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

richy999

At the time, a semi-detatched property was all that I could afford and it was great for 11 years.

Now what I regret is, not putting up my house for sale as soon as I realised that my adjoining neighbour had sold up to a landord. The current tennants have made our lives a mysery over the last 12 months by being noisy, selfish b***ards!

But to balance this up, my other neighbour (not joined) bought a dog 8 months ago and leaves it ouside all day to entertain the neighbourhood with it's constant barking.

So you can't win.

richy999

LandyAndy wrote: »

My first house was a semi. The neighbour was a little old lady who we never heard.:)
Then she died.:(
Our new neighbours were a young Chinese couple who were very prone to long screaming matches in Chinese when they got home from work at 2.00am.:mad:
Then they had a baby.:(
Then we moved to a detached:D


Would I move back to a semi? Only if I really, really had to.

Our new neighbours are not chinese but I do recognise the screaming matches at 2am.

I'm hoping to move next year before they decide to have a baby... or I go old school ape s**t on them with my pliers and lump hammer

JimmyTheWig

berbastrike wrote: »

The difference is £20k

If otherwise the houses are equal I'd say detatched is a no brainer if you can (a) get the extra on the mortgage and (b) afford the extra monthly repayments (even if/when rates go up in a few years).

Francesanne

Same here. Peace is utter bliss.

LandyAndy

richy999 wrote: »

Our new neighbours are not chinese but I do recognise the screaming matches at 2am.

I hated not knowing what they were arguing about :cool:

Loopy28

Would other people compromise space for the peace and quiet of a detached house? This is a genuine question as I can't afford both so either need to opt for a detached with tiny bedrooms or a large semi with much more space.

Noctu

Loopy28 wrote: »

Would other people compromise space for the peace and quiet of a detached house? This is a genuine question as I can't afford both so either need to opt for a detached with tiny bedrooms or a large semi with much more space.

How much less space are we talking?

Loopy28

The detached house is 75 sqm. Semi is 105 sqm.

Detached house garden is very big though, semi garden is small.

car0line123

I would take silence over space any day.
I want to decide by myself if I go out on Saturday night, or have an early night, not have to leave my house because the neighbours are having a party. I don't want to hear the neighbours tv or music when I try to sleep, work, or just have a normal life. I don't want my kid to be awaken by slammed doors in the middle of the night. I have spent some evenings in tears because of loud party in the neighborhood, and I just could not sleep.

Lack of space is frustrating, but you just need to buy the right furniture, and be ruthless with clutter. Lack of peace is unbearable.
well, that's where I am.

(just seen a terraced house advertised, with one of the kids bedroom showing the biggest set of drums I've ever seen. I feel so sorry for their neighbours...)

Davesnave

Loopy28 wrote: »

Would other people compromise space for the peace and quiet of a detached house? This is a genuine question as I can't afford both so either need to opt for a detached with tiny bedrooms or a large semi with much more space.

It isn't a straight either/or question though, as many would testify, having spent decades in semis with no significant neighbour problems.

Owning a detached house is also no guarantee of 'peace & quiet' either, just that there will be no transmission of sound through a party wall.

On the one hand, there's a tendency for people to report their horror stories rather than 'normality,' but on the other, there's more potential for noise-making these days, due to the available technology and less conformist behaviour.

So it's a lottery...almost. Some neighbourhoods have a much higher incidence of neighbour problems than others, but that also has cost implications!