How do you look for a house?

[Cabbagesoupsucks]

We vaguely toy with the idea of relocation from time to time. We have no particular area in mind other than fitting with DHs work. It's more the fact we want more space outside. A proper view, bigger garden etc. I quite like the idea of moving more rurally to achieve this but DH worries that as the kids get older and become teens, their opportunities will become limited.

But I guess how do you ever find the houses to view? I do scroll through Rightmove but you can t search by garden size or views etc.

visit areas you think you might like which will give you an idea of the streets u like, so makes it a smaller search online. then you just go and view anything that looks good on rightmove within that search area.

Go round all the estate agents as well. Some will be totally useless, like the one that gave me details of a flat with a shared garden, no children allowed, when I asked for detached family houses with gardens (and had my baby with me), but others will know which of the houses on their books have nice gardens and good views.

Write down stuff you need, stuff youd like and stuff you want to avoid. Then do a maximum budget on affordability.

I use On the Market for searching and most sites like this allow you to see the street views which help give you an idea of gardens, surrounding areas and houses.

You can set the filters to include items like gardens, parking, being a character property and more to help find the house that is perfect for you.

I agree about estate agents. We’re buying at the moment and some are very annoying but a couple just get me. Knowledgeable good ones (IME they are often the older ones in the office) know the good roads and will listen to exactly what you wanted so no one’s time is wasted.

First you need to decide on an area.

I did exactly the same about 15 years ago. We had no ties to anywhere but we had skills that meant we could get a job damn near anywhere.
We decided on the kind of town we wanted, then looked into whether we could afford those towns.
We then researched them and narrowed it down to three. We went for a long weekend in each one to see what it was like.

We rented for 6 months before we bought, just to be sure.

I would honestly try and move somewhere in walking distance of a bus route... the taxi duties when you have teens 😱