A villa that looks excellent on the first visit can lose part of its price in an hour of inspection. Not because the inspector is hunting for faults, but because some problems only show themselves to someone who knows where to look.
Across the inspection reports we prepare, five findings come up more often than any others, and in our deals they explain most of the gap between asking price and closing price on villas.
Why the inspection comes before the deposit
Every property in our portfolio has a dated field inspection report with structural notes, and we send it to serious buyers before the deposit, not after. The reason is simple: once a deposit is paid, a structural finding becomes a dispute between the parties; before it, the finding becomes part of the price, discussed calmly.
Damp and cracks: the two that cost most
Damp is the finding we record most often, usually around ground-floor bathrooms, under the roof tank and along the base of external walls. On its own it is repairable, but it rarely comes alone: water that has sat inside a slab for years eventually reaches the reinforcing steel. Hairline cracks in plaster are usually cosmetic. A diagonal crack running from the corner of a window, or any crack in a column or beam, needs a structural engineer's opinion before any price is agreed.
A hairline crack in plaster is a paint job. A crack in a column is a question for an engineer — and until it is answered, there is no price.
Roof insulation and wiring
Roof waterproofing is invisible until the first heavy rain or the first summer electricity bill. Poor thermal insulation shows up as upper-floor rooms that no air conditioner can cool, whatever its capacity. That is why we go up to the roof ourselves rather than accept photographs of it, and we note the age of the membrane when the seller knows it.
Wiring is the same story, inside the walls: cables undersized for the real load, or a distribution board with no earthing. None of it catches the eye on a viewing, but the buyer who discovers it after transfer pays the full cost of rewiring alone.
Additions without a permit
A roof annex, a covered courtyard or a parking bay turned into a room all add area on the ground but not on paper. The title deed and the building permit are what a bank relies on for valuation and what any later buyer checks, so area that is not on them should not be priced as if it were. In our deals we price unpermitted area at the cost of removing or regularising it, not at the district's price per metre.
How a finding becomes a number
A list of faults does not negotiate on its own. We turn each finding into a written repair quote from a contractor, then set the total against the asking price. Sellers argue with opinions; they rarely argue with a signed quote.
In 68% of our deals the price closed below asking, and a dated inspection report with costed findings is one of the firmest grounds for getting there without losing the deal.
Practical takeaway
Ask for the inspection report before you pay a deposit, and check the date on it. If the villa has none, commission an inspection; its cost is small next to any single one of the five findings. Then negotiate on repair quotes, not on impressions.