Beware of bargain properties
Independent advice
If you are looking to purchase a property 1stAssociated.co.uk can provide independent help and advice with regard to structural surveys, building surveys, valuations, property surveys, structural reports, engineers reports, specific defects report, home buyers reports or any other property matters .
Please free phone 0800 298 5424 for a friendly chat with one of our surveyors.
Seems too good to be true
In our experience if a flat or house that you are offered seems too good to be true, then this is usually the case. The thing that we usually see with a property that is too good to be true is that it has been freshly painted and perhaps had a new carpet or two. They are generally very well photographed by the estate agent. One of the relatively common things that we see is a house that doesn't present very well from the outside being photographed from the inside and these being the main photographs that you see on rightmove or similar housing sale websites.
Look out for freshly painted houses
Whilst it is nice to move into a house that has been freshly painted (usually magnolia or white) as it does mean that you don't have to have the painting carried out, you must also be asking why has someone painted a house just before they are moving out. In our experience many times it can be to hide something.
Other surveying articles that may be of interest
We have written many other surveying articles which may be of interest to you:
Should I have a structural survey?
Do estate agents tell the truth?
Buying a house
Foundations and underpinning
Roofs and structural problems
What is the render hiding?
Render is a mixture of sand and cement and in older renders also lime. As Surveyors we are always concerned when we see render finished properties as the render can hide a multitude of sins, particularly if it has been recently repainted. We generally would steer people away from rendered properties.
What do the circles and ovals mean in our reports?
The red circles are a system that we use within our specific defect reports, structural surveys, building surveys and schedules of condition to highlight problem areas so that you are not left wondering what the problem is.
Render
Our unique sketches help you understand the survey
If the report, along with our photos, does not explain the problem or characteristics of a property enough then we also have a vast range of sketches that we have had commissioned exclusively for us that we can use in our reports.
Blown or hollow render
Why have an independent building survey?
Always have an independent building survey as this will highlight any property problems. Caveat emptor means buyer beware and is why you need to have a building survey to find out if there are any problems within the property; the estate agent certainly will not advise you of any.
Remember the building Surveyor that you employ will be the only person working for you with your interests at heart.
Our Executive Summaries make things simple
Our Good, Bad & Ugly Surveys!
We would like to introduce to you what we call our Good, Bad and Ugly survey which is a building survey, sometimes known as a structural survey, and is something that we have developed over many years, in fact several decades. We have listened to feedback from our clients and amended and altered our surveys to make them easy to read and describe issues clearly. The key factor we believe is that our surveys are easy to understand in plain English.
We highly recommend you always make sure when you have a survey you meet your Surveyor at the property.
Compare our Building Surveys but don't compare Apples with Thursdays
If you require a Specific Defects Report, Building Survey or a Structural Survey on a home, house or commercial property we believe as Building Surveyors we have a wealth of experience and expertise that we can utilise to help you.
Please feel free to have a look at our website 1stAssociated.co.uk to see for yourself the quality of our website, articles and our Building Survey reports. We pride ourselves on our professional standard and easy to read reports written in plain English which we have been carrying out for many years on every age, type and style of property across the UK.
We can email you examples of our building surveys
We are more than happy to email you several examples of our tailor made reports that we have carried out on similar properties although we do appreciate that all properties are unique.
We really believe that you should see what you are getting in the form of an example Survey. What is more is that we are so confident with our higher than average standards that we believe that there is no other comparable survey available in the UK property and surveying market.
We can talk and talk about property
We hope you found the article of use and if you have any experiences that you feel should be added to this article that would benefit others, or you feel that some of the information that we have included is wrong then please do not hesitate to contact us (we are only human).
The content of the website is for general information and entertainment only and is not intended to be relied upon for specific or general decisions. Appropriate independent professional advice should be taken before making such a decision Free phone 1stAssociated.co.uk on 0800 298 5424 for independent surveying advice.
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