looking at moving home, although i think were out of our depth!.

seven-day-weekend

stolt wrote:

i havent thought about that, but to be honest if i lost my job i wouldnt be able to afford the house we live in now anyway. I suppose i couldnt think like that because i would never had got on the property ladder in the first place.

the flats and development kick started this all off, they havent got planning permission but the government has suggested to all council that we all need to encourage more houses and especially flats, but they dont want them built on greenbelt land, this was said to me by a councillor, he thinks it will be very hard to get it stopped and to make sure i'm aware that whatever happens something will be built on there, even if its less flats and a house, the parking for the flats means that the new residents will be looking into everyones front rooms as they park up, this is the whole reason we liked this road, it was quiet the neighbours were all retired etc and the kids were happy playing out in the street. I dont want to get 6 months in the year build and wish we had moved i dont think any buyers will buy mine if the road has lorries and diggers all over it.

Yes the councillor is right inasmuch as SOMETHING will be built on there; building land does not remain vacant long and there are Government targets that Councils have to meet to build on brownfield sites (quite rightly IMHO).

Bear in mind though that wherever you live, the only guarantee you have of no future buiding near you is by living in a house entirely surrounded by acres of your own land, or in the middle of a large city surrounded by listed buildings.

I felt I had important points to make and I have done so, so whatever you decide to do I hope it works out OK for you.

JennyW_2

seven-day-weekend wrote:

Have you considered what might happen if the 'one salary' (yours) dries up/reduces for any particular reason? Like illness? Redundancy? What if you lose your job and can't get a comparable one? What if you become too ill to carry on in the job and have to have a lower paid one?

Sorry to be gloomy, but you do have to think of these things IMHO.

Does it matter if your current house is 'devalued' by the flats? How do you know it will be? Does the developer even have planning permission yet?

I personally would stay where you can afford.

These are my thoughts too. Is this house really worth the extra financial burden and is the proposed development in your road going to be "that" bad?

I personally would stick to what I could afford. The house may seem all lovely and shiney but when things get a bit tight and you have some expensive or unexpected bills, you'll probably end up regretting the move. As it's a big risk on just one salary. I wouldn't be able to sleep

bs0u0128

dont forget 3% stamp duty etc as well to factor in

im more of the school of decent house, filled with love and fun, and money in the bank to spend on things, trips, emergencies, rather than living hand to fist and just getting by, for the sake of a big pile of bricks

stolt

thanks for the recent replies. Well we are not just moving because of the development but also because we have three small children, so a move was always going to be on the cards but I thought it would be when the kids were a bit orlder ( s i say the oldest is only 4 now). our house at the momemt is open planned and before the development was heard of we were planning a conservatory so we had more space downstairs. we do need the space, yes its a big pile of bricks but its also our dream home were we hope to raise our children, yes we could do it it and i'm sure they will be just as happy as they would be in house....

I have factored stamp duty nearly all 13k of it..... thats coming from our savings, took me along time and hard work to save that up and its gone in a second...

PoorDave

It's not really true that you can't offer if you haven't sold, more like few vendors will unconditionally accept your offer in that case.

As far as the single salary "drying up" for whatever reason, make sure you have some protection in place.

Have you checked that there are no proposed builds near the house you're looking to buy?!

Unless you get a really good deal by using the same agent you should shop around, as it's in the current agent's interests to get yours sold (hence they'll quote a low asking price IMHO, to get it off their books quickly) so they can sell the one you're buying too.

The best way to get a good deal on agent's fees is not to say "can you give me your best deal", more like to say (truthfully) Bloggs agents have offered to sell my house at £xxxxxxk for £3000/1.5%, can you better that?"