know if there was a crabby neighbour or what the age range of the neighbourhood was – especially if you have young children.
Hi Sally! There is so much to think about when buying a house so your list is great and will save some time and brain power! Thanks for the opportunity to link up at Life Loving Linkie and hope to see you next week!
Thanks Sue. I know, my brain is getting a little frazzled with all the thing we need to remember to ask. I’m quite enjoying looking around for our dream home, but I’m sure that will become more stressful further down the line.
I hope you find a new owner for your current house quickly and at the same time a new house you love Sally! There’s so much to think about when buying and moving, it can get really overwhelming and stressful! Great and detailed list to have handy when on the hunt!!! Thanks!!
So far, so good. We are going to visit another property this morning, so fingers crossed. I’m hopefully going to remain chilled throughout, but who knows I might be a house-zilla (is that even a word!)
Lots of great questions here. Our house comes with Rev T’s job so we take what we’re given!
That’s very fortunate Mrs Tubbs. No need to worry about any of these things. That must be good for being stress-free.
Oooh good luck with finding somewhere and a buyer that loves your home. I have a blog post on people to tell when you move house if you need it. The biggest thing for us was that our seller had had made changes to the house (removed a wall) without getting permission. It was all sorted with insurance though in the end.
Oooh. Please share the link with me. That’s the next thing we’ll need and I have no idea on this as this is only our 2nd home. The only people I told last time was my parents (where to drop off the red cross parcels to) and my friends (where the parties are happening) so now we’re all grown up, we’d better do this properly this time.
Oh no, what a pain about the wall. Was it stressful or did it get sorted pretty quickly?
Whoops – see no attention to details #AnythingGoes
Ha ha!
Great checklist! I totally forgot to ask about signal when buying my house, but I can make calls from the end of the garden 😉 #FartGlitter
Look on the bright side Charlene, at least you use the garden often and you can also leave the house (and if there’s chaos) behind for a few minutes.