Anyone not being picky - and STILL can't find anything?

[PessimisticOptimist]

We've been on the hunt for 18 months. In that time, we've expanded our search area and budget. We've offered on four houses - three times we were outbid by developers and one time they decided not to sell. But nothing has come on for us to view in the last couple of months.

I guess I'm looking for a support group on here to commiserate with me 😂

Everyone we talk to says:

• The market is crazy right now
• It will settle down
• More will become available eventually
• Just be patient

But I worry about getting priced out of the market if we wait too long. How long do we wait for the "right" house?

Thanks @Momniscient, I needed to hear that; you are right when you say that my heart isn't really in the second property. I made a mistake previously of buying somewhere in the "wrong" location, only got lucky in selling it for almost 25% uplift in 4 years due to the market and having refurbished to a good spec. I won't be doing that again.

Fingers crossed your offer is accepted, please do let us know here!

@ByeByeMissAmericanPie my Dad usually joins me on viewings, however he's not too well at the moment, which has reminded me of my parents vulnerability as they get older. They have been amazing in supporting me since I split with EXDP, meaning I haven't had to splash money on rent, however I am soooooooo ready to move into my new house now, and it's just dragging on!

@ByeByeMissAmericanPie location is so important when it comes to house buying.

I almost got caught up in being swayed towards somewhere that doesn't suit us at all, however thinking about what my family needs has brought me renewed focus onto getting the house in the right location over the line.

What do you need from the location of your new home on a day to day basis and long-term, and does this new property provide everything you require? What would you be compromising on in this new location, and is it really worth it?

I know… thank you. Keep calm and keep looking.

This Edwardian place has very very limited parking with only one spot outside the house, and tricky permit parking elsewhere. It is very close to the station, though.

I’m going to let it go.

As an aside, I’ve found it easier to email agents after a viewing if it’s a no go for you. Much simpler to type a couple of lines in an email than cobble something together when they call you in the middle of something and you’re searching for the right words!

I'm waiting with interest to see if yesterday's viewing appears as 'under offer' soon or if the EA was telling porkies.

Have also decided to print off the floor plan for yesterday's and also the floor plan of the house we're selling. Both have the measurements on abs it should help me get my head round the actual sizes of the houses on RM as the photos are invariably inaccurate.

@RidingMyBike I have resorted to creating some houses on Sims before... one square on Sims is about 3ft wide so it works reasonably well Do take even the measurements themselves with a pinch of salt too. I had to correct our floorplan as it was a metre off! It's just a guideline really.

@Momniscient

And now that's quite enough posts from me except to update that the house we viewed yesterday didn't seem haunted at all and, once I've done some calculations and steeled myself for a phonecall on Monday, we'll be putting in an offer. It'll be far below their asking price and it's "OIEO" but... you have to try... and if it's been on two weeks already clearly no-one else is jumping for it, so... For now I'm preparing an email of questions for the vendor. Some of it might make us reconsider an offer or at least affect it, so let's hope they get to it quickly!

Good luck! It might not be obviously haunted but the spirits could be there now, chatting away, like "ooh, hope Momnisicent makes an offer".

Something we liked but can't afford has been removed from the market and relisted in the same way. What does that mean?

Technically we can stretch to it but have to redo mortgage offer, don't know how long that will take.

The location thing is tricky. A few months ago when we began searching and I naively thought it would be straightforward I was strictly only interested in properties within walking distance of a specific overground station. Fast forward to now and I am purchasing a property 1.3 miles from said station. I ended up widening my search considerably and looking up to 3 miles from my target area (doesn’t sound far but in London it’s a fairly big difference in areas/boroughs).

Well I’m WFH for the foreseeable and office attendance will be completely optional going forward so the station isn’t so important now. This house is also 5 mins walk from a good primary school which is great.

Ultimately the area isn’t 100% ideal, local high street it a bit run down and parking looks challenging outside the house, but it helps that this isn’t our forever home as we want to move out of London when the DC hit secondary school so I’m prepared to make a compromise or two for now.

@Knittingbaker, I am so glad to read your post! Amazing!

Little update from me, haven't heard anything from EA about house I offered on on Monday. Also saw a place yesterday; was nice, but I want to take a wall out to create open plan. The property has been renovated all over, so taking out a wall will obviously disrupt things. I am thinking of just putting in an offer for the LOLs (as the youngsters say). If they accept, I will go back in for another viewing. It was very white and grey, but I know I can change that so trying to see past this.
Anyway, I am just not excited at all about it, but I think that's due to the painful process rather than the houses. It is so hard to get excited now. Whereas six months ago, I was planning on where my xmas tree would go in my new house.
@ByeByeMissAmericanPie, I take my Dad with me, or my Mum. I dunno what I would do without them :-)

@Momniscient, I love that you caught the EA out. Liars. I also don't know if offers are still crazy, as vendors are keeping them on the market for longer, so maybe they are not getting what they want.
With the two properties I have offered on, they both have as asking price, and I have just offered exactly that. I don't want to offer more.

It seems like a lot of posters here are looking for forever homes with very specific requirements, is that the majority here?

@DaisyNGO we're not looking for a forever home however we want a house that we could stay in for 10-15 years to get the kids through nursery, primary and secondary.

@Eastie77Returns I know what you mean. We've gone much further than we intended/expected but we've managed to stay in RHR same borough (just)

I was thinkiing a forever home would be incredibly hard now

I don't know if I said it, but a really gorgeous flat came up that should have been ideal for us. Except it backs on to the High Street. The windows overlook restaurant and pub bins - I imagine the flat bins are there too.

On the market Friday, today showing as STC. My parents were urging us to view but I could see that it wasn't an okay location for me even though it's a lovely flat.

@DaisyNGO I'm looking for a house that'll serve me and the DC well for at least the next 15 years; I really don't want to move again. The one I am in the process of buying is about 90% ideal, and in a great location. I haven't seen anything that gets anywhere near matching up percentage wise, however I am still searching and viewing in case mine falls through (it's already been going 4 months, and I'm ready to move to exchange and completion, however the other side is not!).

We're looking for our last home. We currently live in a two-bedroomed terrace. We had three criteria. Another bedroom, side access and off-street parking.
We've got two out of the three and parking will be much easier where we're going. Plus the garden is heavenly.

Glad people have got what they wanted - all seems to be going so fast!

Good luck! It might not be obviously haunted but the spirits could be there now, chatting away, like "ooh, hope Momnisicent makes an offer".

@DaisyNGO I hope so! I think some houses do feel more “lived in” than others, if you see what I mean, and this one seemed sort of… benignly welcoming and ready for the next family. Some houses feel so strongly of the current owners it’s difficult to imagine moving in!

Relistings:
With regards to the relisting, I’ve seen that once before and just assumed someone was told “oh, remove listing 12345 from market would you? … NO NOT THAT ONE! oh just relist it and remove 12345” Unless you mean it’s been relisted with a new price?

Forever homes:
Honestly, I’m not sure if I believe in a forever home any more. When I bought our current place alone, I thought it was surely a 15-year house if not forever. As time has gone on and my job has drastically changed, so have the priorities. I also didn’t realise I would get so interested in gardening! So what seemed sufficient then… well… really isn’t. Now we’re both working from home and it’s just not working for us. This house move is partly that and also getting in a better place ready to start a family.

I think much like @Eastie77Returns and @wannabeamummysobad we’re looking for a house to suit us and young family for something like ten years, but not really hoping for forever. Things change too much.

@areyouhavingagiraffe have you called as well as emailing the offer? I worry about emails getting lost in the abyss. Bear in mind also that they might have made the house white and grey for viewings on purpose… we were encouraged to paint over our (beautiful!) purple hallway lest it put people off, so it’s currently painted white. I think it looks clinical, but it’s so that people think “ah but I can paint over that no problem” rather than "oh wow, no thank you".

I'm not sure if 'forever' homes are still a thing? I think I may have grown up in one - in the days when it was normal for a couple to be able to buy a family size house, then have the family to put in it and then it serves all purposes?!
We're looking for a 15-20 yr house and are a big age gap couple. That would see DD off to university, me heading towards the end of working life and DH would be heading for 80s by then. We're trying to think practically so at least one bedroom/bathroom downstairs that could be a study but which could also be used as a bedroom if he ends up not able to manage the stairs.

Our requirements are really more about space though - we've said minimum 3 bedrooms but that really depends on the layout and number of rooms downstairs. I was trying to explain this to the EA who rang for feedback yesterday but it's really wishy washy and doesn't fit their boxes! And we are now limited location wise as DH has to be able to get DD to school - we don't want her to have to move schools again (although this recent move has been incredibly positive we were also v lucky with it!), DH doesn't drive and won't use buses at the moment because of Covid. So realistically that's about a mile radius of her school!

So, update from me. House A, which I offered on Monday. I saw it in the dark, wasn't really sure about it but offered asking price. Probate property, needs a lot of work. Decided I would see again if offer was accepted. Just had e-mail from EA saying offer is rejected as "number of higher offers". I replied with "thank you", ha ha. Who is paying more for that?! I also told the EA I was viewing with that I didn't really like it....woops.
House B, saw on Saturday with my Mum. Have offered slightly more than asking. Vendors showed me around, and I commended how nice it was. It is very grey as I said in one of my posts above, but easily fixed. Also want to knock down a wall. EA has booked me in with a finance check this afternoon with their finance bods. I dunno guys, I am not overly excited about it, but it ticks all the boxes (except it doesn't have a berluudy fireplace, again!). It is hard to be excited when the process is shit. So, watch this space. I will keep looking.
And, on the subject of forever homes... My forever home is a beautiful country cottage, so no this is not my forever home. When I get my husband, and dog, we will buy the forever home. Hopefully the house buying process will be easier, ha ha ha. In all seriousness, I neevr want to do this again, but I find it hard to think of a forever home, as I am a singleton / spinster still, and lie sort of feels a little incomplete when I compare myself to everyone else with their happy families

@Eastie77Returns, I want the house first, then dog, and then husband. To be honest I would gladly forego the husband for the other two things. A boyfriend would be nice though

@sarahandduck12 we are in the process of leaving Jersey for similar reasons and went through many of your pros and cons ourselves. PM me if you want a sounding board!

So (fuckwit) EA called me re: House B offer. It has been put forward to vendor. Had a call with their mortgage peeps for affordability check, that was all fine. Was asked whether I would consider using them as it "puts me in a better position". I asked why it would put me in a better position? They said "vendor requested it/ keeps all in house". Totes BS. Anyway, I said I would be happy to consider as many brokers as possible to get me a good deal. Idiots. Anyway taking my mind off RM and houses and going to the gym!

Good grief, they really can't be trusted an inch, can they?! What's with the pressure to use their mortgage broker.

We did have EA going 'use our solicitor' constantly but we just ignored them and chose our own (which is far more convenient for any documents that need to be dropped off)

The last time I moved the agents suggested their conveyancer and when I went with my own (specialist, had used him before) they claimed he was too rude for them to deal with so everything had to go via me. Totally bizarre as he was a lovely man, no one else ever had a problem with him. But I know he challenged them on their bullshit more than once. Anyway, I then had to be involved at every turn.

I only knew of the expression "forever home" because of MN. Sorry if I made assumptions. I just thought that if people are going to the trouble of thinking of moving walls and things, it must be forever, or as long as forever gets realistically, like 20 years.

So, news on the “updated” listing
Funny, I get told off by DP for imagining the worst case but I do that because it happens so often!!

I said to him, you view a flat empty but you don’t know if the landlord is going to re-rent it, because they think a sale will take six months minimum so they can squeeze in another rental…

The “updated” listing is updated for 3 reasons, not listed

1. It’s now let to a friend of the owner, so minimum 8 months in fact, not even 6

2. The owner is now ideally looking for a buyer who is willing to buy with a tenant in situ

3. The lease is being renewed – it was 125 years in the first place which I’m quite happy with. But now the offer we could have put in is likely to not be enough because of the lease extension, which is making the owner want his full asking price…. even though he originally knew it was pitched too high and that’s why, as a lovely flat, it wasn’t get the viewers that the others are getting. We know this because my parents know the EA a bit.

The reason it came off the market – something I noticed but didn’t fully think about because I didn’t really want to increase our mortgage borrowing – was because the owner was deciding whether to re-market after his friend moved out. I suspect his decision to keep trying now will be connected to the possibility of prices calming down a bit next year.

I’m always fascinated by the commercial side of things. So obviously it is off our list and we won’t make an offer, but just out of interest, outside of big cities, what are the chances of getting a buyer who is happy to buy a flat with a tenant in situ? I genuinely have no idea, just sounds like a hassle to me.