Viewing to offer ‘takes less time than choosing a holiday’

Research by the lender found homeowners spent 139 minutes choosing their last vacation destination, compared with just over and hour-and-a-half surveying their current property.

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Many also experienced problems after they moved in, with 49 per cent suffering some sort of glitch and nearly a third regretting that they had not visited the property on more occasions.

Nici Audhlam-Gardiner, head of mortgages at Abbey, said: “It really is crucial that home buyers do as much research as possible before making an offer on a new property. Moving is stressful enough, without having to worry about nasty surprises.”

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The type and levels of complaint suffered was dependent on location, with 59 per cent of buyers in Yorkshire having problems once they moved in and 21 per cent of people in the South East experiencing problems with their new neighbours.

Richard Sexton, business development director at e.surv, agreed: “People are making this big decision on emotion only and our figures show 85 per cent don’t get their own survey, and rely on lenders. With the increased use of automated valuation models, it could mean no one is actually seeing the house.”