How much do you have to love it?

Horizon81

As someone actively looking to buy a house I'm constantly told 'you'll just know when you've found the right place' and 'you'll fall in love with somewhere' but how much in love with a place do you have to be?!

I'm a FTB and although I'm not quite scraping the bottom of barrel when it comes to buying my first house, I'm hardly looking at the top of the market either! With my budget it seems to me a case of 'making do'. I mean, there are places that I kind of 'like' for the money but nowhere that makes me go weak at the knees.

Does this reflect your first time house buying experience or am I just a miserable young man?!

bobbarley

I've been wondering the same thing mate. My wife and I have been looking for our first house, and given our price range (100k) we've not seen anything that we've fallwen in love with. Just properties that have potential, and would be a stepping stone to something nicer.

Tia_24

I dont think your being a miserable young man!

My partner and I were FTB's last year and we must have looked at about 30ish houses before we came out of what's now our house and we both just "knew" we could make it our home. Yes it needs work doing to it and Yes it will be a few years before everything is done but to us that was part of the excitement! Until we'd seen our house I was getting so bored/frustrated at the houses we were seeing, as like you I liked them but I wasnt wowed by any of them.

My OH's sister and her partner looked at nearly 100 houses before they found theirs so keep going and keep confident!

PasturesNew

You'll know when it's the one ... even if it's "this bl00dy one, I am fed up with viewing houses, it'll do .... look, it has 4 bleedin' walls and a roof !!!!!!." I bought a house on that basis once.

redlady_1

Its true. I too, have started again and thought I was going to have to make do. Went after a house. It was ok but nothing special, but was ok and would get me back on the market after being out for a few years. Let the madness commence! As it went further down the line it turned out it hadnt been repossessed properly so I couldnt buy it and at this point I had spent over £1.5k. I was so fed up I went onto rightmove. I saw the house I have now and thought ok its over budget but no onward chain, no harm in looking etc. It was also a wreck! I decided to drive over there on the Friday night after work - and I did know straight away. I didnt care how bad it was inside, it was the right one for me. Don't settle for second best because the right one is out there somewhere, even for us at the bottom of the food chain.

Oh, and the deal - I got £12k knocked off the price even though it had just been reduced by another £15k on top. Why? Because she didnt want to sell to a developer because it had been her mothers home and wanted it to go to someone who would lovingly restore it. See, sellers sometimes sell with their hearts too!

delmar39

Yep, you'll just know. It's like falling in love, just with a house!! You'll know when it's right and probably more importantly, when it's wrong. Your gut feel will just let you know.

redlady_1

Yes and dont ignore that gut instinct or it will cost you dearly in the long run, financially and emotionally.

LittleMissKitty

Oh I saw hundreds, literally. We had three that I thought were quite nice fall through and I was at my wits end. I hurt myself one day and my DH had to take the afternoon off to look after the kids. We took the opportunity and went to see a house on the offchance and I walked into the first room and that was it. I HAD to have the house. It's like you could just sit there and never leave. You'll know when it happens. And it WILL happen.

Kitty x

Reds-on-Sea

I'm with everyone else on here - it was love at first sight for me! Don't settle for 2nd best. Keep looking - it's out there somewhere!

Just keep your business head on when dealing with the estate agent. If they can see you're "madly in love" with a property, then they'll use that to their advantage when negotiating a price.

I remember my 2nd offer getting rejected on my house (ftb), I kept it all in though, walked out of the estate agent and got in the car and totally burst into tears!! Howling I was!! lol!

No way I was going to let that estate agent know how much I wanted the house though!

Luckily, my 3rd & final offer was accepted. And worth every penny it was too!

surreybased

Hi,

We did fall for a house after seeing loads but the sale fell through as the owner wanted to sell to a developer, who would pay more. The house we're buying now is functional, it will do, I don't love it but when you're raising kids functionality is sometimesneeded. What I've learnt is that you often have to live in a place before you love it. It could be the space, the neighbours, the garden in summer. Also remember you can improve a house to work for you, an example for us was when we upgraded the kitchen and opened up rooms to give a great living space. We also added a utility room which was just brilliant.

Barneysmom

I don't love my house, I didn't love my last house or the one before that now I think about it.
It's just a house, just a kitchen, just a telly etc?
But I do love my family so I'm not bothered?