Buying Your Home

[-UnderClocker-]

Hi everyone. Just wondering how long it took those of you who own a home, to actually find it?

I recently started looking to buy my first home. Just last Saturday I got myself a mortgage in principle. I've spent this week looking around and thus far, I have found just one property that I was genuinely interested in buying. However it turned out to be sold already. As of right now, I have set up alerts via a few websites for certain properties and my plan is to wait and see what, if anything pops up. But I wonder how long it could actually take. I find myself feeling a kind of pressure to find and buy something as soon as possible, because who knows what direction the housing market will go in the next few weeks and months. I'm keen to hear others experience.

 

[koolpc]

How long is a piece if string?

Its a waiting game for the house you fall in love with to show up for sale.

 

[dirtychinchilla]

In my experience, finding the house you want is very difficult.

 

[danlightbulb]

Depends on how fussy you are, personally think it's right to be fussy with such a big purchase although people will say otherwise.

In my experience, finding the house you want is very difficult.

Same.

 

[daz]

It's absolutely right to be fussy, but unless you have an unlimited budget you'll almost always have to make a compromise on something. It's just working out what that something is that is tricky because it's not the same for everyone. For some it might be having a smaller garden in exchange for an extra bedroom/office, or it might be being in a specific location so that you can have a drive way big enough for two cars.

 

[ChrisD.]

The system works against you if you have a house to sell, a lot of EAs won't even let you view properties unless you are SSTC yourself. There are ways around it but I find it a huge hindrance. I'm constantly looking at Rightmove, in fact we've even seen a house we both adore with huge potential but we know it's not likely to happen.

 

[Begbie]

Like two days, but a unique position of having to move and little time to do so. So bought the first thing that looked semi decent, removed a lot of the stress tbh.

 

[sx_turbo]

Hi everyone. Just wondering how long it took those of you who own a home, to actually find it?

I recently started looking to buy my first home. Just last Saturday I got myself a mortgage in principle. I've spent this week looking around and thus far, I have found just one property that I was genuinely interested in buying. However it turned out to be sold already. As of right now, I have set up alerts via a few websites for certain properties and my plan is to wait and see what, if anything pops up. But I wonder how long it could actually take. I find myself feeling a kind of pressure to find and buy something as soon as possible, because who knows what direction the housing market will go in the next few weeks and months. I'm keen to hear others experience.

Sometimes months sometimes weeks.

There isn't so much housing stock at the minute as the prices and values are all over the shop.

We was looking at putting ours up for sale and getting something smaller, but looking around smaller houses we like are up for as much as our large house in the same area so we're staying put for now.

Also spring time is the best time for house selling so chances are there will be more choice in a month or 2 when spring hits.

 

[sovietspybob]

Our current house took about 4-5 years as we looked for ages but couldn't find what we wanted so started looking for land to build what we did want and that whole process takes an absolute age.

 

[Bug One]

Our first house, we spent a few weeks looking. Viewed about 5, then decided on the one we lived at for ~10 years. Took a few months all in.

The current house we saw up for sale and we moved very quickly. Had ours on the market and accept an offer on it within 36 hours. Was able to make an offer on the house we wanted, and have it accepted in under a week from first seeing it.

 

[mattyfez]

I was looking for about a year probably... Stuff in my price range was over priced for what it was or in an area of town I didn't want to be in, or needed too much work etc etc.

The right thing came Up for sale eventually though.

 

[rodders]

The two houses we have bought, probably spent less time looking at than cars.

Walked in, liked them, felt right.

 

[fastwunz]

The system works against you if you have a house to sell, a lot of EAs won't even let you view properties unless you are SSTC yourself. There are ways around it but I find it a huge hindrance. I'm constantly looking at Rightmove, in fact we've even seen a house we both adore with huge potential but we know it's not likely to happen.

To be fair, unless you are actually in a position to make an offer then why should the owner or the agent spend their time showing you around? It’s basic market forces. Thems what got the cash (and by this I mean being under offer) come before thems that don’t.

I appreciate you fancy a nosy but if you are REALLY serious then you will get yourself on the market at least before you start booking viewings. Some agents show people around no matter what, some (usually on the instruction of their client) won’t show anyone who isn’t proceedable. It’s fair enough in my book. Annoying I’m sure. Not having a dig but it’s business and goes both ways.

It’s like the bloke wandering around the Porsche garage when he hasn’t got a pot to relieve himself in. Why should the salesman (who is heavily commission based) waste his time with you when there are plenty of people who will earn him his cash?

 

[Semple]

In my experience, finding the house you want is very difficult.

Can't point this out enough.

We all have this "vision" of our ideal home, with a list of wants etc. I think we spent probably 12-18 months looking until something came up by chance that ticket all the crucial boxes.

The best advice I can give us come up with a list of wants, and then pick 1 or 2 as a minimum criteria. For example if you own a car (perhaps electric) then off-road parking is likely a must, as in you wouldn't entertain looking at houses without one. Having a garden might be your second want, but if the garage is a third want you may well have to compromise on having a house with driveway and garden but no garage.

Realistically you're never going to find a house with the majority of your wants - at least not if it's your first house (and assuming you're not mega-rich, or building from scratch).

 

[ChrisD.]

To be fair, unless you are actually in a position to make an offer then why should the owner or the agent spend their time showing you around? It’s basic market forces. Thems what got the cash (and by this I mean being under offer) come before thems that don’t.

I appreciate you fancy a nosy but if you are REALLY serious then you will get yourself on the market at least before you start booking viewings. Some agents show people around no matter what, some (usually on the instruction of their client) won’t show anyone who isn’t proceedable. It’s fair enough in my book. Annoying I’m sure. Not having a dig but it’s business and goes both ways.

It’s like the bloke wandering around the Porsche garage when he hasn’t got a pot to relieve himself in. Why should the salesman (who is heavily commission based) waste his time with you when there are plenty of people who will earn him his cash?

I appreciate that, but my point is that it sometimes takes years to find the right house. Are you expecting people to have their house on the market that entire time on the off chance they spot something and want to go and view it? It's a significant amount of effort putting your own home on the market and arranging viewings etc, before going through that pain it's nice to know if that one house you've been waiting years for is really the right one. We are in a lucky position where we have enough savings to get an AIP for the price range we are looking for without requiring to sell but not everyone is in that position. It's the position that allowed us to buy the house we are in now, as otherwise we would have lost out on it.

 

[Derek W]

Hi everyone. Just wondering how long it took those of you who own a home, to actually find it?

I recently started looking to buy my first home. Just last Saturday I got myself a mortgage in principle. I've spent this week looking around and thus far, I have found just one property that I was genuinely interested in buying. However it turned out to be sold already. As of right now, I have set up alerts via a few websites for certain properties and my plan is to wait and see what, if anything pops up. But I wonder how long it could actually take. I find myself feeling a kind of pressure to find and buy something as soon as possible, because who knows what direction the housing market will go in the next few weeks and months. I'm keen to hear others experience.

Finding a house for sale - easy.
Finding a house for sale you like - more difficult.
Finding a house for sale that ticks all the boxes - nigh on impossible.
Finding a home for sale that you don't want to leave - impossible!

From my own experience i seem to think that it took me a few months to find the house im in just now but that's more from the point of view that there wasn't a huge number of houses for sale in my price range at the time. I do remember that I'd viewed one 'villa' previously, I saw this place and i had a viewing arranged for a top floor flat which was cancelled in the end as I was set on putting an offer in for this place.

Depending on your situation will probably determine how quickly you want to move? Is it just yourself looking or are you with a partner / family? Are you living at home now or in rented / shared accommodation? (you don't have to answer either of these questions but it may help in deciding what you're looking for)

Quantifying the statements up top for my situation made the decision quite easy for me as I was just looking to get my own place and i wanted to be relatively comfortable financially so i bought a 2 bed place below my top budget at the time. It's nothing fancy, just an ex council house but the area is nice enough with a mixture of young and old / families most are privately owned but some still in the housing associations ownership. No real dramas, fine enough neighbours and I've got my own wee garden to sit out in. All in all it suits me fine but I'm under no illusion that this will be my final house. I have got plans for finding a plot of land in the countryside and drawing up my own plans for a house so as of this month I'll be saving up for that since I've paid off the mortgage on this place.

Taking sentiment out of the equation simplifies decision making because if you're looking for your ideal home then you might get frustrated very quickly and I don't think many people walked into an estate agents with a wad of cash and bought their dream home right from the word go. I also wouldn't get too hung up on where the housing market will go cos that's depressing enough as it is. When the market is good, the house prices increase and you can't afford to buy, when the market goes down, prices go down but banks don't want to lend as freely!

If you can find a place that meets your needs e.g space (possibly with room for expansion), location (work, friends, family) and it's not in a complete dump it'll more than likely give you a bit more leverage to getting your next house and climb the property ladder as your situation develops.

 

[SoliD]

First house about 3 months, second about 6. Although a month of that we were away on holiday.

 

[IvanDobskey]

Depends. My first house I wasn't really fussy. Just had to be cheap and in roughly the right area. Only looked at three and bought it pretty quickly.

My second house was bought with my Mrs, now that was a totally different kettle of fish

 

[-UnderClocker-]

Thank you for sharing your experiences. I currently share a house with a few members of my family, as well as my wife and baby. We all pay an equal share of the bills. I'm not in a rush to leave myself. I find our living situation less than ideal but still very good compared to many. My wife wants to go sooner rather than later because she doesn't always get along with my family (I don't either but it doesn't bother me as much as it bothers her). That being said, I don't think it's a good idea to find literally anything that we can live in, just to have our own place. While I don't expect to find our dream home at all, I also don't want to spend the next 10+ years minimum, living in a place that we found just because we felt as though we had to have our own place, or because we thought house prices would increase too fast.

I would say that my situation is similar to you, Derek W. I don't seem to be able to find much within my budget in the areas I would like to live in. But there are a few places here and there. I'm just not sure whether to wait and see what pops up in the coming months, or buy what's currently available. I'm still on week one of looking and so I guess there is no rush just yet.

 

[DJMK4]

Its a difficult process because if it's a good price and has all your wants . It will likely be snapped up .so you have to go quickly. Go direct to the agents to find out what's being listed before it goes on the websites like Rightmove etc. If you find a property you like do all the checks (bring a few people with you if you know anyone skilled with stuff) .. depending if it's a house you just want to buy that's good or a project house makes all the difference in your decision..

If the property has been on the market for some time but not sold..you have some movement and negotiation.to get them.down on price. Properties when you look at it and know this could be snapped up quickly.. go In with an offer thats fair but strong but not over the top (if you get what I mean).

I only searched 4 houses before I moved In to current one.. but I know the area as I have lived here over 10 years and it's a sought after area so they go quickly usually. Just make sure you are happy with the overall condition..what you would have to pay for repairs or to get it in to something you want if it's not already at that point, happy with storage and size

(Yes if I could go back I would have bought a bigger house at them time) example..

That being said at the moment with the housing market..sellers are going to want to try and hold on to the value in a market that has slightly dipped because of events over the past year or so


I bought in 2018 before COVID, before wars and before the mortgage rates went up..