Property Notepad - helping you buy a home

Posted 28 March 2007 by Angie Blunden

Property Purchase Planning - Information Overload!

So you have decided that you want to plan your perfect property purchase, but where do you start?

In the digital age that we live in there are hundreds of websites that you can utilise in order to find your perfect property, research the area and work out how much you can afford to borrow from the bank.

So how are you going to decide which websites to use?

When starting to look for your perfect property you can quite easily end up opening 20 web browser tabs without actually accomplishing anything. So lets formulate a Property Plan of Attack! Get your Notepad ready and read on...So first things first, lets go and find the Perfect Property for you.

Step 1 : Property Search

Get down to business by searching your chosen area(s) by using our Property Search Website below. This will cover all your searching needs, whether you are looking for a 3 bed semi a 1 bed flat or a water tower to convert!

Rightmove -The daddy of the Property search sites, Check out the Draw A Search feature and download the fabulous App

Step 2 : Property Research

Now you have found the perfect property, its time to start delving under the glossy photos of the property and investigating the surrounding area, after all if you are going to live there you have to be comfortable with your surroundings.

This will satisfy your online investigation work, but remember there is nothing that beats actually walking round the streets of your chosen area!

Our Top 3 Property Research Sites are:

1. Google Maps Street View – The introduction of street view has revolutionised the way we can investigate areas without leaving our front room. Take a virtual stroll around your soon to be neighbourhood and see what you can see.

2. Police Crime Check –Using the Police website you can identify how much crime has been reported in the immediate vicinity, can make for some alarming reading however, should be looked at in the wider context before jumping to any conclusions about an area. A really useful tool though.

3. Homecheck – An amazing free tool that gives you a high level overview of the following risks, flooding,subsidence,Radon,Coal Mining, Landfill, Historical Land Use, Pollution, Neighbourhood Summary and a Planning Summary. All in all a light version of an environmental report all for FREE!

Step 3 : Property Financials

You've found the Property, You've researched the area and now its time time to do your sums!

Although this is step 3 on our guide, it's something you need to be mindful of at the very start of your property journey because if you find the Perfect Property but then can't afford it, you will need to go back to the drawing board, so get your Notepad out again and lets do our sums with the help of our Top 3 Property Financial Tools.

Our Top 3 Property Financials Sites are:

1. Money Saving Expert ULTIMATE MORTGAGE CALCULATOR – This has been built to literally calculate anything mortgage related. The guys at MSE are marvellous at creating these tools and it doesn't disappoint.

2. Money Saving Expert STAMP DUTY CALCULATOR – Again the MSE folks have created the definitive tool to calculate Stamp Duty and its so easy and clear to use.

3. Conveyancing Quotes – Get a feel for the cost of a solicitor by entering in details to www.reallymoving.com and watch the quotes come flooding into your Inbox!

Now we have talked you through the process, give it a go yourself by visiting www.propertynotepad.co.uk the website created by Richard Pett designed to help you plan your perfect property purchase by grouping all the Property Due Diligence Websites and Tools together in one easy to use Property Portal.

The website came about due to the frustration of having to search all of the websites on the net every time a new property was found. Using Property Notepad means there is one go to website to Plan Your Perfect Property Purchase.

Watch out for new features coming soon on Property Notepad, including a one click multiple website search tool and the ability to Rate Your Road directly from Property Notepad.

Thanks for Reading & Happy Property Planning!

Come and follow @PropertyNotepad on Twitter to hear all our latest announcements.

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