Questions to ask the estate agent at the property viewing
Given that a property is likely to be the most expensive purchase that we make in our lives, it is surprising how little time we spend looking at the property and how little information we have on the property before making an offer.
This is why we found it important to ask lots of questions to the estate agent when we were at the viewings.
Here’s our list:
1. Why is the owner selling?
2. Have there been offers made previously? Why didn’t the owner accept the offer?
3. How long has the property been on the market?
4. How long has the owner lived in the property? If it is property the owner rents out, how long have they owned the property?
5. Are there any plans for the local area (e.g. changes to the roads, new cycle lanes, new developments?
6. Is there anything we should know about the property?
7. Have there been issues with the neighbours?
8. What are the timelines for sale of the property?
9. What fixtures and fittings are included in the property?
10. For leaseholds: What is the remaining lease length, ground rent and service charge?
I’ve explained why we asked these questions below!
1. Why is the owner selling?
This helped us understand what the timelines are (e.g. how quickly the owner wants to have completed the sale by) and also for deciding the value of the offer that we made.
For example, at one viewing, the property was for sale as the owners had separated and were keen to sell and the estate agent mentioned they were likely to consider an offer below the asking price.
Given how expensive a property is, even just a 1% reduction in price is quite a lot! If the asking price was £300k, a 1% saving is £3k! For me, that’s money that can go towards our holidays instead!
2. Have there been offers made previously? Why didn’t the owner accept the offer?
We asked because if the offer wasn’t accepted, we could then ask the estate agent for more information on why it wasn’t accepted so it could help us decide what offer to make.
We also asked how much the previous/other offers were but found that estate agents are not able to share this information. However, they were able to indicate whether the offer was close to or far from the asking price.
3. How long has the property been on the market?
If the property has been on the market for a while, we wanted to know what the reasons were. On a few occasions, the estate agent informed us that it was because originally the asking price was higher but then it had recently been reduced.
4. How long has the owner lived in the property? If it is property the owner rents out, how long have they owned the property?
For me, it was reassuring if the owner has lived in the property for several years as I felt that if someone lived there for several years, they probably liked the flat and made it their home! If the property kept changing hands after one or two years, then I would be a little worried as to why multiple owners didn’t stay long.
5. Are there any plans for the local area (e.g. changes to the roads, new cycle lanes, new developments)?
During our conveyancing process, the report we received did mention that we would not be impacted by a new railway line nearby but I didn’t see any mention of other development plans. It is worth asking the question early on so you are more informed before making an offer.
6. Is there anything we should know about the property?
An open question so we could learn more about the property and in case it was something we couldn’t spot during the viewing.
7. Have there been issues with the neighbours?
We wanted to be able to enjoy the flat once we have purchased it and not worry about issues with neighbours (e.g. noise) hence we asked this question.
8. What are the timelines for the sale of the property and is it part of a chain?
There was a property that we liked, which was not a new build, but the estate agent advised that the owner wanted to complete the sale in 6-8 weeks. It seemed a very short time period and we only knew one friend who had managed to complete in 8 weeks and that was for a new build. We thought that such a short timeline would be too rushed and stressful so we did not proceed.
For another property, it was part of a chain where the owner needed to sell the flat so they could buy their next home and the owners of the home they were buying had given them a deadline. Again, this was a short timeline and we were worried that if the owner didn’t meet their deadline, they might then decide to take the property we liked off the market. This was a concern for us given that until the exchange of contracts, neither party are legally bound to complete the transaction. We didn’t want to start incurring legal fees that we couldn’t get back if the transaction fell through.
9. What fixtures and fittings are included in the property?
If you would like to make an offer, it is important to know exactly what is included.
10. For leaseholds: What is the remaining lease length, ground rent and service charge?
It was a deal breaker for us if it was a short lease and we would have already asked this question when we arranged the viewing, but with us going to so many viewings, it was easy to get mixed up so worth asking the question again!
HomeOwners Alliance articles that we used to compile our list are included below:
Other property viewing related blog posts:
Thanks for reading!
Jess
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