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 |
![]() | 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 |
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