Viewing open homes can be a long and time consuming task. But the process of searching for your next home should be a positive one. If you know your expectations and desires for your home. You can be efficient in your home search and when you attend open homes know exactly what you are looking for.
As a platform that helps buyers find their next home. Shopless takes a look at what you should know and what you should look for when attending open homes. So you can succeed in your job hunting, and have a positive experience.
Take a Look around the Neighbourhood
Reviewing the neighbourhood at the same time as viewing the home is a great idea. You may already be in love with the area, but there may be aspects that impact your ability to enjoy living there. In reviewing the area you can take note of dogs barking, the behaviour of drivers down the street, landscaping and natural obstacles/intrusions. Additionally you can view things that may benefit you living there. Such as accessibility to public transport, distance to shops, doctors, parks or other important locations.
There are a lot of factors that influence why people live in certain suburbs or areas. And for yourself as a home viewer there may be some important things that are deciding factors as to why you choose to live in a particular location.
Home Renovations
If home renovations have been done on the home it may be obvious. You can also ask the real estate agent about the home’s history with renovations. As they are required to disclose their knowledge of this. Often previous owners decide to quickly renovate the home by putting down lino or painting. But at a hurried and cheap cost. For you as the home view it is important to take a look at the materials involved with any renovations. And if building consent was sought for major renovations. For older homes a renovation may have taken place before a building consent was necessary, and in that circumstance you would want a builder to review the quality of work on the home before a purchase.
You want to ensure that a rushed or cheap renovation has not taken place, as you want the home to be liveable for a longer period of time. Without needing to redo the improvements because of quick wear and tear.
Ask the Agent about the Home
A stuff article about the most important plan to approach an open home concluded that the most important approach was to ask the real estate agent: “What do I need to know about this home?”. They suggested that a lot of open home viewers want the real estate agent to consider them as a potential buyer. So choose to avoid tough or intrusive questions.
However the real estate agent is required to be transparent about the history of the house and area. So if they are aware of any attributes that may influence a buyer’s decision. They must be upfront and disclose this, if asked. Additionally it is standard practice to ask about different attributes of a home, so as a view you should be confident to do so.
Pay Attention to the Details
It is important to take a proper look at the property to evaluate the suitability of living there. This can sometimes be difficult if you are particularly rushed or there are a lot of viewers of the open home. That being said, you want to make sure that the home is at a standard that you won’t encounter problems as soon as you move in. So you may choose to view an open home more than once if you feel as though you have missed something.
Things to look for include mould in rooms, the water pressure – by turning off and on the taps, the quality of the exterior of the home and the quality of wooden floorboards. When placing an offer on the home it is necessary to get a building report done on the home, to also gain a better understanding of the quality of the home.
There are many things to pay attention to when looking for a new home. With the turnover of homes currently high, as a buyer it can feel like you need to commit without a proper evaluation of the home. Additionally for sellers you may feel rushed at times to sell, when meticulously preparing your home for the numerous open homes.
Whatever position you are in Shopless will help you to buy or sell your home. For upcoming open homes in houses across New Zealand checkout our property section. As a New Zealand owned online marketplace we want to help out with buying or selling your home.