Searching for the property answer?

Helping you on the Hunt!

As the days get a bit colder and shorter, the focus can turn to plans to move for the following year. If you are thinking to make a move in 2024 or just would like some advice to think about for the future when it comes to your property search, Donald Collins, Founder and Director of Go View London, has written the following from a general perspective. If more details are required on any section, please reach out!

How do you know you have found the right property for you?

There is a great book, ‘Start with Why’ (Simon Sinek), and it can be helpful to bring your property search to the destination found. You need a North Star guiding principle, and if you can get around a big game vision for your purchase, then it will be easier to reach a decision point.

Think about your lifetime’s property journey; in summary, it could read something like; first-time purchase, moving in with partner or upsizing yourself, starter home, larger home, forever home, downsizing. This process warrants a lot more time/effort than just a quick summary above, but once you know where this purchase fits into your journey, you become a lot more comfortable in making the right decision.

Think about everything your purchase would need to constitute a successful step along your property journey – the following, for instance, could all be in your thinking (but there may be others!):

 Does the location fit the needs of you and your family?

 Space and how this space integrates for daily life, number of bedrooms etc.

 If it has outside space, and if the space fits your needs?

 The layout from a practical and entertaining sense?

 The immediate neighbourhood and the amenities around you?

Coupled with this, learn from family and friends who have bought before. Not necessarily a long conversation about why they love their property, those reasons are personal to them and may have no relevance to you, but you can ask, for instance:

 Did they compromise from their original vision?

 How many did they view before making a decision?

 What helped them make a decision?

 Did a property surprise them that they hadn’t thought about?

There are not any bad questions, really! Their story will be different to yours but at the information-gathering stage, it is good to equip yourself with as much background knowledge as possible.

Get your ‘Hit List’

From your criteria list above, you need to decide what your main motivations are in the context of your search and budget, call it your ‘Hit List’. Rightmove, On The Market, and Zoopla are all great hunting grounds to get you up to speed with what may or may not be possible and enable you to go forward with a broad search criteria.

If you are starting to view properties matching 80% or higher on your ‘Hit List’, you are then creating a real focus over your localised search market and could, well, be in a position where you are starting to think seriously about making an offer.

Don’t fall into the trap of not viewing certain properties because they don’t meet your strident criteria. Properties can generally always be adapted and changed, and furthermore, look at viewings as an opportunity to meet agents, get discussion points going with them and see if something else might be coming on that could suit.

It’s also perfectly reasonable to ask if a property above your budget would consider an offer – a good agent will check the onward position of the vendors, and you never know; motivations can change from both a buying and selling perspective based on different onward move options being available in the market.

What does success look like to you?

If it matches all of your initial criteria, then you are brilliantly well! Most buyers come away from their original list, their requirements squeezed and compromises are made. It’s important that you see your search in this context, and don’t miss out on a potentially great home for one that exists in your head but does not materialise in reality.

I have only ever witnessed on a limited number of occasions where someone has turned around and said that they are 100% happy with their new home. Having the reflections of buyers past who have walked in your shoes is a timely reminder that if you get so caught up in perfection or zero compromise you may walk past the opportunity that in the coming months would have been the best option for you.

Taking the above into account, can you consider:

 Do you know what you want to achieve with this purchase? How long do you see yourself living at this property?

 Have you researched the area and spoken to friends/family who have bought before, do you have a vision of what success will look like?

 How many of your original requirements have been reconciled?

 Compared to all the other properties you have viewed in your localised area/on budget – how does this one compare?

If you can answer the above questions and feel fulfilled in your answers then you might just be putting yourself in the best position to find the right property for you! Happy hunting, and if we can help out in any way or give some more depth to the above, please reach out.

Need a property valuation or moving advise?

Contact 

Michael Bolger

mbolger@goviewlondon.co.uk

Area Sales Manager

Direct Dial: 020 8752 3173

Michael Dell

mdell@goviewlondon.co.uk

Area Lettings Manager 

Direct Dial: 020 8017 7946