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?

I've decided to withdraw from the craziness, and stay put in our current home for now. However am still addicted to checking Rightmove just in case....

Hardly anything coming to market though. There is currently 1 house for sale in the town we want to live in, and 2 houses in the next town over. None of which are in my price bracket.

What does come on sells straight away and way over asking. Been outbid on 3 properties. The most recent, I offered £25k over asking (and the home report value) and that was the lowest of 20+ offers received - am in Scotland so sealed bids.

Will wait another year and see if the situation improves. Am not risking going into rental, as there's not much available to rent either. I had a look and there's only 4 rentals available, 1 flat and 3 houses which range from £1,000 to £1,600 per month way above what my monthly mortgage payments are / would be.

This was us a few months ago. Thought we'd never find anything. We had to compromise quite a bit with what we thought we'd be able to buy (because 18 months ago we would have!).

The funny thing is we are still getting agents sending us through properties but they are all off market, they all seem to be trying to sell them just based off their books. And most of them are shit and overpriced. Then you get the agents who know you have bought and ask if you want to sell?! Err no we just moved!

@TulipsfromAmsterdam You shouldn't feel bad because you warned the buyers ahead of time. It's the people who drag buyers along for months without any communication that should feel bad.

Hopefully the right one comes along soon!

We think our offer's about to be accepted. Ours is going on the market tomorrow. I'm going to be walking around with everything crossed for the next few weeks/months.
Hopefully will be the last time we ever do this.

Have decided to do a viewing on a house we'd disregarded a while ago as it would need a lot of work done! But figured we may as well view. It's been on for a month now so if we think we could manage with the work we might put in a bit of a low-ball offer and see if they accept!

@beguilingeyes

We think our offer's about to be accepted. Ours is going on the market tomorrow. I'm going to be walking around with everything crossed for the next few weeks/months. Hopefully will be the last time we ever do this.

Good luck!! I didn't think I'd get so invested so fast in this whole process 😂

Hopefully everything works out for all of us :)

I'm currently sat going over finances to understand just how far we can launch our budget to get something decent we don't want to move out of in two years...😬

We have just had our offer accepted on somewhere but it has been a long hard slog! Crossing all our fingers and toes it goes smoothly as last time we had an offer accepted (end of April) the sellers pulled out. We compromised a bit on location, still a nice area but not so well connected, but the house itself is great. This place wasn't on Rightmove, it was being marketed directly to people on the agencies books. It sounds as though that's quite common at the moment. Hang in there!

@dinkydino123

We have just had our offer accepted on somewhere but it has been a long hard slog! Crossing all our fingers and toes it goes smoothly as last time we had an offer accepted (end of April) the sellers pulled out. We compromised a bit on location, still a nice area but not so well connected, but the house itself is great. This place wasn't on Rightmove, it was being marketed directly to people on the agencies books. It sounds as though that's quite common at the moment. Hang in there!

Aww yay! 🎊🎉🥳

Congrats, and fingers crossed for you too x

@catsjammies

Have decided to do a viewing on a house we'd disregarded a while ago as it would need a lot of work done! But figured we may as well view. It's been on for a month now so if we think we could manage with the work we might put in a bit of a low-ball offer and see if they accept!

I always said I didn't want a complete doer upper, but we spent 6 months losing out on houses that went for way over the asking price (and more than we could afford). So we've ended up buying a complete doer upper and moving 4 days before my due date 😅 We managed to get it for £50k below asking price due to all the work needed but it's in a smashing location and will be worth it when all the work is done. (in about 25 years time I reckon!)

Oh some good updates.

It's been 2 weeks since anything remotely close has come on in my search criteria (which are very wide!) but I still partake in The Refresh Of Hope every ten minutes in Rightmove

Still nothing here. A great doer-upper (as in new roof and everything) came on but I had an inkling that part of town is in a flood risk area and lo and behold the house itself is on a functional floodplain. Another cute house came on but it's only a two bed (no potential to extend) and the garden is all at the front, with zero privacy. Also no parking. So, nice views but nope. Apart from that, the only other appealing house is in a shitty area with no greenery nearby, just lots of townhouses and totally overlooked.

I think our buyer is getting fed up of waiting for us to find something and is about to pull out. I'm sure they're looking elsewhere already but maybe can't find anything else so far. The question is when they do walk, do we try to re-sell or put up with where we are until the Spring? Who knows if things will even improve then. Don't want to rent with nothing to buy on the horizon and there isn't anything to rent anyway.

Feeling utterly fed up with the whole thing.

mummabubs that sounds stressful!! We're actually seeing two now- the second one needs basic work done to make it nice and we'd extend at some point. The first one needs to kitchen re-done and it looks like they have a false ceiling in there? It's a mess. But because we want to do a side-return extension and I don't think (what with demand for builders etc) that could happen anytime soon I imagine I would be quite depressed just 'making-do' for potentially years!

The second one we're seeing was listed with a different agent for £25k less not that long ago. (It's listed as STC on the original agents website. Have checked with the original agent and it's not under contract with them!) Which has alarm bells ringing because it's not worth the original asking price let alone the £25k bump! Very interested to hear the backstory (house 1 agent is the original agent of house 2 so will get the downlow at the first viewing ).

Something has finally come on that I want to view! Only seen the agent's video so far so I don't know how much it's going on for (not yet listed on their website but should be in budget) but it ticks lots of my boxes and has scope for remodelling the interior in the future. Probate sale so no chain. Going to ring and leave a message this evening and ring again in the morning. Please let it be in budget!

Eek. Right at the top of my budget. Monthly payment fine, but wouldn’t leave me much in savings for any issues. Going to go and see it though.

Oh God can I join?? We’re in Belfast, sold our beloved tiny but lovely (put a load of work into it) 2 bed terrace in March because of shitty neighbours. Had no idea the market had gone mental. It sold immediately, and we had to move into my Mum’s 30 miles away because we can’t find anything else. We’re not massively picky - just want a third bedroom and a small garden, but everything is going for £50-70k over the asking. We’ve been outbid on 10 - TEN!! - houses. We were sale agreed on the 11th and I thought it was The One - exactly what we wanted and where. The survey came back £40k below the agreed price. We dropped the offer but it was still £15k above the valuation, and £35k above the asking but the vendor went to our underbidders. They offered another £5k and she still said no and went to the ones below them who offered another £3k!! Madness. (Greedy witch - it was an estate sale so all free money to her anyway.) So now we’re at square one and it’s been weeks since anything has come up that we would even want to view. Nothing in our area. We contemplated just buying in my hometown as it’s so much cheaper, but work have now mandated us back in the office part of the week and I don’t want the commute. So really fed up. And I miss my old house so much But glad in a misery-loves-company way to kniw it’s not just me!

Obsessive Rightmove Mum - a poem
By PessimisticOptimist

This morning I leap from my bed
ready to refresh
I flip the laptop open
for my morning Rightmove sesh

My heart soars as I spy
the number at the top
It says one more property added
so I scroll until I stop

My heart sinks as I recognise
the picture of the place
It's the one they posted a week ago
So why is it taking up space?

Ah, I see what's changed this time
It's listed "POA"
It's targeted at gullible seniors
Who give equity away

Why must they do this? I sob to myself
Getting my hopes up this way
But I just keep refreshing, dreaming, and hoping
That today just might be the day.

@PessimisticOptimist love it.
Call from an Agent (I was on Q Jump) which apparently goes to everyone on their books. Booked in for a viewing on 2nd October, I mentioned whether I could see it earlier. Only if I paid £25 with the option of using their Solicitor. I politely declined. I am sick of Agents and their BS. I managed to find a house last time without all this, and why is it now they are seeking extra money. Apparently if you may £25 you are a hot customer. I already have a mortgage offer and £200k in the bank from my Sale, but I am not a hot customer. WTF. I think I am hot.
I think this £25 charge is ridiculous and I am not paying it. These Agents have never mentioned it to me before, I think they have literally made it up. Guys, how do you deal with this BS, it puts me in such a shitty mood

*pay £25. Not may £25

I've been under offer for 3 weeks and I don't think I'm being picky at all, there are plenty that I would be perfectly happy with except the asking prices are silly. In London it seems like there are a lot of people that bought flats around 2017 and are struggling to sell for what they originally paid.

I have a list of 45 saved properties, over the course of ~2 months the 15 decent, sensibly priced ones have sold quickly, everything else has been there for weeks and months.

I was about to make an offer on one last week that had been on the market for a year, did some digging and found that the identical flat upstairs (with a longer lease and potential to extend into the attic) had been sold a few months ago for 50k less!

Think I might give up for now and wait for things to calm down!

So we viewed our two properties today and the first was a flat out no, the second was much better but I still had the immediate sense of feeling hemmed in when we walked in we were focusing our search on three streets, those two houses being on two of those so I feel like we're back to the drawing board.

We've just had four couples in to look at ours. All first time buyers, I think (where do first time buyers get half a million quid?). Whatever happened to starting off small.
A couple of them seemed quite keen.
Two more viewings on Monday and then we wait.
I spent most of last week trying to find a solicitor to take us on. Just trying to get to speak to someone took me three long days.

Guys! So, on Saturday I saw a 1910 house (cottage) 3 miles from the Station. To date I have always been looking for something within walking distance of a station. I decided to see this because it is in a "Village" in East London. I have out in an offer which has been accepted. I am just unsure about the accessibility, bus service is not that regular, so it would need some planning and logistics. I will only be heading into the City 2 days per week. But there are no shops around at all, 2 pubs, 2 country parks, really historic, in a conservation area, outside of house is beautiful, inside all modern. Unlikely to be able to extend (due to property overlooking onto green belt). I have always wanted to live in the Country; it isn't remote but perhaps feel like it is. The last bus from the Station is at 6.50pm, so not sure how I would do nights out in London. There are other bus services which need a 25 minute walk. Guys, I am not sure now, however when I compare it to a "run of the mill" semi detached / terrace then I prefer this. But feel like maybe I am getting cold feet!?