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Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Property/DIY

How many properties did you look at before buying?

44 replies

LillianGish · 30/09/2015 19:14

We're hoping to buy a new property - just sold the old one and in a rental so pretty much ready to go when we find what we want. We've probably looked at 12 so far and I've found one I like, but was talking to someone today who said she'd looked at 130 before she took the plunge. It's just that feeling that once we sign on the dotted line what if the perfect property drops into my inbox? No right answer to this of course, but wondered how many properties others had looked at before settling on the one they finally bought? Words of wisdom please wise Mumsnetters.

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goblinhat · 30/09/2015 22:53

I have owned 4 properties, the one I am living in now ( bought last year) was the first and only property I looked at.
OH agreed without even seeing it.

The first time he saw it was on the day of completion and were handed the keys.

Pigeonpost · 30/09/2015 23:15

Erm...2!! I looked at a lot on Rightmove but we moved over 300 miles and had limited time for visiting and there wasn't much choice anyway. Plus we just 'knew' with this house.

HoneyDragon · 30/09/2015 23:34

None.

The first time I saw our house properly was the day before we moved in

Roseandbee · 01/10/2015 07:23

First time about 4
Second time about 80! But did offer on 2 that turned out to have problems, we were also agreeing to let agents line up properties we didn't ask about on the back of other viewings.
This time round I think about 20 over 2 years but dismissed 100s on rightmove as we had a big search area

WiIdfire · 01/10/2015 07:36

We looked at about 5, none of them perfect. Then we decided to go and nosey around a showhome despite knowing they were way out of our price range and fell in love with it. Was gutted we had completely ruined our house search as there was no chance of affording one like it, when one of the same model came up for 40k less second hand. Spent a couple of weeks wondering what was wrong with it to make it so cheap, bought it anyway, been here three years and still havent found anything wrong with it!

goblinhat · 01/10/2015 07:47

wildfire- I think sometimes a house is just destined for you.

I have had my eye on a fantastic area for years, houses are large and expensive- way over our budget.
Then when it came time to go house hunting we came across a dream house, in the area we were looking for, 30K below valuation.

It had been on the market for a year without any interest.
We had a full survey done as couldn't work out why it was so cheap without interest.

Put in an offer, was accepted. We have been here over a year now, house is perfect, still haven't found out why we managed to get it at a steal.
Other houses in the street are snapped up in a few weeks.

We love living here- OH and I have decided that the house way just waiting for us.

Cacofonix · 01/10/2015 10:20

I am pleasantly surprised how many people managed a handful or less. Me - at least 40. To be fair we had two chains collapse so that restarted the searches. But honestly I found it a real slog. DH probably saw about 5 with me as I saw a lot on my own and discounted them. This was mad London market last year - and to keep a good relationship with some estate agents I went to see quite a few they suggested that I knew I wasn't going to like (road, frontage, derelict....). Anyway it paid off as we are now in a lovely house. Phew!

LillianGish · 01/10/2015 10:45

I too am pleasantly surprised and relieved! I'm also taking some tips to choose with head not heart and also that if you like it, you like it. You may subsequently see something else you like, but as long as you like what you bought that's OK. So much is about what's on the market when you are looking. This thread is helping me be much more decisive.

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Hobbes8 · 01/10/2015 11:14

I think unless you're looking for something really quirky, a handful of houses is enough. We were originally looking in an area that was full of 3 bed 1930s semis. We viewed about 4 and offered on our favourite. We were struggling to get an offer accepted as the market was a bit crazy so we ended up looking in a different area that was full of 1950s bungalows. We saw 3 and offered on our favourite and now we live here.

Maybe people with huge budgets can be picky but for me I knew what sort of thing I could afford and what sort of compromises I would have to make.

carmugz · 01/10/2015 12:24

i think 5-7 houses for our first and current house. definitely a head over heart purchase. Closer to work by 40 mins/ extending opportunities/sought after area/easier resale.

Last year, we had seriously thought about moving, budget for mortgage in principle, house on market, looking at new properties etc. my perfect house came on the market, i actually welled up with tears when viewing as it felt so right but dh couldnt stomach the 3 mile move from this area as he loved where we are so much.

We've now decided and have started an extension. Im happy but feel a bit like i should be in the other house that i cried in!

Elvish · 01/10/2015 17:53

I'm one of the people who viewed 100+ houses before we bought this one. We used to line them all up at the weekend in 30 min slots, 15 mins to view and 15 to get to the next one. Our max was 16 one weekend.

We did have a list of requirements and a fairly large search area, but no preconceptions about style etc. We were looking for a forever house and had no chain, so no rush to buy something.

We fell in love with a house but it was over valued and they wouldn't budge on our offer so we walked away. I regretted it for months as we didn't see anything I liked as much - until our perfect house came up.

I'm glad we viewed so many, as the house we bought was a big leap and I don't think I would have been brave enough to buy it if we'd not ruled out every other possibility in a 50 mile radius

But we are odd - I don't know anyone else who has viewed so many!

Wheels79 · 01/10/2015 17:58

We looked at 4. We knew which area and our budget and so were able to narrow it down.

There is evidence that satisficers (those that choose the first thing that meets their criteria) are generally happier with their choice than maximisers (those that do lots of research to find the absolute best thing for the price).

wonkylegs · 01/10/2015 18:02

We looked at 19 or 20 I think, it was a bit more tricky because we weren't after a particular type of house, we wanted something a bit different or with the ability to make it a bit different but we had a very definite area. We looked at bungalows to 3 storeys, barn conversion, a Georgian cottages, Victorian detached, victorian semis, Art Deco wreck, an old rectory, 1980,s detached, 1930's detached, wing of country house, old station.... All completely different

Alanna1 · 01/10/2015 18:10

First time round - dozens. Second time round, heavily pregnant with a toddler - none. I looked round after my husband had put an offer in. I think he looked at 2 others.

BasinHaircut · 01/10/2015 18:19

First time, when we were younger and didn't have to consider schools and the like we looked at probably 20 but offered on 3 in that time and even got so far as to have a survey on one that we didn't buy which threw up some issues we were not in a financial position to take on.

This time 1. We wanted to move to a certain area but we're in no rush. online searches never brought up anything within our budget and we had started to look further afield but not really happy about it.

Then this house came up (as they had dropped the price after 6 months no interest) and we knew it was our house as soon as we stepped through the front door. It has some issues but we were aware of most of them and were able to take a chunk of equity out of our old house to sort them out.

I agree that sometimes it's just fate and you end up where you are supposed to eventually!

LillianGish · 04/10/2015 09:42

Just been for a third viewing of the place we like and made an offer - not sure whether it will be accepted, but advice on this thread helped me to be decisive so thank you! I think part of the problem for me is that when viewing a property you probably spend less time than you would foot for foot (or metre for for metre) than you would checking out a new washing machine for instance (where you could go online and find some reviews for example). Even now I'm thinking of queries that don't necessarily occur to you on a first, second or even third viewing.

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gingerdad · 04/10/2015 13:45

Bought the 2nd one we looked at in the end.

BasinHaircut · 04/10/2015 18:14

lillian that's exactly the problem I think! Although I do firmly believe that sometimes you just 'know' you are meant to live somewhere (although I am aware how silly that sounds). Both of our house purchases (and all of the offers we made along the way) were all because of one important factor - layout. Even this house that needed some new walls and doorways to make how we wanted it felt like it would just work right for us, had the right flow etc. of course you need to do the other background work/surveys and most of the time location is most important, but once you've narrowed location down then it's always the one that 'feels' right for me.

BakewellStart · 05/10/2015 16:14

15 over 3.5 months. But we expanded our search area after about 10 weeks because we needed to move and the market was very limited in our original very limited search area.

Am nervous as hell. We are moving 300 miles and have only viewed the property we are buying then once. Cannot even recall certain things like what the landing or downstairs w/c looked like!!

We did go back tot he property several times the same day and walk around the street and area but we just had not time for a second viewing!!

That said we have been moving house every 2 or so years with the military and we never get to see the house prior to move in day - but then its not ours! This is certainly going to make for an interesting move in day (if we ever get though the bloody conveyancing)!!

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