Feeling rushed

Karr55

My house went on Rightmove last week and sold for the asking price the next day. The estate agents have contacted me to ask if I’m looking for a new house. Obviously I am - it’s 4.34 am and I’ve been on Rightmove since 2 am. How long is it reasonable for me to find a new house? It’s a big decision and houses in my price range are in short supply. I don’t want to be rushed into buying the wrong place. 

tacpot12

I would say that it is reasonable to take three to four weeks to find a house that you are prepared to make an offer on. If your time is limited, because you are working full-time and can't take too much time off, then you might need a little longer, say one month. 

Basically, you need to review/screen all the properties that might be suitable, and make appointments to view the ones that you like as quickly as you can. Depending on the number of properties available in the area you want to buy, this might take three weeks or it might take five weeks. 

You shouldn't be rushed into buying the wrong place by your estate agents (remember they work for you!). But equally you can't mess them or other serious buyers around, so just get on and do what you need to. You will not make good decisions in the middle of the night so get to bed and get some rest, and review the situation when you are fully rested. Don't forget to re-check Rightmove on a regular basis for new properties that come up or use the Alert feature to ensure you hear about new properties promptly.

Keep your estate agents informed about how the search is going. They might be able to help you if you let them know what sort of property you are looking for. Sometimes, they are aware of sellers that are no actively marketing their properties, but might soon be in a position to sell.  
 
Good luck!

[Deleted User]

Awww, bless you 🤗🤗
You now let the agents know you're actively looking and to instruct their client/s accordingly - you could even state a date/month that you'd like to complete, that way your intentions are crystal clear from the start and they know that this isn't going to be a 2 month/whatever turnaround

There is still a lot - a few months worth - of work that happens between now and you moving out of your house though so don't lose sleep over this.

It's common for a sale and new purchase to take up to 8 months, potentially, so much depends on what mortgages those in the chain can actually get.

housebuyer143

Don't stress, doing so won't make the house you want appear. Go on Rightmove twice a day in the morning and afternoon I would say just so you don't miss anything but don't be tempted to buy something you don't want. 

When this happened to us, almost no houses came on the market for weeks and we viewed things we didn't like just because ate felt like we had to.

If you lose the buyer then you just start again and you will get another. 

The house you find could have a long chain and as such the buyers could be waiting over 6 months, maybe a year. I would have your agent set their expectations now.

lookstraightahead

It's probably best to first see what the buyers intentions are, whether they have a property to sell, whether they want to move quickly etc. without this info it's hard for you to see the whole picture.

if they're in a rush, you might want to move out quickly, or not, or maybe they're willing to wait. Remember they will also have their own agenda / mortgage deadlines / don't want to hang around.

Ultimately it's your decision, and how much you want to wait / risk by waiting, or whether your priority is holding on for the right place now. 

I personally always break the chain so that I can sell / buy quickly, but that isn't for everyone.

Good luck.

74jax

When you sold, what were the buyers circumstances that made you go with them so soon? It's a good idea to write them down so you can keep going back to it (and your mind doesn't get fuzzled). Are they ftb, have a mortgage offer? When does it expire? When do they want to move by? These are all the reasons your agent would have given you and why you chose them, don't be thrown off by panic (which is normal).
Look on RM, visit independents, and pencil in time to view properties so you don't run out of time. 
If they want to move sooner than you find somewhere (and it's OK with you) you move into rented. 

Jonboy_1984

Make sure that when the forms come through from your solicitor you fill in under sellers requirements that you are looking for another property, so it is in black and white for both parties legal teams.

Take a quick 20 minute look at the local rental market today and understand if you would be able to break the chain (e.g, how available are suitable rentals in terms of size and budget, do you have pets that make it harder etc). Once you have worked out if it is possible be firm with an answer to the estate agent (if they ask) and don’t let them give the buyer any false expectations.

Just after we found our buyer this year the market went dead with no suitable property’s coming on the market for 2 weeks at a time etc and so we signed up for rightmove, zoopla and on the market alerts. I was getting the and checking the websites twice a day. I then booked viewings immediately anything possible came up and then showed my wife later that day. We also had multiple offers in on a couple of a occasions and offered on 7 properties all in all (we also had to firmly explain to a couple of estate agents that we were not offering on a couple of properties).

Don’t feel rushed at the viewings, we had a couple where they had back to back viewings or the previous viewing turned up late and in our slot, still take your time and assess the property against your requirements.

It took us 10 weeks to find a place and even then we were the second offer after the first buyer fell through three weeks after initially being accepted.

youth_leader

Don't feel rushed. So long as you are actively looking and can report this to the EA, your buyer should be patient until your chain completes.

It is good for the buyers to remember how many houses they viewed before they found your property, and how long it took them.

RM_2013

Things take time and definitely don’t let yourself feel rushed into buying something that isn’t right for you.  Be honest with the EA that you’re actively looking so they can keep the buyer in the loop.  As already mentioned your buyer may have a timescale in mind eg mortgage offer expiry, in rental and need to give notice, impending birth of a child etc so maybe ask your EA what their intentions are.

i must admit having sold to FTB who obviously were keen to move asap did put us under pressure as the vendor of our purchase was “actively looking” for weeks which turned into months.  Fortunately they are breaking the chain and moving in with family to give themselves more time as needed to move but hadn’t found a house they liked enough. 

I used to look at rightmove on my lunch break and after work to see if there was anything new listed.   Good luck 

lookstraightahead

youth_leader said:

Don't feel rushed. So long as you are actively looking and can report this to the EA, your buyer should be patient until your chain completes.

It is good for the buyers to remember how many houses they viewed before they found your property, and how long it took them.

this is true although sometimes it's not about patience, it's about mortgage offer expiry, whether they're paying rent, and who is pushing them. You can see on here that mortgage offers are running out of time and especially at the moment buyers are worried about all kinds of things.

so it's more about the buyers circumstances and whether they're able to wait, and if not, what the priorities are for the op.

propertyrental

It's reasonable to take.... as long as it takes!
You cannot make the decision to buy elsewhere till you find the right property for you.
I had an offer accepted last April and still waiting for sellers to find somewhere.... Admittedly at the time they said they were looking for a retirement bungalow (notoriously hard to find) and were not going to just buy the 1st one they saw. And I said I was in no hurry/prepared to wait, but the point is a) communication /mutual understanding is important and b) no one can rush you.
If it takes you time and your buyers don't want to wait, find other buyers/re-market, and let them find a different house to buy!