Almost 40% of British homebuyers viewed less than five properties before buying their current home, new Which? research has found.
Nine per cent of buyers viewed just one property, while 7% viewed 20 or more, based on our January survey in excess of 1,200 recent homebuyers.
Find out what’s happening where you live, discover property-viewing tips and listen to from a first-time buyer who bought following a single viewing in an open day, below.
Buyers in Scotland viewing fewer properties
The research, conducted in January, found that property-viewing behaviour differed based on whereby the united kingdom everyone was buying – even though many found their house after seeing only a handful of properties, this wasn’t the case overall.
Approximately 82% viewed at least five properties, as well as in the West Midlands, 22% visited 15 or more homes.
In Scotland, on the other hand, 15% only viewed one property before making an offer. This may be partly due to the truth that sellers in Scotland have to provide a home report containing key details about the property, together with a survey, in advance.
Why in the event you view more than one property?
If you fall in love with the very first property you look round, it can be tempting to make an offer without seeing other things. However, there are benefits of viewing multiple properties.
Firstly, it allows you to definitely increase your better sense of that which you really want from a home. For example, if having outside space wasn’t on your listing of must-haves but then you view a second property with a garden, you may recognise that actually it’s a fundamental part of your wishlist.
Similarly, if you’d originally ruled out places with fewer than three bedrooms however you view a two-bed home having a loft that’s ripe for conversion, you might relax your criteria.
The other benefit of viewing multiple properties is it helps you understand how much homes in your town count. Once you’ve seen a few places and compared their specifications and prices, you’ll be equipped with far better information with regards to making an offer.
Buying in a competitive area
Although the media is filled with reports of a cooling housing industry, some areas of the UK remain competitive for buyers. This can sometimes lead sellers to carry open days, where multiple buyers see the home simultaneously.
In some places, the sealed bids or ‘best-and-final offers’ system – which requires potential customers to submit offers with a set deadline, with the seller then comparing the offers and choosing which one to accept – continues to be used, too.
Jen Dennis, a 33-year-old design director, is in the process of buying a property in Walthamstow, east London, which she viewed on an open day.
She says: ‘It was like there have been clones of me and my hubby everywhere – i was surrounded by individuals exactly the same position, with decent jobs and deposits, in the same stage in their lives and love the same flat.
‘The volume of people helped me feel totally apprehensive.’
The bidding process
The estate agent then told the couple that the property could be likely to sealed bids.
‘We didn’t understand what that meant! Luckily we'd a buddy who was also a first-time buyer coupled with just been through the sealed bids process herself. She had bid over the asking price, which made us feel better about our prime offer that people submitted,’ Jen says.
‘We took a stroll on the Sunday to select everything, that was so important for us. It’s a procedure that makes you panic and thus we spent a lot of time researching other properties in the pub and being very logical about our offer.
‘Ultimately, we decided that although our offer was high, the flat was worth that much to us. The huge number felt like i was playing with fake money; everything felt quite surreal.’
As area of the bidding process the couple were asked to prove their deposit, give a mortgage agreement in principle (AIP), and explain their current position so when they’d be able to move. Jen says, ‘I additionally included instructions telling them a little about ourselves and how much we loved the property.’
This strategy combined with the couple’s organised approach obviously worked, his or her offer was accepted and they're now waiting to switch.
Property-viewing tips
If you’re house-hunting, here are some stuff you should keep in mind:
Download our property-viewing checklist for a room-by-room list of things to consider and get when viewing houses. Or, if you’re thinking of buying a new-build, take a look at our help guide to viewing a show home.
