How long did it take you to find your house?

Davesnave

amyr said:

Really fascinated to read the answers here. Our first two homes were the first we've seen. This time, we've been searching 10 months, viewed nearly 30 properties and still not found 'the one'. 

That's how it may go as you move up the scale into more individual kinds of property, especially if land around or outbuildings come into the equation.

The 'Swiss Cheese Model' works for houses as well as it does for viruses.There will be one that gets through the filters....and probably half a dozen people chasing it!

Hebblethwaite

Seven months from my first viewing to my first offer (which has been accepted). However, I caught COVID around month two and after my isolation period was only managing about one viewing a month (on top of working full time) as they wiped me out so much. Because of that, I was only going to see houses I really really liked the look of online, which were inevitably not right - some were just very well photographed but actually not that great, some were just too pristine for my tastes (I am far more drawn to houses that need a bit of work as long as I don't have to take any walls down), some were everything I dreamed of but were clearly going to sell for more than I felt comfortable spending and had been deliberately listed low by the EA.

In the end, an agent rang me about a property they hadn't yet marketed. It had already been listed on RM by another agent and I had thought it looked decent but decided it wasn't good enough to justify viewing and wasn't in one of my preferred areas. When the agent rang me, I only agreed to go and see it because I hoped that might encourage them to call me about better properties before they hit the market. I ended up loving it! So, perhaps if I'd been well enough to view more houses and therefore seen more where the listings just looked so-so, I would have actually found a great house sooner. I do find the listings and the actual house often bear little resemblance to one another! For example, I've seen lots of poky little 1930s semis that look enormous in the photos, and then am (hopefully) buying a 1950s house that looked small in the pictures but is actually much more spacious in real life. And then there are all the garden photos taken by holding the camera 3cm above the grass so the garden looks enormous when it's actually really small... (I was so happy when I realised I could measure gardens on Google maps!)

Drawingaline

First property, we had two viewings lined up, but saw first one and it had parking (a definite plus in Brighton!) So offered and was accepted. Cancelled other viewing.

Second property, viewed two houses. Offered on the one we liked more. We were buying on an ex council estate (due to school location) and there were maybe four different property types and I knew which one I preferred. 

This time I had a wish list on RM for a few months waiting until we could apply for a new mortgage (change of job meant waiting six months) hubby got a decent payrise at the right time, got EA out to value ours, chatting about what we were looking for, he said they had something that sounded ideal that was hitting the market that eve he could get us in first and then if we liked it we could see if vendors would agree to hold while we marketed with them. (I had already discussed putting our house on for slightly less than valuation as I didn't see the point in hanging around) saw it, was ideal, offered full asking price, marketed ours, offer received within 48 hours of it going onto RM. However this was the week the stamp duty holiday was announced last July, we got very very lucky! If we had to pay SD we wouldn't have been able to offer asking price. 

I have decided that maybe we are not that fussy!

Sunsaru

Lost count of the houses I looked at. FTB who started looking in Jan 2020. Found my house Sept last year but only put an offer in in Nov as I went for another house which fell through, completed in March just gone. Went for 4 houses over the 14 months period, all but the last one I pulled out of at varying stages for varying reasons.

Skiddaw1

Our last house move was the year before Covid, but for what it is worth, we had Rightmove shortlist of 8 houses (we were relocating to Cumbria from the south) which we binge-viewed over two days. We'd happily have bought just about all of them but in the end went with the one which was always top of our shortlist. And very splendid it is too . Good luck OP!

eidand

over a year and saw more than 30 houses until we found something that actually worked for us. All in the same small area, we knew where we wanted to live 

mooncake89

It's taken us approx 8 months to finally find (and have an offer accepted on) somewhere. I'd estimate we've seen over 40 houses in total (luckily they were spread out across different EAs otherwise I'm sure some would have thought we had no intention to buy!)... it was a mixture of perhaps being too open-minded about location, missing out on some that we offered on because we were outbid and considerably upping our budget halfway through, resulting in changing what we were looking for. I'm glad we've chosen this one, because the location is by far the nicest but, given the chance to do it again, I think we'd definitely have re-assessed timing.

Lots of people say they keep a shortlist of properties on RM for weeks/months and then, when ready, book viewings and chose their favourite, but in certain locations right now that just isn't possible. Anything suitable is fully booked for viewings and STC within days of being listed. Phoning estate agents and trying to be among the first on the list to be contacted should anything new come onto their books also didn't really work for us (even when we had a huge deposit and had already exchanged on our flat!). Keeping an eye on the property market, researching locations, going to viewings, then sometimes entering bidding wars became a second job, almost. Very stressful!

Justonemorecupoftea

Current house - we'd looked at 4 houses and been out bid/beaten on all of them. We just so happened to walk past an EA window and spot this one.
Next house - we've been to see 4, offered on one. That looks like it might not progress due to our buyer pulling out. It's likely to take a while to find somewhere else as there are currently very few properties that meet what we want available.

Louise.H

First (ever) house took 5 months because we only had weekends to look and to be honest had no idea where we wanted to live and in what type of house! Had a drama with a repossessed house where the agents didn't put our offer through before getting the second one we offered on.

Second house took about a month, we were much clearer on what we wanted and I think it was about the 5th we viewed after some that were no good due to damp etc. Only house we offered on. 

Third house was three weeks and the third house (three three's ) we put an offer on as first was crazy in demand and went above asking in the end, second the vendor kept changing her mind so we walked away, third time lucky. Hopefully moving within a month.

Sacher50

Both of the times we've been searching, we successfully offered on the first places we viewed.