7 things you'll never know from looking online
Over the years I've inspected well over a thousand properties here in Canberra. The mind boggles when I come to think of it like that. It's my job to sift through the options and ensure that our clients know the full story - the good, the bad and the unfixable - before they make a purchasing decision.
At the moment, buyers aren’t permitted to inspect properties and that means there’s a significant risk if you’re considering buying sight-unseen, on the basis of some glossy photographs and a quick walkthrough.
Some claim that this is the ‘new norm’, that buyers will buy this way from now on.
I say that’s total crap.
For a start, there’s a number of things you just can’t ascertain from images online. Aside from the total conflict of interest by taking the curated visuals from someone who wants to sell it to you, which is a risk in itself anyway and a major reason why buyers seek out an independent and experienced buyer’s agent.
This week I’ve been helping our clients realise what they can’t see; pointing out that the curtains were carefully drawn back to avoid showing the neighbours 1m from the fence line, or the cheap laminate they used in the kitchen renovations that was shown for no more than a second. And don't get me started on the lighting! For a living area that faced south, it looked so light and bright that only some fancy filters and having every single bulb on during the day would achieve. No mention was made either of how close it was to a main arterial road, and the traffic noise that would be apparent whenever you opened a window. Needless to say, they were happy to have had someone point out the immediate flaws so they could breathe easy, close that tab and await a better opportunity.
I’d like to share a few things that we look closely at in case you’re thinking of buying sight-unseen.
1 Natural light.
This has to be numero uno, especially in Canberra where we get so many cold yet sunny days during Winter. No one wants to find themselves sitting in a cold and dark living room that faces South. Don’t rely on the advert either; verify where North is from other maps if you can’t be there in person, and imagine how light tracks through the room from sunrise to the hot, summer Westerly sun in the afternoon. Quite often, we’re pointing out that the best natural light in the home is to the toilet, the laundry or the garage, while the living room faces South-West. Fail.
Online images won’t allow you to turn off the light switches and see for yourself just how dark it is during the day. No one wants to live in artificial lighting 24/7 - correct aspect is critical. Natural light is essential, no matter how pretty the pictures are or how bright it looks in the picture.
Photographers and sales agents plan ahead to capture the property at its best, which may be at 8am as the sunlight streams in, before it disappears from the home for the rest of the day.
2 Outlook.
Flowing on from light, the next crucial point is the view. Like I was saying before about the curtains hiding the neighbours, there’s no way you can see whether neighbours overlook the home without being there to look around at all angles. Often we’ll find that properties nearby have direct line of sight into bedrooms or living areas (or bathrooms - argh!) and this is often the case where curtains or blinds are not fully drawn in the pretty pictures online. As a buyer, you want to go to the window and see all angles, not just the most advantageous one.
Remember too, that vantage points change when you’re standing v. seated or lying in bed. Privacy and security in your own home are non-negotiables.
3 Smell.
They’re yet to invent smell-o-vision and this is a huge consideration for buyers. We’re frequently commenting on musty smells of older homes in Canberra’ inner suburbs, or where permeating odours from previous occupants’ cooking have made their way into the paint on the walls!
Other times, it’s about an overpowering smell from pets that may be in the underlay of the carpets. Changes required as a result of smells is not only a risk for those with allergies (no one wants to live with mould that’s been masked by a quick coat of paint before selling) but it’s a potentially expensive exercise when you consider resheeting and repainting walls, ceilings and architraves, removing and replacing carpets and underlays, or subfloor issues that may be at play. It leaves a bad taste to have to shell out more money, to get rid of a bad smell.
4. Neighbours.
There’s no chance of peeking over the backyard fence line to see what’s around you when you’re a keyboard warrior. Are there trampolines, veggie patches and netball hoops around? Or are there old cars up on bricks, junk lying around and waist-high weeds? Backyards are far more telling than front yards in our experience. While we’re talking broad judgements here, it’s really important to know the community you’re buying into; the people immediately around you and how they live.
After the 2020 lockdown, I unfortunately heard about buyers who’d bought sight-unseen and were incredibly unhappy with their neighbourhood. They’d suffered abuse (verbal and some even had items thrown at them and their cars) from unsavoury characters that lived close by, and it resulted in them moving just a few months later simply to escape the neighbours. Taking into account transaction costs, even with huge price growth they were out of pocket as a result, not to mention the costs of distress and worry about what to do before they made the move. Neighbours, and all that comes with them whether good or bad, makes a huge impact in how you enjoy (or don’t) a new home.
5 Flow.
Floorplans aren’t usually drawn to scale. They’re whipped up quickly in order to give a general idea and get the property onto the market rather than pay for an accurate one, if no building plans are included (which is very rare, we’ve found). You’ve no way of seeing if the rooms are accurately sized; quite frequently if room sizes are stated we find that built-in robes aren’t included, they take the measurements as if the wardrobe wasn’t there! You’ve no way of seeing how the room feels, whether the ceiling heights seem low, or if the dimensions are accurate.
In this age of strategic marketing, stylists often use smaller bed sizes and slimline bedside tables that hold bugger all and you’re unlikely to use in reality. And then there’s digital furniture styling; you’re relying on some pixels to show you whether an 8-seater dining table would fit? Hardly a reliable source.
Lastly, there’s consideration for how the home overall flows. Are the living areas adjacent to the yard? Or is there some elevation there that isn’t shown clearly, and in fact there’s a small deck and then a flight of stairs before you gain access the yard? Hardly family friendly, but you can’t tell just from looking online and the agent isn’t about to point that out to you. Part of ‘flow’ is the feeling you get from being inside a home; you’ll never ascertain that from looking online.
6 Storage.
We check homes carefully to see just how much storage a property offers, and the amount of space on offer. Often we’re showing our clients that when you open the cupboard doors, the space is taken up by a gas heating intake, or an angled shelf because of what’s on the opposite side of the wall which could mean you’re actually left with 1/2 of the space you’d guessed at.
Beyond the size we look at how it’s configured; a wardrobe with custom shelves, drawers and racks presents a far more functionality than your standard full length hanging rod alone. Robe interiors can also show us what’s under the carpet (if you’re hoping for hardwood floorboards) and can be telling when we see whether care has been extended to the inside of wardrobes or whether a quick and cheap reno/facelift resulted in the wardrobe remaining in 1963.
Storage extends to the laundry and outdoor sheds; two areas that are seldomly shown in any detail online. I’ve seen 8-year old homes that have absolutely no laundry cabinetry; just a tub in the corner of the room and no photos to show this detractor online. The other item alongside storage is clothes lines. I’ve seen homes without clothes lines, and others with interesting artforms in the yard. We look for where this is placed, whether it’ll receive enough sun and how much line space is available. The practicalities of life are not to be overlooked!
7 Noise.
We’re already discussed neighbours, so while they’re a big part of the noise factor I’m also talking about window glazing, shared walls and how thin they might be, and other external factors such as proximity to roads - not that traffic is at its usual peaks during lockdown! Some suburban streets are used as shortcuts through the area too, so don’t assume just because it’s not a major road that it won’t receive a large volume of traffic. The only way to find out is to spend some time observing the street - Google street view will not help you here.
Noise can really make/break your enjoyment of a home and there’s nothing worse than moving in to find out you’re surrounded by dogs that bark non-stop, a drug house with visitors at all hours, or that the elevation of your block means the traffic nearby sails right into the bedroom. If the property states it’s double glazed, don’t assume this means all windows have it. There’s also a huge variance in quality of glazing, some are retrofitted and others have Magnetite which have varying degrees of success in keeping noise (and cold) out.
As you can see, I’m quite critical of buying without viewing in person. It’s a significant risk and perhaps not all buyers are thinking through their gamble before bidding on the basis of a few photos online.
All I can say here is buyer beware. Assumptions can be incredibly expensive gambles to take.
Lockdown won’t continue forever and there’s plenty more property to be bought and sold in years to come. Now’s the time for you to:
solidify your finances (pre approvals generally last 3 months, so get that in place now);
review past sales (keep to 1-2 months; anything further back than that is already outdated); and
assemble your dream team (who are you planning to engage, to help you buy well?).
Keep it simple with these three steps for now, and prepare for the opportunities to come once we’re able to inspect in person.