People spend longer choosing suit than house - study
People spend an average of four minutes more deciding whether to buy a £150 suit than they do when choosing a £150,000 property, UK research suggested today.
House-hunters spend an average of just 18 minutes looking around a £150,000 house they are thinking of buying, according to online property service Fish4homes.
The group said this worked out at just one minute for every £8,333 they planned to spend.
By contrast, when looking to buy a suit or dress for £150 most people spend 22 minutes considering their potential purchase, or one minute for every £6.81.
According to the research 55% of buyers will put an offer on a £150,000 property after just one viewing, though half of all clothes shoppers will come back for a second look before buying a suit or dress.
Around 78% of people said when buying a property its overall look and feel was more important to them than making sure everything worked, while 54% said there were a number of small but important details they missed when looking round a house.
And 28% of those questioned said they encountered one or two major problems after moving in that could have been spotted before the purchase went through.
According to estate agents the most commonly missed problems include damp patches on walls and ceilings, a lack of storage space, broken central heating systems, evidence of mice or rats, and whether the plumbing works properly.
Six out of 10 people said the property looked different once the previous owners had moved out, and 18% said when they moved in the property looked smaller than they had first imagined.
Jonathan Turpin, chief executive of Fish4homes, said: ‘‘With it being a sellers market, many buyers don’t feel that they have the luxury of a second viewing.
‘‘However, it’s better to ignore the aesthetics and concentrate on the practical details.
‘‘Changing the decor is often cheaper, not to mention more enjoyable, than having to deal with a leaky roof or a central heating system that doesn’t work.
‘‘To throw up any potential problems before they move in, our advice is for potential buyers to go to viewings with a checklist which they can use to evaluate the property, ask questions, and compare against other homes.’’
