Looking for a house, feels like groundhog day.

[CactusFlr]

Hi, just a bit of a moan really. Have been searching for a year and nothing suitable is coming up. For health reasons it has to be a particular area so we can't widen the search. At the moment I feel like I'm caught up in a constant loop of checking Rightmove etc daily and keeping my eye on local EA's socials. I'm so fed up of it, if I don't check I feel like we could miss out but it's so disheartening when there's nothing there. Is it usual to take this long or is it the current market? We're after a 4 bed, 2 bath detached which I didn't think is that rare, but having no previous experience (always rented) I have no idea. Is it normal to feel like this?

If you can’t widen the search then you need to compromise in other areas

Look at properties that could be extended or remodelled to fit your requirements
so a large enough garden
Roof space height (think about loft conversion)
Scrutinise every plan. Sometimes extra shower-rooms can be accommodated with minimal fuss

If you are too specific and you’ve found nothing in a year then yes it will be disheartening but it’s all about compromise sometimes

You could try leaflets through the door of houses in the area you are looking. We successfully bought our previous house this way.

Rental market is hopping around me but I reckon the selling is quite flat, though things do sell. But I’m in London and high housing stock. How big is the area you are searching and how many houses? As the market nationally is flat people may be waiting before putting their house on.
As @Plantatreetodaysays if you can’t compromise on location then look how else you can.

We also needed a 4 bed but they are so rare.

We originally where buying a 5 bed terrace (normal terrace with 2 room loft conversion) but that fell through because the seller had no actual intention of selling.

Then we offered on a 3 bed detached with plans to split the biggest bedroom in two. Fell through due to getting repossessed by bank and them cancelling the sale.

Got out bid on several houses and gazumped a couple of times (although very early before surveys and searches so no money lost just disappointment).

Took 2.5 years to finally get the house we have now. Its a 4 bed end terrace doer up, had one bathroom but we are adding a second one in the renovation.

small 2/3 beds are a dime a dozen, I could throw a stone in any direction and hit one but 4 (or more) bed are like bloody hens teeth and most that do pop up are new builds (which I hate) which are tiny and usually 3-4x the price of the big pre-1930s terrace houses.

Renovate = yes (like adding a 2nd bathroom if you have enough space is easy)

Extended = no (huge risk, work, hassle, time and cost and rarely worth it value wise)

Always look for an already pre-extended house or a big house that can be rearranged (especially if its building wall rather than removing load bearing ones), even if its a doer up. Its much cheaper to fix the problems already there in the building than build a big habitable extension from scratch.

Yeah, I agree. I'm definitely thinking we're going to have to tweak our must have requirements and be a bit more flexible.

Honestly, it sounds like it's your area. In the road where I live there are 2 4 bed (2 bath plus toilet and separate utility room) for sale at the moment. In recent weeks 3 others nearby have sold. And we won't mention the massive new estate of 4 and 5 bed houses which has recently been completed and already has people living in just over half a mile from here!

you must have a lot more criteria than 4 bed 2 bath detached for suitable houses not to be listed?!

Also would you consider a new build?

Could you not have a good sized 3 bed and use a downstairs room as a bedroom?

How many houses are there that would fit your requirements? We wanted to move to a detached house in the village we live in, I walked around the village and counted how many houses fit the criteria and wouldn’t be mega bucks. There were only about 10 and obviously they weren’t all on the market at the same time. So if the pool is small you may have to compromise on something. For us it was parking.