First Time Buyers: What To Look For When Buying Your First House

This is a collaborative post

Buying your home is an exciting time but it can also be incredibly daunting. As such, it is important that you ask the right questions and knows what you should be looking for when house hunting.

When viewing each property, take your time looking around, spending at least 20-30 minutes to get a general feel for the house.

One thing to remember is that no property will be perfect on all fronts, some will need a little extra TLC to get in a position you love. However, there are some general factors to look for and take into consideration when buying your first home, here are a few of those qualities.

The Local Area

Carefully research the area you are hoping to move into and take note of the amenities available and what transport links are available. If you have children or are planning to have children, take a look to see if there are any good schools available in the area.

Another thing to take into consideration is the crime levels in the area. There are sites available which will provide you with information on crime rates in the area. If an area has high crime rates, it can potentially lead to higher home and car insurance costs. Also, you may have to consider installing additional home security, such as locks, alarms or security cameras, which could be costly.

If you are considering having any building work done to the property, you can use the government’s planning portal to find out whether that have been any applications nearby. This is to avoid any negative surprises such as rejections to your planning requests to extend your home. If you find there have been previous applications that were granted which were similar to your proposal, that could be encouraging news.

Paperwork About The Property

When looking at properties, look at the energy performance certificates (EPC) to see how the property has ranked in terms of energy efficiency. It will information regarding the property’s energy and costs, as well as offering recommendations on how to make the property more efficient and cheaper to run.

Properties are ranked from A through to G, with A being the most energy-efficient and have the cheapest bills, whilst G is the least energy-efficient with the highest bills. EPCs are a useful guide when looking at properties, as they can provide you with some indication about some of the inefficiencies within a property. Such inefficiencies could become expensive further down the line and knowing in advance could inform you on how much you should expect to pay to fix them.

However, EPCs should not be the deal-breaker for whether you place an offer on a property. The assessment itself does not factor in how many people currently reside in the property and the assessors do not have access to the energy bills.

When looking around the property, you may notice areas you would like to expand on, such as the kitchen. Fortunately, you can check for planning permission for a property before buying it. On the local council’s website, you should be able to see if the property you want to put an offer on has any planning permission for further developments. It will inform you of any planning permission for some of the structural features of the house.

In the UK currently, there is no legal duty to provide buyers with any electrical safety certificate when selling a property. It can help to make the selling process easier, but it is not a requirement.

This is something to be aware of when looking to put an offer in a house. If you are hoping to put an offer on a house, you may want to have a qualified electrician visit the property to have an electrical report carried out. An Electrical Certificate is a declarative document that confirms the wiring of a property has been checked and meets the required safety standards.

This will provide peace of mind that you will not have to spend thousands to have your property rewired if you find that you have faulty electrics after you have purchased your house.

Exterior Of The Property

If you have a car, you may look at properties with a garage or ones with off-road parking. However, if you find a property that only has on-road parking, it is worth checking to see if you will need a permit to park your car outside of the house.

Take note of any missing or loose tiles on the roof and ask if there have been any issues recently with the guttering. In doing so, you will be aware of any issue areas that may need fixing in the future. This will be an additional cost to consider when looking to put an offer on the house.

Aside from the roof, take note of the general condition of the brickwork of the house and if there are any visible cracks. If the exterior of the property is covered in rendering, make a note of its condition and whether it needs any work.