Is January a slow month? How long did it take to find your house?

[dustydreams]

First time buyers currently looking for our family home. How long did it take you to find somewhere you loved?

We looked at 2 properties that were ok just a bit meh and I’ve been looking daily on right move for weeks with nothing new we like enough to even view.

Not sure if January is just a slow month for properly listings or if they just don’t come up as often in this particular area.

Where are you and what’s your price bracket?

I've just noticed the same old dirge coming off the market and then getting relisted at the same unappealing price.

agree lots are just getting re-listed. BUT i think it's still early in the year. Im still currently preparing mine for sale, it will go in a few weeks. Perhaps Feb/March will being new properties!

Sometimes it takes months for the right house to come to market.

January is typically quiet, but don't expect wonders come the spring. Yes, spring is traditionally the most popular time to list. That also means it's the most popular time for house hunting, so you will have most competition. Plus, there just hasn't been as much stock on the market over the last year. Despite what the property industry prints in the press, the market last year never picked up. It's been stagnant and will likely continue to be so until affordability improves.

December and January are usually the quietest months in terms of sellers listing property, although, according to Rightmove, listings are very high this January compared to previous. I guess just not for the type of home you are looking for!

It often takes time to find the right house and it is not the kind of thing you should rush as you may then make the wrong decision. From late Feb/March, there is usually a much steadier stream of properties coming to market. Spring is traditionally the best time to list, Summer pretty good and then there tends to be another uptick in September. Just keep looking and research your area carefully in the meantime.
Have a look at https://www.acadata.co.uk and https://ottaproperty.co.uk
They use ONS data, although this is being constantly revised downwards at present so isn't very accurate when initially released. Have a look at similar homes in your area, see what they actually sell for.

I’ve spotted 3 or 4 that failed to sell in the autumn come back on first week in Jan.
They are good houses, but overpriced.
The dross is very sticky. People have realized renovations now cost real money.

It can take time , but a general tip or two

If it's in your price range and meets basic criteria , view , don't dismiss because of rightmove - benefits in that sometimes the right thing surprises you, and also you get to normalise what's really available in your price range, and to understand the cost of all your must have criteria

It's also worth trying to get your imagination going - many first time buyers especially can't see past the decor - you need to try and think how you might use the space and what it could look like with just a few weeks of hard decorating and cleaning

I doubt there will be a big surge in house hunters this Spring in the same way that there usually is as the lower SDLT thresholds expire at the end of March 25. I suspect some chains will break down or be renegotiated and FTB will not rush in. This also coincides with the NI increase, which is already causing unemployment numbers to increase. I can only see this getting worse after April.

There actually have been good stock levels overall, 2022 was the bottom.
Property Lion tracks listings. I do agree that a fair percentage of listings are just being recycled with small price reductions so they remain unappealing and areas will vary.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GhvLce2WwAAbhlo?format=png&name=medium
In terms of asking prices (not selling prices), those have come down a little recently:
pbs.twimg.com/media/GhvLeQAXsAASJ1E?format=png&name=medium

Exactly. There is a lot of this going on. At some point reality will dawn but it may well take a recession.

We are 2 years into this process and still not been successful. We are no chain, first time, cash buyers.

We have offered on 7 houses in 2 years:

2 houses fallen through (due to the seller - 1 kept changing their mind and the other was repossessed during probate)
2 gazumped by developers at the 2 week point
2 we lost out out bid in bidding wars/sealed bids
1 was just rejected (it was way overpriced anyway)

We offered well over asking price on 3 of them.

• a couple of houses sold before our viewing even happened and a few just weren't what we wanted upon viewing

Honestly house buying has been a nightmare, I know people always said its the most stressful thing you'll ever do but I honestly did not expect it to be so hard.

Developers have become the bane of my life, they just seem to swarm over everything here driving all the prices up with their cheap flips.

Have the developers offered more than you as cash buyers? That seems strange as they are specifically looking to make a profit.
Your area sounds very fast moving compared to most others. In the South, things have been very slow with lots of reductions for over 2 years. Where are you roughly?

Yes, same question. Intrigued to know where these areas are where things are flying off the shelves. I haven't seen any of that where we are buying and selling.

That's really unlucky to have the rug pulled from under you 7 times.

Apologies. I forgot to tag @housethatbuiltme in earlier post.
I agree with @Gekko21 that you have been particularly unlucky.

You do sound like you’ve been particularly unlucky @housethatbuiltme

Though from other posts you’ve made it seems like you think everything’s overpriced so maybe that partly explains why you’ve been outbid with some of them.

I think things are 'overpriced'???

I offered OVER asking price on most and have regularly said it rude to just expect to offer under and people should aim to pay asking. I only ever said one was over priced and frankly it was (way above the price of the area, being sold by a Londoner).

I look at houses below my budget (substantially) as I'm looking at ones that need work so if your suggesting I'm a cheapskate thats chancing offering under thats ridiculous.

I'm in the north (I have commented on the market in south seeming nuts price wise, people spending hundreds of thousands on 1 bed flats etc... is crazy to a northerner but I also never claimed they are overprice for their area just that its crazy to compare) but lots of investors from outside the area are buying here because its 'cheap'.

I might be in competition more often with developers as we are looking mainly for older dated Victorian houses (most coming up are from elderly people moving into care or probate) as I hate modern builds and most of the trends from the last 20 years.

There are of course houses sitting on the market ages here just like anywhere but they are the tenanted BTL houses, overpriced by the owners houses or flips that aren't worth the asking price (opposite of what I want).

Reasonably priced good houses 'fly off the shelves' everywhere in the country. I'm not in a need to move situation so not going to just accept the dregs no one wants (no one else wants them for the same reasons I don't).

As for 'they just must pay much more than you', the developers they have standing relations with the EA etc... they buy lots of houses again and again in quick succession and are known to the process. Usually have solicitors working for them (not just a one off hire) and so are heavily 'recommended' as known buyers with a track record.

Houses are usually empty being sold to settle estates or fees so its not a case of swooning homeowners into picking you as their favorite person who will cherish their home forever.

I think a lot of people wait for spring when the garden is nicer and the light in the house is better. We put ours on the market in November but only because we found a house we really liked.

We're getting ready to sell and will be going on in mid-February. So I think new houses will start appearing around then.

We've been keeping an eye on the area we want to move to, and a house that suits us turns up maybe every two weeks and they've all been sitting around for months at this point. We were on the market last year for 9 months without any offers. A few houses we liked back then are still on! So the market here is very very slow.

We moved in November, having finally sold at the beginning of August. The house next door but one went on the market a couple of weeks later and hasn’t sold or had many viewings.

Most of the houses in that area have been on Rightmove for months.

@housethatbuiltme I just don’t think it’s the best tactic to keep viewing houses substantially under budget. The fact that they need work doing should already have been factored into the asking price.

It’s understandable you want a good deal but your tactics don’t seem to be working tbh so might be better to switch to viewing properties listed at closer to your actual budget.

Hello, we are in the same boat. First time buyers looking for a family home.
We were going to look at a house tomorrow, but it sold before we got a chance. It was on rightmove only 3 days!
I'm hoping more will come on the market as the days get longer/weather gets nicer.