Finding & viewing
House-hunting is where most of the money in this sector gets lost to bad information. How to tell a current listing from a recycled one, how to view a place safely, and what to confirm before anything changes hands.
Planning a Day of Viewings Without Wasting It
Most house-hunting is lost to transport and dead addresses, not to a shortage of houses. A morning's planning turns six wasted trips into one productive one.
Seven Checks Before You Travel to a Viewing
A listing that will waste your Saturday usually says so before you spend a shilling on transport. Here is what to look at, in the order it takes you five minutes to check.
How to View a Property Safely
Viewing a house means meeting a stranger at an empty address, often alone. A few habits make that ordinary rather than risky, and none of them cost anything.
Before You Pay a Deposit on a New Place
The riskiest ten minutes in house-hunting are the ones between deciding and paying. Five checks, none of which take long, and all of which are awkward to do afterwards.
Questions to Ask at a Viewing That Nobody Asks
Everyone asks the rent. Almost nobody asks when the water runs, which is the question that decides what living there is like.