Buying a house in a totally different area - how do people do it??

[Wondersense]

Having almost given up on buying a decent house in my price range in my own county, I've been thinking of moving back to the region I used to live in - South East Wales. It's about 4 hrs drive away. The logistics of moving there for a first time, single buyer, with no friends or family in that area seem really difficult.

If you've done similar, did you rent first? Did you do lots of viewings in the same day, and how many repeat viewings did you do, given the distance and availability of estate agents to show you around. was probably limited?

We moved about 4 hours away, in the space of 5 months. I wouldn’t recommend it as it was very stressful, although it all worked out well in the end. We went to visit for a long weekend (Fri to Mon) and saw schools on the Friday and houses on the Saturday. Agreed both on the Monday. We saw the house we picked on the Sat and Monday morning. We also had a house to sell but it was in a highly sought after area (close to an outstanding school) so sold it within a week.

We travelled there for 2 weekends and saw as many properties as possible. Found one which was perfect, made an offer that was accepted - but the purchase fell through because seller changed her mind.

Another weekend, drove past a house for sale on our way to (lots of) viewings. Owners happy to show and we made an offer on Monday. Completed within a couple of months.

With both houses we knew instantly that they were what we were looking for.

Yes, lots of weekend viewings. Got Airbnbs and stayed overnight. Did back to back viewings and saw about 20 properties over 3-4 trips. I had a local friend help ferry me to viewings as he had a car and I don't. It is doable.

We moved areas about a 4 hour drive but we rented at first for a year. I think that's more sensible personally (especially if you don't have to worry about schools) as it gives you a few months to really get to know the new area before deciding where to buy.

We did it and it was dreadful. It was approx two years ago when houses were selling really quickly. I had got a new job 4 hour hours away and we had to sell our home and buy a new one very quickly. We selected cash buyers with no chain, even though their offer was much lower than hoped. We then lined up nine or ten houses to see over a single weekend and went down with the specific aim of picking one of them. But it was a nightmare - even on the journey down, estate agents were calling us saying "this one's gone, that one's gone."
Luckily, the very first one we saw turned out to be the one for us and we put in an offer on the spot. It was vacant and the owners lived next door.
The next couple of months were horrific as our solicitors were useless and, at times, dishonest. As we HAD to move in the school holidays, we came to an arrangement with the owners to let us move in before completion and they were extremely kind in that they charges us way below market rent. If they hadn't done that, we would have been totally scuppered.
But yes, not fun!!

I’ve bought a house in a country I wasn’t yet living in, and bought a house several hours drive away during Covid. I’ve also gone to Cornwall with a friend to do viewings in west Cornwall while her DH stayed at home in Whitstable with their two small children. We stayed a week and investigated schools as well as seeing as many houses as possible.

My parents, (mainly mum) didn't look at a single house then suddenly bought a new build off plan. They moved in for 6 months with my sister until their house was ready.

Book a hotel, line up several viewings and just go for the weekend. Take a friend for an extra set of eyes / thoughts. Moving can be a nightmare wherever you do it, you'll likely only see the house in the flesh twice max before you move. The distance does not need to be a majorly complicating factor in the days of internet. My parents moved us across the country in 1989 and couldn't even look at house listings until they booked us a week in a caravan !

Research areas first to narrow it down and use Rightmove or similar to get an idea of properties. Then it’ll be heading there for a few days to see as many properties as possible and hopefully find something you like.

We have rented first in the new area before now (coming back from overseas), but our last big move we’d already sold up and were in rented but looking to move several hundred miles away and just dived in with a purchase.

We used solicitors in the new area for the purchase as they should have local knowledge.

We moved 4 hours away. The house buying was a piece of cake compared to the school-finding. Do you need to consider schools, OP?

Regular early Saturday mornings. If you are single, get up and out at 5am, get there by 9.
Pre-arrange viewings by phone, do lots of driving around the area.
Eat lunch in the pubs of the places you are looking at and chat to the locals about anything from broadband speeds to schools, to local housing devpt.
Stay overnight if you can and see the area after dark, trouble spots, night life etc.
Spend Sunday checking facilities for your normal hobbies & pastimes. Proximity of supermarkets, culture etc.

I haven't by my parents did when we were children. Booked a holiday in the place they wanted to move to, spent the whole week looking at houses. Found one, bought it and moved 4 hours from where we were living 4 months later.

This was in the pre-internet days so it involved a lot of phone calls and letters. For the actual move they hired two massive Pickfords lorries which completely jammed up the tiny village we moved to for a few hours.

We were in the fantastic situation of my dh new workplace was willing to pay our rent for 18 months so we just took our furniture and closed up the house ( didn't rent it out , mortgage paid off ) incase the move didn't work out.
We eventually sold and have our own house now.

We just did this. 2 hours away. We knew the area, though, and had family there. Family helped with information about schools etc, and we did a lot.of weekend viewings.

Once we had decided on a house, that was the easy bit- getting nursery/school places that coincided was much harder!

We moved 200 miles. Went into rented as our house hadn't yet sold and we needed to be in our new location for a job starting. Renting meant we had an address in the area so could apply for a school place.

Moved. House sold within a couple of months (put on management contract with estate agent so we didn't have to go back to check on it). Started looking for something to buy, eventually bought six months later, then did a renovation before moving in.

It had been really really expensive and quite stressful but it's meant we got to know the area before committing to buy and ended up buying somewhere that wouldn't have occurred to us otherwise. Also much easier to arrange house viewings when you're on the spot than at a distance. And not being in a chain puts you in a much better position as a buyer.

Thanks everyone.

No @NoSquirrels Sadly my life hasn't turned out well and there are no children. I'm single.

We moved 10 hours away. Bought our house without viewing it. We had little choice really, by the time we could have got there to view it someone else would have bought it.

The process seemed really daunting at first but we just dealt with each hurdle as it came up. Wasn't too bad in the end.

I did it 5yrs ago.

I crammed in as many viewings as I could in a day. Then, I went back and did the same again. Took three separate days to find somewhere to offer on.

I knew nobody in that area, I didn't even know the area that well. I didn't rent beforehand, just went for it.

Best thing I've ever done!