What to Look For on a First Viewing
A forty-minute viewing is not much time to judge a house. Here is how we suggest spending it, and what to leave for the inspector.
Most first viewings last somewhere between thirty and forty-five minutes. That is enough time to fall for a kitchen and not enough time to notice the damp patch behind the sofa. The aim of a first visit is not to inspect the house. It is to decide whether the house deserves a second visit and, later, a professional inspection.
Here is how we suggest using the time.
Start outside, before you go in
Arrive five minutes early and walk the street. Look at how the house sits relative to its neighbours, where the afternoon sun will fall, and whether the road is a shortcut for traffic at rush hour. Look up at the roof line: a sagging ridge, missing tiles or patched flashing are easy to spot from the pavement.
Check where water goes. Gutters should run to downpipes, and downpipes should carry water away from the foundation, not into a flower bed against the wall. On a sloping lot, notice whether the ground falls toward the house or away from it.
Inside: use your senses, not just your eyes
Photos show light and space well. They do not show smell, sound or temperature, so that is where your attention is most useful on a visit.
- A musty smell in a basement or closet usually means moisture. Fresh paint and strong air freshener in one room can mean someone is covering it.
- Stand still in the bedrooms and listen. Traffic, a neighbour's air conditioner or a nearby bar will matter more at night.
- Open a few windows and doors. Sticking frames can point to movement in the structure, or just to old paint.
- Run a tap in the highest bathroom and check the pressure. Flush a toilet while the tap is running.
- Look at the electrical panel if you can. A tidy, labelled panel suggests a house that has been looked after.
Ask the questions a listing will not answer
The listing agent cannot tell you everything, but they can tell you more than the brochure. Useful questions include why the owners are selling, how long the house has been on the market, whether there have been any previous offers, and what major work has been done in the past ten years, with dates.
Ask for utility bills for a recent summer and winter month. In California, the difference between a well-insulated house and a leaky one can be several hundred dollars a month in August.
A good first viewing ends with a short list of questions, not a decision. The decision comes after the inspection.
Leave the technical work to the inspector
You are not expected to judge the condition of a foundation or a roof on a first visit. That is what a licensed inspector is for, along with specialists for sewer lines, roofs, pools and, on coastal or hillside lots, a geologist. Budget for these before you make an offer. They are a small cost next to the price of the house, and the reports are often useful in negotiation.
What you can do is note anything that worries you, take photos, and pass the list to your inspector so they look closely at those areas.
Make notes straight away
If you are seeing three or four homes in a day, they will blur together by the evening. Before you drive away, write down three things you liked, three things that bothered you, and one question you still have. Give each home a score out of ten. It sounds simple, but it is the best way we know to compare houses fairly a week later.
If a house still feels right after a second visit at a different time of day, it is time to talk about an inspection and an offer.