Comment: Rediscovering the horror of house hunting

After many years of being settled we’ve recently started house hunting again - and what an absolute pleasure it isn’t.

This weekend we saw two properties. One was under budget in an area we weren’t massively keen on but the price was right and we thought we’d be wise to check it out.

All thoughts about our own home being a bit of a tip went out the window when we crossed this particular threshold.

It was tired, dirty and needed a total internal makeover.

The agent urged us to keep our shoes on.

The second viewing featured an old-school estate agent who addressed all questions to my partner and didn’t bother introducing himself to me.

For a house that was over-budget it was a little underwhelming and we left feeling deflated.

Trawling Rightmove is brilliant, of course – it’s easy to add a few noughts to the budget just, y’know, out of interest, allowing yourself to daydream about the basement leisure complex and palatial master suite you’ll probably never own.

But after days of build up courtesy of this and other online property portals, the cold hard reality of attending viewings is generally a little less fun-packed.

All that time wasted trying to visualise yourself and all your stuff set up in what could potentially be your dream home, only to arrive and find you can’t wait to escape, dreams crushed.

Monday brings fresh hope, as new properties are added to the portals and prices are reduced on others, bringing them within the realms of possibility.

And so the cycle continues. It took us 40 viewings and five months to find our current house. The road ahead looks like being a long one.