No Free Lunch when Property Hunting
Buying a flat or house costs money. So, too, does mere property hunting.
Use the internet: no charge.
Read the property and personal finance pages of the weekend newspapers: no charge if you normally take weekend papers, small change if you buy a paper expressly for property research.
However, when the ball gets rolling - when you get a mortgage valuation survey, for example - you start playing with real money.
The homeowner bought this mimosa tree because the newspaper advertisement said it was a dwarf mimosa. The mimosa had its own ideas about its growth potential. When the tree reached the first storey, the owner began to wonder...and when it reached the roof and beyond, her doubts were confirmed.
She consulted a tree surgeon. He told her that there is no such thing as a dwarf mimosa. He deemed the tree to be too close to the house, and cut it down to size. The owner was left with the cleanup. Removing the branches took two adults an entire day and filled more than a dozen black bags.
A year later, she got rid of the remainder of this still rapidly-growing dwarf.
Even at an earlier stage, you may have to shell out some serious dosh. If you have to travel to view properties, you face petrol or other transportation costs. These can quickly add up, especially if you visit your prospective new area several times. And you should see what your new neighbourhood is like at pub-closing time as well as during the afternoon and on weekends as well as weekdays.
What about the neighbour- from-hell worry?
One way to size up the natives is to visit the local boozer. You can learn a good deal just by being there, and you can learn even more by asking questions. So when you calculate your househunting costs, don't forget to add a few bob for the cost of a round or three.
To really find out what happens after the pubs close and at other times of the day and year, you might want to hire a specialist agency to prepare a full investigative report. This will be substantially more expensive than a few pints. It will be well worth the cost if, for example, the report uncovers drug-dealing next-door neighbours or some other profound unpleasantness.
You make an offer. The vendor accepts. You commission a valuation survey for your mortgage. The vendor withdraws the property. Bye bye valuation fee.
You make an offer. The vendor accepts. You commission a valuation survey for your mortgage and, with it, your own proper condition survey (see the Survey page for more information on the difference between valuations and surveys). Your survey reveals dry rot, wet rot, semi-moist rot and many other evils. You withdraw your offer. Bye-bye valuation fee. Bye-bye one, maybe two, survey fees. Start all over again.
In a seller’s market – when, relatively speaking, there are few properties and many buyers – buyers may have to pay for several surveys before completing on a purchase. Often in these market conditions, buyers are effectively in a race against one another, and things happen quickly. You commit to surveys and other costly actions only to be pipped at the post. In the UK generally since the mid-1990s, the market has favoured sellers.
In any market, whether it favours buyers or sellers or is neutral, a verbally agreed sale can fall through for any number of reasons—or no reason at all.
It happens all the time.