Reasonable time to search for house?

Annie1960

LannieDuck wrote: »

It seems to work the other way around at the moment - you get a buyer for your house, and then you start to offer on properties yourself. The EA for a house we were interested wouldn't even put an offer to the vendors for us until we had a buyer for our place.

Yes, it's the same in my area. One EA would not even let me view properties until mine was under offer.

moneyistooshorttomention

Annie1960 wrote: »

If your buyer expected to move within a certain timescale, they should have said so when they made their offer.

That is one viewpoint - but I certainly didn't start discussing timescale with my vendor on either my starter house or my current one.

I may have been being naïve there??? but I just assumed that the sale would proceed as fast as I personally proceeded. That is - that the second my firm offer had been accepted, then the seller would get right on with all reasonable speed and proceed with selling it to me.

That was what happened in the event both times - ie that it went at my (fast as possible) speed.

As I said - I may have been naïve in thinking that way/I may not. It literally never occurred to me that the seller might hold things up to suit themselves.

This being the case = there are going to be a lot of other buyers out there assuming exactly the same as I did.

moneyistooshorttomention

Annie1960 wrote: »

Yes, it's the same in my area. One EA would not even let me view properties until mine was under offer.

Maybe that varies in different areas and maybe it varies according to what area you come from (if its a different area)??

I came from a pretty reasonably-paced area - where houses are expected to sell pretty quickly. I moved to an area where its far from uncommon for houses to stay on the market for QUITE some time.

Maybe I just got lucky? or maybe things went the way I expected because it was so clear how I thought they would go?

But I viewed every single house I decided to view (whichever EA it was with) and decided which was my first choice and which my second choice. I then put in a provisional bid on my first choice property and confirmed to the EA and vendor that I knew it wouldn't be accepted as a firm offer until I actually had a buyer for my own (ie last) house and told them how long I estimated it would be until I got my buyer (I was correct). I assume the EA had done his own research and checked that my expectations were likely to be correct.

Right on cue at my expected length of time on market I had my buyer in place and promptly phoned the EA and said "Got my buyer and now my offer changes from provisional to firm" and we all went ahead as per plan (fortunately - no-one else had put in an offer on the house I have now in the interim). With the state my current house was in (ie in dire need of Rescue) at the time I put my first offer in on it I didn't think people would be exactly queueing up to buy it:rotfl:.

Having said that - if I'd been able to afford a next stage house in good condition in my own faster-moving part of the country, I would still have gone househunting first and put in a provisional offer as soon as I found the one I wanted and told the EA/vendor exactly the same.

Abraham21

How much amount you are spending for buy a house.
And how much big house you want..clarify all things.

bylromarha

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

A lot of that would be down to my astonishment that they hadn't found their place first before getting their buyer agreed. I would expect that someone would have found theirs first and interpret them not having done so as meaning they weren't going to be that "particular" about the next house (ie had decided on a very short list of must-haves and had enough money to hand to be able to have most of the ones they might be interested in).

I had found my next house and got a provisional offer accepted on it before my buyer turned up in the event and had turned my offer from provisional to firm within hours of agreeing my buyer and all then proceeded.

As a seller I would never take an offer, provisional or otherwise, on a house if the person offering didn't have their own buyer.

I had a shortlist of houses to view when I'd secured my buyer, but why waste everyones time viewing a house I may or may not be able to buy if and when I got a buyer for my own house. That shortlist changed during the weeks I was looking for a buyer as things came and went, but if I didn't have a buyer, then neither would those vendors.

It's not fair on the vendor having to make everything ready, emotionally and physically, for a viewing if the person viewing isn't in a place to commit.

Having said that OP - are you prepared to lose your buyer? If they're pushing you after 3 weeks, then I doubt they'll wait much longer TBH. How much do you think they want the house?

Looking at renting is a frustration, I agree, but if the house you want to buy isn't appearing, then you need to look at other options if you want to sell as many buyers won't wait more than 8 weeks for you to find your own house as they just want to get going.

Zaksmummy

The thing is we are being very pro active into getting a house, we viewed one in April that was perfect for us, it came back on market after the chain broke, unfortunately our buyer hadn't sold then, and within a week it was stc again :mad: when EA came to value our house he did mention that he'd recently valued 2 in that same street, so we did a leaflet drop, but nothing has come from it

We won't be too disheartened if sale falls through it was just ideal that we didn't have to pay out on EA fees, if needs be we will start again, I just don't want to be in situation where we are being pushed along into any old house when my buyer knew from the start our preferences, it's just unfortunate that literally NO houses in our preferred area have come up for sale.

WestonDave

The situation is simple - they can't push you to buy any old house just so they can get yours quickly - BUT you also can't force them to hold on indefinitely whilst you look. So reasonable doesn't really come into it - if your buyers will only wait a week/fortnight/month, that's how long you've got.

sam1970

we are exactly in the same position. we have been looking for a house for 3 months in our area (we just want a bigger house so under no pressure to move quick). Some vendors refused even to allow us viewing until our house is on the market. Put ours 3 weeks ago, many viewings and actually 3 acceptable offers...made it clear from start that we will only move when we find the right house...two said they are happy to wait but we are still looking. The EA are getting pushy (obviously they want their money) but I told them to shut up as I am not giving away my house just to please them

ellie27

You said there is not much coming on that suits in the area that you want, so you do have specific requirements, as do we all.

If you sell and go into rented accommodation then you are ready to pounce on the perfect house that comes up. You would then have the advantage of not being in any chain with a house to sell.

Thats what we done and we are moving into wkohat we would say is our dream home. We have been looking at the market for houses for over a year now and this is the best by far for the price we are paying (we didnt rent all that time!)

pinkpiglit

ellie27 wrote: »

If you sell and go into rented accommodation then you are ready to pounce on the perfect house that comes up. You would then have the advantage of not being in any chain with a house to sell.

Whilst that can be a good idea and allows you to move quickly once you find somewhere, it wouldnt be possible in our corner of London where prices have shot up astronomically.

If we were selling (we're not so it's all theoretical) and went into rented for a few months, the chances are that we wouldn't be able to afford to buy anything in our area unless we downsized.