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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

House Hunting RANT!

16 replies

MTBMummy · 18/02/2013 10:10

I'm currently house hunting and I was wondering/ ranting is there a minimum size that a room needs to be before it can be called a bedroom?

We're looking at 3 bedroom houses, and in most cases the 3rd room is tiny, the smallest being 1m x 2m - how can that be classed as a bedroom???

And while I'm ranting what is it with terming a garage a garage, when it's been divided in two (with a wall) to create a utility room??? Surely if you can't get a car in it cannot be classed as a garage!

I'm not even going to start on agents who send you properties way in excess of your budget, or don't have the number of rooms or other requirements you asked for.

ARGH - rant ends - as you were

OP posts:

WireCatWhore · 18/02/2013 10:40

Ha ha haaa! Only just registered with Bairstow Eve's.
So far emails with houses totally unsuitable & not where we want them!
Yanbu.

Original poster

MTBMummy · 18/02/2013 11:42

Love the name Wire

I don't want to speak ill of swine excrement, but some of them really do seem as thick as pig shit! :-)

OP posts:

CloudsAndTrees · 18/02/2013 11:47

My friend is complaining a lot at the moment about estate agents that keep giving her details of properties unsuitable for her. I completely get what you are saying, but you have to remember that estate agents are working on behalf of their vendors, not their buyers.

You might be determined that you need a bigger third bedroom than the ones you have seen, but the next purchaser might be fine with a small third bedroom. You have both stated that you want a three bedroom home though, and the EA is obliged on behalf of their clients to show their properties to as many people as possible.

All that said, I do feel your pain!

Bowlersarm · 18/02/2013 11:57

It's up to the EA to let you have details of properties that might interest you.

It's up to you to read and check the details before you waste time going to view.

How would you feel if the agent didn't send you the property with the garage cut in two but that was absolutely perfect for you in every other way and you then missed out on it? Surely it's better to have a lot of house details to sift though rather than too few?

babiesinslingsgetcoveredinfood · 18/02/2013 11:58

We saw one with a bedroom so small it had a cot, a chair & no door! My broom cupboard was actually bigger. I tried to point out that this didn't meet our requirements and ea pointed to dd, then 5 mo & said, well she doesn't take up much room, you'll never find bigger on your budget!

We did, much bigger, nicer area, nicer house generally, better ea too! They are not all created equal!

YANBU
Get on the right move app.

LtEveDallas · 18/02/2013 12:27

I feel your pain. We have been house hunting (with no real urgency) for 2 years now. We want 3 double bedrooms - or at least 3 bedrooms with the ability to fit a double bed in.

We've given up now and started looking at 4 beds - on the assumption that if we cannot get what we want we could know a wall or two down!

One house we actually went to see had no photos of the bedrooms at all, but the rest of the house was pretty much what we wanted and the EA had told us that the 3 beds were definately double - we took the chance and drove up to see it...The third double bed was jammed in right up to the walls on either side and there was about a foot of space at the end of the bed. I was NOT impressed.

We also registered with 2 Estate Agents in the town we want to move to and gave them a ton of details about what we want, but specifically NOT to send us details of houses in X, Y and Z areas - but of course 90% of the details we get are in those areas.

I'm getting disheartened before we even start...

Original poster

MTBMummy · 18/02/2013 12:38

Ok - I will retract my pig shit comment - I'm just frustrated.

But I will say I spent ages on the phone (or in person with some) giving them very specific details on our needs, I kind of wished I hadn't wasted my time because they obviously don't pay any attention to what was said.

For example (and one that wound me up this morning) we have asked for 3/4 beds with a garage or outdoor space big enough to put a shed the size of a garage, for X budget. This morning I was sent a 2 bed flat, with no outdoor space, no garage and £100K over budget - it's beautiful luxury apartment, and I'm sure it will suit someone perfectly, but it doesn't tick a single box of what I need

We know we can get what we're asking for in our budget in the area we want, but wanted to register with agencies to speed up the process, I'm now going to unregister and stick to trawling right move and prime location.

OP posts:

Original poster

MTBMummy · 18/02/2013 12:40

LtEveDallas - I feel your pain - Pre DC when we moved into our current house, we were told it was 3 doubles, you could fit a double bed in the spare room, but you could only just open the door and couldn't walk around the bed. Thankfully we didn't need the 3rd double and it suited our needs at the time, but it only just fits a cotbed and a wardrobe in it now

OP posts:

soverylucky · 18/02/2013 12:42

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

FlouncingMintyy · 18/02/2013 12:43

There is almost nothing on the market atm and everyone wants the same thing. There aren't any ftbs around to buy the flats at the beginning of the chain but people who are already on the ladder are wanting to move from their larger flats or small houses to 3 bedroom houses.

The difference in price between a house with a box room and a house with a proper double third bedroom can be £100,000 in these parts.

The agents are probably just a bit desperate to show you that they haven't forgotten about you ...

WireCatWhore · 18/02/2013 12:43

I am dreading the selling side of it.

BerthaTheBogCleaner · 18/02/2013 12:53

At least they just email you all the details of unsuitable houses now. Last time we were househunting everything came in the post. I used to get all excited at the envelopes from the EAs and then - lo! Another house that doesn't meet our basic requirement of not being at the top of a bloody great hill. Such a waste of paper.

Soverylucky - we lost count of the number of people who came to view our 3-storey townhouse, having looked at the details with 3 separate floorplans, and then said "ooh no, it's got too many stairs".

slimyak · 18/02/2013 13:03

As someone has already said, get the Rightmove App. It will have everything from all local estate agents and you can play about with your requirement filters as much as you like.

We're in the house moving process and our local Estate Agent has actually restored my faith in the world of Estate Agents, they've been great with all the organising of selling, buying and surveys etc. However, it was Rightmove that allowed us to really look for what we wanted.

EA's will send you all sorts as they know most people compromise in some way on their journey as the perfect house rarely exists, but its only you that knows your particular priorities. We told EA we definitely wanted a garage but are buying a house with a big shed and on street parking, but the rest of the house is great.

As for 3 bedrooms, the third is always tiny from our experience. We looked at 4 beds or ones with a garage that could be extended over.

We're hopefully exchanging contracts this week and it's been an up hill struggle. Packing up a three bedroom house with 2 kids in tow seems a breeze it terms of stress. At least I don't have to keep tidying up anymore!

I feel your frustration. DH and I have a deal - what's said in house moving stays in house moving - no-one needs to carry stress negativity to their new home - Good luck!

emsyj · 18/02/2013 13:04

When we were looking for our first house, we registered with a number of agents and told them we wanted 2 bedrooms in either postcode X or postcode Y. One of the agents sent us details for a fecking Post Office (yes, a Post Office - business for sale) in postcode A, a full 10 miles away. Even Phil & Kirstie would surely not expect a buyer to compromise to that extent.

YANBU. Searching for a house to buy is stressful and hard work, even in a supposed buyers' market. In a way, our best buying experience has been when we were relocating long distance and DH flat refused to even consider renting (as we had been renting down south and he wanted to buy right away). We came here for a long weekend and viewed all the houses in the area we wanted that were within budget and then just picked one. No long drawn-out process, just viewed about 10 places and said, 'oh that one will do'.

Original poster

MTBMummy · 18/02/2013 13:05

OOOh - I learned last time, I ask for no post and refuse to see a property that I haven't seen the details for.

We were looking out of our area a few years ago, and asked an agent to put in as many viewings as they could in a day for us, following basic requirements - never ever ever again... We saw every thing from studios to 5 bed mansions (which were of course way out of budget) but at least we got to discover what the different areas were like :-)

OP posts:

TiaMariaandSpringCleaning · 18/02/2013 13:16

This just reminded me of the house DH and i were sent to view with a "specious integral double garage".

It probably has been exactly that at one point, but the owner had knocked through to create a much larger dining area. There must have been some planning issue with it though, as they'd kept the roller door at the front of the house, but now it opened up into a space about 60cm deep - if that! I kid you not, there was a single bicycle in there (side on, not lengthwise) when we viewed and it was a tight squeeze against the door - "spacious double garage"? Presumably for Corgi cars or Hot Wheels?

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