How many until you found the 'one'

[1manwenttomow]

How many houses did you see before finding the one, we've looked at loads and only one has been what I'd hoped was the one for us but they were several people interested and a bidding war began that we didn't win 😭😭😭 I feel so fed up and am starting to get really stressed about not finding one and worried our buyer may start to up the pressure soon, last time we moved it took us ages to find what we wanted but went into rented in between but we won't be able to do that this time 😭

Depends what you're looking for? A perfect forever home?
I don't beleive in forever homes 😂 the thought of being somewhere til I die makes it too much pressure. Our plan is to just get a house we like, enjoy our time there, make a bit of money and move on after 5 - 10 years. Or stay longer if we want 🤷‍♀️ we're on house number 2 in 11 years now.
I was so hung up on ticking everything off the list the first time. We'd still be looking if I stuck with that 😂

I'm more looking for a 10-15year house probably there's so little going on Rightmove though and that really isn't helping 😭

Over 50. We're very fussy

Can't remember how many we viewed, but it took a full year to find the house we're now buying (plus two false starts, with other houses that fell through, in the meantime) and it'll be around 18 months end to end by the time we (hopefully) move. Including six months in rented, as we chose to complete our sale when ready rather than jeopardise the chain.

We were looking for a house for 20-30 years, and me and DH have slightly conflicting requirements eg he likes to be Near Things, and I'm a country girl. So yes it took fucking forever to find houses we agreed on. We got better at the process as we went along, though - as well as more flexible and realistic about what we were going to get.

I'm sure it'll all be worth it when we finally get there 😑

I’ve bought four houses to live in. Two were the first property I viewed, two were the second. Twice I wasn’t even looking to move but decided to spontaneously upon seeing the house up for sale. I think I’m easily pleased.

Have you made a list of things you absolutely won’t compromise on, and things which you might if the house had all the non-compromises and viewed with that in mind?

1. The first had two box room size living rooms and had Japanese knotweed but the second was tiny, cosy and perfect.

My most favourite house was the last one of 10 I viewed on the same day. The EA called me as it hadn't even been listed. When you know you know.

The most recent house was a mistake and much as I liked it, it was more a case of it would do for five years and we sold after 17 months.

I think you have to decide what the main reason for moving is. No house is perfect - but why do you want to move (more room, different location?). This will help you to determine what your key search criteria is. You can change a lot about a house once you're moved in.

My sellers are similar. They haven't found anywhere yet, been looking for a while. I'm on the brink of rescinding my offer as they won't budge, or do any paperwork until they've found a new house. Obviously that's their choice, but your buyer won't hang around for ever.

@candleabra how long have they been looking? I'm wondering how long my buyers will wait, its so hard when nothing is coming on the market which is suitable!

When watching programmes such as Location, Location, Location I think that lots of people are just too fussy. Nowhere is absolutely perfect. I think you need a list of must haves and a separate list of would likes.

About 15. offered on one and they rejected it (they later came back but we'd found the "one". Literally everything we saw my DH was like "it's fine and it's got potential" and i would end up in tears cos i didn't want that house.

Then we walked into this one and he said "ok I know that feeling you were looking for now". we both felt it. We were there for two hours and had an offer agreed by the time we left. We moved last week :)

@Icantfindausername it's actually only 6 weeks. But the property market is weird at the moment, especially with the 31st march SD deadline, everything is a rush.
My frustration with my vendors has been with the lack of flexibility and they've provided no positive assurances. They've sent back no paperwork so far. I've offered a really good price, but it doesn't stack up financially If I have to add SD and rental on top.
Can you have a chat with your estate agent?
Have your buyers given a deadline? Are they FTB so the SD holiday isn't applicable? Would you be prepared to accept a lower offer from them to take into account the SD if completion is after 31st march to keep hold of them?
This would give you a bit of breathing space.

Probably about 50 over three years. The sale of the house we owned kept falling through as it was tricky though, so there were three or four houses along the way we would have been happy in; we ended up with this one through timing as much as anything else I think.

We only viewed two, and made an offer on the house we ended up buying after single viewing. This is a house intend to stay in for a long time by the way. We were very selective sifting though rightmove though, given that viewing properties involved a long drive with toddler (we were moving areas).

We've been similarly quick with our previous property, a smaller flat. We viewed I think 4 properties, over a week or two at most. Made an offer after the first viewing.

First one, and no regrets!

The first house I bought 18 years ago, I was looking for about a year and probably saw between 10-20 places. I laughed at it from the outside but knew as soon as I walked into the first bedroom we were making a full asking price offer.

The new one, I looked seriously online for 9 months. It was the third one I viewed and I knew in the garden before looking at the house it was going to be a close to asking price offer. You know when you know.

I used to think anyone that mentioned “the one” in regards to houses were sentimental fools. You buy a house because it suits your practical needs in size, layout and location. We were looking for over a year.

Then I saw it, our home, the home, the one.

We went to view and knew upon pulling up outside that we were going to make an offer. We ended up offering substantially over asking price (very fast moving market area) without having an offer on our own, which was accepted, then literally 48 hours later we received an offer on ours. We move in 6 weeks and I’m over the moon.

We viewed about 10 in total one we made an offer on but they declined our offer as it was too low, it was a lovely house but needed a lot of money spending so I'm glad they declined that offer. We saw this one online and dh said no to it initially then after we saw the others which didn't work for us he said yes. We viewed our current house and walking up the pathway I knew it was a keeper. It also needs a lot of work but we can live in it and we were lucky we got it below market value so will make a nice profit when we come to sell it.

Of about 50 houses we have made serious offers on 2, but they both went to other buyers with higher offers. Clearly those houses were just better, and everyone thought the same - the good ones (priced sensibly) always go quickly!

Around 25, they were getting snapped up so quickly that we missed out on several we liked. But this one was worth waiting for!

I have just done 17 in 2 weeks.

Last time we saw 2 I think.

Over the years, we’ve seen loads. We missed out on 3 houses in the past which we loved but always found another “one”. In my experience, you know it’s “the one” as soon as you walk in. That’s not to say it’s a perfect house (there are always compromises) but that you love it enough to make those compromises.