How on earth are you supposed to view houses at the moment if you have a full time job?

[EnglishGirlApproximately]

Aarghh. Not expecting any real answers just venting. We're trying to buy a house. We have a good deposit and we aren't in a chain, mortgage agreement in principle. The market is moving so fast that houses are selling within hours of being marketed. I've called to make appointments for two ideal properties this week within an hour of them being marketed and both sold before we could view late in the afternoon. Who are all the people that can view immediately and what the heck do you do if you have a job? Been looking for 4 months and can't even manage to get as far as viewing most of the time!

Working from home I would guess!

Or maybe some have flexible employers who will let them go & make the time up later.

Seriously?
I'm 2 hours away from where I want to move to....hope it calms down by then!

Are you looking at big houses? I'll be looking for a flat. I can imagine a good match is more rare in the market for houses.

No not big houses just standard 3 bed semi! I work from home 3 days a week and even that isn't helping. I was on my way day not wfh home today. Property advertised around 2pm today so I call and make appointment for 10am tomorrow and just had a call to say they've had an offer. Less than 6 hours! It isn't even a desirable area i live in a low income ex mining town. So fed up of it.

Have you rang all your local estate agents and been out in their lists? Often they've contacted people and had viewings before the property even makes it on The internet.

Yep I'm on all the mailing lists and have spoken to all local agents we simply can't view quickly enough! I'm so disheartened with it all its over twenty years since I last bought a house and it wasn't like this

I've also heard of people offering without viewing.

Which is actually quite crazy.

@CoffeeRunner I'm assuming that must be happening some of the time. Not a chance I'll do that photos can be very well staged. We've viewed two where the gardens are half the size they appear.

I am having the same frustrations!! I work full time, in the NHS in a patient facing role (so cent take last minute leave) and it’s just me buying. I can’t just do viewings in the middle of the day but none of the EAs I have dealt with do any viewings after about 4pm (4:30 at a push!) and I physically can’t get there until 5:30. Saturday viewings seem to get booked up almost a week in advance so half the time I don’t even get to see the house before it’s under offer and they’re not doing viewings any more! It is so incredibly frustrating and I’ve been wondering the exact same thing! Even if you work from home, how are so many people able to schlep off in the middle of the day?!

OP - house sellers can be so mean

Seriously, I want to move next year so if it doesn't calm down....maybe it's area dependent though. Darn sarf, I think we have so many identikit flats it's less of an issue. But with a 2 hour journey, I was hoping to do Saturdays. I actually don't know if EAs work on Sundays now.

You need to build a good relationship with a couple of local agents. Then, they ring you as soon as the contract is signed on any new listings- usually a couple of days before they go online.

You could always put letters through doors. That's what we did. The vendor called me and we did it all without EAs which saved money on both sides. If the house had gone on the open market we would have most definitely been priced out of this house.

@Knittingbaker its insane isn't it! And why oh why do the online agents have evening appointments on their booking portals only to inevitably email you after you've booked it to say they can only do 10am on one weekday? I've got a week off next week and am praying something decent comes upto view

Yabvu. After work and on weekends like everyone else.

@CareerConcerns1999 the one today I'd started scheduling an appointment before it went on Rightmove but we're still up against other buyers who have the contacts with agents too! @headinthecloudsnow I've seen this mentioned but never been convinced it would work, interesting to hear you were successful - something to think about.

If it's a bog standard 3 bed in an affordable-ish area then my guess would be that it's investors/landlord.

They will be well known to the estate agent and have their viewings booked in before the property listing even goes online. Putting it online is just to justify the cost to the seller.

@BubblingBottle I don't know what you mean? (This isn't AIBU by the way). I can do daytime, evening or weekend- what i can't do is view it within an hour of it going on sale as I have a job and school run etc

@nanabow I think you might be right, which pretty much encapsulates the issues with the property market in this country!

Back in the 1980s, the market was just as feverish, and I was also working full time. And there was no internet.
I spent almost every weekend for a year doing house visits.
The new houses were advertised in the local paper which came out mid afternoon. An old lady on the road a friend I worked with lived on (are you following?!) used to buy the paper and drop it in to work for me to look at as soon as I finished. I was still often too late.
Eventually the same lady let me know about a house about to come up on her road, so I rang the estate agent at lunchtime - before the paper had come out - and booked a viewing for after work. That's how I got in first.
I would suggest asking people you know to keep their eyes and ears open, and let you know of any possibles straight away. And be prepared for a long slog...

Are they “real” properties? I imagine there must be some regulations and code of conduct, just wondering if they are put on to make it appear as if the EA is busy.

OP
Just in case my musical ref didn't work, that wasn't a snarky comment. Sorry if I read the room wrong.

@Scarby9 unfortunately we don't live in the village we want to move to so have limited contacts. Its only a few miles away but our friends and family don't live there. We do whoever use a couple of local coffee shops etc so might bend the ears of the staff there to keep an eye open for us!

@DaisyNGO sorry just clicked took me a while no one ever gets my user name!

Its the same with renting. DS is trying to find a house or flat to rent. He works from home. Every one he rings is booked up or don't do evening or weekend viewings. He's 1½ hours away. He actually said to me doesn't anyekse actually have to work?

I viewed my first home in my lunch hour. That was a few years ago. I WFH now and can be flexible with my hours, so I just pop out when I need to and make the time up later. I’ve just bought my second property - I got the earliest viewing I could and offered full asking price on the spot.

I have no idea what people do if they’re moving some distance away.

I work shifts so I could get there on a Monday afternoon.

The house appeared on Rightmove on Saturday evening .

I made an offer and by the next day it has gone to best and final bids. Crazy.