How are working people meant to view houses these days?

[Clare1207]

Just a bit of a rant really, so sorry in advance for the long post! I'm just so frustrated over this situation.

My husband and I are looking for our first home, FTB with a full 10% deposit, AiP, Solicitors on standby, just trying to find the right house. The biggest hurdle we're facing in finding a house is we live in a different city to where we're wanting to move so can't just pop out of work for an hour as it take over an hour each way to travel and the estate agents are being so ridiculous with the viewing times.

I spoke to one estate agent the other day asking for a viewing and the latest time they do is half 2 in the afternoon! What? How do these people expect to sell these houses? Are they all just hoping landlords go for them? Another one, when I phoned them to request a viewing of a house they'd just had to reduce in price, said I can't book a viewing over the phone and have to request details through rightmove and someone would phone me back, which no one ever did.

I can't book time off work to do viewings as I work Term Time Only so don't get standard holidays and have to wait until the school holidays for time off and even when I do have time off, we tried to block book viewings during half term last month and it was impossible! Almost every estate agent was fully booked and could only do the following week when we were back in work except for maybe 3 we were able to look at, spread out over the week we had off, couldn't even get them for the same day. The earliest we can get to the city we're looking at is 5pm and barely any do bookings that late and none we've come across have the option for the seller to do the viewing instead.

The houses near where we want to live seem to sell in a matter of days, unless it's massively overpriced or needs a lot of work doing to it, so it's not even like we can book weeks in advance either.

Even when we manage to actually view somewhere we like, we put an offer in recently for a house that we were literally looking at as an 'it will do for now' and got told that someone else had made an offer 'way over asking price' which we weren't willing to do because it was already overpriced for the area it was in. One house we actually managed to get an offer accepted and then we got the survey and it easily needed about £20-30k worth of work up-front and we just coudn't afford that straight off so had to walk away. Every single place we actually manage to view needs so much work, all seem to be elderly people who have passed away. Are families not selling anymore?

It's all just so frustrating and disheartening. We have pressure to move because my mum isn't very well and needs us much closer and it's just so difficult to arrange anything. It's really getting us both down and just can't see an end to it unless we get very lucky.

TLDR: estate agents are being so difficult with house viewing bookings and makes it near impossible for working people to actually view a house these days!

Is anyone else having issues like this at the moment? What is going on with the housing market that estate agents feel like they can just completely ignore prospective buyers willing to view houses?

It is exhausting, especially when you're dealing with medical issues as well.

The main issue we have is we also currently work an hour+ away from where we're looking so even if we moved to a rental locally, it wouldn't actually help us as we still couldn't view anything during the day. We are not allowed to take time off during term time as we work in education and the way our contracts work means we have all our holidays during the school holidays and can't take any other time off unless it's illness or a hospital appointment. As we also work not only in the same palce, but the same department, it would be super obvious if we were to skive off claiming illness for an afternoon to view something.

Once we move, we'll be looking for new local jobs, I'd look first but can imagine it would mess up our mortgage application to both have new jobs right before buying.

Yeah, that's really tough. Idk how teachers are meant to move house.

Do you have relatives who could do a first viewing for you? Maybe get you on Whatsapp? We had one agent who would do that for us and it saved us a few 5 hour round trips. If they're going to be at the house for other viewings anyway, sometimes they're alright with doing that. At least one other agent offered it.

We didn't even meet the actual agents half the time so far but viewing agents who don't know anything, are just given keys to show around.
Also had to have a hissy fit after 3rd time of "ok give me your details and we willcall you back" when trying to arrange viewing for a house. This is very much repeated experience for me.
It's not like we are not serious buyers either with considerable deposit and AIPs at ready.
Funny, when my DH who sounds native british calls he gets bookings easily. Probably just rotten luck on my part.

I really sympathise. Can you rent in the new area first? That way you’d be near your mum and you could do the search in this schoolmhols from a local base?

Not really, the only person we really have locally is my mum who can't walk much or even stand up for long periods of time, which is why we need to move down there (my home city) so I can also take on caring responsibilities for her. I'm an only child so there is no one else. My husband's family all live a couple of hours away/abroad. MiL is in in another city a further hour and a half+ away, FiL lives in Spain, BiL lives in Germany...

We're just going to have to wait for the summer holidays I think, nothing else we can do. Everyone is right in terms of the estate agents don't have to work around us, it's just frustrating when we are finding it literally impossible to see anything.

In your position I would look for a new job first, then find a rental in the area, and once you're already living and working there, it will be easier to fit in viewings.

Unfortunately in desirable areas it's very much a seller's market, as demand far outstrips supply. There might be more houses going on the market after the Renters Rights Act becomes law, but there might not, since it'll be harder for landlords to evict tenants.

You need to ditch the idea of a second viewing. When things move fast it's not going to happen with your schedule. For the house we finally managed to buy (after four other houses we lost out on despite asking price or over asking price chain free offers) we viewed and offered asking price from the car outside the house immediately after the viewing. And even then it went to best and final.

Oh and you need to be calling the agents to ask if they've done any valuations lately and if they have any properties that will be going on the market soon.

I've been house hunting in a very desirable area for more than a year now. DH and I have viewed a lot of houses over that time and we've got quite friendly with the main estate agents in the area (there are several obviously but there's one agency that sells most of the houses in our price bracket). I check in with them from time to time and recently the agent contacted me with a heads up about several properties before they actually went on Rightmove. You have to get in early and especially if you're not local.

This is our experience too. On the odd occasion we've actually had a viewing I've asked basic questions like 'how old is the boiler' all to be met with 'no idea, sorry'. The staggering amount of times I've also had the 'we'll call you back' only to never hear from them again is also ridiculous.

I'm from the city we're looking at originally, moved away for work initially so I at least know the areas to look at/avoid but it's still annoying.

I think a bigger part of your problem is that you live an hour away from potential houses which makes viewings tricky after work. When we were looking earlier this year, we looked at three before putting in an offer and having it accepted- one was on a Sunday, one 5.45pm on a Tuesday and one 5pm on a Thursday, so relatively doable for us. Good luck, I hope you can find something soon!

Do you actually want to move to your home town if the only person you have there is your mum?

Your mum is losing her mobility and won't be getting out and about in her area much? Perhaps not socialising much?

If you like the area where you live couldn't mum move to your area? No need to move jobs either then. The househunting is hard work but the commute for your jobs sounds worse.

The commute is already awful to be fair as we currently have to go on a motorway to get to work and it can be awful. We actually dislike where we are and have no family or friends nearby here either anymore, the reason we've stayed here so long is the really cheap rent, like half what we'd pay anywhere else. We have some people we know in the home city and my mum will absolutely not leave as she has siblings near her but she's the youngest and no one else can look after her as they all have their own illnesses and disabilities to deal with.

It also means being a bit closer to husband's mum. At present we are 2.5 hours away, after the move we will be 1-1.5 hours depending on traffic so better for access to some of his family as well, at least the ones in this country so it makes sense to move, it's just a frustrating process that the estate agents seem to be actively trying to make as hard as possible for anyone who can't make during the daytime on a weekday.

This is very telling.

'Even when we manage to actually view somewhere we like, we put an offer in recently for a house that we were literally looking at as an 'it will do for now' and got told that someone else had made an offer 'way over asking price' which we weren't willing to do because it was already overpriced for the area it was in. One house we actually managed to get an offer accepted and then we got the survey and it easily needed about £20-30k worth of work up-front and we just coudn't afford that straight off so had to walk away. Every single place we actually manage to view needs so much work, all seem to be elderly people who have passed away. Are families not selling anymore?'

You can tell you are FTB as you have crazy high expectations and not enough money to buy. If probates of elderly people are all you can afford (usually marketed up to 20% under standard) of course they need work, thats WHY they are cheap. No house is perfect, all houses need some work.

We are having to referb the house we are buying, yep about £20k estimate... of course we do though it was cheap BECAUSE of that. We spent 2 years trying to buy, offers falling through, gazumping, getting beating to viewings... thats just how it is when you have a very limited budget. Its not the houses/market thats the issue its our lack of money.

This too, we didn't have a second viewing of any house.

Many went before we had a first viewing, theres no time for wasting time when your chasing the bargains.

My dsd is currently house hunting, she’s mostly viewing on Sundays

You sound so woefully naive, sorry but thats just how you are coming across.

I could look at a £900 non running golf for 1998 and a 2 year old ford focus for £15,999... they are not the same.

I could ask £5,000 for a £900 gold from 1998 doesn't make it worth that.

You need to be able to understand the market... not just go 'but that house sold cheap so I won't pay more than that'. You clearly have no clue about the costs or upkeep of a house (being shocked that a survey on probate houses would suggest a standard 20k of work) so you really are not judging well. You also cannot base prices on currently for sale houses or sold prices (which you don't know until over 6 months later, in a market as quickly changing at the moment means nothing).

If those other houses 'currently for sale' are so cheap and comparable then why aren't you buying them then?

I think a new build is your answer. No hidden costs of updating. You can visit the estate at the weekend when the estate office is open. You can buy off plan. You can decide your fixtures and fittings. There are downsides to a new build but in your case I think the pros outweigh the cons.

We are looking for somewhere to rent and they don't do evening or weekend viewings- only between 10 and 3. I only get half an hour for lunch. It is a real problem

This just leads to the wider issue of property prices though. Prices have exploded in recent years, looking at the houses in the area were looking at, some of them were bought a couple of years ago for £80k cheaper than they are currently on the market for. I'm sorry but inflation does not explain an £80k rise in 2-3 years on a house that was £100k in 2022 for example, that is just pure greed.

Regardless, my point wasn't about prices, it's mainly about estate agents making it really difficult to view houses for working people. Our budget is midrange for the area, there are plenty of houses for half what we have in terms of budget. Just not in areas near enough to where I need to go.

We had this problem when we tried to buy in 2022 as ftb. Everything was selling immediately and for more than the asking price. I have a bit more flexibility in my working hours than DP and it got to the point where I just started doing viewings myself and made the offer on our house before DP had seen it.

Ithink because things are selling quickly they don’t need to try as hard. I mean if you ran a business would you work weekends and evenings if you could make your sales within the normal working weekends and evenings.

In an area with a slower market the estate agents would probably be much more accommodating.

When I relocated from London to the Kent coast I first sold my London property then I rented in the area where I wanted to buy a house for a few months.

It was easier to find a house once I lived locally.

Before that I had to travel every weekend to view houses and it was really difficult.

It might be an option for you to rent for a bit.

I relocated 150 miles last year so I do understand your frustration with the viewing inconveniences, but I agree with PP that if the houses aren't being flexible with viewing times but they're all selling (and often over asking!) that suggests that they don't need to be.

We used annual leave, or one of us would just take a day off and travel up and back in a day to view, or in some cases we sent a friend or a family member who lived nearby to do a viewing for us. I realise it's especially difficult for you and your job but ultimately you're the one who needs to be flexible here, not the sellers.

It’s been some time since we sold our last house so I’m genuinely interested in this. Are people seriously expected to go out whilst estate agents show people round their home? Whenever we’ve sold houses in the past, the agent came round to take details and photos and then marketed the house - they were never involved in attending viewings. I would much rather the vendor show me round than an estate agent, as they would be able to answer questions much better, and if I’m selling, I really wouldn’t like the idea of strangers going round my home without me being there. When we’ve sold houses in the past, it was never the case thst you had to make appointments way ahead or only in the daytime - if you wanted to sell your house then you were happy to have a quick tidy up after work to accommodate someone coming at 7pm. Have things changed thst much?

Yes I agree, this is a good suggestion.
Buy a new build or rent, OP.