Shared home wonership for all

Added: (Fri Jun 24 2005)

Pressbox (Press Release) - Well, I’m in sunny London where the temperature is ‘Scorchio!’, and I reckon it’s too hot to do traditional house-hunting today, so I have prepared my Top 5 list of ways to seek out your perfect home, without getting perfectly frazzled in the process:

1. Go Online.
It’s obvious, it’s old news, but it really works. Benefit from the air-con in your office, or open the window at home and enjoy a cool drink whilst you surf for your new home from the sanctuary of your desk or sofa.
Not all online property pages are equal though, and you should beware of Estate Agents listings that are miraculously ‘sold’ the minute you phone to enquire about them. This may be a genuine recent sale, or a wily way for the Agent to draw people to them (by featuring lovely, but long-gone, properties on their sites continuously. Whichever is the case, make sure you don’t fall in love with a place from it’s online description – it might not still be available!

My choices for property hunting online:
www.ukfirsttimebuyer.com
Loads of information for first time buyers AND a property search portal. Marvellous stuff!
www.ourproperty.co.uk

Get property price information for free. Do your research! This can really help you to find out how much you SHOULD offer for that darling little semi next to the gasworks.
www.loot.com

The online version of Loot is full of private property ads AND Estate Agent’s listings. You can search by location and price, and it’s worth a look-see. I found my last property at Loot online, so I’m very much an advocate. The nice thing about Loot is that they have a relatively fast turn-over of adverts, so it’s really worth coming back to them weekly at least.

2. Go Out.
Going out doesn’t have to mean traipsing round stuffy Estate Agents offices, waiting in queues and collapsing from dehydration behind their potted-plants. What you can do is get in your car (or a friend’s, if they’ve got better air-conditioning!), and actually do a physical tour of the area you’re looking to move to.
There are 2 benefits to this way of house-hunting:
- Firstly, you get to see whether you actually like the area. You may have hit on it because the high-street is funky, but you might not have realised that the homes in the area are either way out of your price bracket or way out of your taste bracket!
- Secondly, you can get a gut-feel for some of the properties in the area that are GENUINELY for sale (see problem with online Estate Agents above), and start putting properties to price-tags when you go to pick-up schedules for any that interest you.
Here’s how I recommend you do road-side reconnaissance:

A – Take a map, so when you do find a place you like, you can note exactly where it is, and find your way back again.
B – Take a digital camera or even your mobile camera-phone. All buildings will blur into one after a while. Take pictures of the nice ones to prompt your memory and show to your Mum & Dad (they’d like to know where you want to live).

C – Take a notepad and 2 pens/pencils, because Sod’s Law says that if you only have one writing instrument it will run out or break – you know it’s true!

D – USE the notepad and pens! You should note down the address (or at least street name) for any properties you like, as well as the Estate Agent’s details on the sale board outside. Get the Agents name, phone number and website address (if there’s one listed on the board). You can probably download the schedules when you get home, if you get their web address, saving you a potentially hot trip to their offices.

3. Take an evening stroll.
This is the follow-up to numbers 1 or number 2 (above). Evenings are cooler, so it’s a good time to revisit some of the places you saw online or on your road-side reconnaissance mission.
Pick a couple of properties relatively close together and take a walk past both of them. Take in the local atmosphere, and see how the area differs in the evening from during the day. After all, you’re likely to spend most of your time there in the evenings, as you’re probably going to be out at work during the day-times.
Some areas can really change at night. You need to know that you’ll feel comfortable there when it’s darker and that the road-noise doesn’t become unbearable, for example. Try doing the walk to where you could be catching the bus or train, or where you’re likely to be parking your car, if it’s not onsite. See if you like the locality when it’s not in the sun.

4. Work that phone!
Here’s something you can do from anywhere there’s a shady spot. You’ve probably been peering in Estate Agents windows for some time now, and you’ll know which ones sell the kinds of properties you’re interested in. So, dig out your phone directory, or check the local papers for the Agent’s phone numbers and call them.
Estate Agents only get paid if they can sell you your next home, so they’ll be as helpful as they can when you’re looking for somewhere. When you call them, get the name of the person you’re speaking to (so you can go back to them again if you find them useful), and just tell them what sort of a place you’re looking for. Tell them everything: budget, style, size, number of bedrooms, locality, EVERYTHING! A good Agent will tell you what they’ve got on their books that could suit you and will post you the details. You can then review their schedules from a bath full of ice-cubes or wherever you’ve retreated to in an attempt to cool down!
5. Hire someone else to take the heat.
There are people out there who will find your new home for you – really! Obviously, this could be a more expensive option, but if you really don’t want to be out on that hot tarmac yourself, then this could be the way to go.

Companies like Urban PA, in London, will help you find the right sorts of properties or areas for you, negotiate terms with the Estate Agents and even manage your move for you. They can, of course, do a lot more from dealing with your weekly shop, to organising your wedding. They really are your Personal Assistants and MUCH cheaper than you probably think.

So, that’s my Top 5 list of ways to house-hunt even when it’s too hot! Now, where did I put my Pimms…?

www.jointequity.co.uk