Can only Find 2 Houses we like - is this usual?

beachbeth

Just to clear a few things up, I live near Coventry and Im in a Semi-detached and not a terraced. The actual village I live in is a nice area and quite expensive so we know we are very unlikely to find a detached here because most of them are really big and about £500,000. This is why we are looking at the next area which is only 4 minutes up the road. There are millions (slight exaggeration!) of detached houses there ranging from £180,000 to about £600,000, which is why we thought it would be easy to find what we wanted for £220,000.

My main priorities are the layout of the house, ie a traditional setup such as hallway, bathroom which is upstairs, lounge overlooking back garden downstairs toilet and not having too small a garden. Many of the houses in the area we are looking fit this criteria which is why Im surprised we have only found 2 that we like.

I don't care about water meters as such but my husband worries himself sick about bills even though we can afford what we are paying and I don't want to add another bill to the list (I know we pay water rates but this is a fixed and known amount and not a bill thats going to suprise us!)

If we were to sell our house tomorrow I would immediately take the family to view the 2 houses that we like and we would make a decision between the two. The house with the water meter also has a small 3rd bedroom and the one without a water meter has 4 bedrooms. We would have to fit the kitchen out in the latter too.

Also, we're not being picky we're just thinking about the pros and cons of different houses whilst we wait for ours to sell. Sometimes you can't always put your finger on why you don't like a house, it just isn't 'you'.

Melissa177

Well: you only need to find one house that you like, so you've already found twice as many as you need!

Seriously though, I think this is a good thing. If you couldn't find *any* houses you liked, I would be thinking that you were looking in the wrong area, or had unrealistic expectations. If you could find lots, it would suggest that you weren't really thinking about what you wanted.

You seem to have approached things in a fairly balanced way... If neither of the two houses you have found are "the one", then keep looking and you will "know" the house you are looking for when it crops up.

Keep going to look at houses you don't think you will like though - it gives you a good idea of the market.

beachbeth

Yesterday we looked at a house which we knew was completely wrong for us as soon as we stepped in. However, they had an absolutely gorgeous cat (and Im not really a cat person because Ive got dogs!). It was charcoal grey and had bright orange eyes. It was so striking to look at and very friendly. I wish I could have bought the cat!!!

Melissa177

Call them up and put an offer in on the cat.

Doozergirl

I was saying you were picky in a good way! :rolleyes: That actually, if you are worrying about little things like that, then the two houses you have found must be pretty good; for those to be the only concerns then you must have discounted a lot of other property and I would actually be happy with two decent properties to (hopefully) choose from.

I hope people's comments regarding water meters and mine regarding the fortnightly bin collections have been of some help to you.

:rolleyes:

vansboy

We thought we'd be in a great position to buy - sold up, £$£$ in the bank, living in a flat 'temporarily'...but been here since last August & STILL have only looked at a 1/2 dozen or so houses we liked, but then didn't 'tick all the boxes' for one reason or other!!

As for water meters, some water authorities DO fit a meter upon change of ownership, already. Same with the waste collections, they'll do what they like!!

The youngsters will soon learn the hard, or easy way, if they move with you - they won't like being homeless, will they!!

Glad we're not the only ones being fussy about our new home!!

KEEP LOOKING, it's out there, SOMWHERE!!!


VB

BTman

How the hell can you spend HALF A MILLION on a house and worry about whether it has a water meter.... The mind boggles...

Guy_Montag

BTman wrote: »

How the hell can you spend HALF A MILLION on a house and worry about whether it has a water meter.... The mind boggles...

It's only 1/4 of a million;)

beachbeth

BTman wrote: »

How the hell can you spend HALF A MILLION on a house and worry about whether it has a water meter.... The mind boggles...

£220,000 is a bit less than quarter of a million and, as we originally bought our house in 1985 at a cost of £17,000 we certainly are not rich! We have borrowed money on the mortgage for extensions and various home improvements and now have a £40,000 mortgage. If we sell our house for £180,000 and buy one at £220,000 we are doubling our mortgage so don't think we have piles of cash to waste because we don't!

We are going to have an interest only mortgage or part interest, part repayment to make the monthly repayments as cheap as possible and we need to make our bills as cheap as possible to save money there too. If a water meter is going to work out expensive for us then of course we need to look into it and decide if a house is worth buying if it has one. I know we will all have a meter eventually and we will all have these refuse collections every other week too but that doesn't mean we shouldn't put it off as long as possible does it? This is what money saving is all about surely?

Running_Horse

beachbeth wrote: »

This is what money saving is all about surely?

Yes and no. Saving money is good, but not at the expense of quality of life. When we move in a few weeks our mortgage will more than double, as will our water bill, and council tax will go up £400. That is a price worth paying for a bigger house in a better area. The only thing to go down is house insurance.

I do have some sympathy about the lack of good houses available. We would have settled for several we viewed first, until we saw and fell in love with the one we bought. Now we would never settle for the first properties we viewed. But then we made a rod for our backs by only wanting to live in three villages.

If a water meter or rubbish collections are the only problems with the houses you have seen, you may come to regret not moving there in future years.