How did you know when you had found the right house?

[Levantine]

Dh and I have been looking for ages, missed a couple we loved and now need to find somewhere soon or risk losing our buyers

Did you buy a house you weren't sure about and have it work out? We are getting paralysed by the stress of it all I think

Another one saying rent here. I would have definitely done that but our mortgage company would have charged us a fortune in early redemption penalties but it would have taken so much pressure off and puts you in a fantastic negotiating position when you do find the one.

Agree with gnome about having a basic list and agreeing non-negotiables.

For me it's about the good points outweighing the compromises, because unless you've got endless cash you are going to have to compromise on something. We've just found somewhere and a couple of things I initially wasn't happy with but the good points outweigh them so they don't worry me anymore.

All the best, it is such a stressful business and I completely know what you mean about being paralysed with stress. Just keep going back to why you are moving as this helped bring us a bit of clarity, it basically came down to having a garden and a bit more space which simplified things!

We spent 12 years in a new build bought off plan that we hated from day one. After that we decided that when we next moved we would go with 'gut' first and foremost. We turned down houses that were absolutely perfect on paper, just because when we walked in it didn't feel right.

Buying this time, we viewed loads of houses and only 2 felt right to me. We started off with a long list of what the house had to have, the most vital being at least 2 toilets, and off-road parking. We worked out which areas we liked, near good schools, researched them and looked at houses. No luck. Then we'd had enough, and just booked lots of viewings. This house was the second one we looked at on one day, and we both said it felt like our house when we walked in. (The only one of all the many houses we saw that we both liked). Each subsequent viewing we kept comparing back to this one.

It only has one toilet and no off-road parking . We also realised after we moved in that the road system is ridiculous, and have to drive a mile out of our way every time we come home, plus we didn't get into the really good school that traditionally children from this road go to :(

But it still feels like home.

Thanks everyone

We saw five houses today

One I really loved needed too much work doing to it and is a three bed with no room to go to the attic so that's out

One on a road that is too busy

One that is a good deal I think, but not sure that I really like the area

Anyway, we did see one that we both fell in love with but it is - due to the baby boom in London atm - outside the catchment for any decent primary school. We cd travel ds1 into his current school for a while and wait for a waiting list place to come up but is it a really bad idea to buy a family house with no good primaries nearby? Am thinking about if we had to sell really

I reckon you need to look at more houses before you decide on that.

I'm in the opposite position, in that our buyer has pulled out but we've found a house we love. It's strange, it is almost not so much that we like it, but it just feels like it is 'ours'. Even the things that are bad about it are bad in a way that is us. Usually I am the dreamer and DH is v sensible. This time even he says this is The One. It won't be though .

That said, last time we bought was almost at the peak of the market (late 2006). We kept booking to view flats and they'd sell before we had a chance to look at them. I think ours was the third property we looked at, and the cheapest - pretty much our priority at the time.

I also reckon Kirstie and Phil have to take a bit of blame in that we all feel the need to look for a 'forever home' once we have DCs. Did they invent that phrase, or just make it sound so natural?

Patsy that was what happened with this house! Our buyer pulled out and the sale fell through more than once. Our vendors pulled out and no-one offered so they decided to rent it. No-one took it. We wrote them a long email basically asking them to sell it to us again. It was unbelievably stressful as it was a group of siblings who had inherited the house and they all wanted to do different things with the house. They eventually agreed to sell it to us and even though it still wasn't smooth sailing (9 months start to finish!) we feel like the house sort of waited for us. It always felt like ours, right from the beginning. I really REALLY hope your house waits for you.

I would say rent too. We have bought two houses - our first home (DH loved it, I thought it was OK but grew to love it ) and our current family home which I just knew was our house by the end of the first viewing. It just felt so right and all our furniture would fit etc etc. You sound like you are 'panic-viewing' houses - why not rent for 6 months and then just grab something that you really want when it comes up?

'panic-viewing'

panicking all round really

WE put an offer in on our current house early March last year and moved in Easter weekend - so around 6 weeks! Probably 8 weeks from first viewing. We had been looking for ages and the house we had been hoping for fell through at last minute for various reasons (and am so glad now - it would have been a money pit). dh saw current house online - I initially rejected it becasue it looked too small but we viewed anyway - and I immediately fell in love with the sitting room (and yes - started working out where the Christmas tree would go!). It's not perfect - kitchen smaller than we woudl like, has electric heating rather than oil / gas central heating but is very definitely the "right" house for us.