How long did you spend looking before moving?

tomstickland

How long is a piece of string?
A few weeks ago I decided that the time had come to move.
I've almost finished sorting my place so it's ready to market.
I've spent a week or two looking and I'm not found the right place yet. I've found all the elements necessary and now I just need to wait for the right combination to come along.
I'm quite happy spending a few months doing this.
Just wondering how long other people spent looking and thinking.

It's certainly been interesting; there's been a lot of "how much per month is x worth to me?". "How much further would I be prepared to travel if it gave me y?".

Hopejack

Well, in the past we've bought two properties - both to live in (not BTL although one ended up being let but that was circs).

First time we spent ages looking prob around 6 months from seriously starting looking although were saving before that (we were FTB living with my parents so no rush). Looked at everything from flats (Victorian) to new build houses! We really weren't sure what we wanted tbh and then we found out about a new development on the river nearby and went to have a look - put a deposit down same day on a 3 bed townhouse, and it was just on plans - all they had was a portacabin hut with the sales negotiator in lol!

Second time, we only looked at one house - yes, I know, seems silly but we just loved the house - and it was the opposite extreme to our first house - a 400 year old 3 bed cottage lol!

I think sometimes you just 'know' if a place is right but equally as you get older you get more fussy (and I think as you have a family too as you are looking for that bit more) - we are hoping to buy again next year and I know it's going to be hard work finding something just 'right' in our budget!!

Kittenonthekeys

Found the lovely house we're in the process of buying, in one afternoon, a couple of weeks ago.
It was a Sunday, I was working but Mr. Kittenonthekeys had the day off, so he was delegated to find some houses to view and set up appointments, which he did.
I told him if he saw a place he liked, to just make an offer; I didn't need to see it first because I trust his judgement and we like the same things!
He viewed two houses, hated the first but fell in love with the second house. Made an offer there and then to the seller in the presence of the agent and it was accepted. Took me to see it the next day and I fell in love with it too.
Now everything crossed it'll all go through ok! I'll never get over it if we lost this house!

Emmzi

I never really think of a house as 'home'. it's somewhere near work and commutable to social life - only essential is a big enough kitchen for my creations!

timescales are having scoped the area a bit and looked for potentials, briefly. so from phonign to arrange viewing to offer.
so first flat - 2 days
second (house) - 2 days (new build, walked in)
third one (current move) - 2 days for first attempt (fell through) and 1 day for this one (sold my house, drove 300 miles on move out day, had a kip, organised viewings for next day, offered)

I did have a set criteria for location, price, parking and so on. But its just a box to put stuff in, so I bypassed the EAs who were not responsive/ didnt read their emails/ sounded like annoying wide boys. That cut out a lot of messing about, as did refusing to see anything I knew was out of budget or skipped key criteria.

PasturesNew

It can take months. I know somebody who moved in with their parents between houses while they were looking, they were there 1.5 years until I made a house decision for them and said "this is the one you should buy". It turned out to be a brilliant choice.

I think your 'problem' will come in that you're looking on your own, so having to decide for yourself. Nobody who 'cares' to bounce ideas off. Is there a family member you can drag along to lots of viewings etc? Somebody who will be on your side to help you make the right decision without putting their desires into your house hunt?

PasturesNew

By the time I bought my last house I'd already had full surveys (yes, the pricey ones) on three houses.... that turned out to be turnips. In the end, I was mortgageable for only a very short period of time, so in the end just picked "the next one that's OK" ... I figured they were all going to be turnips, so no more big surveys for me. It turned out to be a huge turnip too, but due entirely to HPI it worked out in the end. Sort of.

It's my experience of buying and looking at turnips that has made me so picky and opinionated about houses.

Wickedkitten

About a year and a half, however when we did find the one we wanted, we both knew within about 10 minutes of walking through the front door that we wanted to buy it, and we put an offer on the same afternoon.

tomstickland

I've spent 2 weeks so far looking and already decided that I'm going to have to set a longer time scale. Anything up to a year I think.
I've seen loads of things that would "just do", but considering the cost of moving and the potential increased mortgage costs I'm starting to think that staying where I am might be less interesting but a good idea.

In a lot of cases, almost doubling my mortage provides virtually no great improvement in living space, distance from work or views. I'm starting to realise just how good where I live is in those regards.

I've widended my radius out to 40 miles from work and gradually turned the upper price up to see what I can find. It appears that at around £170K suddenly it's possible to get really nice houses. Detached with gardens and a garage.
Considering that £130-140K is the point at which the properties for sale start to provide any sort of attraction whatsoever, it's making me see waiting as a good idea. Not only will I save more money, but prices seem to be coming down.

I had a good think about it the other day and for £200 extra per month I'd be prepared to move. But for the £450 extra it'd cost to move somewhere really better I think I'd rather stay where I am and save some and spend the other half on doing fun things.

tomstickland

PasturesNew wrote: »

Is there a family member you can drag along to lots of viewings etc? Somebody who will be on your side to help you make the right decision without putting their desires into your house hunt?

If I like somewhere and I'm starting to seriously consider it then I'll send my mum along for a look. With my flat her instant response was "I like it". I was looking at somewhere a few weeks ago and she said "the place is fine, but the street is a bit scruffy."

PasturesNew

If you've increased your radius to 40 miles, then you need to consider the following:
- cost of getting to/from work at today's petrol prices
- cost of getting to/from work when prices rise (try £1.50 and £2/litre)
- cost and feasibility of getting to/from work if your car breaks down
- increased cost of wear/tear, servicing, tyres of the extra distance
- opportunities to car share, although anybody who says "yes" today might easily move the day after you move onto their route
- time to travel to/from work; actually get some real experiences/times from people who do the same journey at the same times you do

I once worked 50 miles from home and the cost of the petrol to/from was a major cost. As for the time, it made my days over 12 hours long from leaving home to getting back ... not good.

My ideal home would be smaller/close enough to work to be able to walk/bus/cycle in case of the car not being available or there being a petrol blockade on.

tek-monkey

A week, as an FTB. I'd watched the market for a while admittedly, but never viewed anything. Once I had my AIP I called several EAs and arranged viewings on maybe 8 or 9 houses over the next 6 days. I only saw 2 that interested me, and made an offer on the second one the same afternoon I viewed.