Choosing a permanent home

anoneemouse

Its certainly a whole new ballgame when looking for a permanent home to that of looking for the first house.

When looking for my first house I think I really only had two criteria (besides price obviously):
- convenient location
- an area that isn't locally known for being a "bad area"

I didn't even think about making sure the house would be one that is readily saleable to move onto my next house and it's just pure good luck (rather than planning) that my first house is, in fact, a readily saleable one.

Now I'm looking out for a house to spend the rest of my life in I'm finding it much more difficult in some ways because my list of criteria to be matched is much more exacting than it was.

The list reads:
AREA - decent, quiet, attractive, convenient, nice walks in Nature nearby
HOUSE ITSELF - detached, decent size kitchen (or at least a utility room or garage to compensate if the kitchen isn't big enough), decent (south-facing) garden, reasonable condition (walk straight in condition would be lovely - but I know highly unlikely, even disregarding my personal tastes), white bathroom suite, suitable central heating, attractive.

How on earth I can even match half the criteria on that list is worrying and, on top of that, I'm still very restricted as to what price I can manage to pay. I suspect I may have to sacrifice a lot as regards it being convenient - as what the house itself is like and the area it's in are so important to me. With that, then I get worried that I may find myself making excuses not to go out so much because of it being harder to get to everywhere I want to go. It feels like I am having to toss up between several things that are all very important to me.

I am worried that I may have to make a lot of compromises to move on. The only thing that doesn't bother me much is how readily saleable the house is - as I intend to stay there for the rest of my life, so it doesn't matter to me if not many other people would want it. The important thing is that I myself want it.

What do other people do about this?

Doozergirl

It's not impossible. You just take your time.

I live somewhere that isn't inconvenient with lovely walks. I have all the little essentials in the village and town is a couple of miles. I jump in the car, but there's a bus from the door if I wanted it (no thanks!)

Re: garden, I'm looking at houses too. If you have a small garden then a North facing garden would be an absolute no for me, so if the garden is quite small, I'd like W. I rarely spend any time in the garden of a morning, and I want the sun as long as possible of an evening and if I could watch the sunset then I'd be very happy. If you have a big garden then orientation doesn't matter so much, I think if sun is important then you should view at different times of day.

The house I am in atm, the back faces NNW so it should be rubbish, but it's not at all. The front is SSE which means it gets a lot of sun during the day - and half of the house always faces one or the other! The garden is massive so it's almost all in sunshine constantly. The house casts shadow in the morning but the sun moves around onto the patio in the evening. And the ceilings are so high and the windows so large that the back of the house is still very light during the morning.

Errata

To choose a property you will live in until the undertaker collects you, you need to know what both your health and financial status will be until then. That's pretty difficult to figure out.

flora48

Be aware that what suits when you are a thirty something can be totally unsuitable when a sixty something. I speak from experience of owning an individual build with the most fabulous views built on slope with steps up to the front door and steps down to the utility/garage. Absolutely loved it till my hip deteriorated rapidly, something that never crossed my mind at 35. The size of garden is also a factor, in fact the only safe solution would be a bungalow on a small plot but are you ready for that now?

Jinx

I think you have to decide what is absolutely essential and what is desirable....

For example my hubby and I decided to buy together 4 years ago. Essential to him was a double garage and a character property; preferably in the back of beyond. Essential to me was neighbours as he worked away a lot and a house in good nick as he wasnt around to do repairs....And I wanted a garden which got a lot of sun, south facing?

We bought a bungalow - it met all the essential criteria except for the character bit....but we loved it immediately and of all the houses I've been in since, this is the only one for us.

You will know which one is the right one.

Davesnave

I don't think it's easy to buy a house that will suit forever, unless you compromise from the start, which to my way of thinking, is daft.

As flora says, one never knows what health issues are around the corner, but since my Dad lived an active life, riding his bike until he was almost 90, I've worked on the basis that I'll do the same! If it doesn't work out that way, then the smallholding we own will offer the chance for myself and DW to downsize and find the money for health-related expenditure.

If you are restricted by price, then moving to a less convenient location will buy you more. In our case, we were prepared to move to Wales to get good value, low crime, great scenery etc, but we ended up in a part of Devon similar to West Wales.

Our old friends think we live in the back of beyond, but while big supermarkets are 10+ miles away, we have a good bus service which stops at our gate, an hourly train service 5 minutes away, and a butcher, baker, veg shop, deli, two restaurants and 5 pubs all within 5 minutes striking distance. I'm not an avid socialite, but since coming here, my DW has never been so active in her community......villages not full of holiday homes can be like that!

I would say take your time and put in the research. I have three years of Welsh studies behind me, all totally useless now, but still relevant, should we decide to take on a new challenge once I'm an OAP! :rotfl: