If you are in the process of purchasing a property 1stAssociated.co.uk can provide help and advice with regard to building surveys, structural surveys, home buyers reports, independent valuations, property surveys, engineers reports, structural reports, specific defects report or any other property matters .

Unlike many surveyors we like to meet you at the property during the survey and we are more than happy to talk to you about the reports. Please free phone 0800 298 5424 for a friendly chat with one of our surveyors.

 

Our reasons for moving house

We moved into our first house in Hertfordshire which had good road links and was a short walk away from a tube station which was perfect for our jobs. When we moved in we were newly married and with prices at an all time high we just about scrapped together enough money for the deposit and mortgage payments only being able to afford a one bedroom property.

As time went by our tiny one bedroom modern property which was built in the 1980s felt smaller and smaller. The property was an unusual layout being back to back with a similar sized little house with our garden being sectioned off behind the house we backed onto. The small house comprised of a tiny entrance lobby, lounge with open staircase to the first floor and galley style kitchen. The first floor consisted of a bedroom and small bathroom which was in avocado green which at the time of construction being a popular colour but quickly dated and was never a good point of the property! The property benefited from a good size front garden, a rear garden with summer house and private parking bay in a quite cul de sac.

Time went by and our first daughter was born with the property only having one bedroom the space was not ideal and we soon realised that we needed to move.

Modern house

How did we sell our house?

We were living in difficult times as we experienced Black Wednesday with mortgage rates at 14%, their highest on record, causing the housing market to be extremely hard. We decided to engage the services of a local Estate Agent who was part of a national chain of agents but with very few viewings and with our house priced causing us to be in negative equity we felt that it would be very difficult to find a purchaser.

During this period in the housing market purchasers where at an average being able to bid at low prices and potential buyers were looking for two bedroom properties rather than one bedroom so we became very despondent as to whether our little house would ever sell.

 

What value?

We were anxious to achieve a good asking price for our small house but as many of our neighbours who had sold recently had found themselves in negative equity we were happy when the estate agent advised that to sell the house quickly we should be able to achieve the price we needed.

Whether this was wishful thinking or the estate agent just wanting to get another property on his books it became clear very quickly that purchasers were few and far between and that we were not getting any offers on our home.

 

Developers building new properties

One weekend our local free newspaper dropped through our letterbox with a full page advertisement which seemed to jump out the page at us. The advertisement was featuring new build properties whereby the developer was offering to buy your existing property in part exchange for a new property.

 

A new build or an older property?

We had always dreamed of buying an older property and as long as the older era property was structurally sound after commissioning a full structural building survey we hoped to find one within our budget. As time went by our dream of an older property became further from our grips as prices were beyond us and primarily we were unable to sell our house. A modern property with a part exchange became more and more attractive so off to the new home exhibition we went in search of a new property.

Victorian older style property

Other articles that may be of interest

The following articles may be of interest to you, but don't forget that we have written articles on many different areas of property:

Why have a residential survey?

Structural survey, what does a Chartered Surveyor do?

 

My search for a house

A large property developer took part in the exhibition that we visited whereby we could see plans of developments and details of the types and styles of property they were building. We found that a development further north than we wished to move to in Cambridgeshire had show homes available to view as the area we were interested in namely Bedfordshire was still in the building stage without any properties available to see.

The show homes were just what we were looking for with four bedrooms, kitchen and utility room and all in all well designed with good storage and design. We had the reassurance of a nationally known builder and the NHBC warranty which along with the part exchange deal meant we could move up the ladder to a larger home.

 

Did the house move go smoothly?

The developer sent their Surveyor to our house to carry out their structural survey in order for them to make us an offer in order for us to part exchange our one bedroom house for a four bedroom property. The Surveyor took time to look in the roof space and to look at every square inch of the tiny house which was quite difficult as we had so many items packed into the small space which limited his view. We soon heard back from the developer's agent who negotiated with us with a final price not being far off the selling price and with us able to move fairly smoothly to our new home.

Looking in the roof space

Location, Location, Location

The location of our new home was important as we had a young baby and wished to have more children and wanted to move to a rural location with good road links for our work as well as good schools and local amenities.

Bedfordshire has great links with the M1 and A1(M) and many delightful village locations. The building developer building family sized properties in a village location with everything from a bank to a chemist to a doctor's surgery to a hairdresser made our choice very easy.

 

Moving House

The negotiations over and the paperwork complete time for exchange of contracts and our move to our new house went through just before Christmas on a day where the weather experienced snow, rain and sunshine.

We choice our new house for several reasons including:-

1.  More space which we gained with four bedrooms, lounge, kitchen, utility room, en suite to the master bedroom and family bathroom.

2.  Location suitable for family and work. The road links are excellent and local facilities perfect for a growing family.

3.  Ease of moving with a part exchange. Although a higher price may well have been achieved by selling privately due to the difficult housing market we were happy to part exchange our house to move up the property ladder fairly stress free.

4  A property with room to extend which we have carried out firstly building a conservatory then later replacing this with a larger extension.

Extension to modern house

Independent Surveyors

If you are interested in having a structural building survey why not call us for a friendly chat on free phone 0800 298 5424. If you are a landlord please contact us as we would be delighted to help you with Schedules of Condition or Structural surveys.

 

Call us and we will send you examples of our surveys

We would also be glad to email you several examples of our tailor made reports, Schedules of Condition, Structural Surveys and Property Reports. We also find that Specific Defect Reports can be used where there is one problem or issue that needs resolving between the landlord and tenant. As you can see from this article we use lots of sketches and photos in our reports as the feedback we have from our clients is that the sketches and photos help them understand the reports.

We trust you found the article of use and if you have any experiences that you believe should be added to this article that would benefit others, or you feel that some of the information that we have put is wrong then please do not pause to contact us (we are only human).

The content of the website is for general information only and is not intended to be relied upon for specific or general decisions. Appropriate independent professional advice should be paid for before making such a decision. Why not free phone 1stAssociated.co.uk on 0800 298 5424.

 

Commercial Property

If you are looking for commercial property, whether it is freehold or leasehold, we would recommend a survey as this will prevent dilapidations claims in the long run. You may wish to look at our Dilapidations Website at www.DilapsHelp.com and for Disputes go to our Disputes Help site www.DisputesHelp.com , both of which we have been advised are very helpful!

 

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 put is wrong then please do not hesitate to contact us (we are only human).

The contents of the web site are for general information only and is not intended to be relied upon for specific or general decisions. Appropriate independent professional advice should be paid for before making such a decision.

 

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