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?

[quote areyouhavingagiraffe]@PessimisticOptimist, this is the first week I have had ZERO viewings......To be honest I am now looking carefully at adverts, floorplan etc. Prior to that I was seeing anything, I even saw a house without central heating a few weeks ago, I didn't notice until the viewing. I know that's no big deal but I need to pick these things up from the advert, and not just the viewing, ha ha. Anyway, I dunno guys, it's just shit and nothing out there. Rather like my love life situation[/quote]
@areyouhavingagiraffe Ohhhhhhhhh I'm sending so many virtual hugs to you!!! I know that may not mean much from an internet stranger in the depths of Kent, but know you are loved and things are going to pick up.

It's just an extremely unlucky time to be searching for a new house. Please take comfort that you're in good company here, and we can all sympathise with the stupid roller coaster of the process.

I wish I could make it all better. But the best I got is a picture of this cute teacup pig. He makes me feel happy when Rightmove lets me down.

@PessimisticOptimist ahhh, that has made my day! Thanks. F**k this house search business and all Estate Agents. And Rightmove

Hey lovely lot
Can I join the crew?!

We have been looking for nearly 18 months now. Got close a few months ago where we had a buyer for our flat, found the perfect house within a day, offer accepted, wheels all in motion annnnnnnd our buyer pulls out, house relists and get's a higher offer within 24 hours. back to square one!

We've taken our flat off the market now and are taking a break from it all because this market is just too depressing. No new properties coming on the market (flats or houses!) an only a couple lingering which we know are in undesirable areas.

Anyone else feel like its never going to happen and they're trapped in their current homes??!

I have no idea when to restart it all.... End of this year? spring?
Should we be doing some low key renovations to the flat (maisonette with big private garden)

Im jealous of those of you that have the same 40 to re-look at! I'm down the 3 to scroll between!!

It might pick up again in the new year? Lots of people do still make a New Years' resolution that 'this is the year I will move to a new property'. The property market November and December is generally much quieter than the rest of the year because of festivities and also difficulties in presenting homes in their best light when it's gloomy, dark or grey outside. Don't homes look nicer when it's sunny and there's natural light flooding in? (Cue lots of silly estate agent pics with perfect blue sky and sodden, muddy ground!).

@DanisEndo

Hey lovely lot Can I join the crew?!

We have been looking for nearly 18 months now. Got close a few months ago where we had a buyer for our flat, found the perfect house within a day, offer accepted, wheels all in motion annnnnnnd our buyer pulls out, house relists and get's a higher offer within 24 hours. back to square one!

We've taken our flat off the market now and are taking a break from it all because this market is just too depressing. No new properties coming on the market (flats or houses!) an only a couple lingering which we know are in undesirable areas.

Anyone else feel like its never going to happen and they're trapped in their current homes??!

I have no idea when to restart it all.... End of this year? spring?
Should we be doing some low key renovations to the flat (maisonette with big private garden)

Im jealous of those of you that have the same 40 to re-look at! I'm down the 3 to scroll between!!

Welcome to the jungle! A tonne of us have had that same annoying experience of being so close...yet so far away 😖 I hope you find something soon!

And just to clarify, of that 40 houses on the market, 28 are over budget, 5 are retirement properties, 4 are on the wrong side of town, and the remaining 3 tick half the boxes, though we try to convince ourselves that living opposite the motorway isn't the end of the world.

It's all a bit crazy, to be honest! But things don't seem to shifting quite as quickly now, which gives me hope I might have less competition going forward. Fingers crossed, eh?

Someone has just offered 30k above the asking price for a house below 200k. Not a great area,quite run down road with rubbish ofsted rated schools nearby. I am
genuinely surprised. I do wonder if it is a cash buyer because there is no way that house is worth that even in this market. I wonder what the bank will do. Have people gone mad?!

We are in the exact same position and I posted a thread (different username) similar to this a few weeks ago.

We've got a massive budget for our area and we're open minded but there is just nothing suitable.

Was very, very excited a few weeks ago as managed to get a tip off through a friend about something that sounded utterly perfect and we were going to be able to see it before it went on the open market. Thought the price was on the high side but we are willing to pay at the moment. We went and whilst it is a lovely house in many ways it is directly onto a very, very busy road. I hadn't realised the exact position until we got there. It is sort of sideways onto the road, so the road runs the length of the garden and the house and there is no peaceful spot. After so long searching we didn't feel we could compromise on that and reluctantly didn't go ahead. I really thought the stars were aligning and everything was falling into place that time.

We are stuck in our current house, which is really a great house but I'm due to give birth to our 3rd child imminently and we've absolutely nowhere to put the baby Poor kid has a drawer and a changing mat in my dressing room and that's it...

Fingers crossed for everyone (unless you are within 10 miles of me in which case please stop looking and leave all the houses for meeeee)

@Siouxtse1 Thats all so true. I think thatll be my 2022 resolution :') And i suppose most people dont want strangers wondering around doing viewings in the middle of their Boxing day hangover!

@PessimisticOptimist thank you! I think it was you that said the most relatable thing earlier in the thread - im not glad anyone else is going through this but im glad im not alone! Its all soooo crazy. I just hope things gradually start coming back on the market again. I've seen a lot of people say they would like to sell but aren't listing because there's nothing on the market for them....

@Pottytraining37473 Yes. yes people have gone mad

Raises hand. I have been looking at Rightmove for years (don't get on with any of the other websites).

We have three wishes, none of which we have at the moment. A third bedroom, parking and side access.

We finally went to see a house last weekend and fell in love. It's a detached which is so rare (we're in East London) and the garden is amazing. It's like a park.The compromise is that the kitchen and bathroom are small, but there's a dining room so it could become a kitchen/diner.

There have been two other viewings and there's one tomorrow so we're just waiting to hear. Ours goes on the market on Monday. If we don't get this one I'm giving up for a while.

@beguilingeyes, tell me where it is please? I am also in East London

We're on the east London/Essex borders and we actual had two different estate agents knocking on the doors down our street asking if we were thinking of selling.

The agent admitted they're desperate for properties and have people on their books willing to pay well over the asking price.

Usually I see quite a few for sale signs round here when I'm out and about but there's just nothing at the moment.

What I have noticed is tons of houses having extensions so I wonder if round here people are staying put instead?

@Sallycinnamum, that's where I am, East London/ Essex borders. Defo a shortage right now, which is also fuelling prices. I just need one f*&ing house, and (AT LEAST) one f%&king boyfriend, ha ha ha

We have been trying to move back up north for 6 months. Our house sold the same week we put it on. There is literally nothing to rent with three bedrooms and nothing to buy that ticks our boxes despite having a large amount of money for the area we are looking at. It’s very frustrating because it feels like life is on hold. I must refresh Rightmove 10 time a day.

I have a rightmove addiction. It started shortly before we put out house on the market in April 2018, so I have been looking daily since around November 2017 and looked at all the historical data for previous years.

There has definitely been a change in the market around here.

Traditionally stuff went on the market in Feb, peak sales were April, then it gradually tailed off until the following year.

There weren't many reasonable sized 4 bed. Tiny ones yes. Large ones yes. Nothing in the middle. And not many detached at all. But they'd still stay on the market a few weeks or so.

Then covid and the stamp duty holiday and it went bonkers. Houses were going on sale at random times and went for bonkers figures, way over what they should have been.

One particular EA has been very aggressive, and putting nutty comments on shit tips which have sold for probably £100,000 more than they would have in 2019 (and far more than they should be even now). They keep putting up new properties with 'already sold' in the blurb!

Earlier this year there were about 140 properties on the market at the peak. There is currently about 40. If you want an average detached 4 bed you best move. They fly out. And the same is true for small 3 beds. The flats and properties above £800k are the only real slow movers.

Its just weird. And unsustainable.

I am so glad we moved in 2019 as we'd be stuffed if we hadnt. I can't believe some of the crazy sales that have been going on.

I hope you find your new homes soon.

it is worth going to see some that you might have already discounted.

We bought a house that I had seen on rightmove early on in the process of looking, It wasnt in the fancy half of town and it didnt have off street parking.
Once we had looked at some others and realised what our budget would stretch to we decided to go and see it. we loved it. the street is really quiet and as the garden backs onto another quiet lane we have scope to make a parking space at the back like a lot of the neighbors have done.

@areyouhavingagiraffe our house is in Walthamstow. We're looking in Highams Park/Chingford because property is cheaper there and more likely to be semi-detached/detached than the terraces we're surrounded by.
Have you seen this? This is my dream house. Art Deco perfection. It was 1.5 mill a few months ago! Cop a load of the ensuite. I think it's bigger than my house...
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/112603103?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_BUY

You're not alone OP. We were house hunting for 2 1/2 years (so starting before COVID) before we found our house. It was hell during the pandemic and it was only through a stroke of luck we got it (we lost out initially but the sale fell through and we went into another lockdown so they had no interest for ages as it was the Christmas period).
We had to compromise on a lot, so it's not our forever home, but I love it for now. Your time will come!

Also, go and see houses you sort of like the look of even if you think they're not "the one". When DH showed me the RightMove advert for the house we ended up buying I said no, but when I saw it IRL I loved it. The agent had not included photos of the amazing views for some reason, and the house looked a lot better in real life than in the photos.

@beguilingeyes. Hmmm, it's nice but really not all that (a little out of my budget )

We're about to enter this chaos. Will be selling a 4 bed detached (which sounds like what everyone wants?!) in SE to rent up north whilst we relocate. And then attempt to buy another 4 bed detached!

What we noticed from the 3 estate agents we had round to value it was that they all said they had people on their books they could get in to have a look before it was openly marketed. Thus avoiding potentially even needing to have the photos done. Presumably that's why all these already SSTC houses suddenly appear on Rightmove? One limited the numbers he had on his books at once, and presumably they have a range of budgets.

4 bed detached in the SE! Yup that's what we want... along with loads of other people! I expect it will be snapped up straight away. Good luck with the relocation!

I’ve found my people!

We can’t actually afford to be picky, we can’t buy a wreck as we can’t afford to do any work. Also trying to consider school catchments. It’s just ughhhh. Have made a few offers and pulled out of one sale (bad survey) but that was months ago and it the market feels super slow now. And more expensive. And we rent a lovely house in an amazing area which we could never afford to buy in so have to keep pushing that to the back of our minds on a daily basis 😆

We are actually looking at two fairly suitable houses today though which hasn’t happened since April!

@surreygirl1987 Thank you!

Well, fingers crossed! It is a lovely house in a great location although school admissions for this area aren't great which may put people off, unless they can afford to go private.

I'm wondering how people get themselves on this preferred contact list with estate agents to get the advance viewings. It sounds like so many on this thread are very ready to proceed. We had huge problems finding a rental to temporarily relocate to and proving we were even worthy enough(!) to be granted a viewing!

Omg we have 3 houses to view today after 4 weeks of nothing!

@PessimisticOptimist

How's everyone else's search going? Anything new come on the market that has potential?

Nothing at all coming on in our area. We need 4 beds and a total of 12 unsold properties mainly new builds which we are not interested in. We accepted offer 4 weeks ago and I asked the EA to inform buyers not to have survey yet in case we couldn't find anywhere and end up staying put. They wanted to go ahead anyway and also have now paid for searches. We are reaching point of giving up as don't like living in limbo and checking Rightmove hourly but feel bad if they lose money.