How long to find a property to buy?

[Werk]

When you are under offer on your sale?

We accepted an offer on our house last week. Before we had the offer we viewed two houses which we liked and offered on but both offers were turned down because we had not sold. Fair enough.

Now we are under offer I am getting so impatient! Nothing seems to be coming on the market - literally nothing in my search area and budget in the last week. We are in London, the market is bonkers at the moment.

I know I need to be patient, I assume some sellers might wait until schools have gone back/ holidays are over before listing . How long did you have to wait to find a new home? How long should we give it before making the decision whether to proceed with a sale and moving into rented?

I will PM you @JoJoSM2
I am probably just being incredibly picky 😂

Thank you!

I put my house on the market October 2019. Had a firm offer in January 2020 and completed in July 2020. I have looked at numerous houses in all that time but need to live in a particular ( expensive and popular) city.
I told my buyers that it was likely I wouldn't find a suitable property particularly once Covid hit but that I would make alternative arrangements.. I know they were really anxious that I would pull out of the sale but I knew I wouldn't.
So we completed and I'm living with family and still looking. The prices are now becoming more sensible here, a few houses are being reduced and things are definitely slowing down after the rush in June and July

That's great @juneisbustingout I hope you find somewhere soon.

Another day, another viewing. A house that has been on the market for a while but we didn't look at because it is at the top end of our budget (and needs money spent on it) and slightly out of the search area.
DH loves it. I can see it being an absolute money pit - a Georgian house with woodchip wallpaper, artex ceilings and the old style plug sockets in the skirting boards which you just know means a full re wire. It could be beautiful though.
I didn't love it, should you love the house when you first see it? I know I did my current house.

Go into rented

It took us two years to coordinate buying and selling, one sale fell through as our buyer couldn't find a buyer, the house we ended up with is my dream home.

Looking on my own about a month. Looking with DH about a year but he's the same with everything.

We are about to go on the market, not really waiting for anything but things got delayed over lockdown and then we suddenly had work on two houses at once and all got a bit manic.

To be honest I am surprised the estate agent allowed you to view any houses since you had not sold your own, let alone make an offer.
When I last sold I ended up going in to a rental property, not ideal at all as it meant storage costs for months as I could not find anything to purchase in time. So I know from experience how difficult it is and my search criteria was quite wide.
I still ended up eventually buying in haste as you do become somewhat desperate in the end. If you wait for the perfect property you could be waiting forever.

@crimsonlake

To be honest I am surprised the estate agent allowed you to view any houses since you had not sold your own, let alone make an offer. When I last sold I ended up going in to a rental property, not ideal at all as it meant storage costs for months as I could not find anything to purchase in time. So I know from experience how difficult it is and my search criteria was quite wide. I still ended up eventually buying in haste as you do become somewhat desperate in the end. If you wait for the perfect property you could be waiting forever.

The viewings were through the agent we are selling with and so he knew we had plenty of viewings lined up and one of those was very keen (they had missed out on a house down our road). However, yes, I do now kick myself that we saw one in particular as no other house now measures up.

Still nothing new coming on the market. Aargh.

We got chased for our papers by our solicitor today, it feels like a big step to make when we are no closer to finding anywhere.

Another forlorn update.... still nothing!

A friend of mine is a probate solicitor and so she has a bit of local intel as to when local probate sales may come up. She arranged for us to see a probate property which, on paper, ticked all the boxes. She had not seen the property herself before but took me to see it.... oh.my.word. She is sure the old lady didn't die in there but something certainly had.
It needed completely gutting and to be honest I think it will be bought by a developer and demolished, it was almost at the top of our budget and would need so much spent on it. My DH basically walked in and walked straight back out again.

I think I am being picky but I am viewing everything that comes up and I am finding it helpful to narrow down what I (we) could compromise on.

Our sale is progressing - survey is booked in for mid October - which is making me feel anxious as it is a very real possibility that we will be renting.

Next stop - leafleting. Has anyone had success with this?

We are reluctantly moving into rented in the next few weeks. Sold our house end of June and almost completed.

Market here very slow, just worry that we will become ‘stuck’ in rented and sometimes think have we made the right decision

We haven’t done leafleting but the flu season is around the corner so more probates could be coming through.

@copperbug yes, that's how I feel too. I don't like the feeling that we will be out of the housing market although I do think it will put us in a much stronger position to buy when we do find somewhere.

@JoJoSM2 a horrible thought but very true!