“The hasty way in which people tend to make a home buying decision may help them to secure a property in a fast moving market, but it doesn’t always give them the time to make the right decision,” says Robin Sappé, Director at Le Gallais.

“The decision to buy a particular property is sometimes made in the heat of the moment and often as an emotional response to the building and its location. However, haste and emotion are not the best conditions under which to make such a long-term and financially important decision.

“On top of people taking just a day to decide which home to buy, they also only spend on average about 30 minutes viewing the homes that they end up purchasing.

“Half an hour simply isn’t long in relation to the amount of time you’ll spend in the property once it’s yours. When buying a property there will always be a compromise, but you mustn’t ignore or overlook some of the negative aspects or problem areas of the home which only become clear after you’ve moved in.

“The Property Buying Kit is designed to help homebuyers make their decisions in a methodical way. It contains a Property Scorecard, which enables people to rate every aspect of a property and makes it easy to compare different homes in your search. The kit also includes a Mortgage Budgeting tool that not only calculates your mortgage, but shows you how affordable it is in relation to your circumstances.”

The kit is available to all homebuyers via Le Gallais' website. It can be downloaded to print, or can be used on tablets or smartphones during viewings. It’s free to use and is available to all islanders, regardless of which estate agencies they are using.