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Original poster

How do you view??? Moving away.

33 replies

WhereTheWildlingsLive · 17/03/2022 07:35

Posted this in chat but then thought maybe this is a better place....

Just reading a current thread running on here about moving has made me think this me a good place to ask for ideas on this.
We are looking to move to a different part of the country due to rising prices here and desperately needing a change of scenery. I have only just started looking but although I've found a couple I've liked both have had (well booked up) viewings within a short time that we couldn't possibly attend, obviously due to distance!

How do people relocate with viewing etc to a different location?? We have two young kids in school (& not unlimited fuel/accomodation funds!) so can't keep jetting back and forth when anything remotely interesting pops up... What does everyone else do?!

OP posts:
buddhasbelly · 17/03/2022 07:38

My area has been hugely popular for folk relocating / buying 2nd homes over the last 1/2 years. Places are being bought unseen.

Whinge · 17/03/2022 07:44

I have 2 work colleagues who have done this, and both went about it in different ways

The first sold their house and moved into rented in the new area. They didn't want to rush and buy the first thing they were able to view, and this meant they could get a feel for the new area before deciding where they wanted to buy.

The second visited the new area for a 2 week holiday and booked as many viewings as possible while they were in the area.

Roselilly36 · 17/03/2022 07:49

We relocated last year, 3.5hr drive from where we lived before, we lost our weekends basically, we booked viewings for all day Fri, left early in the morning, viewed properties, sometimes 7 in the one day, stayed in a hotel overnight, viewed some more properties sat morning, then headed back home. It was exhausting and expensive, but it worked out for us, our children are young adults though, it would be tricky with little ones. We are very happy with our move, best decision we made.

HeddaGarbled · 17/03/2022 07:52

We did Saturday overnight stays in a Premier Inn and crammed in as many viewings as we could on the Saturday and Sunday. Inevitably, some of the viewings were cancelled, so the trick is to book in as many as you can on each day, so no trip feels like it’s entirely wasted.

stuntbubbles · 17/03/2022 07:53

Friends with a baby are doing it in blocks of holiday and hoping things come on the market when they get there. We’re resigned to the fact only one of us might look at the house we buy – no sense paying for trains for four of us to view each weekend only to find the photos were flattering and street view lied.

When I was little I remember my dad went away each weekend to do house viewings, my mum never saw her new house til she moved in.

SheWoreYellow · 17/03/2022 07:54

We’ve done this twice. Each time 200 miles.

First time, we’d already looked round areas and knew where we wanted to be. Then as soon as we got an offer on ours we came up for the weekend, looked at everything possible (luckily we wanted a big standard three bed semi so there were a few that were fine), view them all, viewed one again and put an offer in.

Second time we rented for a bit as we needed something more niche and also it meant we could move before we’d sold. We bought something that needed work, so we rented for a year on the end.

GeneLovesJezebel · 17/03/2022 07:54

A friend of mine did this.
She had a couple of weekends in the area and got to know the estate agents. Being friendly with them, letting them know her situation, really helped.

SheWoreYellow · 17/03/2022 07:55

Oh and I’ve done it with my mum. I viewed the house and when there was one that was a possible, she then came up. You could do that with a DH.

MarineBio · 17/03/2022 08:34

We did this. Quite picky so had to wait a while but we only viewed places we were 90% sure of. You can tell a lot from right move, street view, satellite pics although you do have to know the area a bit. Then one of us would take AL and go. Couldn’t both go because of kids.

NeedAHoliday2021 · 17/03/2022 08:54

My parents struggled as lots of viewings were on set open days so they couldn’t just pop down for 2 days and view 6 houses. Essentially they didn’t go for houses the agents/owners made it hard to view. They got there in the end. Internet research, maps, street view all give a good idea so you only visit possible purchases that you’re really interested in.

NightmareSlashDelightful · 17/03/2022 09:02

We moved 400 miles during the pandemic, and from England to Scotland.

We went into rented based on two video walk-throughs and a lot of questions.

I won't lie, even with rented it was a big gulp moment handing over the deposit and signing a lease on a flat we'd never actually set foot in.

Ragwort · 17/03/2022 09:17

We've done this twice - both times we moved into short term rentals, the first time we didn't have a DC so it was easier, the second time our DS was 10 and it meant two changes of school in one year ... not ideal but he coped really well, fortunately he's a very confident and sociable DC but it could be challenging otherwise.

TheAbbotOfUnreason · 17/03/2022 09:33

@Whinge

I have 2 work colleagues who have done this, and both went about it in different ways

The first sold their house and moved into rented in the new area. They didn't want to rush and buy the first thing they were able to view, and this meant they could get a feel for the new area before deciding where they wanted to buy.

The second visited the new area for a 2 week holiday and booked as many viewings as possible while they were in the area.

We’ve done both of these.

Moved back to a new area of the UK from overseas so rented for 6 months whilst we found our feet and decided exactly where we wanted to live in the new city. Had a toddler at the time.

This time we did a whistle stop tour of a large area 600 miles away, cramming in as many viewings as we could. Lucked in and found a house we all liked in a great town, although I had targeted specific areas wrt suitable schools.

Appreciate that the market is now so fast moving that it’s probably difficult to do this, so renting first may be your best option, plus you have the benefits of getting to know your new area first and not being in a chain when buying again.

At least you have loads of online resources available to help narrow things down, and definitely worth contacting agents in the area so that you can get notified of properties new to the market.

GnomeDePlume · 17/03/2022 09:53

Moving from UK to Netherlands. We had a one day housing visit. Literally viewed 2 possible rentals and 3 possible purchases. Made a choice, made an offer, flew home that night having bought a house.

A colleague ended up viewing something like 200 houses.

Sanity is probably somewhere between those two extremes.

We were very pragmatic. We needed a home with access to school for DCs. I needed to be able to get to work by public transport. We made the choice from what was available on that day.

My colleague got a bit lost in the search for the perfect home (his own admission).

bilbodog · 17/03/2022 10:15

You can also post on here if you find an area or house you like to see if anyone knows the area well and can advise you.

Look at as many potential properties as you can online to try and get a feel for what looks right in the photos - compare room sizes and floor plans with your own house to get a feel for size.

You could also get your own house ready to go on the market - get 3 valuations and do your own homework to make sure you put it on the market at the right price and find out how much mortgage you are going to have so you know what your maximum price is. You can have house photographed and be ready to go but not go live. A good estate agent will be happy to do this.

MarineBio · 17/03/2022 10:20

Personally I would be way of renting in the current market. It is disruptive and prices are going up so quickly.

MarineBio · 17/03/2022 10:20

*wary

ArmWrestlingWithChasNDave · 17/03/2022 10:25

I'm in the same boat. I decided to buy unseen, but when I spoke to a conveyancer to put an offer in, she was so shocked at the idea she basically told me I was a complete idiot (in nicer words!) and told all sorts of horror stories.

Now I'm back to looking at RightMove every day but being unable to actually do anything about it.

RidingMyBike · 17/03/2022 10:48

We are in the middle of this - we moved into rented 200 miles away last year as there's no way we could have kept doing repeat visits for viewings that may or may not go ahead. DD was at school so couldn't take her out so any viewings had to be at weekends and we found viewings often only available on Sat mornings. We were shielding so all the travelling increases risk for our family too.

So I spent a Sat viewing as many rentals as were available then (DH is the shielding one so we decided he would only travel once). We took one of those, applied for schools nearby. Moved up six weeks later. House in old location went on market using management contract with estate agent (so we didn't have to keep going back to keep an eye on it). House sold within six weeks of relocating. We then start househunting within a mile of DD's new school.

That was four months ago - we have just had an offer accepted on a new house. Although it's been really expensive doing it this way and two lots of moving costs, it's also been really beneficial. We've got a good grasp on the new area, made contacts. We probably wouldn't have considered the area where we're buying but living locally gave us the knowledge to look there!

Good luck!

noscoobydoodle · 17/03/2022 10:54

We have just done this with 3 kids moving across the country but to an area we have lived in before and know well. We had to do a combination of weekends/hotels booking in as many viewings as possible, using annual leave and sending retired family members who live nearer (and like a trip out to look at houses!). The market was so quick houses were only on a day or two at most. We spent a lot of time on Rightmove and ruled a lot out that way (unless they were free to view when we were already there). It wasn't easy and we ended up buying a house that only my great aunt and her friend had viewed (we had viewed a similar one but lost out on it). We had considered renting but the market was equally hot and we have an undesirable combination of children and animals!

noscoobydoodle · 17/03/2022 10:57

I should add we did need to move quickly to look after a family member, and we have gone with something that ticks our small 'must have' list rather than our dream home or one that ticks the 'nice to have' list as well.

TheNoonBell · 17/03/2022 11:04

We did 3 long weekends (Fri-Mon) checking out the areas we liked down to quite low levels and then just drove the 2.5 hours for the few houses that came up in those areas. During the week we worked out that weekends "grids" that we would look at. In the end we only viewed 3 houses on 3 separate occasions as we had narrowed down the areas to specific roads and areas of villages.

DP made a map with the areas we approved of marked on it and then overlaid it with maps of high speed internet and flooding.

Really saved a lot of unnecessary travel!

Savvysix1984 · 17/03/2022 12:17

We relocated to another country (my home country). I stayed with family for a few days and viewed houses. Luckily found one I loved. Offered and got it. My dh didn't see inside it until the day he got the keys, but he completely trusted my judgement.

CraftyGin · 17/03/2022 12:18

Book 6 or 8 viewings over a weekend.

ArmWrestlingWithChasNDave · 17/03/2022 13:02

@CraftyGin

Book 6 or 8 viewings over a weekend.
Depending on the area, it's quite likely there aren't 6-8 suitable properties all available to view over one weekend.
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