House Buyer Mistakes to Avoid, in 2025

Buying a property can be stressful and come with issues, this video explores the top mistakes you can make when buying a home and things you SHOULD NOT ignore when it comes to putting an offer on a house. When looking into the property market consider everything from planning, not being scared of survey results and ensuring you're well prepared with a broker mortgage and estate agent.

🏡 My All-in-One Property Deal Analyser

—---
🤑 The Finance Apps I Use:
Get 12,000 free points with a no monthly fee American Express Rewards Credit Card

Vanguard
—--

🧠 MY FREE COURSES

—--

MY GEAR

Timestamps
00:00 Intro
00:27 Don't Let Emotions Take Control
01:48 Don't Let Surveys Scare You
04:22 Don't Cheap Out On Legals
06:39 Research The Street
08:25 Can You Afford It?
09:48 Missing Local Planning Issues
10:52 Hidden Leasehold Issues
12:29 Not Factoring In Furniture Costs
13:26 Forgetting To Think Forwards
14:20 Not Substantiating Offers

MY SOFTWARE

STAY CONNECTED

WHO AM I:
I'm Matt, a senior product manager and property investor working Remotely for a VC-backed tech startup. I make videos about money, investing, tech and productively building a business.

GET IN TOUCH / BUSINESS:
If you’d like to talk, I’d love to hear from you. DM @mattbrighton_ on Instagram and I'll happily get back to you!

PS: Some of the links in this description are affiliate links that I get a small 'thank you' from, to help fund this channel. It also means you can get awesome deals with my affiliate partners! 😁

[PrezidentHughes]

£709 for a sofa? Someone needs to be introduced to the British Heart Foundation furniture store.

[juleslondon]

School playground - exactly that! I viewed a flat in london recently which I loved. It was modern, very spacious, LOTS of light in all the rooms, large balcony, away from the road. It really ticked all the boxes.. However there was a school playground nearby which was closed at the time I viewed. So I went back for a second viewing during the school lunch break to check on the noise and.. Man I was SHOCKED! Even with double glazing you'd still hear piercing screams and persistent noise the whole time of the break (about 30min). I tried to imagine myself working from home and hear this noise 3 times a day 4 times a week and I knew it wouldn't work :(

[Carolinapetroska]

Same in Portugal, so noisy all the time ! Never buy anything above a bar, a restaurant and on a football field, unless you love noise

[patpalloon]

Find my street is really useful to check if the street has been adopted by the council so will be maintained. Avoid leasehold like the plague. No leasehold in Scotland.

[David-wpiw]

About old houses, don't forget about asbestos. Don't get exposed to dust

[RedPanda_]

Can confirm the importance of remembering furniture. We moved in 6 months ago and forgot to budget for a sofa and dining table. Was not fun!

[laurence]

Two additional tips: my late aunt was an estate agent who loved aphorisms. One excellent one (in my view at least) was: "Always buy the cheapest home in an expensive area and never the most expensive home in a cheap area." It makes excellent sense re: desirability when you come to sell.

Advice number 2 is born of something I experienced first hand: be very VERY cautious about buying a listed building. I once bought a thatched grade II listed barn conversion in Kent. It was gorgeous but even back in 1993 re-thatching cost around £60, 000. Any alterations HAD TO BE carried out in accordance with the listing and by National Trust accredited contractors. Planning permission to build a garage took forever, cost a fortune and the building had to be thatched and built from seasoned oak. We couldn't possibly afford it. Eventually we moved because just the mechanics of living there cost a king's ransom. If you've got that kind of money, terrific, but if not, you'll find living in a listed property cripplingly expensive.

[leeklass]

When going on a viewing walk around the roads nearby I vewed property where there was a school accroos the road it didn't show up onthe on line map also look out for thngs like how a busy the road is.

[tomberry]

RE; Conveyancing, I found that my online solicitors were much more competent than the sellers local Solicitors who really held up the process of buying

[kmtb]

this is brilliant information! thank you

[victoriab]

School playgrounds - really depends on your lifestyle and potential lifestyle changes over time. If you have a job that doesn’t enable work from home, and aren’t likely to work from home in the future, you made much less likely to be negatively affected by school playground noise. If it’s a good school and you have kids, school playground noise might be worth it for the school place and easy drop-offs. Whether the house has effective double glazing etc, and whether you are directly backing onto the playground or over a road or the school buildings themselves, can really effect how loud playground noise seems. As someone who only works from home infrequently, with easy access to a library a short walk away to work from if necessary, I’ve come to enjoy the playground noise as a sign of life and community.

[ElliHoy]

Thanks for the video, I have saved it and it will help one day I’m sure

[RichardSlater]

'knobs with loud exhausts'. haha We can all relate!

[snappyfish]

Oh Premier property sorted my mortgage about 5 years ago and lost the signed docs I sent. And yes it was a headache.

[zenastronomy]

how do you know-find a good solicitor conveyancor?
do you pick one local to area you are buying new house in?
or local to one where u are currently living in so you can talk face to face with them?

[oscariglesias]

I must say that plans for a nuclear power plant near the house is not a reason for the house to drop value, but the opposite. Plenty of high paying stable jobs will drive the demand for houses right up.

[rajkang]

Very helpful video, thanks for posting

[dalskiBo]

Thanks, solicitors have to be qualified though don't they? I'm inexperienced but hear they work on a different timescale entirely, take weeks just to answer a letter & send superfluous letters as they are paid by the letter. Have not heard a good thing really. It's an archaic system which they massively benefit from - law needs to be updated in the interest of competitiveness.

[isabella]

Never use Premier Properly they were hell just as you and cost me stress and lost my sale.And they were terrible.

[seanboyd]

‘Nobs with loud exhausts’ 😂 Regarding furnishings, though, you really don’t have to spend a lot to get quality stuff if you buy second hand.