10 Property Websites You Should Visit Before You Buy
Day 7: Everything You Need To Know About Buying and Selling a House or a Flat in 31 Daily Bite-Sized Chunks
Welcome to Day 7 of our special series of blog posts running every day in March “10 Property Websites you Should Visit Before You Buy”
Back in the day a long long time ago in a land not far from where I am now, Estate Agents were open more hours than Ronnie Barker and David Jason.
8’til 8 was common and all weekend.
Now Estate Agents are open more civilised hours-the reason; the internet.
The internet has freed up not just Estate Agents and enabled them to get a life, but it has also taken out some of the detective leg work of potential buyers.
Here’s a list of 10 property websites you should visit before you buy (I admit one is fairly obvious, but I make no apology)
1. The Land Registry is a government department and records the true price paid not what you might have seen in an Estate Agent’s window
http://www1.landregistry.gov.uk/houseprices This is where you will find out what your neighbour’s home sold for, or if you are buying what prices have been achieved for properties in the locality.
2. www.rightmove.co.uk the daddy of all the so called property portals. It’s the one portal that most Estate Agents feel they need to be on.
Most new property will be uploaded to Rightmove as soon as it marketed. Other websites to look at for property for sale are www.primelocation.com/ and www.zoopla.co.uk/ and www.globrix.com
3. Want to find out not just about houses for sale but more in depth knowledge about services, amenities, schools and hospitals then go to www.upmystreet.com
4. General market conditions; price moves up or down; number of mortgage approvals, average time it takes to sell a property; average number of viewings go to www.hometrack.co.uk
5. Itching to put new apps on your iphone or ipad, you’ve guessed it head over to the itunes store. Lots of Estate Agency have their own apps and are free to download
6. Mortgage finance is particularly tight for most people without a huge deposit to put down. You’ll get an idea of the type of mortgage products available at
moneyfacts.co.uk/compare/mortgages/ and www.moneysupermarket.com/mortgages/ and if you want a mortgage broker to help you (good idea in the present market) try www.charcol.co.uk
7. You will need to insure your new property so pop along to www.comparethemarket.com/home-insurance/ or go direct with a company such as www.directline.com/home/welcome.htm
8 Don’t miss out on having your new home surveyed. For a range of good local surveyors start at www.alliedsurveyors.com/
9. It may be a bit premature but you will need to budget for your removals www.pickfords.co.uk has a lot of useful information on their website, and make sure you explore a local solution as well.
10. Last but not least, everything you need to know about Conveyancing www.cluttoncox.co.uk
There are over 200 hundred blog posts on all aspects of Conveyancing, plus our very own online conveyancing calculator to help you budget for your move.
All covered by our fixed fee guarantee with no hidden extras.
Happy Surfing…
Be sure to sign up for a chance to have your Conveyancing carried out by Clutton Cox, free of charge.
