How long did you look for?

[Deleted User]

I have been quietly looking via rightmove for two months. I have a specific area in mind and don`t live far away, so I also drive around from time to time. I know the area and the facilites, which I do need because of me getting older. Garden is very important as is detached and en suite. I have already been able to make mental compromises because there are a few properties for sale, all of which are a compromise too far. I have the cash and am ready to buy quickly. I will know when I see it. I haven`t viewed any yet, no point in getting seller hopes up

chelseablue

We started looking in August 2015 and found our house in November 2015.

Moved in February 2016

Slinky

We started looking at the start of 2016. Had an offer accepted in August but pulled out due to problems with the vendor who was moving next door. Couldn't find anything we liked coming up for sale in the very few specific roads we wanted to live in. Only one has come up in the last 12 months we would have viewed if still looking in that area, and that was sold in about 4 days.

Changed search area to completely different town in January this year, offered end of March, completed start of September. House will be rented for a couple of years until we are ready to move.

Hedgehog99

While prepping my previous property ready to move, I started a scrap book of properties to keep an eye on what was available for what price. This was really useful to establish the price brackets for location, extra bedrooms, cloakrooms, garages etc. Also used rightmove and local EA websites.

When my property was ready to go on the market, I started actual viewings. I always only viewed places I liked as far as the info available on rightmove (i.e. wouldn't waste owner's time viewing somewhere I already knew had deal-breakers). I viewed three owner-occupied properties and two new builds in about four months before choosing one of the new builds.

The reasons for rejecting the properties were things that had not been made clear in the rightmove/EA listing - awkward rear access, lack of option to fit a shower riser rail over bath due to window position, too much work required (nightmare old heating system, woodchip wallpaper), North-facing rear garden with zero daylight (I would normally check this using streetview etc, but this was an infill cluster and the house number couldn't be identified) and low ceilings near windows (upstairs almost chalet style, extent of which not clear on EA's photos) restricting furniture placement.

My major criteria were:
Location
Cloakroom
En suite
Guest bedroom
Garden with rear access
Garage
Local facilities (doctor, pharmacy, bus route, good commute)
No local minus points (elec substation, polluting industry, derelict neighbouring property etc)
Energy efficiency / amount of maintenance required
NSEW orientation - S, SW or W-facing garden.

Moving took longer than expected, but it was worth it to secure the right property and I was lucky I didn't have pressing reasons to move within a certain time and compromise on what I could buy.

chelseablue

Would like to move again once more, in around 6 years time.


Current criteria is: detached and en suite

Slinky

Hedgehog99 wrote: »

My major criteria were:
Location
Cloakroom
En suite
Guest bedroom
Garden with rear access
Garage
Local facilities (doctor, pharmacy, bus route, good commute)
No local minus points (elec substation, polluting industry, derelict neighbouring property etc)
Energy efficiency / amount of maintenance required
NSEW orientation - S, SW or W-facing garden.

Moving took longer than expected, but it was worth it to secure the right property and I was lucky I didn't have pressing reasons to move within a certain time and compromise on what I could buy.

We had certain requirements, but our purchase in the end came down to location as being the most important thing. The house isn't particularly attractive, has an open tread staircase (which I dislike) rising out of the dining room rather than the hall (which I also dislike), no ensuite, no bath in the only shower room, has a back garden you can only reach through the house. But the location was so spot on in terms of flat walkability to local services we would want to use it over-rode everything else. Planning ahead for when we don't want to use a car to go everywhere. We should be able to convert a downstairs room into a bedroom with ensuite should we not be able to get up the stairs anymore. Oh, and it's link detached via the garage rather than detached.

wantonnoodle

From starting our house search to having the offer accepted took us 7 months (March 28 - October 28). Within that time we looked at 34 different houses. We were outbid on 2, but had our offer accepted on number 33. We were getting weary toward the end, and were beginning to think we woudn't find anything, but we stuck at it.

We had quite specific criteria though - we wanted good public transport links, room for family to stay over, the option of off road parking, a decent size garden and a good size kitchen (a lot of houses in our area have long narrow kitchens). We were also quite specific in area, and the market locally is quite expensive (Sale / Altrincham / South Manchester) and fast moving, which meant we missed out on quite a few.

phoebe1989seb

We've been looking for about 14 months, although when we started out our current house wasn't on the market. Had we found 'the one' back then we'd have got ours on asap at a realistic asking price, which is what we did when buying this house in 2014

Since going on the market on 5th Sept I've devoted what feels like every waking moment to searching and as exchange on our sale looms closer I'm panicking a little, especially as it's not the best time to find fresh to market properties.

Our search area is SW/W Wales and we're currently in the West Midlands, close to the Shropshire border so viewing potential houses is a bit of a logistical nightmare. We started looking early on just to ensure we'd identified the exact locations we'd be happy with, but it's not that straightforward. As we want somewhere fairly remote, with a bit of land, close to unspoilt beaches on a fairly low budget we know we'll have to make a few compromises and may end up slightly out of our preferred area(s).

So far we've viewed 11 properties, the majority of which have had too many compromises and only a couple have felt right In eight house purchases we've never viewed this many before and I've a feeling we're not done yet, but as there's not much out there that ticks our boxes it may take some time!

lincroft1710

Scotbot wrote: »

Looked at about 25 spanning a 150k price range. Not really liked any of them. Realised I am not going to be wowed by any in tne location I am looking in

I agree with this. There are very, very few houses with a WOW factor and never any in my price range. They are always a compromise

leslieknope

the people on location3 are extremely picky (or made to be that way for the show's purpose)

i still fondly recall a london couple who wanted at least two bedrooms, wanted it to be a house with a garden AND parking. and the husband's entire commute from home to office in canary wharf should be under 30 minutes. all for £400k or less.

suffice to say they did not find that.