House sold quite a few times - how wary should we be?

[YaffleYaffle]

A house we’re going to view has been sold 6 times in the space of 18 years.

It’s a 2-bed and potentially people have bought it as a starter home then upsized. The current people have been there for 3 years and the people before had it for 11 years.

But before that, it changed hands a few times quite quickly including being sold twice within 3 months. So maybe a repossession or someone part-exchanged to buy a retirement property and the company sold it on.

How wary should we be, or am I overthinking?

I wouldn’t think much of it of a 2 bed tbh. Do you know the area? Scoped out the neighbours?

I'd assume that a two-bed was a "starter" home and that's why people are moving on quickly. It's just giving people a step on the ladder.

It’s only twice in 14 years. All the early short ownerships would have had me worried but it was many years ago so doesn’t seem relevant now.

If the higher rate of changing hands was recent I would question it more but as it's only had 2 in 14 years I think that's fine.

A 2 bed will naturally have a higher turnover. Just do all the usual checks, drive or walk past different times of the day. Look at the sale histories of neighbours too.

Good luck!

Thanks everyone! We haven’t scoped out the neighbours yet but we will. Appreciate the sense checking.

2008 crash maybe?

Thanks for the suggestion but the dates are mostly before that - it’s only had one owner since 2007.

Suspect the starter home theory is right. Thanks folks

A house we looked at when we bought this 20 years ago seems to have been on the market constantly.

It's a lovely house and quite affordable for the area, but it's on a busy road with just one parking space for a front garden and opposite a notorious estate. (Sorry, but antisocial behaviour makes a difference when you have to live there).

I'd guess that people have compromised to get the nice house in almost the right area (as we nearly did) but then find living there isn't that great.

How long do you intend staying there?

At least five years I think

Clearly it was haunted. The owners who bought it in 2007 go for that sort of thing. They’re off to that haunted farm in Wales……

A 2 bed house will often be sold after people have only lived in it for a short time. The fact the previous owner lived there for 11 years shows there is probably nothing to worry about.

Is it a flat and are you looking at Rightmove sold prices?
If so, this isn't always clear. My old flat looks like it has sold six times when it was only twice. Its because rightmove was including the sales of the two other flats in the building . This was even under my flat. So it was flat a but flat b and c sold times had been listed in my flat a

A house on my cul-de-sac has sold several times over the past 12 years. It’s dead quiet around here, very few children, mostly professional types. It’s a two bed with a small garden that doesn’t catch great sun, so people are outgrowing it and moving on.

😂😂😂 Love it! Definitely the only possible explanation @Dotcheck !

This is always my first thought when a house is up for sale frequently! I've been listening to too many podcasts..

Nope not a flat!

Thanks everyone. Someone else got an offer in, and it wasn’t quite for us so we didn’t try to compete. This has been really helpful though thank you as I’m sure this question will arise again

It wasn’t haunted thought… that we know of 😂

I wonder if remortgages come up on 'sold prices'?

Ok you can't rely on the 'previous sales' on some platforms like rightmove. They are mostly accurate, but I have seen anomalies on properties I've bought and sold.
For example I bought a house at auction and that sale isn't on the list, so looks like the house had a steady rise, when actually there was a big dip (when I bought it) then a big increase (I did it up and flipped it). Plus it would have shown two sales within nine months.
I also bought part of a larger property. So on rightmove it looks like:
Sold 2006 £310k
Sold 2009 £200k
Sold 2014 £380k
Looks suspicious, right?
A developer bought it in the first instance, got planning for redeveloping the land but then 2008 financial crash so broke up the plot and sold me the bit with the house for £200k. I added a storey, did the whole thing up and sold for £380k.
So the fact the house you are viewing sold a few times in a short space of time could mean anything. And the reselling within three months is probably a mistake - with the conveyancing process someone would have had to buy it and then almost immediately put it back on the market it and sold it right away, which could have happened but is unlikely. Humans input this information and they are most definitely fallible.

I wouldn't worry about it at all. The house we are in is a 4 bed detached in a great area. Lovely position in the road. Onderful neighbours. We've been here 4 years, the family before us had been in it for 11 years but prior to that it had been sold 4 further times since it was built in 1997
On sale was within about 18 months. Not sure why as it's not a starter home maybe relationship split?
I honestly wouldn't worry