Viewing a house, what should I look out for??

[what..the?]

It's a small bungalow in cornwall, in a small seaside town it has nightstorage heaters, no double glazing and tiny rooms. I have asked the agent about construction, and he said he didnt know. Quite frankly I dont know much either but I dont really want to buy a pre-fabricated wooden shack but something more solid. I think even the most solid brick house still has block in it?? But what is it was all block? Does anyone know whats best?

I can see on a photo wooden beams on the ceiling, but what clues should I look for to tell me what the construction is, or is that impossible to know without a survey.

Also the roof is corrigated iron if thats how you spell it, is this a problem, the house is about 30 years old and the roof looks like it might date back to then, would it need changing on a house in a windy coastline, what should I look for to tell be its in a bad state. Have they fitted this type of roof purely because it is cheap, or does it make sense in windy locations, i.e. if it had tiles would you lose tiles often in strong conditions.

Thanks in advance any help gratefully received even generalised advice of what to look for in a house like damp etc. I assume newly painted walls are not good because it can hide any damage - damp, cracks etc

[buildersmate]

This sounds like a project for demolition and rebuilding to me and you should not be buying it purely on the basis of advice on here from me - you must have proper advice from a friend who knows something about what to look for, or professionally from a chartered surveyor.
I could produce a long list of things for you to check out but it would be pointless - I could never describe in 2000 words what to be looking for.
The straight answer to your question is that iron is not a great roofing material. It is cheap, noisy when it rains. However most of the houses in Iceland have tin roofs. Slate or tiled roofs are found in exposed locations all over the UK.
Newly painted walls are very likely to cover a multitude of issues.
A conventional cavity wall construction of block or brick will be at least 10 inches (25cm) wide. If it is less than this it is single skin or solid construction and likely to be damp problem from side ingress of water. There are nothing wrong with blocks (over brick) as a construction material.

[what..the?]

Hello buildersmate I was hoping to hear from you. Thanks for all you advice. Yes I think getting the right advice is def the thing to do before to think of any offer, but at the moment, we our just planning viewing it.

Re demolition yes this might be an option but we are not builders and dont know any builders really so this would not be our desired plan. The location is our main reason of interest in this house is it somewhere we have lived before and loved, so we couldnt question locational problems.

The house does seem to be done on the cheap very small and priced extremely high, even if we were to place an offer it would actually be less than half what they are asking for it, even though this would be a cash offer, no chain, deposited with 24-48 hrs. I still cant see them wanting to except it, even with their divorce pushing through and them wanting to maybe 'get rid'

All things to consider, maybe I will ask around and if we our interested after the viewing, we should find someone in the know to come down with us? I would not know these people well enough though for them to do it for free, so it is probably cost me, but better that than make a bad decision. The problem I can see with this is that even having paid someone for their help they might not except the low offer anyway.

[buildersmate]

So make the low offer first, then check it out at your expense if they seem to take it. All offers to purchases in England & Wales are subject to contract anyway so either side can pull out later (and purchasers sometimes do if their survey shows up something they hadn't expected.
If this really is a poor building in a fantastic location it will probably be snapped up by a self-builder (or small developer) anyway. It's the major way to get hold of a decent site with planning potential these days. The price a buyer will pay will then be on the basis of the site value only.
What I mean by this is that potential buyers will take the market price of the land with a decent house on it (including the attractiveness premium) deduct the cost of the new house on it, then work out a price for the site from there.

[what..the?]

Thanks for all you help on this, will do what you say and test the water with a really low offer if we like it. I might try and photograph and film the property and then show people that to try and get free advice before we put an offer in, I'm sure it will cost me alot to get them onsite just to give their view. Once things are more certain and if an offer is accepted of course I will leave nothing to guess work and get the full survey etc etc done, I wont cut corners there.

[mandimoo]

i would be very suspicious of the agent saying he didnt know the construction type. surely its their business to know? i would press him a bit harder.