It’s easy to fall in love with a house and forget to be sensible, however to remember that you will be purchasing perhaps the most valuable asset you will ever own, therefore it is vital that you keep your head. Someone might be selling a house online, and like all other current trends purchasing online is easy, but don’t underestimate the necessity of property viewings as well as assessments, so here are a few suggestions to guide you in the right direction:

Trust your Gut Instincts
First opinions make a massive impact on us all, whether we chose to admit it or not, and the merchant of the house will often go to great lengths to get this first impression in their favour. However, you can usually tell with a cursory look if a home is unsuitable or just does not feel right so trust your gut on this one.

See Through Cosmetics
When you’re looking at a house ensure you treat it as a building, not a home. Take note of the space available, the positionings of walls, as well as the amount of light inside each room and use your imagination.

Ask Questions
Do not be afraid to speak to the vendor of the home and it may be a thought to organise a set of questions you may feel you need addressing. The vendors have no responsibility to inform you of any problems about the property but they do have a legal requirement to answer truthfully to any queries you ask. You can inquire about the neighbours, any home improvements as well as when they’ve discovered a property themselves. Get a concept if there is a long chain involved, because this will ultimately affect the length of the purchasing procedure.

Be on the lookout
The seller will try their best to cover any defects in order to secure a sale, so look closely for things like hairline cracks, damp patches and any other structural issues. Don’t necessarily be put off purchasing should you do notice any issues, instead obtain a professional opinion to work out how significant the problems are then this information can be used on settling a price if you do make a decision to purchase.

Don’t Rush
Keep in mind that buying a property is a huge investment therefore one 30 minute viewing can not be the deciding factor. If you believe a house has potential view it several times, at different times of the day. You’re going to get a better sense of the place and can determine factors about the surrounding area such as traffic, school runs and also the general neighbourhood.

Location
You may be looking to purchase a property, but when you have purchased it you can not move it, therefore be sure to investigate the surrounding area. Discover where the closest amenities are – schools and hospitals etc – what is the crime level like, what is the public transport like in the area, and is it a friendly area.

By practising an organised and also efficient viewing/s, you can gain a far better judgement of a home and you can better steer clear of any problems.

High street branch and internet estate agents will often agree that vendors should try to create a blank canvas, however in any case do not dismiss a property just because you don’t like the colour of the walls or the wallpaper.

Home. Sweet home – at least for a few years, during which time you lavish your hard earned money on it, nurturing it. You’re nesting, not investing … even though it’s nice to see your home’s value increasing and not so nice to see its value decreasing as the property market adjusts and drops somewhat. In fact, that’s about the time you think you’ve lost money. But then again, if the value of your property has gone down, then so has that of bigger, more expensive houses. That makes the financial gap between this house and your next one a little narrower… so it’s time to move!

Because the market is a little bit tougher, you think it’s a good idea to market your house before finding something that you set your heart on and miss out on. It’s also a good idea to do that because you’re in a much better buying position in that sellers and agents will take you more seriously. So you ask for a few valuations… and, surprise surprise, there’s quite a significant difference between the lowest and the highest. And why would that be? It’s because some estate agents undervalue property for a quick sale… and, of course, a quicker commission. And other agents try to flatter you into instructing them instead of the competition by significantly overvaluing your property.

Not only is there a significant difference between the valuations, but there is also one between the lowest and highest selling fees. Let’s assume that your present house is worth about 180,000, which is the average UK property price at the moment. One agent you approach kindly tells you that he will only charge you 1.5% plus VAT. In real money, that would be 3,240. Another agent tells you he’s the best in town and he wouldn’t consider putting your house on the market for you for anything under 1.75% plus VAT. That would be 3,780. Yet another agent tells you he’s the best in the country, backed up by a massive network of offices. And if you think that’s impressive, you should look at the glossy, high quality cardboard on which his sales particulars are printed. That’s quality service, that is… and it will cost you 2%, or 4,320.

You took out a 90% mortgage in 2007, on a property worth 200,000. Now that value has dropped to 180,000 any equity is long gone, but at least you have 25,000 saved up and you know that in the long-term, the value of your new home will definitely increase. After all, four years ago your new 250,000 pound property would have gone for 275,000. Now it’s time to look a little more carefully into the financial aspect of moving: there’s stamp duty, solicitors fees… and whatever it is you’re prepared to fork out to have an agent to come round, take a few photos and upload them onto Rightmove. A few clicks of the calculator later, and you realise that you might not be able to afford to move in the first place. Thank you Mr Estate Agent.

So that’s that, then. Would there be such a thing as an alternative that offers the same kind of service as that of our greedy friends on the High Street… but one that doesn’t go all out to relieve you of every single spare penny you’ve set aside to cover the cost of moving house? Actually, there is. It’s eMoov, an online estate agency helping people to sell their homes without trying to fleece them in the process. Now estate agency is going online, the whole industry is changing. We think you’ll like these changes, because with fees starting at just 99 using eMoov could make the difference between moving and staying put!

Home buyers don’t bother to traipse into estate agency offices these days. 90% of them look for houses on the internet. eMoov, internet estate agents, cover the whole of the UK but save money by not having hundreds of premises which you otherwise end up paying for in high estate agents fees. eMoov are online estate agents and ten times cheaper than the High Street.

The days of completely unscrupulous estate agents are now, in most cases, long gone. Obviously, every now and then a bad apple rises to the surface but on the whole things in the property business are pretty straightforward – despite the lack of qualifications or licensing requirements in the UK.

But it’s the word ‘trust’ we’re looking at here – especially when it comes to the valuation an estate agent applies to your home. It’s common practice for property sellers to ask several agencies for a valuation, even though they have a pretty good idea based on web searches… and how much they originally paid for their home in the first place. A professional valuation merely confirms the correct asking price. In theory.

In practice, though, things might be a little different. At present, there are one and a half million residential properties for sale across the nation, and the typical time to sell is now 12 weeks. Back in 2007, according to Hometrack, it took five weeks for the average property to sell. In January 2011, Zoopla, the property website, reported an increase in the number of properties whose owners had reduced their asking price. 37.4% of all properties on sale have had their price reduced on average by 6.9% – or, in real terms, 18,475.

It’s natural to want to get the best price we can when selling a property, but we have to temper that desire with a healthy dose of realism. According to the Halifax, house prices have fallen on average by 15% in the years between 2007 and 2010… but if you go online and visit Rightmove, you’ll see that asking prices haven’t changed that much in the past three years. The market has changed: estate agents aren’t used to a buyer’s market and they’re too ignorant or too scared of losing business to resist the temptation to overvalue a property and give themselves a better chance of gaining the instruction. In times like this, they are making a serious mistake.

One national estate agent, we are told, purposely overvalues the property and then ties the vendor into an overlong sole agency agreement, during which time they advise a reduction in the asking price. 12 weeks later, the property is sold – at a loss, it feels like – and the agent’s commission cheque is reluctantly written out. And that, to the agency, is all that matters. Which just goes to show that in this kind of housing market you’ve got just as much chance of finding the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow then you have of achieving your ideal asking price.

eMoov makes it easy for you to sell your property online. You can sell your home quickly and with the advantage of cheap estate agents fees. All properties are listed on UK’s top 25 property websites including Rightmove and Prime Location, to reach 170 million buyer visitors each month. Plus as Internet estate agents, their low cost service reaches millions of people 24/7.