Anyone bought a semi and seriously regret not going for a detached?

Legacy_user

Dilemma, ahhh stress

dimbo61

Horses for courses
If you can afford a detached house with garden and MOAT then go buy the place.
Most people buy the best property they can afford in the area they want to live.
We live in a detached house with garage and parking Happy Times

TBeckett100

I wish I went detached

One one side we have a pubescent squeeling kid. The detached next door has a lovely lady. She moved in after the previous owner (who used to leave his diesel van running at 5am to my annoyance and had a girlfriend who kept the street awake in bed). However nice lady is dating a new man who stays over a lot and has a van which he starts up at 6am.

The neighbours over the road on cold mornings scrape ice off the car at annoying sound level and leave their engines running for 20 mins. I can't complain to them as her brother is the man who has just started dating our lady neighbour

Their next door neighbour has a very loud motorbike that fires up at 6am. However we can't moan to them because it turns out they are friends with a parent of our daughter's friend at school three miles away. It's so incestuous

So yes, next time we are going to find a house which is more private and white collar workers. These blue collar shift workers on our road frankly disturb my peace.

I_have_spoken

I moved from a mid-terrace to detached. Bliss!

kiddakidda

I_have_spoken wrote: »

I moved from a mid-terrace to detached. Bliss!

Moved from end terrace to Semi................... The Same!!

All that extra money :rotfl:

moneyistooshorttomention

I guess its very much luck of the draw and it seems to be impossible for Jane Normal to make sure there is another Jane Normal next door on the one hand, but Joe Lout gets another Joe Lout next to him.

Then you add in to the mix people working antisocial hours. I had a couple who worked antisocial hours next door to me in my last house. I'm now in a better house in a better neighbourhood and there is a semi-attached member of the household who works antisocial hours and roars around the place at too early an hour of a morning in one of those deliberately noisy cars:mad:.

Its all so random. Obviously you minimise your chances of disturbance as per going "up the scale" from flat (VERY often a source of trouble), to terraces (less likely), semis (less likely again) and detached (the smallest chance of disturbance).

The only guarantee would be if neighbourhoods were designated as being for Jane Normals on the one hand and Joe Louts on the other hand and, even then, some Jane Normals would be shift-workers.

Hence my dream house I watch and lust after has several acres of land round it - should be enough to ensure no disturbance:rotfl:

olgadapolga

The problem I found with buying a semi is that you don't know who is going to move into the attached house next.

I had my dream home, a semi on the outskirts of a market town. We moved in and found that the neighbours were awful - one was a drunk and left the TV on really loud all night, the other was a screamer, constant rows, dogs barking all of the time. But I got used to it.

After about 14 years one member of the couple died and the other sold up to a couple who were WORSE. Very aggressive (the "my way or the highway" type, drunks, fights, constant BBQ (I don't mind BBQs but they had them for EVERY meal, rain or shine, summer or winter and they always started them with the most disgusting smelling firelighters you could possibly imagine), bonfires, parties, screaming children, chickens (very ripe in summer because they weren't cared for properly). Truly unpleasant people - I lasted about four years before selling up.

My next home is going to be in the middle of a large plot of land.

But yes, I would have to say that if you can afford it, buy a detached over a semi - I would!

duchy

Vile neighbours came at all income levels and certainly aren't restricted to "blue collar workers"

Plenty of high earning IT and finance type also leave at stupid o clock in the morning for work.

Seems most people who whine about their neighbourhood are actually whining because they can't afford a house they'd like that is also in a neighbourhood they'd like - so whilst *they* look down on their neighbours odds are if they were able to afford the nicer area they may very well find their new neighbours look down on them because they moved from that "less desirable" area. Ironic really.

Argghhh

semi vs detached can be a lot of £££ in difference - what i would say is determine layout of house to see how much the houses touch - ie in our house there is 2 hallways and stairs between our living areas and they touch on minimal areas so we hear nothing of neighbours, we have fallen out over non payment of work we agreed on a shared chimney but hey i would rather they owed me £200 than have a child hurt

Davesnave

I lived in semis for 40 years and never had a problem, other than a couple living in the next road who used to row most Sundays. They were upper middle class, however, so the swearing rarely went beyond what one might hear on TV before the watershed.

I have a difficult neighbour now, but he's 210 metres away. Fortunately, I own 200 of them!

mumbles87

Has nobody heard of ear plugs? I work nights (like this week) and have to sleep during the day. Plug them in don't hear a peep from the outside world but can still hear my alarm to get up.

Think my came free with a flight I was on once aswell. Hardly a costly solution to annoying outside noises at night