The first thing to recognise when
inspecting a house is whether or not it is of traditional or non-traditional
construction. A traditionally built house may be described as one constructed
from bricks and mortar. An example of a non-traditional house is one built from
a concrete or steel frame with small or large panel walls. There are many, many
different types. Spotting one is obvious in most cases, but not always.
The photo below is of a BISF house.
BISF stands for British Iron and Steel Federation. They were built in the early
post war years when there was a shortage of traditional building materials.
They have concrete walls at ground floor level and a metal frame above with
metal panels bolted on. The roof structure is also a metal frame and is covered
with metal sheets (or sometimes asbestos cement panels in the early days).
Obtaining a mortgage on one can be
difficult and they used to be subject to limited lending criteria. Perhaps
someone could update me on that. Consequently relatively few found themselves
into private hands. Market values are usually always less than a comparable
traditionally built house. From an investment point of view, you may get a good
return, if you can get a mortgage on one.
I'm doing a number of posts on
non-traditional housing from today. All can be found on my Facebook Page -
Hallworth House Survey Education. If you 'like' the page and click, 'get
notifications', they should appear on your timeline. Enjoy reading.
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