Started looking in January 2016 once we had MIP back and knew how much we could borrow.
Found one we liked in March which was a couple of thousand over our budget but that was OK as vendors hadn’t found anywhere to buy yet. We managed to save the last couple of ££ within 6 weeks. In a nutshell, after 13 weeks of accepting offer they decided they didn’t want to sell anymore. At the time it was heartbreaking as we’d imagined ourselves living there and what we would do to the property. Luckily we didn’t lose any money as we were advised not to have a survey done until the vendors had an offer accepted; our solicitor hadn’t done any real work so no charge from them.
Brexit happened the following week and we immediately saw reductions (anything from £5k-£25k) and it seemed vendors were keen to sell asap. Back on the lookout we went – in late July we had an offer accepted, all still going through now but I already know this one will actually suit us much better. If i’m honest we’d viewed about 15 properties (probably not a lot by some people’s standards but felt a lot at the time) with no joy before we viewed the March property. Looking back it would have been too small and i’m much happier with the one we’ll (fingers crossed) be in soon.
My top tips:
Try not to fall in love until you’ve signed on the dotted line – this was my problem with the one that fell through, I’d imagined us in it too much and when I realised we wouldn’t be it was a harder knock than it would have been if we’d continued to keep our options open and view other places.
Don’t be afraid to use your leverage a bit more, the vendors of the first property majorly messed us and the EA around by rarely answering phone calls or emails for weeks on end, in hindsight i wish i’d threatened to pull out (and been prepared to do so) if we didn’t hear more updates from them on what was happening with the search. When they said they’d changed their minds about moving it felt like we’d wasted 3 months.
Obviously have a maximum budget but consider property sales don’t happen overnight, can you stretch a bit more knowing you will have that amount (and more even) in another 6 weeks+?
We have a really great solicitor who is very responsive and happy to answer any question no matter how silly it may seem. user1469456533 I felt the same at first about not really knowing what the next stages are but feel i’m kept well informed via our solicitor.
Don’t be afraid to chivvy the EA if you haven’t heard an update for a while since offer accepted – it’s their job to keep the conversation going between all parties.