What to look for when viewing a house

A first viewing is emotional and about twenty minutes long. A second viewing is where the money is. Go back, go slowly, and look at the house rather than the furniture.

Outside, before you go in

• The roofline. Stand across the road and look along it. Dips, waves and slipped tiles are visible from the pavement and expensive above it.
• Gutters and downpipes. Staining down a wall below a joint means water has been running there for a long time.
• Pointing and brickwork, especially near the ground and under windows. Crumbling mortar and blown bricks are a maintenance backlog.
• Cracks. Fine hairline cracking is common. Stepped cracking wider than a coin, or cracking around a corner, is worth asking about.
• Ground levels. Soil or a raised patio piled above the damp proof course is one of the most common causes of damp in British houses.
• Extensions and conservatories, and whether they look like they had permission.

Inside

• Smell first. Musty means moisture. Fresh paint smell in one room only is worth a second look.
• Ceilings, particularly under bathrooms and around chimney breasts, for staining.
• Corners of external walls at ceiling level, the classic spot for condensation mould.
• Skirting boards and the bottom of walls for tide marks, salting or blistering paint.
• Windows: open a few. Do they operate? Is there condensation between the panes, which means failed units?
• Look behind large furniture where you politely can, and inside the airing cupboard.
• The loft, if you can get in. Insulation depth, daylight through the roof, water staining on timbers.
• The consumer unit and the meter. An old fuse box tells you something about what has been spent on the house.

Questions worth asking

1. How long have you lived here, and why are you moving?
2. When was the boiler last serviced, and how old is it?
3. Has there ever been damp, and what was done about it?
4. Have there been any building works, and is there paperwork?
5. What are the neighbours like, and is there anything you would want to know if you were buying?

What genuinely does not matter

Decoration, carpets, kitchen units and bathroom suites. They are the things that dominate a viewing and the cheapest things to change. A dated kitchen in a structurally sound house is an opportunity. A beautiful kitchen in a house with a wavy roofline is a distraction.

Take the viewing checklist with you, and if you would rather have someone walk it with you, that is what a buyer risk report is.