Experiencing the other side of the property market

By Megan Sawh

Working in SEC Newgate’s residential property team for almost three years now, I’ve spent a lot of time visiting and looking around new homes and marketing suites. Having recently started the hunt for my own first home, in the middle of the pandemic, it was rather a different experience being on the other side.

The conversation around buyer priorities changing as a result of the global pandemic was covered heavily in the media, and like everyone else wanting to move house, my boyfriend and I had similar priorities – we wanted to be close to the countryside yet still have good links to London and, most importantly, a garden.

Instead of the market drying up, as many anticipated, the pandemic drove many to re-consider what’s important to them in their homes. There is no doubt the Government’s Stamp Duty Holiday played a role in this pent-up demand and while I should not be complaining about the positive market, it made our property search a lot tougher than expected.

My boyfriend and I are not the most creative when it comes to ‘doing up’ houses, so we were able to narrow down our search down to homes that needed little-to-no work. Whilst we were lucky enough to get out and about to view houses, the demand was incredibly high. We’ve all heard the horror stories on gazumping, sealed bids and offers without viewing – and from experience, this does not surprise me.

Having grown up in Hertfordshire, neither of us wanted to move far away but as a result of the mass exodus from London, the competition for houses in the home counties has rocketed. We experienced everything from bidding wars to being told we weren’t able to even view a property, as they already had 22 people booked in the next two days.

A house is one of the most expensive things people will ever purchase and like most people, we wanted time to think about the decision. After losing out on a property as we were too slow to put in an offer, we quickly realised in this current market, it was all about going with your gut instinct.

With low stock and a resilient market, our hopes of buying a home in the current market were slowly disappearing. However, we persevered and a couple of months later, came across the perfect home.

For those looking for their home during the pandemic, what the past few months has taught me is to keep an open mind, view as many properties as you can and be persistent – it is all worth it in the end!