How long did it take you to find your home to buy?

GingerLs

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster said:

Well, how many houses have you viewed and what are the reasons for rejecting them? Are you being realistic with your budget?

Last time we moved we viewed 5-6 houses and came back to the first one we viewed. We didn't move this year but we would have offered on the first house we viewed. 

Viewed between 10-15 I'd say, very nearly bought one but pulled out due to issues following survey and searches. We wasted a lot of time on the failed sale and the market stopping due to lockdown 1 didn't help either. 

I've been watching the market for years and I think we are being realistic with our budget and are open to different types of houses and are willing to make compromises. 

Weve rejected houses because we didn't like the layout, road noise, didn't like the area surrounding the house,  or just not being able to see ourselves living there. 

Eilidh1970

When I was buying my first place, I think I probably saw 10-15 flats of all shapes, sizes and conditions - I had a budget and other than that, didn't know what I wanted until I saw it. 
This time around, we had a definite list of specifications - overall floor and storage space, number of stairs to the property and so on - so we took a much more detailed look at things before viewing, and ended up bidding on the first two things we saw. 

MFWannabe

We bought the first house we viewed
It fitted our budget and our main criteria was location so we saw past the dated decor. 
I think you need to decide what’s the important criteria and search for properties that fit these 

md258

I or we viewed 11 including the one we went on to buy- basically anything that came up in the area (1/2 mile) that could be suitable. This took about 8 months in 2019.
We really liked the first one we saw (but hadn't sold so didn't put an offer in), offered on the 8th one and bought the 11th. Looking at so many gave me a clear picture of what we could comprise on (road noise, kerb appeal, new interior) and what we couldn't (parking, location, bedrooms 2+3 being a similar size).

When I bought my first property, it felt like a lot of things didn't matter too much as it was temporary (5-10 years). I looked at a similar number (about 10) but they were more varied- 2 bed flats to 3+loft house in a worse area- as I was working out exactly what I was looking for.

Good luck with your search- the perfect property could come on the market tomorrow.

Beeboo23

I’ve viewed in excess of 30 houses over around 10 months. For 5 months of that I had my offer accepted on a house but after the sale not progressing due to probate I pulled out and found something else. Definitely had enough of viewing houses for at least a decade. You’ll find something eventually. Good luck!

RelievedSheff

When we bought our first house we viewed around 80 properties before finding "the right one"

Last year when we decided to finally move on from that house we viewed two new builds on the same estate, the one we bought and one the exact same house type which is our neighbours house. This one just felt right so there was little point us viewing more properties and we got the deal done and dusted.

FinallyStoppedLurking

We started looking in August 2019, found a property in October but it fell through in January. 

Started looking again and thought we would never find anywhere. We started to wonder if our expectations were too high (not in terms of price but our list of things we wanted - location etc). Eventually found somewhere in June and due to complete next week.

Along the way we probably viewed about 20 properties. I know this doesn't seem many but we were very specific about what we wanted so not many came up. 

DPR87

We viewed about 7 houses over a 2 week period. Liked one of them and went back for a second viewing. Put in the offer (which was accepted) and cancelled remaining viewings. We had to compromise on the size of the garden but everything else ticked the boxes. Partner wanted to view everything and anything but I prefer we only viewed a select few because it can get draining. I was fed up after 2 weeks!

FinallyStoppedLurking

For me the worst part is when you know within 2 minutes that it isn't right but still have to go through the rigmarole of walking round knowing full well you aren't interested. 

eidand

We've seen 30+ properties and started in November last year. We have moved in our new house 2 months ago. 
We knew this was to be our final house ( more than likely ) so we were looking for quite a few things:
1. Location ( we wanted a very specific village kinda area )
2. Total area ( sqm )
3. Decent size bedrooms.
4. at least 2 bathrooms
5. integral garage
6. big kitchen
7. at least 3 bedrooms ( we wanted 4 but we gave up after not finding anything suitable )
8. not on a main road

None of these things were things we wanted to compromise on. It took a while but we found it. 
We've mainly seen 4 bedroom houses but we found them all to be small, as in really small bedrooms, small kitchens ( think 3 x 3 at most ).
In end end we bought a 3 bedroom bungalow that we absolutely love. It's 130 sqm, plus a big, double garage and it's been absolutely marvellous living here. All the time we spent searching, was time well spent!

We knew this was the one after 5 minutes of walking around.