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?

@Lwizzer

Can I please join as a buyer waiting for my seller to find something? We sold our house and had an offer accepted on a larger house in August 2021, fast forward 4 months and our vendors STILL have not found anything they like let alone put any offers in.

From what I'm reading on this post it seems everyone is struggling to find something. I don't know what is a reasonable time to wait? We are now getting pressure from our buyers who are FTBs saying they will pull out if the chain isn't closed by January.

No one in the chain is prepared to move into rental. I'm getting so impatient and just want the chain closed so we can move forward.

Please share any stories or advice 🙏

Welcome, bienvenue etc

I can only say good luck, some posters have said people have more invested in chains and I'm seeing what they mean.

I have been fretting about the finances a bit. Well, a lot. I think we might not move. There would have to be a bit of a downturn in prices next year. Inflation in other areas of life is worrying. But I'm conscious it's easy to say in winter...I don't want to keep repeating myself so will probably lurk but not post much.

Hope everything goes smoothly for all.

@beguilingeyes, congratulations! So happy that you are out of the shithole that is RM. Can I be nosey and ask how many millions over asking price did you offer?

@wannabeamummysobad I know, right? Rarer than rocking horse shit. It's one on it's own on the end of a road that is all terraced otherwise.

@beguilingeyes Congratulations!! So happy that someone on this thread has finally got through to the other side - officially! When are you completing? Mine is still plodding along I think although I don’t think we’ll be at the exchange/completion stage until Feb/March (I’m actually hoping for March completion tbh!)

I keep checking rightmove to see if the house we like is sold or not. 😆

Congratulations @beguilingeyes! What lovely news!

We have suddenly lurched forward and hoping to exchange by end of week on the house we're selling. Completion was meant to be next week but now our incredibly impatient buyers want this Friday! If we manage that then it'll have taken 30 days to get from offer to completion.

I've just had to get a taxi to the solicitors to drop the transfer documents off as car at garage for repairs overnight and suddenly everything had to happen NOW!

Still, I suppose it means we could register with EA before Xmas ready for this supposed deluge of houses coming on the market in January?

@RidingMyBike, are you going into rental?

Wahey, it's so nice to come on here and see such lovely updates. @beguilingeyes well done! Now you don't need to keep schtum will you tell all about the viewing and the offer process? Let us live vicariously through you?

@RidingMyBike congrats too! I hope the paperwork phase goes smoothly for you

Already in rental @areyouhavingagiraffe - been renting for two months now as had to relocate by a certain date to start a new job. The house we're selling is 200 miles away!

It's going to be a huge relief not paying for two houses at the same time. We got a month off council tax when we moved out of the house we're selling but that was it.

@RidingMyBike completion January 12th to get Christmas out of the way first. We're going round on Sunday to measure up.

@Momniscient I've been looking at Rightmove for years and occasionally finding things that I like. The plan originally was to start looking next year for a three bed to replace our tiny two bed terrace.
This house, which is just around the corner from where we are now, came on the market back in July, we went to have a look at the outside and then it disappeared.
In September the sale fell through and it came back on the market. We went to see it and fell in love. In budget. Offered two days after viewing. Suddenly everything started moving very quickly. We weren't at all prepared, but the vendor's EA persuaded us that he could sell ours in ten days. I didn't entirety believe him, but he sold it in six! The man's a miracle worker.
It was a really simple chain...our buyers are FTBs and our vendor is moving into rented.
We had a bit of stress when they found asbestos in some artex in the bathroom ceiling (our house is Edwardian) but on reflection it's been pretty smooth.
Fantastic solicitors (Bishopsgate Law..can't recommend them enough, fantastic communication and very proactive).
I feel that we've been very lucky. Prices have shot up even since we first started, and I think we all realised that we couldn't afford for it to go wrong.
Our buyers are lovely too.

@Lwizzer

Can I please join as a buyer waiting for my seller to find something? We sold our house and had an offer accepted on a larger house in August 2021, fast forward 4 months and our vendors STILL have not found anything they like let alone put any offers in.

From what I'm reading on this post it seems everyone is struggling to find something. I don't know what is a reasonable time to wait? We are now getting pressure from our buyers who are FTBs saying they will pull out if the chain isn't closed by January.

No one in the chain is prepared to move into rental. I'm getting so impatient and just want the chain closed so we can move forward.

Please share any stories or advice 🙏

I waited 4 months for my vendor to find somewhere before giving up. It got to a point where I felt the he wasn’t really committed to selling any more and even his own EA advised me to start looking again.

I then found a chain free house but that fell through when the vendor changed his mind and withdrew the property from sale.

So I’m now into house number 3, offer accepted a couple of months ago. Again, the vendor had to find an onward purchase and I felt very pessimistic about it all. However against all my expectations she found somewhere relatively quickly and the chain is complete.

It’s deeply frustrating but there is unfortunately zero you can do to influence the speed at which your vendors find somewhere. Normally I’d say 3-4 months is long enough to wait but the market is brutal at the moment. If your buyers are serious about pulling out would you consider moving into a rental to save your sale?

@areyouhavingagiraffe Guide price £600-£625. We offered £618,000, which was accepted. Think we could've got it for a bit less tbh, but I'm happy. This is only the second time I've bought so fumbling around clueless a lot of the time. Both the EA and the solicitors have been fantastic.

@beguilingeyes that's a great price for Walthamstow and the house looks lovely. Congrats!

I think lots of people have thought "stuff this, I'll do more viewings in the new year" as this is the first weekend we haven't had any booked in to view ours! Suits me!

@beguilingeyes That's amazing! Is completion happening today?!

Awaiting completion on house sale today. Solicitor just rang to double check bank details - good thing he did as he had one digit wrong!

@momniscient completion is January 12th, so we can get Christmas out of the way. We're going round with tape measures tomorrow and to find out where stuff like the meters are.
I still can't quite believe it, tbh.

Yesterday we saw a house online, viewed it half an hour later and put in an offer. It's small, just a 2 bed semi with utility, downstairs loo, conservatory and decent size, private garden. Not in a great area but, as some of you know, our circumstances in life dictate that we have to be grateful for what we can get now at our age. Vendor happy with our offer however still wants the viewings already booked for today to go ahead and will then make her decision on Monday. We've sent illustration of our funding to EA who says we're in with a good chance. I appreciate vendor's position, I mean, we've only offered £5k over asking price, perhaps she'll be offered £15k above.. who knows. (We're up north and for the sort of houses we're looking at, max above asking price offers are about £20k as houses in our price range are usually ex-council.) We can stretch to another £5k above, making £10k extra but no more than that as we can't have a big mortgage at our age which we want over a very short term.

For the first time since we're been looking, this house doesn't need anything doing to it.. all the others have been - needs a new kitchen, new bathroom, new flooring etc. but this little house is perfect for us.

Now I'm nervous for Monday.. wondering if this is finally going to be our chance or once again, will circumstances not fall in our favour. Finally will we be given a bloody break????

Just sod's law.. my husband has his family home back in his home country which he's been trying to sell for a couple of years. Worth about £1m. He would have to split it amongst siblings, but his share would easily buy us a home but he's had a squatter living in it and due to politics/government system or lack of it out there, there are no powers that be to remove squatter so it's difficult to sell. He's had a few enquiries and offers, but nothing final. Now he's also trying to sell some land but again.. offers but then there's no confirmation. You cannot imagine the utter frustration for us and all his family!!! Hey ho.

Good luck @GoinSouth!

I'm contemplating asking for a viewing of a house that's been on the market since August and not shifted. In Christmas week so partly as something to do (!) - it's empty so no occupier to inconvenience and I don't care about inconveniencing EA!

It's huge - I think an ex student let as there are many many rooms. Counting up it could have 6-8 bedrooms(!) for a student let, 3 of them upstairs. Two are in an extension stuck out into the garden which I think would make a fantastic home office. And there are two that are listed as living rooms (as well as a large kitchen diner) but which seem to have had beds in from earlier photos.

DH rejected it back in September as there is a side extension and he thought the roof looked dodgy but I still think we should view. It is a lot under our max budget so a new roof isn't impossible.

Clearly there is something wrong with it else it'd have gone by now. We've walked past and the road is relatively busy but not ridiculously so. It isn't in the flood risk area.

I’d say go for it @RidingMyBike. Some houses have seemingly been on the market for ages when you look at the First Listed date on Rightmove etc but it may be that a sale fell through. The longer a property remains unsold the less appealing it is as lots of buyers assume there is a massive problem with it and just scroll by when the issue might be easily fixable.

Oh that's interesting @Eastie77Returns I hadn't thought of that! It is a rather rambling house but I think it might work well for our needs.

Presumably that's why our old neighbour's house has vanished from RM - their buyers bought ours in the end and perhaps they're going to re-launch it in the new year?

Hi all, can I join the party pls? We are looking for gold dust (4 bed detached) in Tunbridge Wells and nearby villages. The market is really dry here. Hardly anything available. It’ll hopefully improve in the new year.

Welcome @User112! Do you plan to get many more viewings in before the end of the year, or have things slowed down where you're searching too?

How is everyone doing? I have had my first week ever without any viewings. I had a call from an EA about getting me in to see a house this Sat, it is not on RM yet. I have seen so many of these "not on RM yet" places; the vendor either pulls out, or the place is a not suitable. The floorplan, and dims on RM are so important. ANyway, I feel like I am wasting my time. I have booked in, but will cancel later this week. Have decided to spent the day with my Sister doing some Xmas shopping and having a nice lunch. I really am fed up guys, but I think I need this break.
Hope everyone is having lots of luck