Nice People Thread Part 9 - and so it continues

PasturesNew

SingleSue wrote: »

Suffolk is quite nice and in our area, very close to Essex and all that has...biggest bonus is the house prices, for the same amount that has been linked to, you can get a nice 3 or 4 bed semi!

Big Asda is about 20 minutes up the road, big Tesco is about the same, job prospects from the docks, not bad train links.

Probably job prospects from the docks ... for people who have worked in a similar environment before - I've never seen a dock or a big ship.


Being close to Asda would be good. But where the big Asda is, isn't where I want to be. There's another (there are two big towns side by side here) - but that's where I've been looking for houses and finding only gangs.

Nikkster

PasturesNew wrote: »

Right - never looked at flats before.... I think I will look at flats in one area as there are loads of them that offer gardens and garages... but no sea view.

The sea view one was a "no go" as it's up two flights of stairs and the sea view is across a busy junction and you can't really see a lot unless you're on the balcony with binoculars.

I know its horrible giving your details to estate agents knowing you're gong to be pestered, but I really do think you should get out there and see some places in person. Looking online is really useful, but nothing beats actually standing in the place itself.

Spirit_2

Pastures

You now have a choice of flat in current location, Margate near a NP friend, Suffolk near a NP friend or IOW.

I will even magic up an ASDA
http://www.asdanewportiow.co.uk/

LydiaJ

PasturesNew wrote: »

I do buy for mum - but it's limited what you can buy somebody with dementia whose room is small. Xmas gifts have to be limited to: slippers, trousers, sweets.

When my grandmother had dementia she used to have the same 4 presents from us 4 grandchildren every year. Somebody would get chocolates, someone else pretty tissues, someone else sherry, and the fourth person nuts for the bird table. I'm not sure what my parents got for her, but I do know she was adamant she didn't want anything she couldn't use up, on the grounds that she already had enough possessions and didn't want any more.

PasturesNew wrote: »

Is Talbot woods expensive? Always has such a shabby sounding name - and it's never come up on the "places people want to live" when I've googled for lists/ideas of where's good/bad.

I've driven through it .... and got confused - there's a lack of signage so you don't know where you are now - and you can't find where you're going to on any of the signs.

It's near studentland ... and they're annoying and the areas are shabby.

I wrote this before PN posted about the flat she's seen. Here it is anyway:

Pastures,

Usually I'm all in support of house hunters who know what they want and are holding out for it. It's what I did myself. I don't like it when Phil & Kirsty are critical of people who are "picky". If you're spending all that money on a house, then there's no sense in buying something you don't really like just to make it easier for other people who won't have to live in the place.

But... holding out for what you really want is only sensible if it's realistic. It worked for me in a slow market, with things only coming onto the market in dribs and drabs, and prices not moving much. It worked for me because the things I was holding out for were unusual rather than necessarily expensive - so that although I could find plenty of houses with a second reception room, I was holding out for one with a second reception room that was easy to close off from the rest of the house. And I knew my price wasn't wildly unrealistic because I kept finding near misses that had most of what I needed and were within what I could stretch my budget to.

It seems to me, however, that you are completely stuck. The space you want in the areas you like is not available at the price you can afford. You can hold out for what you really want, of course, but unless you start looking in a different area or jettison some of your requirements, then what will happen is that you will continue unhappily renting until you are old enough for a retirement property. Which you may not be able to afford because renting is gradually eating away at your capital every month you earn less than your rent.

I know decision making is hard. Believe me, I really do understand that making big decisions about huge sums of money like a house purchase is very very scary when you're single. I've done it, and I had my dad to check with when I got to the final "yes", which I know you haven't got. But you don't have to make this decision completely alone. I know there's nobody to share the responsibility, but there are people who will share the decision making if you want us to. Go back to "elsewhere" and read my house buying support thread. You will see how much support I got from all you lovely NP when I was trying to make house buying decisions as a single person. We can do that for you if you will set your sights at something realistic.

PasturesNew

This reads fine in some aspects, then the alarm bells ring:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-22933418.html

1] See the obscured window - clearly overlooks people parking right by the window.
2] Service charge includes some bills but is still £1700/year.
3] Trees are too many/oppressive.

SingleSue

Ah the nice thing about the docks is that there are various associated sectors that also need to be covered....IT being one of the major ones and you wouldn't need to have any knowledge of shipping to do it.

Nice 4 bed detached with garage for you http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-28201998.html

Close to Morrisons, easy distance to the docks for work, 5 minutes drive to the seafront and a lovely estate....used to live there.

Sea views? http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-41297687.html?premiumA=true

Yorkie1

Loanranger wrote: »

I dislike the whole thing that happens on 25th December and would try not to use the word until 1st December if I could.

On another forum I frequent, which is much smaller than this, the software auto-changes any references to Christmas or XMAS or any other permutation which the members try to come up with to get past the software / moderators, to something else e.g. Winterval or Natalis Invicti. It's a long-standing forum joke; nothing to do with religion or anything, but just a light-hearted demonstration against the early commercialisation of Christmas

The auto-correct gets switched off on 1 December.

PasturesNew

Why is it that when you tick "show those sold/sstc" you always see nicer things than the ones still for sale. I think it's because they've gone they just look better.

PasturesNew

OK - think I've found one .....

1] Price is fine
2] Location is fine
3] On good bus routes. walkable to town
4] Near shops
5] Private entrance and small garden
6] Off road parking (no garage) and only one allocated space though.
7] Seems to be a flat that's actually a single storey annexe.
8] Parking space is an end one, next to a space for a path leading only to its front door.

But it's cheap
2 beds, one with en-suite, bathroom has a bath. Main bedroom's 14'x11' (so many these days are so much smaller!

So much to check:
• orientation, is the garden sunny
• environment/graffiti
• crime stats
• lease
• demise of the roof space

Problem seems to be: no visitor parking, yellow lines everywhere.

Update:
Service charges are £2k/year.
85 year lease

SingleSue

Right on the sea front... http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-38763047.html