How long did you look for?

NicNicP

We weren’t looking but saw a for sale sign on a house and decided to pick up the details on my way home from work.

Fosterdog

We viewed a few houses in 2014 and only found one we liked, offer accepted moving through the purchase when we got gazumped. Nothing else came close to meeting our requirements, a few other viewings later that year but nothing we wanted to offer on (none compared to the dream house we lost out on).
Stopped actively looking in 2015, I checked RM and Zoopla weekly but nothing was even worth a viewing. The house we eventually bought went on the market in May 2016 and we viewed and offered within a week and completed September 2016. It’s not perfect, not the dream house that the other place was but it was the closest we could get.

So around 2 years of looking with intermittent viewings before buying. We would only move again if either we came in to a lot of money or if the house we loved went back on the market.

RXT156

Personally I looked for 2-3 months. viewing 1-2 houses every week. I wouldn't view a house if there was anything that I didn't like about it on Rightmove/Zoopla

zagubov

One of my workmates had an exceptional house in a bustling London borough. Not a palace but a standard semi-detached with drive and garage and small garden. it was located in a quiet cul-de-sac next to a massive town centre with stacks of shops on his doorstep ranging from apple store to a farmers market. His road had no though traffic and kids could have played in the street if they'd wanted.

He had a park nearby and river walks, all 5 minutes from his house.

I asked him how many houses he'd seen before he bought it. He said he and his wife had been very patient and viewed over a hundred!

kzzhar0

My partner owns his home which I moved into a couple of years ago. We are looking to move and have only viewed one house and loved it. I've been told we should view a couple more before we make a decision but no others really compare... Feel like we shouldn't jump in but we love it!

Bossypants

I think the answer will differ greatly depending on which house-buying stage people are at. For me, although I've bought three properties so far, I'm still in what I'd think of as the 'starter home' stage, i.e. I have a fairly limited budget and for that reason can only afford to focus on a handful of criteria, most of which will be logistical (basically, good transport links and outside space for the animals). I've always just viewed 4-10 properties which met those criteria until I found one that I felt comfortable standing in, then bought that one. It has never taken more than three months.

I'm now in the place I expect to be for another 5-10 years, at which point I hope to be in a financial and logistical position to move to my 'forever home'. I expect that place to meet far more of my criteria, some of which are kind of odd (for example, detached house in the middle of plot with at least five metres between it and and the border of the plot at any given point), so I expect to be looking for far longer for it, possibly years.