Almost 2 years. Still can't find a house.

[Jooolz1]

DP and I accepted offer on our house June 21, completed Sep 21 and moved in to rented. Thought it would take 6 months to find a house. Looking for our forever home. as don't want to move again. There are certain things we can't compromise on and some we can.Search area is large but quite rural. We have 70% deposit and ready to go.
We are buying 90 miles away from where we live now and have been outbid 3 times and pulled out of one due to costly damp issues found on survey.
Now feeling very frustrated so we are considering 2 houses even though neither is really what we wanted but there's very little else on.
One is on edge of a village and is good house but has road noise. Other has no road noise but everything needs doing and neighbours extension blocks light to the only place we could add a sun room - which is a must have. Would you go for one of these or wait longer for the right house to come along?

OP are you limiting yourself with minimum and maximum bedrooms and a high minimum price?

Where in the East Riding? I can perhaps suggest other villages/towns etc if you're not set on location?

We bought not far from there - it's taken nearly 18 months in total from selling our old house but that includes
several months of renovation work.

Have you got a list of must haves and nice to haves? We realised quickly that we wouldn't be able to get everything we wanted within our budget so have compromised on a couple of things (went for location over size of garden, it's quite small, and we don't have a garage. Ideally we'd have had a detached but too expensive here so we have a semi).

We bought a house from an elderly widower that needed a lot of work and did extensive renovations to turn it into a house that works well for us. That was easier as we were in a rental.

It's been the right decision as even a year on from having an offer accepted nothing else has come on the market to beat the location that we could have afforded. So our 'dream' house simply doesn't exist.

alpacamaraca - We have been looking from Skipsea down the coast as far as Easington then West to Thorngumbald and up to Brandesburton. Within that "square" area if you like. We don't favour any villages specifically.

I was the same! Its taken me 2 years but I was very specific about the area and type of home. I missed out on 2.

If you can sit tight because prices will drop.

There are some must haves and some nice to haves. We are happy to do work as DP is a tradesman with tradesman friends. We are keeping fingers crossed that more will come to market after the Easter break. Trying to stay optimistic.

Worst advice. Waiting is what keeps people off the housing ladder forever, while prices get further and further out of reach and people blow money on rent.

Without knowing your budget this advice might not be relevant, but do consider a self build. Look for detached bungalows for sale in the right locations as plots, not whether or not they are your forever home.

We bought one two years ago. We weren’t looking for a project, let alone a demolition and build. The location of the bungalow was absolute perfection though and we knew it’s where we wanted to be.

If there is an existing property there then it’s much easier to get planning. You’ll also be very surprised at what an architect can come up with remodelling the existing structure.

You do need some courage to take the leap though but we are getting our perfect house in the most perfect location (and are making loads of money in the process as the local agents have valued the finished house at double what we will have spent on it).

I disagree, at the moment you can put your savings in a high interest account and cover most of your rent.

Sounds like you are unrealistic about price/too rigid

Everytime you see people on these programmes who have been searching for years, they are like fantasists about what they can get or even what they want. Far too rigid

Have your list by all means but expect to spend much longer in rented while you wait for it to come up/or have a bigger budget so you dont get outbid.

I don't think I agree with that. We have a budget and so look at houses advertised in that budget. We wouldn't say well our budget is X so we will look 20k under in case we get outbid.

But what you can get for that budget is where the rigidity comes in, you've probably got 'must haves' that you cant actually afford, otherwise you would have found something by now

So when I said price/too rigid, Im talking about your budge but your 'must haves' as a combination

Hi OP, just wanted to reassure you two years in this current climate is not necessarily unreasonable - housing supply has been significantly down compared with demand all this time. I've done 18 months myself and finally got an offer accepted somewhere. I looked at rightmove pretty much every day, I viewed about 10 houses, put 5 offers in, all well over the upper estimates. It's totally soul destroying but finally got one accepted. I've not even been looking for the 'dream', just something I would be happy to live in for 5 years. I have just had to wait, because actually the problem has been supply, not me.

All I can say is the 'dream house' might not come along but there will be one that you can say 'yes, we'll be happy here' without a load of doubts. It will have compromises, but they will be ones you're comfortable with. I wouldn't settle on something where you've got major doubts at the start - especially as the tide is turning on mortgage rates and house prices there is no pressure to jump before you are priced out right now.

We have found houses. We've looked at 14 so far. We bid on one 16k over asking in July 21 and it sold for 30k over. In March 22 we offered under as it was a complete doer upper and we had looked at how much others had sold for on same road. It went 15k over asking. Then in August 22 we bid 5k over asking. It sold for same price as our bid but to someone else.

The reason I haven’t moved in 10 years is because there’s nothing that even comes close on the market during that time and I look daily. I want my house but with a fourth bedroom. Adding a fourth bedroom requires so many other changes in my home to make it work, we can’t do it without massively increasing our mortgage which we aren’t willing to do.

so I do understand.

however I am also super picky, and I know that. But I am happy to be here, so it’s ok (for now)

one day I will want to move out of the area, but I do love my home and can’t imagine ever selling it. I hope I am rich enough that I never have to!

Exactly this. We know we won't get perfection. As long as it fulfills our main criteria, we know there will be compromises. Hence we are considering the house withvthe loud toad noise.
I'm glad you found something, sounds like it's been tough for you too.

Sorry Road not Toad. LOL

If you've only looked at 14 houses in almost 2 years, then I advise viewing more. You are probably discounting properties that might work well for you before ever actually seeing them.

All the statistics from official sources indicate the supply is greatly up, demand is greatly down, and prices are dropping quite a lot in nominal and real terms. Most noticeable in the south east and London areas with the North East and northwest lagging behind at the moment. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/feb/09/uk-property-demand-house-prices-england-rics have a listen to very sensible "moving home with Charlie" on Twitter or YouTube. He works for estate agents and home movers.

I am an avid follower of MHWC.

We aren't after a bargain or anything, just a house with a rural feel and the must haves. And that fall within our budget. They do exist as we have offered on some

We are starting to view ones that we wouldn't perhaps have done last two years as we don't want to have missed something that could have worked. Also the agents will see that we are viewing and bear us in mind if something is coming on the market. You never know.

A "must have" is something you cannot live without, like a bathroom.

A sun room is something you would very much like to have, but you can live without it.

In think you need to consider whether you'd prefer to stay in rented accommodation until something very rare comes on the market, or to reassess your criteria for the house you're prepared to buy.

You offered on sone but you didn't offer enough which suggests it's a bit out of your budget

I sold a much loved rural home BECAUSE the quiet rural road it was on became too busy and noisy. .. and dangerous.
(huge volume of traffic to new tourist attraction).

14 in 2 years is a very low viewing rate . In my own househunting experience.
When you say "outbid", are you in Scotland?

I don't think the 'perfect house' exists. Most people settle for good enough and then make the house their own.
If you have been looking 2 years and haven't found what you are looking for yet I don't think you will ever find the perfect house that ticks all the boxes.