Downsizing your property due to changes

in circumstances, a review

Independent Building Surveyors

If you are in the situation where you need or want to downsize your property our Independent Surveyors at 1stAssociated.co.uk can provide you with help and advice. We carry out building surveys, structural surveys, home buyers reports, independent valuations, property surveys, engineers reports, structural reports, defects report. Please call us on 0800 298 5424 for a friendly chat.
	Modern smaller terraced properties, a downsizing option?

Free phone 0800 298 5424

Caveat Emptor or buyer beware!

Caveat emptor means Buyer Beware and this is why, if you are considering buying a property, you need to have a building survey carried out to find out if there are any problems within the property that you need to be aware of.

Estate Agents want to sell the property

Downsizing but not always out of choice

We have recently carried out a number of surveys for a client who needs to downsize their property. Our client has unfortunately been unlucky when trying to buy a house and has on several occasions been gazumped by other potential buyers. This was mainly due to the lack of property in general that meet their criteria.

Gazumping

Gazumping is now very common in the process of buying a property. Until contracts are exchanged the sale of a property is not legally binding. This gives the seller free reign to accept higher offers from new prospective buyers and can often leave the original buyer financially and emotionally stretched.

Dependent upon how far along the sales process has reached the first potential buyer could already have paid out for Surveyors fees and Solicitors fees. This can happen a number of times during the process of buying your ideal house or home where there are too many buyers interested in buying too few properties.

Here are some of our surveying articles that may be of help to you

Beware of bargain properties

Do estate agents tell the truth or do they just want the house sale?

Beautifully Naive Thoughts

What does a Surveyor do on a Structural Survey?

Our Surveyor met the client at the property during the survey

We have met this particular client a couple of times at the properties we have surveyed for them. Where possible we recommend all our clients try to do this as it is important for us to understand your requirements. We are also able to discuss and show you any problems or issues we come across as we walk around the property. These could include such things as problems with the roof structure or dampness entering the property because of high ground levels.

High ground level

Location, location, location! Is this more important than your ideal property?

When you have a location in mind that you would like to live in the price of the property in that area can sometimes be higher than you first thought. The decision then needs to be made as to whether you stay with the location that you like, and decide to buy a property that is maybe smaller or not to the standard that you were hoping for, or whether to consider changing locations. This can be an even harder decision to make when you ‘have to' downsize due to your circumstances and especially if it is below the standard that you are used to or that you would like.

Our Property database for house surveys

We have our own property database known as XHouse which we use when we carry out our building surveys as it helps us identify the typical problems that are present in every era of house for our surveys. The property database is designed around the age, type and style of the property and we have literally been building this database for over a decade. Again this property database is unique to our Building Surveyors.

Cold bridging is a common problem in War Years properties

We can advise on alterations and improvements

When we carry out a building survey we are more than happy to discuss future alteration and improvement ideas you may have. These may involve things such as adding an extension, a loft conversion or replacing timber windows with plastic double glazed windows, with trickle vents to improve air movement.
During our recent survey we were able to talk to the owners of some neighbouring properties who were happy to talk to us and our client about improvements that they have made to their properties.	Roof and rear extension

Trickle vents	Trickle vents to help air movement in a property

Trickle Vents Defined

Trickle vents allow a trickle of air through, therefore stopping/reducing the likelihood of condensation occurring within the property.

What do the circles and ovals mean in our reports?

The red ovals and circles are a system that we use within our structural surveys and building surveys to help explain to you or highlight problem areas or characteristics of a property. 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.

Radiators should be positioned under windows to promote good air movement	Internal radiator, this would be better under a window

Internal radiators defined

Internal radiators are located on internal walls rather than under windows or external walls. Radiators sited underneath windows help air flow in a property as warm air rises and hits the cooler air above the windows it then circulates around the room and helps the air circulation in the property as a whole.

Independent Building Surveyors

We are experienced independent building Surveyors who are knowledgeable in carrying out structural surveys on all types, styles and eras of buildings. If you are looking to buy a property it makes sense to have a structural survey carried out by an Independent Surveyor. Phone us for a friendly chat on 0800 298 5424.

Compare our website and compare our surveys

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 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

If you are thinking of buying a property and are interested in having a Structural Survey carried out or if you are trying to sell a property and would like a Pre-Sales Survey please call us on free phone us for a friendly chat on 0800 298 5424. We would be happy to email you several examples of our tailor made reports.

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