> You have to pay for the surveyor to find out any issues the house might have, and that means you can only view a few houses before you've paid the house price

> You have to pay for the surveyor to find out any issues the house might have, and that means you can only view a few houses before you've paid the house price in survey fees. How much are you paying for surveys? Even a full structural survey -- which would be considered over the top for most purchases -- should only cost £1,500 or so. And you're not going to get any sort of survey for most of the houses you view. You only usually bother with one once you've made an offer and the vendor's accepted it: if the survey reveals anything significant, you either pull out or try to renegotiate the price.