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WHEN YOU’RE A first time home buyer, the process for viewing and selecting a home can seem incredibly daunting.
It’s hard to imagine how you could possibly know everything there is to know about a home before making an offer. After all, buying a house requires dishing out more money than you will have spent on anything in your lifetime — by a long shot.
To help you get a sense of whether a home is worth pursuing, we spoke to an architect and a building surveyor to find out what you should look for when you walk through a house, so you know whether there are red flags right away that should keep you from considering it.
Before actually buying any home, you’ll hire a building surveyor to ensure there aren’t major structural or safety issues. But that process usually happens after you’ve had an offer accepted. (The last thing you want is to fall in love with a house that will cost you many unexpected thousands more to fix once you’ve already bought.)
Before you reach the point of needing a building surveyor, the following should give you a better sense of what the experts look for when they walk through a home for the first time.
Pat McGovern, of McGovern Surveyors, explains that his role as a surveyor is to look for the “big ticket items, such as evidence of movement, dampness, timber decay and fire safety issues.”
Every house is expected to have routine maintenance issues, he says, but “the key is to figure out what is the longer term large spend work that is required.” That might mean finding out whether the roof, boiler or windows will need to be replaced soon, or if the wiring is safe and adequate.
While those issues are typically out of the general public’s league, on an initial viewing, the average viewer can get a sense of movement and dampness by looking for any major cracks in plaster or keeping a nose out for the smell of mold or mildew.
He suggests a particular focus on some areas that might slip under the radar. “Look around bathrooms and en-suites, and in particular, the walls on the opposite side of these rooms,” he says. “On a bedroom wall adjoining a bathroom, is there damp at skirting level that might suggest a leak from the waste pipes or a defective bath seal at the juncture with wall tiling?”
Those are things you can look out for yourself, but you might want to make a note to look for them on an initial viewing so you don’t forget, especially if you are quite enamoured of the house.
An architect’s eyes can also help you avoid some common pitfalls when you’re viewing a house for the first time. Checking previous extension work might be low down the list for the average buyer – but it can have a big impact on your future plans, according to Gerard Crowe of Extend Architects.
First-time home buyers should “be wary of existing extensions and conversions, both in terms of build quality and planning regulations,” he says. For example, most people are aware that there is a 40 square metre limit for exempted development, but they might not know that an already converted garage would be counted in that cumulative square metre limit. If you’re looking a house with a view to extend, this might impact your decision to buy.
Crowe also offered a few tips for first time home buyers who are looking to add space to houses they are viewing. If you’re looking at a property with an attic that hasn’t yet been converted, don’t take for granted that it would be possible in future. “Keep in mind that it might not be possible or economic to convert your attic if modern prefabricated trusses have been used within the roof,” says Crowe.
A quick way to find out whether the development you’re looking in has the possibility for converted attics is to check out local authority websites “for planning precedents and granted permissions in the locality,” Crowe suggests.
“Not only will this give you an idea of what works are acceptable in the area as well as possible concerns the neighbours might have, but it may also highlight future proposed development that could potentially impact on the property.”
And if you’re thinking of doing work that requires planning permission, be realistic about how long this will take. “If planning permission is required, expect at least a year before the house is ready to move into – and alternative accommodation might be required throughout this time,” Crowe says.
His final tip for home viewings, though, is probably the simplest: Bring a measuring tape. This means you can take some figures away to compare the space to what you know. “It’s difficult to visualise the size of rooms for their potential,” he says, “So an idea is to compare measurements to spaces or furniture that is familiar to you.”
Of course, if you really are set on a particular property, get a building surveyor and architect to come have a look for you so you can fully understand the options the property has to offer.
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Such a shame. I visited Tunisia 3 years ago with my wife and had an amazing week. Fabulous food and culture, bright and engaging locals, beautiful hotels and beaches. Everything you could want in a holiday resort. The Tunisians have worked tirelessly toward a democracy and the country has been in a really good place of late.
It’s a real shame to see the murderous intentions of the radical few having such an effect on a great nation of good people who deserve better.
More than a ‘radical few’ I suspect, there are hundreds of Tunisians with Isis fighting in Syria and they are getting their training in Libya. It is right for tourists to know what the stakes are when planning their holidays in the Middle East and North Africa. According to Ch4 news Gaza is being infiltrated by Isis and attacking the borders between Egypt and Israel.
what a shame for the people of the country who depend on the tourists.
If I was there, and I was advised to leave by security people/dept of foreign affairs, I would definitely leave.
Having said that, part of me feels that, by leaving the country, the terrorists win. And that sucks big time.
No brainer in fairness.
Discussed on the radio earlier, would seem that your travel insurance will not now cover you in Tunisia.
Don’t worry, you won’t have to travel to North Africa to find Islamic terror. The LÉ Eithne is bringing it here to Europe.
It occurs to me that as Westerners are not safe to travel to Tunisia now, as it’s such a tourism dependent country, it’d be great if large numbers of Muslims booked holidays there…………… . It’d keep the tourism economy going in Tunisia and it’d also be a protest against those who abuse Islam for their own barbaric aims..
Right now i’d say Tunisia is one of the safest places on the planet. Tourists stop going, the locals lose their jobs and ISIS swoops in to scoop up the disaffected unemployed, Crazy .
So by your reckoning if a fanatical muslim shooots dead nearly 40 innocent tourists, who are merely enjoying the hospitality of the local scenery and people, then the local population will blame the western tourists for the resultant loss in jobs etc, and this will result in further radicalisation and death.
If this is the case the I think Declan Nerny said it best….”stop the world and let me off!”
Ps, those are his only lyrics I know. Don’t judge me!
“To think “LONG”and hard”?What a contriction of the warning, wouldn’t want to take too long now wouldn’t that be in itself risky? !
Lots of liked palm leaf comments getting likes but if that’s your thing c’est la vie.
For the department of foreign affairs to come out with such wisdom now is rather shameful! We have navy assets in the area but we’re operating with zero intel against local elements trafficking and worse!
Solution – Rangers on the ships, strike where there’s doubt and perhaps apologise later but we won’t be burying 3 or more innocents from overseas!
Closer to home is where all other assets should be placed!
That’s a silly statement. The warning is based on UK intelligence. Our ship in the Mediterranean is not on a war mission,to do what you suggest would mean big trouble for us back home.
Exactly because it’s based on UK intel is why I said the Dept of F.A. are clowns – if their threat levels are to be solely based on UK intel they could merely retweet the UK statements and we could sack the PR person. SAve the country 40k maybe.
I’m for proper action against terrorists. No thing as being neutral in such circumstances or thinking a white flag will protect us. I still feel ill at the thought that during the Gadaffi overthrow, the Irish media were supporting those that have become ISIS. Even giving several young men air time on the likes of Joe Duffy. Can’t bury our heads in the sand about this as these mofo’s aren’t going away anytime soon!
Chicinho has watched one two many action movies – as cool as it would be to have the Army Ranger Wing go in an take out ISIS.
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