Anyone not being picky - and STILL can't find anything?

[PessimisticOptimist]

We've been on the hunt for 18 months. In that time, we've expanded our search area and budget. We've offered on four houses - three times we were outbid by developers and one time they decided not to sell. But nothing has come on for us to view in the last couple of months.

I guess I'm looking for a support group on here to commiserate with me 😂

Everyone we talk to says:

• The market is crazy right now
• It will settle down
• More will become available eventually
• Just be patient

But I worry about getting priced out of the market if we wait too long. How long do we wait for the "right" house?

[PessimisticOptimist]

Just to add - I contact all the local estate agents on a weekly basis. I've proactively posted in the local FB group. I've leafletted houses I like. I check rightmove, zoopla, onthemarket, gumtree, and fb marketplace several times a day.

Anyone else in this boat? Would love to know I'm not alone...

[redpickle]

My name is Redpickle and I am a Rightmove addict. Posted on a similar thread earlier in the week. We've been under offer for 7 weeks and not found anything to even offer on. Are you selling too?

[umbel]

You are not alone.

We are, I think, pretty open about what we will settle for: detached, semi, terrace, perfect or a doer upper, not bothered about parking or a garage but do want a garden. We’ve expanded our search area, leafletted, made a pain of ourselves to all the estate agents, stalked all the apps, asked in Facebook. Honestly, I feel like we’ve tried everything! We’ve lost out 3 times (vendors withdrew on one occasion and twice we were outbid).

I think our sticking point is that we, along with everyone else round here it seems, want a 4th bedroom. There is nothing coming on, and when one does appear, competition is insane and it is sold within a few days.

[PessimisticOptimist]

My tribe! I'm so glad I found you!

We're longtime renters who managed to save our deposit just when the market went mad.

I'm so glad there are other Rightmove addicts too. My DH laughs at the way I obsessively refresh, but I'm like, "Babe, ya gotta call the second the property is posted, and offer your left kidney, or else you don't stand a chance."

Do you ever go through the same 40 properties that aren't shifting in case you magically like one of them suddenly? 😂

[umbel]

“ Do you ever go through the same 40 properties that aren't shifting in case you magically like one of them suddenly? 😂”

Yes! Like they have suddenly grown another room or had a garden added. Or, in my saner moments, is there any way we could extend. I can always spot instantly when one goes, and if it comes back on again. One reappeared near us recently for £85k more than the January asking price 😳

[Mintjulia]

It took me a year. I started out wanting a 3 bed and ended up with a very scruffy 4 bed because that's all I could get The landlord had given notice to quit the flat, the deadline for getting a school place for ds was 9 weeks away, and I had to threaten to pull out if the chain didn't all stop wavering and get on and exchange.
In the end we moved on the Friday and the notice to quit was up, the following Monday.
Hang on in there, something will shift.

[Pottytraining37473]

@PessimisticOptimist

My tribe! I'm so glad I found you!

We're longtime renters who managed to save our deposit just when the market went mad.

I'm so glad there are other Rightmove addicts too. My DH laughs at the way I obsessively refresh, but I'm like, "Babe, ya gotta call the second the property is posted, and offer your left kidney, or else you don't stand a chance."

Do you ever go through the same 40 properties that aren't shifting in case you magically like one of them suddenly? 😂

We are in exactly the same situtation.
I could have written your OP!

We saved up just intime for the market to go crazy and now cannot find anything or are always outbid on every single property.

And Yes! I am constantly going through the same ones just toooo seeeeeeeee if i missed anything I actually mayyy like after looking for the 100th time.

Glad to know we are not alone

[CausingChaos2]

I check Rightmove every day. Honestly I just don’t see how things will get better when there’s still so much competition. The stamp duty holiday bumped prices up, even an estate agent we did a viewing with agreed that places aren’t worth what they’re up for at the moment, and yet they are selling.

Everything we like is going for well over asking. We viewed a place that needed completely gutting the other week, uninhabitable in current state, there were 7 offers on the table most of which were over asking. Not going to be drawn in to a bidding war when the process is all so secretive.

[FreeBritnee]

Oh yes 🤣

[BrilloPaddy]

We've been looking for 18 months and have taken ours off the market twice as a result as we can't face going into rented.

We found an amazing property which set the whole moving idea off..... and lost it at the last moment to a developer. Haven't found anything that remotely compares. Our only non negotiable is space between us and the neighbouring houses as we've got horribly noisy neighbours (hence moving) and can't face jumping ship to the same situation. Anything else is negotiable - size, shape, amount of work that needs doing. It's really really getting me down, tbh.

[PessimisticOptimist]

Ohhh I so get you. This is one that just sold recently. Granted, they did do it up a bit, but still - not £100k worth of upgrades 😭

[PessimisticOptimist]

@BrilloPaddy I can't even imagine! That seriously sucks. We've never got that far down the line yet, but I would absolutely lose my mind if that happened to me.

And space between neighbours is my non-negotiable too. I've had really horrible experiences in the past with party walls - like medically diagnosed PTSD afterward.

But detached houses (in any condition) are flying off the shelves. A perfect one was posted yesterday. I called 5mins after it was listed on RM, and they said, "Oh sorry, this one already sold before we posted it." So WHY did you post it?

I can't tell you how grateful I am to hear of other people with the same experiences. I'm not glad you're going through it, but I'm glad I'm not the only one...

[Pottytraining37473]

[quote PessimisticOptimist]@BrilloPaddy I can't even imagine! That seriously sucks. We've never got that far down the line yet, but I would absolutely lose my mind if that happened to me.

And space between neighbours is my non-negotiable too. I've had really horrible experiences in the past with party walls - like medically diagnosed PTSD afterward.

But detached houses (in any condition) are flying off the shelves. A perfect one was posted yesterday. I called 5mins after it was listed on RM, and they said, "Oh sorry, this one already sold before we posted it." So WHY did you post it?

I can't tell you how grateful I am to hear of other people with the same experiences. I'm not glad you're going through it, but I'm glad I'm not the only one...[/quote]
I have seen this too. Why list these properties if they have been sold. They are just wasting their time, taking a load of calls for viewings when infact it has sold.

We viewed a property last week that needed completely redoing. The estate agent showing us around, really honest man said its not worth the asking price, infact its 30k lower but the sellers want the seller gets. If that estate agent doesn’t take it one someone else will. So they do.

So now there have already been offers over the asking even though it is not liveable to any degree.

It is really getting us down cannot see an end in sight

[user1471538283]

Me too! I was arrogant in the beginning and thought with my having everything ready I could have my pick. I'm not picky anymore except area because you've got to have some standards but there is nothing bad everything is so expensive.

Surely something has got to give?!

[dubyalass]

Checking in! I check Rightmove several times a day but the only one that was of any interest sold a day before I got my DIP (didn't realise I could have got one with just a job offer, rather than having to wait till I'd got three months' payslips). That was nine months ago and I've only viewed two houses since. My search area is relatively small (two small towns) but it seems like everything sold last year and now nobody's planning to move! I'm in Cornwall though, where all sense and reason has gone out of the window where the property market is concerned.

[dubyalass]

I'm not that picky, I'm happy to extend, buy a wreck etc. Just very limited stock.

[PessimisticOptimist]

@dubyalass

Checking in! I check Rightmove several times a day but the only one that was of any interest sold a day before I got my DIP (didn't realise I could have got one with just a job offer, rather than having to wait till I'd got three months' payslips). That was nine months ago and I've only viewed two houses since. My search area is relatively small (two small towns) but it seems like everything sold last year and now nobody's planning to move! I'm in Cornwall though, where all sense and reason has gone out of the window where the property market is concerned.

My stepmum and dad live in Cornwall and said the market is unlike anything they've seen. They were looking for a property recently and said even unmortgageable properties like mundic block or single skin are going for silly amounts 🧐

[dubyalass]

Yes, exactly - it's insane. I think it might be slowing a bit - I'm definitely seeing more reductions - but anything decent is fully booked for viewings within hours. I'm just not prepared to get into bidding wars, particularly with cash buyers from out of county. I need to register with the various agents - haven't bothered with many so far because I just haven't seen anything I liked.

[Paranoidandroidmarvin]

I was worrying about this when we put our house on the market. We sold in 12 hours and there was only one we liked even enough online to go and look at. Luckily we loved it and we got it. But. If this all falls through there really isn’t anything else out there.
Which is hard as we are moving for medical reasons and cannot just wait. So I have everything crossed for this move

[Iamanunsafebuilding]

[quote PessimisticOptimist]@BrilloPaddy I can't even imagine! That seriously sucks. We've never got that far down the line yet, but I would absolutely lose my mind if that happened to me.

And space between neighbours is my non-negotiable too. I've had really horrible experiences in the past with party walls - like medically diagnosed PTSD afterward.

But detached houses (in any condition) are flying off the shelves. A perfect one was posted yesterday. I called 5mins after it was listed on RM, and they said, "Oh sorry, this one already sold before we posted it." So WHY did you post it?

I can't tell you how grateful I am to hear of other people with the same experiences. I'm not glad you're going through it, but I'm glad I'm not the only one...[/quote]
I think by law an EA has to list a property to earn their fee!

[BrilloPaddy]

We viewed a very sad 1960s bungalow a couple of weeks ago. It was off a very large common, with a shared access road but very private once behind the gates. We were so excited as the location was amazing.
The reality was a horribly unusable and almost uninhabitable wreck. It needed all the interior walls removing and reconfiguring, along with new windows/doors, boiler and plumbing, kitchen, bathrooms and utility room. The garden was so overgrown it needed professionally clearing, the septic tank needed replacing, and the patios had sunk. The garage block was likely asbestos, and the crowning glory was the immediate NDN's looked like hoarders........... a builder friend said he thought you'd spend around £200k minimum and likely more as it hadn't been touched since being built.
After an internet search, we realised it had been listed and not sold 18 months ago for just under £500k. It was sold for offers over £700k and the EA hinted that it was nearer to £750k. The market is insane.

[PessimisticOptimist]

Well, I think by law the EA shouldn't be allowed to prey on the fragile nerves of weary Rightmove stalkers...

It's cool, though. If all else fails, we could end up somewhere like this that "makes great use of space."

[PessimisticOptimist]

@BrilloPaddy

We viewed a very sad 1960s bungalow a couple of weeks ago. It was off a very large common, with a shared access road but very private once behind the gates. We were so excited as the location was amazing.
The reality was a horribly unusable and almost uninhabitable wreck. It needed all the interior walls removing and reconfiguring, along with new windows/doors, boiler and plumbing, kitchen, bathrooms and utility room. The garden was so overgrown it needed professionally clearing, the septic tank needed replacing, and the patios had sunk. The garage block was likely asbestos, and the crowning glory was the immediate NDN's looked like hoarders........... a builder friend said he thought you'd spend around £200k minimum and likely more as it hadn't been touched since being built.
After an internet search, we realised it had been listed and not sold 18 months ago for just under £500k. It was sold for offers over £700k and the EA hinted that it was nearer to £750k. The market is insane.

No doubt advertised as "in need of some modernisation" and "a great place for you to put your stamp on it."

[BeardyButton]

O Jesus OP!!!! I ve had a rough day. That picture made me smile!!!!!

[PessimisticOptimist]

@BeardyButton

O Jesus OP!!!! I ve had a rough day. That picture made me smile!!!!!

It's my second favourite bathroom - after this one obvs.