Any estate agent will tell you about typical property buyers most obvious deal-breakers. Location, traffic, crime and even failing local schools all spring to mind. But what about the many harder-to-see factors? What can turn a keen buyer into a reluctant buyer or worse, lose interest in the purchase entirely?
Does having a bad mobile reception matter more these days more than having an embarrassing street name? Or does energy efficiency mean the most to those recycling fanatics out there?
The latest research from the market specialists Selling Up makes very interesting reading. Perhaps it is a sign of the times of how we live now but the deal breakers of old are also being replaced with a whole new list of possible problems that will have buyers running for the hills.
“What are the Neighbours Like?”
A killer question most would-be house buyers drop into the conversation. And there’s good reason as top of the list is noisy neighbours. A huge 70% of people would pull out of a sale if they found that the neighbours were less than, well, neighbourly.
It may be the Englishman’s Home is his Castle Syndrome, but the discovery of noisy neighbours is so terrifying that the majority of us would just write off the property there and then. Neighbours who party in the early hours, having regular screaming matches or have just introduced the trumpet to little Justin could literally knock tens of thousands off the value of the house next door.
A newer addition to the list is the annoyance caused by noise from aeroplanes. More than 40% of respondees would actually withdraw an offer and 34% put in a reduced offer if this specific type of noise was a factor in the neighbourhood. I guess you can now understand the angst of those who live under the Heathrow flight paths and dread yet another runway coming to their neck of the woods.
The list of possible pitfalls is quite extensive. Perhaps as a nation of homeowners we are just getting more and more picky when it comes to choosing our dream home, despite being told about a constant housing shortage.
