Make a wide search and close it down

If you are (for example) looking for a 3 bedroom detached house, 10 miles from Galway, then you would probably find about 10 to 30 houses fitting this criteria.

We have been trying to find an exact match to our criteria, and while we initially found it (one sale fell though) it is now proving harder.

To solve this issue what we have tried now is to widen the search - say for the above example, we would be going 5 to 15 miles and 2 to 4 bedrooms, and including semi detached and bungalows. This would instead bring a result of maybe 200 properties.

So, now you have 200 properties and still no match? Well, not exactly.

Going through all 200 will take time, but lets face it - this is our home we are talking about so a few hours or days is small potatoes.

What's the reason? Well, as you go through 200 properties you do a few things;

1. Find out what you like in each house


2. Find new things you like that you had not thought of


3. Get a good idea of what is available for what price range (You'd be surprised how many 5 beds cost the same as 3 beds!)


4. Maybe reconsider your options - maybe you can afford a bigger place, or will be happy in a smaller, and maybe 5 miles further out is worth the saving

While you go through the larger search you eliminate what is not to your liking, and eventually (many hours banging head against wall later) will have cut it down to a small enough number to be able to go see them. My bet is that the shortlist will have some that would not have been on your initial list.