Buying A BISF House? What Tools To Use Before You Step Through The Door….

It always pays to undertake as many checks as possible on a property, before you make an offer, or in some cases, before you even arrange a viewing.
Unscrupulous sellers who live in less desirable or family friendly streets, may try to arrange an appointment when they know that the street is likely to be quieter or when fewer youths, parked cars or even noisy neighbors are around. It’s important to undertake as much research as you can on a property and perhaps even more importantly, on the street location too.
Sadly, you can’t order a survey of a street or neighbouring roads but you can still research them yourself with a few simple clicks.
There are numerous websites available that provide mostly free & invaluable information, simply visit our list of links below to start your home-work or if you already have a house, check out what’s happening near you, you might be surprised!

Website	Comments	Direct Link
	Paints a pretty accurate financial picture across different social groups	CheckMyArea
	(One of our favourites) Report, view, or discuss local problems (like graffiti, fly tipping, broken paving slabs, or street lighting)	FixMyStreet
	Stats-wise Neighbourhood Statistics takes some beating but to get the most from it you'll need to get familiar with undertanding the nitty-gritty and finding the most appropriate datasets down to LSOA level (Lower Layer Super Output Area). Some data is more recent than others.	Neighbourhood Statistics
	Crime and policing statistics in England, Wales and Northern Ireland	Police UK
	Combines huge amounts of information such as crime rates, schools etc.	Pure Location
	From maps to planning applications, flood risk to crime levels, the local housing market and property valuations, local schools, commuting times, even the best local pubs. Search can be found half way down page.	Property Wizza
	Gives overview of any neighbourhood with lots of interesting data.	Find A Hood
	A very comprehensive property research tool that allows searching a wide range of areas.	PostCodr
s	StreetCheck gets information from a variety of official government databases, including census information and Land Registry data. Requires registration.	StreetCheck
	Consumer classification service. Analyses demographic data, social factors, population and consumer behaviour. Provides information and understanding of different types of people. Requires registration for trial.	Acorn
	UK Crime Stats, the leading public resource for maps, analysis and reporting of monthly crime data in England and Wales, growing by 500,000 crimes (and pages) a month – each with a unique number.	UK CrimeStats
	Free property prices in the UK by postcode but does require registration.	OurProperty
	Economic retail based data search that provides numerous results but not in the most user friendly way.	DataProfiler
	Shows you comparable sold and to let prices in any given postcode along with properties for sale.	NetHousePrices
	Whitehot property is one of the UK’s largest databases of chain free properties for sale. Each property is realistically priced, and some come with added incentives such as stamp duty paid.	WhiteHotProperty
	Property search and local sales statistics.	Zoopla
	Property search portal that also provides information on previous house sales in your street.	Rightmove
	Discover and explore the best roads to live on in the UK with thousands of reviews written by local residents plus much more...	RateMyRoad
	Free search tool for property prices in Scotland along with news &property resources.	RegistersofScotland
	UK postcode search for local area information including census statistics, house prices, school results, council tax, energy prices and more in England and Wales.
	Council Tax price search by Direct Gov	DirectGov
	Search for current planning applications that may affect your future purchase.	PlanningPortal
	Check for future roads or improvements within Scotland.	TransportScotland
	Advises on environmental, flood and planning risks which can be searched via post code.	HomeCheck