The Instant Survey Report

Data to rely on

The data sources that we pull this property survey information from are the same sources that leading banks, insurers and conveyancing solicitors use to make and share decisions about your property purchase; therefore our data is trustworthy and reliable. Your property solicitors will likely rely on some of the same data sources when conducting their house conveyancing and searches on your property purchase. This means our data can highlight potential issues that might occur in the sales completion stage, as well as potential problems with mortgage lending and insuring. Several of the companies that provide the data also work with the RICS (who offer homebuyer reports) and are used by many property conveyancing solicitors.

We liken our homebuyers report data packages to the vehicle HPI check but for houses. You wouldn’t risk buying a car without an HPI check so why take the risk on a house – the largest investment the average person will make in their lifetime!

Making decisions with full knowledge

Besides needing data around insurability, future saleability and market price, you also need information on the property’s history, future and surrounding area, which is what our buying a home survey includes. This type of data is usually only identified by your conveyancing solicitors in the conveyancing process after you have committed money to the purchase, but it is imperative to understand how invisible insurance perils might be present, or forecasted in the near future, and negatively impact upon your investment. For example, did you know it is not easy and sometimes impossible to get a mortgage on certain properties. These include:

– Properties of non-standard construction

– Properties with a high subsidence or flood rating

– Properties which are likely to be affected by climate change in the next 30 years.

– High rise flats

– Properties infringed by development plans such as HS2

– Leasehold apartments or flats with less than 80 years left on the lease.

– Properties with title deed issues

– Properties which are forecasted to be in flood risk areas within the next 30 years

The data contained in our Instant Home Buyers Survey report is broken down to ensure that buyers have all the information they need; we use a simple traffic light system just like a homebuyers survey. Properties that are close to large trees or on a predicted flood path for example are addressed in the subsidence survey and flood survey section within this report. They are notoriously difficult to insure and lend against, which negatively affects their future saleability.

We also summarise each field with a score, using metrics including potential risk, future saleability, how mortgageable the property is, how insurable it is and how expensive or timely the property conveyancing process might be. We always hope your instant property survey shows a straightforward case where the scores are good, mortgage lenders will not see an issue, the insurance will be competitive, and the house conveyancing process will be quick and seamless.

If this isn’t the case, we also offer advice and recommendations on what to do the score is not in line with a good result, as well as other important decision-making information. Banks and insurers use this data to decide on their terms to you and whether they will lend, so it is important to be able to:

– Access the same information that these industries have and therefore allowing you to make crucial decisions before financially committing to the purchase.

– Understand what the information means, and how to approach the situation should there be issues with the property. Potentially, this may even mean walking away from the investment, before committing any money to the property conveyancing process.

Professional information that is easy to understand

Our Instant Buying a Home Survey displays the same results that professional property organisations use and translates it into clear and easy to read information for the UK home buyer. As an example, a flood risk code of Very High given by Ambient (the advanced flood modelling solutions company) is decision-making information for insurance companies and lenders, but it does not mean much to someone outside of that industry. We take the results from the instant home buyers survey and explain what they actually mean in real terms for the person buying the property, such as how the score affects insurance companies, your mortgage and the completion of your sale.

We encourage the use of the Instant Survey before making an offer, or just after making an offer, and definitely before instructing property solicitors or a conveyancing solicitor to go ahead with the conveyancing process. There is usually a 24–48-hour gap in which to do this if you have just had an offer accepted.

This upfront information is an investment in its own right, as it can be the difference between going ahead or pulling out of a house purchase. This bespoke data can give you an advantage when negotiating a better price, securing a sound investment with good prospects of future saleability, discovering if there is a problem insuring the property and understanding if the house is mortgageable, allowing you to potentially save hundreds (and in many instances thousands) of pounds on the sales completion stage.

We have a saying at Buyers Edge; “free data can be expensive”, which is why for quality data we pay our partners each time we pull the data sets, the same as banks and insurance companies do, meaning we therefore charge our customers to obtain it. If the property purchase does not go ahead, you can use your unique 25% discount code from us, which will be emailed to you, for your next report.