Finding the right home involves research, so you’ll need to ask the right questions.
Top 20 Question to ask before you buy any property.
One Saturday afternoon, I asked a friend about how her property search was progressing as I wanted to help out with any areas she was struggling with. Halfway through the conversation, I asked her “What if you had a list of all the questions you should be asking before you buy a property” and it was such a light bulb moment as she replied “That would be an incredible help as I have absolutely no clue“. I initially put this together for her and realised how many people were in exactly the same situation, because you cannot ask what you don’t know to ask about.
Without knowing the right questions to ask, you have no idea if you’re getting the right property.
As you can imagine, this is by no means an exhaustive list of all the questions that exist when buying a property, but this guide covers the very key aspects you should start off asking before you buy any property at all.
This section is all about the condition of the property, the fundamental part of the purchase is all about ensuring you are not buying a money pit that will drain all your profit out with massive financial implications. Buying the wrong property can have lots of other consequenses on your health, well being and relationships, so it is very important you check and ensure everything seen/unseen can be carefully evaluated. The type of building you buy can also have an impact on your ability to sell on, the type of tenants you will attract and how much you will spend on maintenance costs. There is not always a right or wrong answer but it comes down to your personal circumstances, preferences and desires when making that choice.
- What type of heating system does the property have? (electric, gas, or other) and how old is it?
- What is the condition of the boiler, electric outlets, switches, and sockets? Does it have the relevant certificates?
- How much repair will the property need? Will you need to replace the kitchen, bathroom, flooring, ceiling etc?
- What is the condition of the windows and window frames, doors & door frames, skirting, floorboards etc?
- Is the property detached, semi-detached, or terraced? and do you have access to the garden, garage outdoor space etc
- For flats, Is the property a new build property, purpose-built, or victorian conversion?
- How far is the property from the nearest station/ bus stop and how accessible is it?
- Does the property have an open-plan or a separate kitchen & what is the water pressure like?
- What is the demographic of current residents in the area and how does the area feel during the day, night or weekends?
- What’s the external condition, roofing, gutterings, garden, rear facade?
- How long is the lease length? note anything less than 80 years could cause problems with getting a mortgage
- How large is the property? understand minimum room & property sizes. These matter if you will be looking to fund your purchase with a mortgage, for instance, you won’t easily get a mortgage for property sizes less than 30 sqm.
- What condition is the property in? This gets you to consider how much you might need to spend on refurbishing the property in addition to the purchase price and associated costs and what impact that will have on the overall spend to acquire the property. This is less important for newbuilds.
- Is there a working kitchen/ bathroom? Otherwise, it could be deemed as an un-mortgageable property for normal high street lenders (except via short term loans like bridging finance which are significantly more expensive).
- How far is the property from the nearest amenities, transport etc? This is an indication of how desirarble the property will be if you will be renting the property out, you need to consider how convenient it is to the nearest schools, grocery stores, transport links and if the tenants will need a car then what is parking like in the area.
- Why is the owner selling the property? Very important to understand the motivation and to get a real sense of what is driving the sale, for instance the owner could be looking to quickly sell so open to offers as opposed to an owner who is just speculating which could be a waste of your time in the end if the seller decides theres no reason to sell.
- How long has the property been on the market? and whats the lowest the seller will accept?
- How much is the service charge, ground rent? Don’t be misled by low property prices, alway check to see what the service charge is especially with purpose built properties.
- How have property prices performed in the area historically? & future trends? Very important consideration as it will determine how much you stand to make in the long run as property prices rise in the area.
- For rental properties, what is the average rental achievable for similar properties on the market (and recently let). Very important especially for investment properties to consider what the average rental is and how much you can achieve relative to the amount you’ll be spending on acquiring the property.
I hope these initial questions get you started making the right considerations. To find out more about other questions you should be asking your Broker about funding, Solicitor and most importantly Yourself, you can grab the full guide below for £9.99.
Over the years, I have sought advise from brokers, solicitors, accountants, bought through agents, direct from sellers, and mostly via Auctions, so these questions are carefully considered to help you get started buying your first or next property on the way to building your portfolio.
