One of the first steps to buying a house after your offer has been accepted is to order searches on the property. If you’re not sure what house buying searches are, we’ll explain in this article: What they are Why they’re important Whether you need to purchase them What Are House Buying Searches? House buying searches are checks carried out on a property before you buy it. They usually cost a couple of hundred pounds (approx. £200-300) and can provide highly valuable information about the property. For example, searches can tell you, and your lender, if the house: Sits on a floodplain and regularly floods Has any debts that you’ll take over when you buy it Sits on top of a mineshaft which, if it collapses, could cause severe damage to the property Is in an area where a new road, train line, housing estate, wind farm or other types of development will be built Sits on contaminated land from being previously owned by an industrial site – which can include things like asbestos, solvents, gases or arsenic You’ll normally have to pay for searches shortly after your offer has been formally accepted and you’ve instructed your solicitor to commence work.   What Are the Most Common Searches That Need to Be Done? There are three main searches your solicitor will order for you when you buy a house: Local authority searches Environmental searches Water and drainage searches Local authority searches will check the following for issues: Planning Building control Highways Pollution Environmental searches will check for issues related to: Flooding Landslides Subsidence Contaminated land Water and drainage searches will check things like: Who owns and maintains the nearby sewers and drains Whether the property is connected to a water supply and sewer If the water supply is on a meter or not Where the public sewers, drains and pipes are on the property If you’ll need permission from a water company to extend the property   Are Searches Necessary When Buying a House? If you’re buying a property with a mortgage, the lender will almost always require you to pay for searches on the property. This is because they need to know how much the property is worth and what issues they may be liable to pay for if they repossess it in the future (if you don’t keep up with your mortgage payments). However, if you’re buying in cash, you don’t legally have to pay for searches, unless you want to. But remember, there are still benefits to ordering searches when you’re a cash buyer. They are much more in-depth than a homebuyer’s survey and can provide a detailed picture of what risks there are in buying the property.   Conclusion Generally, you’ll always need to pay for searches when buying a property with a mortgage. If you buy a property with cash, it’s usually your decision whether you pay for searches, but it’s important to remember that not paying for them can cause significant risk and issue later down the line. If you’re considering buying a property in Ashbourne & Derbyshire and want advice about the process, our friendly team of agents at Bennet Samways are happy to help. Give us a call today on 01335 818550 or email us at stuart@bennetsamways.co.uk to start the conversation.

When it comes to selling your home in Ashbourne & Derbyshire, there’s a lot of overwhelming information and old wives tales out there, and it can sometimes be difficult separating the fact from the fiction. Advice often comes from well-meaning friends or family members who are just trying to be helpful, but in reality, they are not property experts! Our team at Bennet Samways are all experienced property professionals with many years of experience between us. So, to ensure you are in possession of the correct information, here are seven home selling myths you're likely to hear and why they're not to be believed.   Overpricing Your Home Will Lead to Better Offers Unfortunately, many sellers believe that by overpricing their house to start with, it leaves more room for negotiation and ultimately a better offer. That's why we often see sellers marketing their properties with the agent who has simply come in with the highest valuation! However, this is entirely false. When buyers are looking at properties, they'll search within their price range. If your property price has been inflated, then it's going to be competing against other properties that appear to be far better value for money, rather than sitting in the price bracket it should be in! This potentially means it will sit on the market for longer. Buyers whose budget doesn’t stretch to the higher price range will miss out on seeing your property altogether as they’re not even looking in that price bracket. You'll attract more offers and sell your property more quickly if it's been priced fairly. It gives it a chance to stand out among other properties in its price range, rather than being a poor relation in the higher price category. And you're more likely to see interested parties competing upwards rather than knocking you down.   Getting an Immediate Offer Means it’s Priced Too Low If you've resisted the urge to overprice your home and an offer comes in straight away, it's tempting to think that you've missed a trick by not marketing it at a higher price. After all, if you had done, then you'd be a few thousand pounds better off surely. Again, this is false. Most buyers scour the market for a couple of months, waiting for the perfect property to come up, and there's a good chance that they've jumped in immediately to avoid missing out. Remember too that if you’d overpriced it, there’s a chance they wouldn’t have found it in the first place.   A Better Offer Will Come Along if You Wait This is another all too familiar trap that sellers fall into. After all, if you’ve had an offer on the very same day your home has gone on sale, then surely there’s likely to be a whole queue of buyers lining up for it? No, not necessarily. You might just have been lucky enough to have the right buyer come along at the right time. If you receive a fair offer, then it's usually best to accept it whether your property has been on the market for hours, days , weeks or months.   The Estate Agent With the Lowest Commission is the Best Option While you’ll naturally want to earn as much money from your property sale as possible, it doesn’t mean you should sign a contract with the estate agent who offers the cheapest fees. Selling a property can be a very stressful process. A good estate agent will help make it run as smoothly as possible while communicating effectively and providing outstanding service, so it's crucial you weigh up what's included in their fee. Although it’s tempting to cut costs as much as possible in the short term, you might come to regret it over the longer term, especially if your property isn’t selling.   Major Renovations Will Offer the Biggest Return on Investment Many homeowners are under the impression that if they spend a few thousand pounds on a conservatory, a swimming pool or a landscaped garden, they'll just be able to add the cost of it to the house when they come to sell. Sadly, it's not quite as simple as this. Not all buyers will want to maintain a pool or require the space that a conservatory ultimately takes away from their garden, for example. Many buyers prefer to start with a blank canvas too, so they can add their own renovations. That’s not to say that a major renovation is a bad idea, but if you’re only doing it to see a return when you come to sell, then it might be worth considering the type of renovation or extension that will bring you the best returns.   It's Not Worth Fixing the House up at all If you've decided to sell your property, it's understandable that you won't be thinking about spending even more money on it. After all, it won't be you seeing the benefits long-term. This logic is flawed, though, and it could cost you when it comes to getting the full asking price. A property that's well maintained and looked after is far more appealing to buyers. Fixing broken fences and gates, tidying the garden, replacing broken windows or doors and giving any tired rooms a fresh lick of paint will go a long way towards selling your property for its true value.   Online Valuations are 100% Accurate Online valuations are a fantastic tool and we are most definitely in favour! However, a quick online valuation of your property should be used as a guide. Online tools don't always take into account the condition of a property or the extra value you may have added. They're simply using other similar sized and types of properties in your area as a guideline. The best way to get your property valued is always to contact an experienced, local estate agent who will come and value your property in person. Bennet Samways are your local property experts for the Ashbourne & Derbyshire area. Call us on 01335 818550 or email stuart@bennetsamways.co.uk to chat with a member of our friendly and experienced team.