To wait or settle?

[housebuyingistheworst]

My house purchase has fallen through due to subsidence. The house was adequate but by no stretch a dream come true. I've been house hunting for almost a year. A couple of dream houses came on the market but one was then withdrawn by the seller and the other gazumped me for5a few extra grand. I'm bruised and battered (unrecognisable to myself etc). So tired and fed up of looking and waiting. Tired of the estate agents, the lies, the games, the heartbreak.

My position : very large deposit, no chain, in rented accommodation. This is meant to be a home in which I stay till I'll die (when I hear the phrase 'forever home', it always brings to mind cemeteries tho).

Question: should I just buy an average house that ticks most of the boxes and get this misery over with ASAP, should I or keep waiting and hoping that another perfect house becomes available and this time nothing goes wrong? Could you please share your experiences?

Hi OP, I have no experience to offer, just solidarity because I could have written your post.
I am truly sick of looking, the games, the greed of people. We need to move and I just want to find a house to settle in and be happy. Fingers crossed you find something soon

I would wait if I were you
If you are buying in the south prices are falling
You are chain free with a big deposit and dont want to move again, wait and get it right. You will regret it if you buy something adequate and then a dream house comes up, adding the complexity of having to sell to buy the dream house... no chance would I settle in the position you are in

What's wrong with the houses on the market? Period of house? Size of house or garden? Location? I wouldn't compromise on the things you can't change.

If you've bee fussing over minor, changeable stuff like layouts, colour of tiles etc then I'd just get a house like that and sort it out.

depends OP- are you ridiculously fussy and unrealistic within your price range? You see this on location location location a lot- sometimes people need to lower there expectations. I had a couple of no deal breakers when looking- and some compromises, like the bathroom had to be upstairs but I could forgo a dining room.

We're trying to move at the moment, and I'm already depressed with it. We started off looking at our literal dream home that someone offered on later that day, and since then, nothing has come even close. Ours is on the market but as we've not accepted an offer yet, some people won't even agree to let you view

We've decided that outside space and location are the main priorities as anything internal to the house can be changed. And we've set a maximum budget for the purchase with a contingency budget behind it for the alterations.

All I need is : 1) up to 10 min walk from the station, 2) two very large bedrooms, 3) medium garden. It may seem like a short list but this is a hard combination to come by. There are many things in my budget, most of them have smallish bedrooms though. Never cared about decor or anything silly like that.

And regarding my budget, I've seen many more expensive houses with equally poky bedrooms. I can stretch my budget but most spacious bedrooms are found in giant detached houses, which sadly are too expensive. The two houses I lost had lovely bedrooms (4.5mx5m).

Wait. Market is falling a lot of places. With a large deposit and chain free, at some point someone will bite your hand off.

The house buying game is an utter nightmare. We put our house on the market 18 months ago and are only now getting to the point where we have bought our new home (meant to exchange today... let's see if that actually happens) due to solicitor blunders, mortgage provider errors etc.
What I would say is: Don't settle. It's so tempting to, but you are only helping yourself in the short-term and in the long run you will regret not holding out those few extra weeks or months to get the property you truly want.
As long as you are being realistic with your budget and expectations it only takes that 1 house to come on the market.
Consider having an estate agent or two on your side that know exactly what you want and can inform you as soon as it is on the market so you can make a quick offer.
What with Brexit, you may find that you can afford more for your budget in the next few months although who really knows 🤷‍♀️
Good luck!

Wanting 4.5x5m bedrooms in a 2-bed house sounds like a very tall order. I'm very surprised you've seen any like that at all. Any chance of finding a 3-bed and knocking the two smaller ones together? Or finding one with a loft that could be converted to a large bedroom?

@JoJoSM2 4x4m is quite enough. Those were just the dimensions I came across in the "ones that got away". To clarify, I'm looking for a 3 bed, just saying I want two out of three bedrooms to be large. The third is almost in evitably going to be tiny and I'm fine with that.

Might be worth relaxing your criteria a little in the sense that you might include 4-beds in your search. My house is a town house with 4 bedrooms, 2 larger ones (your size) and two smaller ones. We live a 15min walk from the station (but I'm a slow walker) and we have a garden. So they do exist, our estate has loads of them. I think you need to expand your search, maybe.

I think it's worth waiting as the market seems to be all over the place down south at least.

That said, if you want to move now, perhaps consider a place with a second smaller bedroom that could be extended in future and/or somewhere you can extend into the loft in the future? Money saved on the purchase could then be put towards renovation which will, in the long run, increase the value too.

I agree with PPs, a 2 bed with 2 huge bedrooms is unusual because most people would make a 3 bed with it. Looking at 3 beds and knocking through sounds like a good shout, or look at bungalows and think creatively about swapping living or dining room for bedroom etc. I guess a bungalow within 10 mins' walk of a station is unlikely!

I think waiting for the right one does sound sensible.

Hm... It sounds like a very reasonable wish list. I’m surprised it’s so tricky.

Just popping back to say my current home is a Victorian terrace with three double bedrooms, first two particularly big and 7 min walk to station. Garden is just about 'medium' sized. So it's not just detached or semi detached houses. Of course will depend on area and budget.

So why do you want to move? Sounds like the house ticks your boxes currently.

It depends how long you are prepared to put your life on hold. We wanted at least 3 largish bedrooms and ended up with one large (6x4.5m) and 3 decent size (4.5x3m). We made other acceptable compromises as we were not prepared to put our lives on hold. I get what you are saying about being fed up with the process, we have just been through it and it was really stressful and I wouldn't want to do it again. And that's why if it's a long term home, I wouldn't just settle. Good luck.

@JoJoSM2 If you're replying to me, I'm not the OP. I was a PP who wanted to show that the types of home the OP is after are available, but may depend on individual circumstances.

@Flutterby63 sorry!