Time taken to find new house?

[AthleteW]

I’ve just started my search and have spent a few days on Rightmove and not found a single property I want to go and see (looking in two areas!) so wondered how long it took you to find your new home after starting the search?

Last time it only took us a few days as we saw it on Rightmove straight away and loved it in real life. But thought to ask so I can set expectations!

I would generally advise seeing anything that meets you basic criteria especially at the moment when I think people are mostly moving when they have to rather

We are making a big move so we want the new home to be our forever home so slightly fussy. We want to move, we don’t have to.

I'd also echo going to see anything that meets basic criteria.
When I was house hunting 11 years ago I originally dismissed the house I ended up buying because it had everything but the extra bedroom I needed. After our sale fell through estate agent convinced me to have a look as it could be easily converted. I bought it and converted a bedroom into two. It's definitely worth going to see a few and visualising your options.

It took us 5 month to view the first house we liked. Then another 4 months to view some others.

Its been a year and we haven't even viewed anything.

We are looking in a specific area though so options are limited.

Good luck!

Thank you for this! Did you find one in the end?

Both times it's been between 7 and 10 months...I am quite fussy though!

About 5/6 viewings each time and a LOT of research.

I am also really fussy!! I don’t want to just view anything either!

I wasn't planning to move! Bored and walked to the shop, spotted the new builds and thought I would have a nosy...
and yeah, bought one

😁are you happy there?

We saw about 30 houses over a two year period.

One we offered on but very low; the owners wanted a lot of money for it and without work it was technically only a 2 bed. AFAIK, it still hasn't sold (5 years later).

One we offered on and then our other sale fell through so we had to pull out.

One we were proceeding with purchasing but there was an enormous water leak (they turned off the water as it was vacant and the pipes burst; water was streaming through for weeks until someone went to check on the property). We withdrew as it would have been a massive undertaking to resolve - either by them or us.

We bought the fourth and have been here for 5 years.

Seriously, go and see everything in your budget. We were convinced our house wasn’t right for us but fell in love with it once we saw it properly. Photos often don’t show the full picture!

Something I did was that when I saw a house on the market that was potentially a good fit, I'd drive to view it from the outside,
walk around the area, see what it was like at night, what the neighbours seemed like etc before making contact with the EA.

One I was able to rule out straight away as I drove 35 mins to check it out only to discover it was right next to a field with a mahooooosive electricity Pylon as the next door neighbour! Saved me a lot of time in the long run. And crossed a few houses off before viewing.

Another looked perfect from the pics on Rightmove. I drove past to be greeted with 5 big dogs in the front window, a breed that's known to be smelly/have hygeine issues. They bred them! Again...ruled out straight away and no one's time was wasted.

I agree with this. Of the four we offered on, three were ones DH persuaded me to see even though I'd discounted them for whatever reason.

We're living in one of those now.

Omg!! I’m so glad you didn’t waste time and go and see them! For me it’s mainly about the area and neighbours - we are moving from a busy place to a hopefully quieter one and it’s the street and surroundings that matter the most to me.

We looked at 3 houses. The third one was love at first sight and we were lucky enough to get our offer accepted. Maybe took six months for the whole process.

Started looking in April 2019. Eventually moved October 2022. Saw two houses we liked enough to offer on in that time. Still had to compromise on some significant stuff with the house we eventually moved to.

Can I possibly ask what you compromised on? I’ve made a list of what I want and wondering what I may have to cut off….

That sounds very similar to me.

At one point found the perfect house but location was terrible.

My first home, I knew the street was the one the minute I drove down it. Neighbours, location, everything was just right but the first house wasn't. Viewed a few on that street, told the EA I was very keen on the area but those houses weren't working for me. He then told me he had one coming on the market in the next few weeks and allowed me the first viewing, before it went live. Loved it, offered almost 10k less (it was considerably over budget) and it was accepted.

Started looking 2015. Could not settle on anything so ended up getting married first, then resumed house hunting. Saw about 20-30 properties at least? A new development launched unexpectedly near where we lived and we were lucky enough to be top of the queue as DH chatted with the site manager and he gave us the inside info re estate agent and launch date. But we could have missed it as were in the US a week before!

About 5 years so far 😆

Yes, we did! How long one can wait to find a property depends on their circumstances, life stages, and age. We have not exchanged contracts yet, though. Our buyers solicitors are really slow.
We did a lot of research before calling an agent to view properties. Street-viewing is the first, then planning application searches nearby on the local council's website, flight-paths, near-by schools OFSTED reports. It was really tiring, but I did not want to waste the owners' time, EA's time either.
Good luck!

This is a great list for me! I’m feeling a bit deflated that I couldn’t find anything online!