Owning your own home

Just get the feel of the place and road/area I'd say, the specifics (questions like recent work guarantees, rewiring etc) can be handled later IMO. The non quantify-able stuff is more important at this stage.

One thing I always thought was a great thing to do is try diff modes of transport there and visit at diff times of the day.

What do you wish you had asked the sellers if you had the chance?

(I asked some of these...)

• Dates for all modifications
  
• Roof replenishment, when? If not done, why not?
  
• Re-wire, when? And what horrors will I find at the CU
  
• Does everything pass Building Control?
  
• Has the place been corrected for subsidence?
  
• When was the boiler last replaced?
  
• Has the mains water inlet ever been replaced or tested for pressure?
  
• Heating bill in mid winter, what is it?
  
• Mains water shut off, where is it?
  
  

Critically:

• When to do they want to move? Have they found somewhere? If not why not?
  
  

(edit - I see you are already conveyancing so you'll know already)

Don't bother:

• What are the neighbours like (they'll lie if the neighbours are no good)
  
  

Worth asking these because when your solicitor comes back with completely different answers to the same questions you get a feel for whether the sellers are feckless idiots. You might be Ok with buying somewhere from feckless idiots, we were, but our offer reflected the risk that brings...

Realistically they aren't going to tell you anything that might endanger the sale.

If you're not that familiar with the local area then worth chatting about that with them, schools and stuff if you both have kids.

One slightly strange thing that I wish I'd known was what paint they'd used, where they got kitchen cabinets/worktop from, switches, sockets,etc. If you end up doing any touching up, adding new sockets, etc then trying to match the existing stuff is a real ballache.

Also, depending on what the garden is like (if it's clear they've put a bit of effort in) and how green fingered you are you might also want to ask about the garden and the best way to care for it

Most of it will be covered by conveyancing but I'd ask who did the work, have a close look around windows, etc for leaks.

It's unlikely there are going to be any deal breakers from this, it's mainly about making your future life easier.

For the neighbours, I'd definitely go and knock on their doors to make sure they're not crazy. I did it under the pretence of wanting to ask them about the local area.

Your place is in such good order I feel like I wouldn't be worrying too much!

Howard's points are pretty comprehensive. I'd take photos of the boiler and consumer units, make sure you get the model number/names.

Knocking on the neighbour's doors is definitely a good idea, we did it for that place we got beaten to by the cash buyer, but haven't done it for the place we're buying now because asking someone to keep their door open for a chat in this weather seems like a big ask, it's not like they can ask you in and some people might not even be comfortable having a doorstep conversation at the moment given the whole pandemic thing.

This is why we have stalked ours instead ;)

(Not entirely joking, we have a reasonable sense of both sides!)