Beautiful House But...

Silverbeard50

We moved out of our house in June 2014 and moved into a rented house because we couldn't find a nice house that didn't have a 'but' in the description. It took thirteen months of looking to find the right one that didn't have a floodlit football pitch behind it, pub alongside, main railway line a stone's throw away, motorway noise, school within a hundred metres or any one of another dozen or more reasons not to buy it. It's your biggest purchase so make sure it's the right house.
We looked at thousands on the internet, hundreds from the outside but only viewed five.
We rejected a beautiful house because it was on the side of a very steep hill running diagonally across the plot. The garden was very hard work verging on unmanageable.


Just for information, this was South Gloucestershire, so fairly rural. Still difficult to get rid of the 'but' though!

We found the right one in the end and two and a half years later, there are absolutely no misgivings.
Take your time and make the best decision for the longer term.

glasgowdan

Our front of the house is about 30ft from a relatively busy 30mph road. I've planted a bare root hedge which will grow and improve privacy.

Overall, it bothers me, yes, but not enough to worry me, to make me stress or grind on my nerves. My ideal would be the silence of a country house, but there's virtually nowhere in my county where you can have that and still be reasonably close to good schools.

The back garden is further again from the road and quite nice so that's the relief.

If the only garden I had was 15ft from a busy road or motorway, I wouldn't consider it.

ted_hay_man

thanks for all the advise, for me I need to compromise on something, is it the road at the back that is the question. There is a house with the same room layout on the market, but needs a lot of tlc, all rooms need painting, door handles are missing, the kitchen is falling apart and an ill conceived/ designed conservatory is on the back. This is the same price but well away from the road. The problem is for the next few years I would have no money to do the kitchen and it needs replacing, not would be nice to replace. In the long run it would be a better investment in theory but I see myself in it for 5years ish and in this time I will not have the money to upgrade. The house backing onto the road gives me a fab house, min spend needed bar new windows and when I walk into it it felt like home rather than feeling an indifference.

Lucky_Duck_2

ted_hay_man wrote: »

there was also another viewing on the property as I was leaving.

When looking for my current house, I arrived to view one property at the agreed time to find there was another couple still viewing. Couldn't help thinking this 'clash' might have been by design.


Anyway, it was still for sale some months later.

ProDave

ted_hay_man wrote: »

thanks for all the advise, for me I need to compromise on something, is it the road at the back that is the question. There is a house with the same room layout on the market, but needs a lot of tlc, all rooms need painting, door handles are missing, the kitchen is falling apart and an ill conceived/ designed conservatory is on the back. This is the same price but well away from the road. The problem is for the next few years I would have no money to do the kitchen and it needs replacing, not would be nice to replace. In the long run it would be a better investment in theory but I see myself in it for 5years ish and in this time I will not have the money to upgrade. The house backing onto the road gives me a fab house, min spend needed bar new windows and when I walk into it it felt like home rather than feeling an indifference.

I would buy that one in preference to the noisy one any day.

That one needs work but you can fix it up and have a nice home. No amount of alterations are going to fix the noisy one.

You can live with just about anything, even I am willing to bet that knackered kitchen. I moved into a 1930's house that had just a sink unit in the kitchen and space for a free standing cooker. It was grim and awkward, but I made it work until I could do the kitchen (there were other things to do first)

ted_hay_man

Good point but I cant see myself being able to afford the renovations in the next few years. It is on for offers over £250K where as the other house is only on market for £250K both are near the top of the budget. The agent says the vendor with offers over is very keen to sell as she is moving into her partners house and needs to shift the expense of the home, What sort of offer would you make.

How much would it cost to get someone to redecorate a small 3 bed house?

ENTRANCE HALL
11'3 x 6'0 narrowing to 2'9
CLOAKROOM
5'0 x 3'0
KITCHEN
9'9 x 9'8
LOUNGE/DINER
22'0 x 13'6 narrowing to 7'8
CONSERVATORY
9'1 x 7'7
LANDING
BEDROOM 1
13'0 x 9'9
BEDROOM 2
10'10 x 9'0 max
BEDROOM 3
8'0 x 7'0
BATHROOM
7'3 x 5'7

Ragtimeplayer

I would buy the doer upper, no hesitation. We have moved into a house that needs extensive redecoration and although we have plenty of spare funds because we got a real bargain, I have found it very enjoyable buying things second hand. I have saved hundreds of pounds buying from facebook marketplace/Shpock/Gumtree and of course, Ebay.
One thing I would say with the kitchen is, you can get some real bargains on Ebay if you have a bit of wiggle room with the layout. I have seen kitchens worth thousands go for a couple of hundred regularly.

As the earlier poster said, you can't change the busy road or small garden even though the house itself suits you but you can make the other house into your dream with a bit of effort.

Red-Squirrel_2

Only buy a doer upper if there is a realistic chance that you will actually be able to do it up in a reasonable timescale as well as keeping on top of all the little bits of maintenance that come along regularly. Otherwise what you're actually buying is a wreck to live in.


Maybe you need to look at smaller houses, or less pricey areas.

If you have a Rightmove link for the 'doer upper' we might be able to give you a better idea of what might need doing and what sort of costs you should budget for.

Davesnave

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

Only buy a doer upper if there is a realistic chance that you will actually be able to do it up in a reasonable timescale....

I agree with this, even though I'd not buy the house backing onto a main road.

If you don't enjoy DIY, can't see cheap ways to upgrade the tatty house, or you think you'll need to employ others to do most of the work, then you may not save much and just cause yourself hassle.

Personally, I'd take no notice of 'offers over' and pitch around the price that would allow for some immediate improvements. If she's really keen....

...But I'm not you. Throughout this thread people have said what they'd do and they're not you either!

There are never just two options when buying. As you say, you'll have to compromise, but sometimes the best all-round solution comes from thinking outside the box you have already drawn. Go back to basics: consider other areas, other types of house etc, and also consider why you want something which you might move out of in 5 years. That's no time at all!

Mickygg

I live near a main road. I do hear the traffic but only when I think about it or a beeping or fast car whizzes along the road.

I am about 20m away though which is further away than you.

As traffic will only get busier and busier I would worry about being closer than 20m to a main road. I wouldn't buy it.

Pollution is a big thing to think about, especially if you have children.