Offer or hold out...

[sdra]

A house has come back on the market. It's nice but not 100% for us. We would need to do an extension and remodel inside. It's not quite the area we like - though it's second best area!. It's affordable. But should we wait....the market is so slow. Am worried we're just wanting it because it's the only thing out there. It doesn't grab me. My head says it's fine. My heart kind of says meh. But maybe I'm just too fussy....

Sorry drip feeding. We're in rented and have been for a while. We have spent ages deciding where to settle and finally have, so really we've spent time looking at houses in different areas before finally agreeing in the past 4 months. We don't have to move right now. We just really want to own our own house again and move on, but had given ourselves this year to look and then be less fussy if we still hadn't found anything by then.

i think you should live the house you buy. Feel excited.

it doesn’t have to be perfect - I bought a house last year and it needs a lot of updating. But I love it. Looked at it every day on Google earth. Drove passed as often as I could. Would really excited to get the keys.

if you don’t feel that maybe wait?

@Mellowyellow222 I agree, we’re about to exchange on a house which I’m so excited about. I had a little cry on the first viewing, and when we viewed it again recently I just didn’t want to leave. It’s not perfect either and we’ll need to do some work in the next few years! But I can’t believe I’ll get to live there

Thanks yes we've not offered. Congrats on your houses both. It's a bit like finding a life person - do you settle or hold out for 'the one!' (If it exists...) I'm so desperate to have my own home but can wait some more. Just hope the housing market picks up soon

It's hard to know what the right thing to do it. It doesn't sound like this house has much going for it other than it's affordable? If you're just considering it for the sake of owning I think you should definitely wait.

Don’t do it.

We offered on a practical tick box house recently that needed some internal modification. When DH told me we’d got it, I went “oh OK” and then went back to my emails.

Saw another house a few days later that made our hearts sing, top of our budget but we were willing to make do & take years of saving to put right (we could afford and wanted to change the other place straightaway). We didn’t secure it and I cried. But, it made us realise that we couldn’t go ahead with the other one, that we’d just gone for it as not a lot on.

Appreciate it’s an absolute privilege to be picky, but if you can be then do it.

Buying a house should be as much with your heart as your head I think. As well as being practical and ticking the boxes, it's also got to be somewhere you will be happy to come home to and wake up in.

I was adamant I wanted an old, character property, I wanted fireplaces, beams, higgeldy rooms. I did NOT want an identikit new build. The three houses I saw that met my criteria left me cold and a bit meh. The new build I walked into to stole my heart. It's not what I wanted at all but it's my home and I love it.

@LadyFlumpalot similar happened to me - except my house isn’t new but it isn’t at all what I envisaged!

I remember seeing it on rightmove and texting my brother so come and view it with me - saying this isn’t really what I want but let’s have a look. I just fell for it and was in a bidding war the next day!

There's hope for me yet!

Does what you are waiting for exit (within your price range) where you want it? I.e you might want Victorian or Georgian but be surrounded by 1970s estates.

I live in a small village and most of the houses have a compromise somewhere so I sacrificed condition for a big garden (rare here) and it's not a looker.

Have you walked the parts you want to live in and looked up roughly what they would sell for? Checked the floor plans etc.

This doesn't sound quite right but equally you don't want to be waiting for a unicorn!
If there is a stock of what you want but no one is selling, I'd wait but otherwise you may have to bite the bullet on the compromises

I am not someone who loves houses and have very practical requirements on what my next house will be like but I would not buy a house that made me go "meh". Four times we had to find a house in a hurry because of late DH's job moves (two rentals, two purchases) but we were always both adamant that we would not buy or rent a 'this'll do" house. Its just as well because my current one was bought in the expectation of moving within 3 years as the next job move happened and I am still here more than 30 years later.

It is more difficult to wait when prices are rising and you're renting....