Is This Your Dream Home? It’ll Take 12 Minutes To Decide
The average house-hunter takes just 12 minutes to decide they have found their dream home after stepping over the threshold, a new study reveals.
Younger buyers are even more impulsive – most 18 – 24-year-olds make one of the biggest decisions of their lives after just nine minutes inside the property.
In a revealing new survey, commissioned by entertainment channel Watch ahead of new series Honey I Bought The House, over half of house hunters fear they might never find the home they are looking for.
With the pressure to find a house and put an offer in, only a quarter of the hopeful home-owners would agree to buy a property only their other half had seen and they had not. Which is exactly what Honey I Bought The House asks its contributors to do in exchange for £15,000 towards their deposit. The survey revealed that the average UK home-buyer views six properties and clocks up 240 miles before choosing ‘the one’.
They go through the process three times during their lifetime, spending around 90 hours scouring websites and estate agent windows. The typical hunt sees the average couple having four quarrels, with females having the final say over which house to buy.
Steve North, General Manager for Watch said: “Buying a house is probably one of the most important decisions you’ll ever make. “Finding the perfect home is rarely straightforward. It’s time consuming, pricey, not to mention stressful. Honey I Bought the House takes a nail-biting approach to the reality of buying a first home. Their partner could be thrilled with the new property and sign the mortgage papers, but if they don’t like it they risk losing that precious deposit.”
People in East Anglia travel the furthest in search of their dream home – 130 miles per property, while those in the North East cover just 40 miles. Londoners forked out over £100 on petrol while looking for their most recent house purchase compared to just £54 for people in Yorkshire.
There were other costs incurred by home-hunters last time they went through the purchasing process, such as more than £200 on mortgage or financial advisors. They also forked out over a grand for solicitors and admin fees and £349 on other costs throughout the whole process.
The first episode of Honey I Bought The House features a couple of first-time buyers, Paul and Sophie, who are offered the chance to get £15,000 towards their deposit and three weeks to secure an offer on a property.
The catch? Paul must work alone to find their dream home and hope that Sophie agrees with his final choice or risk losing the money. The outcome? Tears. Lots of them, and a fascinating insight into the dynamics of a couple buying a house. Honey I Bought The House starts on Watch from Monday 19th October at 9pm. We’ll all be watching here at Atwel James!
