Are you planning to buy a house? Well, experts are of the opinion that before buying a house or apartment, there are warnings.
Many property owners try as much as possible to make their property look appealing, and the easiest things they do is to paint, change lighting fixtures and clean the property, but as buyers, you must do due diligence and examine beyond the cosmetics and X-ray the real state of the property.
Before physical inspection of a property, the first thing to do is to ask for the titles. If the house is not in an estate, ask for the necessary documents such as the Right of Ownership(R of O), Certificate of Occupancy (C of O).
This is because people who built in sensitive areas and foresee problems will want to sell their property and disappear. So always ask for genuine papers. Thereafter, go to the agencies that approved such documents for verification before considering buying the property.
Arch Opara Okechukwu suggests what buyers should look out for during building inspection.
Look out for dampness: This happens when the floor slab is not properly treated with damp proofing material and water rises in the walls through capillarity action. This of course is not good for your health because the air around you becomes damp too.
Cracks: These can allow bugs in. Also associated with this is bad foundation; which can cause a lot of headache. Look out for cracks in the walls; mostly those at the entrance or windows. Doors and windows that stick or jam are another warning sign.
Due to the whole “estate developer mania” in Abuja, you get to have buildings poorly designed and choked up in a site (even when they meet construction standards). This leaves the occupant with little or no comfort.
Poor design: This ranges from lobbies to spaces that are tight and do not adequately meet their functions.
Poorly designed staircase: This makes climbing difficult, and when accidents happen they can be fatal because of the materials used.
Poor ventilation: These can leave occupants fatigued and the apartment a breeding place for harmful germs.
Poor lighting: This can be a cause of accidents and security threat to occupants of a property.
Avoid apartment with tight sites that do not properly cater for vehicular access and other mobile services.
Possible leaks should be checked.
All of these if ignored will increase strain over time and will become difficult to maintain for the occupant.
Realtors can use square metre numbers (sqm) to trick buyers sometimes, so the buyer has to try to examine the spaces properly so as to avoid buyer’s remorse after spending good money on a property.
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