How many houses did you view?

[tyler80]

OH is starting to moan we'll never find anywhere I like despite the fact we've only viewed 6 houses. I didn't think that was a huge number.

Rightly or wrongly I think you should have a gut feeling about a house and it hasn't happened yet. We're not in a rush to buy and I don't think we'll lose anything by waiting. Just because there's nothing on the market right now doesn't mean there won't be something next week/month etc.

So, tell me how many houses you viewed and reassure me I'm not just being a fussy bugger!

Well, we viewed the best two so far today, although at completely opposite ends of the spectrum. One at the top of budget but would need absolutely nothing doing, the other very affordable but needs a lot of work (although nothing structural).

Although in the current climate I'm starting to wonder whether our top end budget is too high. We have a joint income of around 40k and are looking to borrow a maximum 105 ish with a minimum 15% deposit (20k).

I only viewed 3... but then it was a bbit of a difficult situation - my landlord had announced he was selling the house I was renting, and although he hadn't actually given me notice, I knew I couldn't find anywhere else to rent (that'd be the trouble with owning pets) so buying and buying fairly quickly was my only real option.

Being on my own and with a none-too-flash salary, I was looking at the lowest end of the market. Ended up buying a fixer-upper, but was in within 2 weeks (after a bit of plumbing work to get the heating working) and now am at the 3 1/2 month stage and it's actually mostly liveable. Still lots to do and I don't yet own an oven, but I don't hate it!

Would have liked to have had more choice and looked at a few more places, but that might just be because I find other people's houses quite fascinating!!!

tyler80 I think your budget is very doable. We are borrowing more (in terms of times our combined salaries) but we have more deposit (25%) so it all swings and roundabouts.

BTW, we also saw houses on different ends of the spectrum like you and we went for the top end, nothing doing to it house as we have two young DSs and neither of us are DIYers! I think you just need to decide based on your family needs. We would just rather move into a house and enjoy living in it than face years of having work done to it! But that's just us... :)

The first time we bought we viewed 3 and bought the second one.

The next time we bought a brand new home after going out for a drive to look at areas. Walked in the showhouse, they told us what houses were available in our price range, showed us one we were interested in and 30 mins later we had signed to buy it.

This time we also bought brand new and only saw the specs.

Now on the market and looking for an older house in a completely different area. Rightmove and findaproperty are my new best friends. Dh finds a house he likes and then through google and all the other sites, I say why it isn't suitable :)

Will have a list of about 6-10 to view when we go up there as it is a long journey so will blitz in a weekend.

I flew from Switzerland and looked at 17 houses in two days. I knew the house I wanted to buy from the moment I walked into it.
DH hasn't been inside, he's seen it from the outside.
Me and DD are moving into it later this year, DH will commute to visit us.