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

mrsmazza

Go for the detached, if it needs modernising you can put your own stamp on it, and if a few years down the line you want more space then you can extend.

It might be 20k more but in 5 years time that gap will be bigger.

I_have_spoken

I remembered this thread when I was playing Pink Floyd's 'Pulse' after midnight with the amp volume at '11'

NB Detached only ensures peace and quiet with the windows closed. There's a prat 75yds up the road with a drum-kit which I can hear when in the garden.

jellie

I live in a semi detached. I hardly hear my attached neighbour although the unattached neighbour the other side regularly annoys me. The people who live in the house which backs onto the end of my garden are another matter altogether - they love having very loud arguments with the windows and doors wide open.

Peace and quiet is only really guaranteed in a detached when you are inside with the windows and doors closed.

jaylee3

Haven't read through the thread.

I wouldn't imagine many people seriously regret buying a semi per se, but I would think the majority of people would prefer a detached.

That said, my OH's parents live in a bungalow (2 bed) and it's a semi. They live at number 1 Fir Street (fake address) and all the odd numbers are bungalows.... 1, 3, 5, 7, 9,11, 13 & 15 are semis, and 17, 19, 21, 23, 25 & 27 are detached. However, the higher numbers go up into the middle of the crescent where it's cramped, there is little room for parking, there are about 10 houses that look directly into their lounge, (as the crescent curves around sharply,) and there is a tiny cramped garden. As soon as they step out of their front door, next door's front door, is just 5-6 feet away. So very little privacy.

OH's parents bungalow is the first bungalow in, it's a big plot, it has 20 feet between them and the garage, and 50 feet between them other side of the garage and the neighbour's fence (this neighbour lives in a 4 bed detached house that has its front on the main road.)

Only one house faces my parents in law, they have a huge private plot, a garage, and almost total privacy as their back garden is not overlooked either. There are only 28 properties in the crescent, and it comes out the other end, too so they have few cars coming past them. (Only cars for about 15 properties.)

So in this case, I would prefer the semi as the actual plot is so much better than the 6 detached ones further up the road.

OH's parents have been there 3 years and have had no issue at all with joined-on neighbour. Also (60-ish couple.)

Oh also I know someone who has a 5 bed detached, and she and her partner are middle aged. Also they have no kids. They don't even like them. Yet they moved into this house and the 10 families in the cul de sac have 33 kids between them, as they are all 5 bed houses too! And they are miserable as sin because all the families kids keep running over their lawn (open plan gardens,) and they look into their lounge, and boot the football against their wall sometimes.

So being detached isn't always a guarantee of peace and exemption from neighbour issues. Not sure why she and her partner moved into a cul de sac full of family homes when they dislike children, but that's another story!

cwcw

Where I wanted to live, in an excellent location but expensive, detached houses were beyond my budget so it was either a large semi with drive, garage and garden, or a detached in a different, worse area and possibly without the large garden.

Location being my top priority I went for the semi. It's 1930s so solid build, barely any neighbour noise unless drilling. A very small compromise to live in my first choice area.

On the other hand, our unattached neighbour is detached and they're a pretty noisy family who I notice much more than our attached neighbours, especially in the summer when they're out in the garden permanently. So being detached from a neighbour is far from a guarantee they won't get on your nerves. It would be best if quiet people all lived in one area and noisy ones in another!

jaylee3

cwcw wrote: »

Where I wanted to live, in an excellent location but expensive, detached houses were beyond my budget so it was either a large semi with drive, garage and garden, or a detached in a different, worse area and possibly without the large garden.

Location being my top priority I went for the semi. It's 1930s so solid build, barely any neighbour noise unless drilling. A very small compromise to live in my first choice area.

On the other hand, our unattached neighbour is detached and they're a pretty noisy family who I notice much more than our attached neighbours, especially in the summer when they're out in the garden permanently. So being detached from a neighbour is far from a guarantee they won't get on your nerves. It would be best if quiet people all lived in one area and noisy ones in another!

Oh yes, we have had several neighbours who are unattached who have been far bigger PITAs than the ones joined on! Mainly because of a dozen kids in the garden (their kids and grandkids and neighbours kids,) barbeques, parties, and very loud and screechy women (and men!) And as you say, throughout the summer, they are out dawn til dusk!

So as you said (and I said,) being detached isn't a complete guarantee that you will be free of neighbour problems.

robatwork

In England, about 22% of dwellings are detached. Therefore the vast majority of people have to live in a terrace / semi / flat / maisonette.

Having an inconsiderate neighbour is hugely stressful, but it all needs to be in proportion. Someone playing music loudly at night I would see as very un-neighbourly. Being loud during copulation, or as said earlier "noisy scraping ice from their car" is being over sensitive.

When I lived in a flat my neighbour used to sneeze so loudly even the goldfish jumped. Wouldn't dream of complaining about that.

dazedandconfused_123

Reading this thread with interest......


On reflection location is probably the most important thing. Be mindfull of the likely neigbours! IYSWIM (nudge, nudge)


Living in a detached at the moment, not many (actually none!) detached on offer where we want to move to so wondering whether to take the gamble on a semi.


Anyone moved from detached to semi?

cajef

We moved several years ago and rented a semi for twelve months until we could find a property we wanted, next door were a young couple he was away working on the rigs, she worked shifts in a factory and recorded all the soaps, we got fed up of listening to Coronation Street or Eastenders at two and three in the morning.

We have since moved three times and always bought detached and would never live in a semi again.

Mgman

I to am a 6:30am ice scraping shift worker but try to do it quietly.

I live in a 1930's semi and am so lucky in that my neighbour is in her late eighties and rather deaf (she claims to have never heard my teenage children, the dog barking at anyone who walks by the house or me and the OH have a loud discussion)

She is the perfect neighbour, I dread the day we get new neighbours.