Terraced or Semi Detached?

NH2004

I need to seriously buy a house in the New Year and am torn between buying a cheaper terraced house or a semi detached.


I've viewed a couple and once inside the terraced houses seem quite nice and liveable, and you don't really seem to gain much space by buying a semi.


Opting for a terraced house would make repayments very comfortable and I'd expect to be able to overpay the mortgage to pay it off sooner. Whereas pushing out for a semi detached, whilst not being unmanageable, would leave us with less spare cash.


What are peoples opinions on this? Are semi-detached house a better buy or not?

DKLS

Combine both and get an end of terrace?, usually they come with a slightly larger plot. My Viccy end of terrace had a back garden 3 times bigger than the rest and had parking for 3 cars.

Dan-Dan

NH2004 wrote: »

I need to seriously buy a house in the New Year and am torn between buying a cheaper terraced house or a semi detached.


I've viewed a couple and once inside the terraced houses seem quite nice and liveable, and you don't really seem to gain much space by buying a semi.


Opting for a terraced house would make repayments very comfortable and I'd expect to be able to overpay the mortgage to pay it off sooner. Whereas pushing out for a semi detached, whilst not being unmanageable, would leave us with less spare cash.


What are peoples opinions on this? Are semi-detached house a better buy or not?

We settled for an end of terrace house , it was a compromise as we would have preferred detached ! , it` feels semi detached though , and the price was more favourable

Depending on the type of house , i would not be interested in a terraced house if i could help it , thick victorian walls maybe , but nothing built in the 70`s , walls far too thin

Niv

I was in the same situation as you in the past. I opted to go for a terrace house for the following reasons:
· Cheaper
· Larger property
· May have two connected neighbours but even 1 could be a pita so price difference didn’t seem worth it
· The terraces were old (more solid built) compared to the more modern semis (hollow / thin walls)
These may not all apply to your purchase and I am not trying to stereotype either option.
The reality now the decision has been made is that I have had the odd bad (more irritating / thoughtful) neighbour from time, never on both sides at the same time. Energy costs are lower than average (maybe due to both neighbours liking to have hot houses? I can’t be sure). Due to lower cost I will be mortgage free in the next three years and so paying the mortgage off after 15years.
My intention is to buy a detached in the future as I don’t really want any neighbours too close (but some say I am a miserable sod lol).
I am happy with the decision I made, but it is entirely a personal thing in my opinion, there is no right or wrong option.

hellokitty08

Personally I would got detached as possible!

I lived in a terrace once and it took me months to get used to the noise, the first night we thought we were being burgled. (this was a victorian terrace)

So from my expereince I would now always push further to have less people attached.

moneyistooshorttomention

Dan-Dan wrote: »

We settled for an end of terrace house , it was a compromise as we would have preferred detached ! , it` feels semi detached though , and the price was more favourable

Depending on the type of house , i would not be interested in a terraced house if i could help it , thick victorian walls maybe , but nothing built in the 70`s , walls far too thin

"Thick Victorian walls":rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:. 'Scuse the hollow laughter, but that's exactly what I thought when I bought my starter house "Victorian..so therefore thick walls". If that was supposed to be "thick walls", then goodness only knows just how thin the walls are between neighbouring more modern houses.

I could hear Him Next Door one side with his loud sneezing and loud voice. I could hear Him The Other Side's blinkin' security alarm when he came through the door and worse. I worried about just how much privacy I had inside my own front door with those thin walls.

Nope....my view has always been "Go as detached as possible" and, if that means buying a semi or end terrace because its not possible to afford a detached, then at least that's one attached neighbour less and worth having.

Theres not just the noise and lack of privacy factor to houses that aren't detached, there are also those irresponsible neighbours that don't look after their houses well enough and that lack of maintenance impacts on you as their hapless next door neighbour. In my last place I had just such an irresponsible neighbour one side, and hence worried that the fact they weren't doing necessary maintenance on their chimneys might mean one crashing through MY blimmin' roof (I'd have made sure they/their insurance company paid for it...but that's not the point). The Irresponsibles were also in the process of sending some sort of damp staining through the party wall, whilst trying to slap innocent looks on their faces whilst lying through teeth about it being their fault when I left.

I have read quite a few tales of Irresponsibles not dealing with gutters/drainpipes/etc and sending water into their neighbours properties.

Always best to minimise the chances as much as possible of Irresponsibles impacting on your life.

Where I am now is, at last, a detached house and the impact my next door neighbour and I have on each other boils down to us "looking out for each other to make sure we're alright". Now that's more like it.

Dan-Dan

hmmm , my mistake! , i think i just assumed they would be lovely and thick , maybe i am thinking of somewhere our lovely phoebe lives with 15 inch thick solid wall!

Conrad

These questions are akin to 'shall I holiday in France or Spain'. We all have a different internal narrative, different ideas on spending vs saving, differing motivations and expectations, some of might expect a pay rise, others to start a family, so really there is no right answer to such a question.

On the one hand I've had clients who always kept things manageable and prospered that way, on the other I've had them push the boat out and in the process enjoy a larger capital gain, so is there is no right or wrong apart from saying you need to be mindful about over extending.

onlyroz

I've got a 1930s end terrace, and I rarely hear my neighbours. I can occasionally hear him playing the guitar and occasionally hear their dog bark but apart from that there's no problems. Other things to consider when buying a terrace is that the property will most likely have a shared drain - and if the main manhole is on your property (and it's likely to be at one end of the terrace or the other) then if a neighbour starts shoving baby wipes down their loo it's your patio that will be covered in sh*t.

Gordon_Hose

We've just bought an end terrace. Don't think I could cope with mid-terrace.

hogger84

We got a mid terrace and don't notice the neighbours unless they are doing rare DIY task, if got a semi then would need to know which rooms share the common wall anyway ie if the master bedroom is on the semi side does it really matter?.

Go for whichever house you are happy with. (you should always check you are not overpaying for the property of similar type anyway).

Also heating costs are less in a mid terrace as there is no better insulation than another whole house with their heating system.