The Nice People Thread, No.16: A Universe of Niceness.

ukmaggie45

Happy New Year dear Nice People. I wish you all the best of health and happiness in 2020. Here's Snowdon on New Year's Eve.

ivyleaf

What a beautiful photo, Maggie!

Happy New Year everyone

zagubov

Happy Hogmanay to all NPs! :beer:

michaels

Happy New Year NP.

I would be asleep but dads taxi service has a booking after midnight

SingleSue

Happy New Year everyone!

I would have been asleep but I decided to be a dirty stop out and go to a gig and see the new year in in style accompanied by copious amounts of alcohol (the one night of the year I push the boat out)

ukmaggie45

Sitting by the caravan front door this morning watching the dawn just beginning to colour the sky when I saw a shooting star! :j Hoping it's a good omen for the year ahead.

hjd

Happy New Year to all.

StevieJ

Happy New Year !

PasturesNew

New house type being sought....

Still ever looking, mulling, yesterday I took a drive out somewhere to spec out and I was observing all the roads/areas I was driving through to get there and thinking "I don't want this/area"... and "this is a long way out" and "what is there that is here at all?"

Ultimately: what do I really want?

And I have been idly noting some flats in the past, but now short-listed two areas to look to buy a flat.

But, there needs to be criteria. I thought if I could get a flat with a garage, private entrance, private garden, ground floor (some are even extensions in old converted mansions and have nothing above them), share of freehold.

And if the annual charges are under £1200/year and if the council tax is band C.

A block without a lift as I'd be on the GF and wouldn't want the overhead costs of a lift (which is probably something that instantly adds £1k to the annual charges in any case).

I think I have decided that what I really want is "walkable to a sandy beach" .... that limits me to a thin strip, but I have seen 2-3 that'd have met the criteria in the past in my budget.

Current pondering though is: Would a GF flat with garden be best, or should I just go for one with a lift, a top floor with super large/wrap around balcony and sea views (rare, of course, in my price bracket). I do despise the idea of lugging everything in, then into a lift and up - especially if you've got 4-5 bags of stuff to do. Pain the butt.

But, they are higher now on my looking list than they were before.... more viable.

Only 15 houses/bungalows have come onto the market this year so far in my area/budget. Plus five reduced in price. Most are ex-LA and most are shabby/dated too.

By comparison 40 flats have come onto the market.

RM don't make it easy to search flats though as you really have to read all the words and work out what's for sale. e.g. the photo tends to be a generic "best view of the block" possibly not even showing the flat for sale; you have to read it to find out which floor it's on, then count floors up the photo to try to work it out, parking arrangements are the barest of explanations and you can't use streetview to work out position/orientation as they've not really been clear which flat is for sale.

I think my issue is I was brought up in places with large gardens and in the countryside, so having outdoor space where you can plonk a shed is my "norm". Sheds are great for putting things..... In a regular flat there's no shed. Everybody needs a shed

I am not an "outdoors" person, but I do need to step outdoors.... open doors, step outside into the sun; hang out washing; sit on a chair; have a smoke; pace back and forth; stare at the sky; visit the shed

GDB2222

I tend to look at my keyboard.

It would be worth checking which country keyboard Windows thinks you have plugged in.