Grr - 10 houses and no viewings 13 July 2006 at 2:55PM in Mortgage-free wannabe 9 replies 1.7K views

louise_1981

No exactly in the scheme of mortgage free, as we are trying to find a house to buy. Currently living in Crewe but wanting to move closer to our new jobs. mine is in Canchester and oh is in Rochdale, and have decided on his home town of Ashton Under Lyne, as we can not find anywhere suitable to rent, so thought we would buy.

Anyway, found loads of houses last night and spent today listening to variations of NO! either it has gone already, they have surveyors in, they have taken it off the market, or they are just plain unmovable to two people working full time and unable to travel 2 hours by train and bus to view a house before 5. They all seem unable to do weekends!

Please give me some hope. seems futile even at this early stage.

I suppose I have been put on some mailing lists, so that will hopefully get out quicker than they update their websites.

Louise

Jnelhams

You could try putting a "Wanted Ad- Cash buyer seeks XYZ....." even if you are not a cash buyer you will suddenly find lots of new friends...

Prudent

Just be persistant. Download schedules of the internet and do a lot of research online before viewing - it can save lots of hassle.

Miss_Penny_Pincher_2

Maybe find an estate agent where the home owners tend to do the viewings as they tend to be more flexible with times (Miller Metcalfe here) or some estate agents will do weekend viewings (e.g. Edwards & Co). Sorry I don't know the individual agents in your area.

Debt_Free_Chick

louise_1981 wrote:

Anyway, found loads of houses last night and spent today listening to variations of NO!

Where did you find the details?

Sorry, but your experience is "par for the course". You are probably playing "catch up" so that you are only finding details of houses that have been on the market for a few ... months, weeks, days. What you need is to find properties that are coming to market in the next few days. The only way to do this is to spend some time building a decent relationship with local estate agents

gentlepurr

i agree with debt free above, having just put an offer in on a new house at last. i have been watching the market for 6 months, and people are the most peculiar breed when it comes to selling their home, and half the time they seem to not want a buyer!

other thing i would mention, dont be lulled into a false sense of security thinking you are on estate agents mailing lists, i was on the mailing lists for 6 estate agents, and only had details through the post for one property from one estate agent in all that six months! ring them every couple of days, see whats coming through.

all the best with your venture.

xx

newmoneysaver_2

Hi Louise,

Just wanted to say that ashton-u-lyne is quite local to me (i'm in Hyde) I would find it very strange that of all the houses you found none of them were taking viewings. Are you using an up to date source? i wouldn't say that the houses round here are flying off the market as soon as they are put up for sale.

There has recently been a lot of investment in Ashton - so there could be renewed interst in the area- there as been a new development at ashton moss, with cinema, restaurants, bowling etc and also the new Ikea coming to town.

Chin up, it's just fate - those houses wern't meant to be.

Ps - If I can help just let me know.

tawnyowls

You need to register with estate agents in the area, and preferably get details emailed to you. Then pick out all that look suitable from the details, and book as many appointments as you can for a weekend - we looked at 15 properties in one weekend. You'll never remember which one's which, so take a notebook, and if you have it, a digital camera, so you can work out which one's which.

jockettuk

we were looking at house my oh lived in london and me in peterborough.. we agreed on aylesbury after checking lots of other areas out.. we went down one weekend booked into a motel and registered on every local estate agents books. we told them all we wanted and exactly what we didnt. we drove around the area seeing places we liked and didnt like as we didnt want to waste time looking at places we didnt like..

we looked at the internet and we rang up a different estate agent everyday.. we went up and down every weekend for a month and on the friday we phoned up and booked up the whole weekend with viewings..

we took the details with us or a notepad and put the pros and cons of each house down.. we eventually got a house we liked and 2 yrs later im moving in for my daughter to start secondary school.. we have spent all hols there and we love it .. worth it all
was hard and emotional but mabey if you can take some time off mid week and go up but remember to book all appointments before you go up so as not to waste time once your there

Dr.Shoe_2

louise_1981 wrote:

...or they are just plain unmovable to two people working full time and unable to travel 2 hours by train and bus to view a house before 5. They all seem unable to do weekends!

It makes me wonder whether these people are actually serious about selling their house!


Don't worry, exactly the right house will be along before you know it!