I have hit upon a cunning plan for haus buying. There are a few I like the look of from the estate agent's details but I haven't viewed them yet (in part because one of the agents will not respond to my email request for further details). If the snow continues I'm planning to pop up to the area and walk around the areas the houses are in. It's not a huge place so it shouldn't take massively long. While I'm up there I'll check out which of my potential houses has snow on the roof and which hasn't. Snow=good insulation. No snow=bad insulation.
While I'm up there I think I'll stick a note through the door of the house I can't get any information on and advise them of how lazy their agents are being.