How long house hunting ?

steampowered

It's very normal to be searching for months or even years if you are looking to buy a property that suits your requirements within a specific area, especially if you have a limited budget.

You might have more luck if you are prepared to search in a wider area - if you are prepared to do that!

If you are looking for your "forever" home I think it is worth waiting to get the right property.

welwynrose

We were probably looking most weekends for 3/4 months before we found two we really liked we then listed ours and lucky enough got an offer on ours fairly quickly we didn’t want to sell ours and then scramble around to find a place or keep our buyers waiting

lookstraightahead

Most house buying and selling is a game. Like monopoly. It can go on and on and on. Silly prices, massive expectations, ridiculous estate agent valuations, slow processes, greedy people, folk unwilling to break chains into manageable chunks.

It's not at all a pleasant experience. The U.K. has a really unhealthy attitude to house buying and selling.

babyblade41

for me I've done lots of research on RM first and have a long list of favourites and maybe's.

Once I have received an offer on mine a day is spent whittling them down and then view.

I have a criteria that must be met but really the house is secondary as location, type and space outside is more important for me.

The house itself will always be changed so not overly worried.

I am now living in a part refurbished place in an idyllic location taking my time doing what I want with the house

warby68

It can be a day up to years as there are so many factors - every purchase will be slightly different in some way.

If you want to live somewhere where little comes up for sale you have to be ready to pay a decent price and your first offer should reflect that. I'm not saying you should overpay but if houses are easily snapped up,a lowball offer will be a waste of time and vendors are unlikely to bother with you. Do you know why you weren't successful with any of the properties you offered on?

The next month or two is prime season for properties to come to market so there might be some new stock for you soon but make sure you know what you have to do to secure one.

shinytop

We sold and moved into rented and signed a 6 month contract before we started looking seriously. We were very fussy with our criteria and wanted to be in a good position for the start of the house buying 'season'. 2 weeks into the 6 months and we've just had an offer accepted. You just never know.

TiberUK

Probably unusual, but as first time buyers? We house hunted for one day.

We viewed pretty much every house in the town in our budget and some below it. By the end of the day there were two standout choices, a new build with gas and a slightly older non-gas property at the other end of town.

After thinking about it overnight we knew that the newbuild was right for us (no chain, getting to pick our own kitchen etc, gas instead of oil, much better garden - or it will be when we lay one) and offered the asking price the next morning... it was a very desirable development and it was made clear upon viewing that it was asking price or nothing.

We were renting with a deadline we didn't want to extend, were looking at one specific town and were very keen on the idea of a turnkey newbuild and used a special type of mortgage which totally rules out a house which needs work, so your circumstances are no doubt very different.

SimonBck

warby68 wrote: »

It can be a day up to years as there are so many factors - every purchase will be slightly different in some way.

If you want to live somewhere where little comes up for sale you have to be ready to pay a decent price and your first offer should reflect that. I'm not saying you should overpay but if houses are easily snapped up,a lowball offer will be a waste of time and vendors are unlikely to bother with you. Do you know why you weren't successful with any of the properties you offered on?

The next month or two is prime season for properties to come to market so there might be some new stock for you soon but make sure you know what you have to do to secure one.

As we are waiting for new houses to come onto the market it feels like we are under pressure to move quickly, almost too quickly to make up our minds if we want to make a offer. I read somewhere on average people view a property for 25mins then make a offer. For the amount of money you are spending it is a little bit crazy.

Davesnave

warby68 wrote: »

If you want to live somewhere where little comes up for sale you have to be ready to pay a decent price and your first offer should reflect that. I'm not saying you should overpay but if houses are easily snapped up,a lowball offer will be a waste of time and vendors are unlikely to bother with you. .

I agree.

If you know the market well enough, as you should by now, you'll know which properties offer value at the asking price, or even slightly above it.

At the end of our very long search for a long-term property in a market with a dearth of anything suitable for sale, it would have been madness to offer below the asking price for the one we purchased. It was already priced to sell, which was confirmed when someone jumped in and tried to gazump us.

ryankirkpatrick2

I think it may be the current climate, we've been actively looking for over a year now with no success. There doesn't seem to be anyone willing to sell in any of the areas were looking for. We sold our first house before christmas for the asking price but haven't allowed a survey to be carried out yet as we just can't find anywhere suitable. Were now leaning towards new builds but they are very expensive and not what we were originally looking for. All we want is a 4 bed with a decent garden for around £300k which is very achievable in our area but there just aren't any for sale. It's a nightmare.