Eleven seconds - according to a popular British television series on the property market, this is the time it takes a buyer to decide whether the real estate he is looking at is the right one for him. However, falling in love with a property at first sight and being convinced after careful scrutiny that it really is The One are two different things - a solution to this problem is offered by the "try before you buy" system which is becoming popular on the British property market.

The Roberts Newby property dealership was the first to introduce last year the system where buyers first sign a contract to rent the chosen property, with an option to buy after the contract runs out. The buyer-tenants, similar to traditional rent deals, pay a deposit, and set a price in the contract in advance at which they can purchase the property at any time during the rent period (usually six months), or when the contract expires. Roberts Newby is already selling ten percent of its properties in this try-before-you-buy system. Property dealer Developer Gleeson Homes has also come up with a similar scheme, but it even refunds the money spent on rent if the tenant eventually decides to buy. McDermott Homes, which deals with developments in Northwest England, also makes possible the "testing" of its properties.

For newly built, two-bedroom flats, rents start at 575 pounds (166 thousand forints) per month, while the sales price starts at 124 thousand pounds (36 million forints). In the case of houses, the prices are 850 pounds (246 thousand forints) and 186 thousand pounds (54 million forints), respectively. There are even examples for the "try before you buy" model in the highest category: in Buckinghamshire, a seven-bedroom luxury house can be rented for 7500 pounds (2.175 million forints) a month, before buying it for 2.75 million pounds (797 million forints).