Help me find an affordable place to buy a house

PasturesNew

I drive past Poundbury a lot of times - it's "odd" when you approach it from the West as you've been driving for hours through green, green, green and suddenly there's an entire "fortress" looming to your left.

https://goo.gl/maps/NXADrsrxp6A2

Then there's a roundabout (3 to get past Dorchester, it's never ending) and you never see sight nor sound of it again.

I LOVE the idea of the "rules" being imposed because - we mostly all have rules with our housing - but at least at Poundbury they're rigorously enforced, so if you're the sort who read the contract and liked the rules you know you won't get others ignoring them as they're strong on their rules.

I'd not buy there for three initial reasons:

- firstly, cost. Right now the cheapest/smallest semi for sale is a 3 bed and costs £410k. I don't have £410k, nor will I ever have that much.

- along with the rules might be some items I am not financially able to keep up with... e.g. it might say, for example, that your front door has to be painted in the approved colour every 5 years .... and if you can't afford the paint/professional door painter to get it looking good ... then you can fall foul of the rules you agree to in principal, but are unable to continue to comply with. It is an over-gentrification project where you need guaranteed income/wealth to buy into the Poundbury dream, vision and future. It's like owning a pet - you'd not buy a puppy without considering the total lifetime cost....

- lots of gated driveways and allocated parking. I'm somebody who needs to know what's mine and for what's mine to be clearly identifiable with clear borders. I don't "share" space with anybody because, quite frankly, it only takes one person to spoil it for everybody else and get all pompous/arrogant with you when you point it out.


It's all right for Charlie to moan about architecture - but anything/anywhere will always cost more if you make it nicer ... with twirly bits ... and some people simply can't afford more than a ticky tacky box to live in

Poundbury, even at its high price, was built "for the few" ... not for everybody.

Additionally, looking at a few room sizes/floorplans, they're not very "functional" - they're "all fur coat and no knickers" as we used to say. They might look like lovely houses if you're driving past.... but to live inside them they're no different from any other annoying/dysfunctional new build with the developer profits ultimately dictating what they build. All the money's gone on the outside (where you don't live) and the space hasn't been carefully thought about (where you DO live).

Davesnave

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Also wondering what the ratio of 2 storey buildings to 3 storey buildings is - ie a high proportion of housing has to be 2 storey (NOT 3 storey). Those developers that build 3 storey houses are piling up trouble for the future imo - as many people won't want/be able to climb stairs to a 3rd storey at some point in their lives. .

The price per square metre of space means that there have to be higher rise buildings to achieve any sort of a social mix. Many of the large buildings are blocks of flats.

If people want a detached house there, there's not much, if anything, under £500k.


Oh, and the local soil is rubbish!

moneyistooshorttomention

Soil - no problem:rotfl:

Worst case analysis:
- buy new topsoil
- throw everything except the kitchen sink at the soil to improve it (eg that fungus stuff that helps plants grow roots, rockdust, "chop and drop" suitable plants one puts growing there to further feed the soil). Sit back and wait for people to go "OOOH - you've got green fingers".

Ask me how I know..:cool:

£500,000:eek:. I'd need £350k-£440k for a suitable (perfectly ordinary:cool:) house of my choice in my own city. No can do...:mad:

Carer

homeless9 wrote: »

How about Worcester itself?

I had a quick look around on Google maps and it looks quite pleasant. Taylor Wimpey are building some very affordable 2 bed homes in the North side of Worcester, in a village called Fernhill Heath. Apparently they have wonderful views on the countryside.

Worcester is lovely, although if I were buying in the region (I am baised though as I live 20 miles away and wouldn't want to move), I'd buy south of Worcester. The Malverns are beautiful, if you don't mind hilly streets, some of the surrounding villages are idyllic, the small Herefordshire towns just the other side of the hills are lovely too. Easy access to the M5 -1 hour drive to Bristol or Birmingham and direct trains to London if needed. Very close to Wales, and the Forest of Dean if you like countryside and all well within your budget.

Crashy_Time

Davesnave wrote: »

I think Diamond Geezer's Poundbury photos on Flickr are pretty good:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/18131547212/in/photolist-tCdVhY-tzSwRm-tAiK2y-sFt8u6-tm5jUt-tCiS3v-sFnPHf-tA3ZqU-tkBp7Q-tkKUmr-tkBrCb-tmibEg-sFUZRt-sFJPoq-tCKLQP-tCRcy2-tCe1mf-sFCPuE-tmc5uc-tmc99B/

After living in Bath for 40 years, much of it within spitting distance of the Royal Crescent, I acknowledge that good architecture and pleasant surroundings are important 'nice to haves.' However, it takes more than prettiness to make a strong community, or one that's enjoyable to live in. Eventually, I tired of the other stuff that goes with daily life in an expensive, tourist magnet of a city.

That sounds interesting, can you elaborate?

Davesnave

Crashy_Time wrote: »

That sounds interesting, can you elaborate?

My issues with the city I'd chosen as home related to its growth as a tourist destination and student base.

The place became what people would probably call more 'vibrant,' while my personal preferences were heading in the opposite direction. I rather liked it genteel and somewhat dull! :rotfl:

Anyway, the population increased and they brought their cars, so getting around and parking became very difficult, adding to the stresses of living in a much busier place. Also, there's only so many times one can tolerate being pushed off the pavement by crocodiles of foreign school kids/students....

Murphybear

Davesnave wrote: »

The price per square metre of space means that there have to be higher rise buildings to achieve any sort of a social mix. Many of the large buildings are blocks of flats.

If people want a detached house there, there's not much, if anything, under £500k.


Oh, and the local soil is rubbish!

Never mind about the soil, there is a garden centre right in the centre of the place that has free delivery:D

If you like the area then Dorchester is much cheaper

patchwork_cat

homeless9 wrote: »

True.

I do have a thing for new build homes. That new, clean, unused, neat look. Can just move in and not worry about having to change anything, but maybe paint or wallpaper a few walls.

To me - the look of the house, how it is presented is important to me. A lot of older builds look awful....

But I understand they are cheaper, and if you can find one that looks nice and has a modern kitchen and bathroom - then that's a bonus.

You have never bought a new build have you! Very naive, no curtain tracks, flooring, even loo roll holders , so much work and that is without the snagging. I recommend a newish build if that is what you want.

Murphybear

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

We live on the outskirts of Plymouth and moved there from the south east 30 years ago. The new build town they are building in the south hams area may not be quite the thing if you are 30 and looking for bars, restaurants. Plymouth city centre has some newish apartments on the hoe, Barbican area which are in the midst of all the night life. Towns outside like Saltash, ivybridge, plympton and plymstock/staddiscombe have some newish builds which are easily commutable to Plymouth.

The average income issue is only a problem if you are unskilled. We moved down on the same incomes as we got in London area but money goes a lot further. Only issue is links to London now airport closed and bad weather stops trains to and from West Country. Only roads out are A38/M5 or A303 which are nightmare in tourist season. Exeter is also nice but more expensive.

Exeter got the IKEA as well :rotfl:

Crashy_Time

Davesnave wrote: »

My issues with the city I'd chosen as home related to its growth as a tourist destination and student base.

The place became what people would probably call more 'vibrant,' while my personal preferences were heading in the opposite direction. I rather liked it genteel and somewhat dull! :rotfl:

Anyway, the population increased and they brought their cars, so getting around and parking became very difficult, adding to the stresses of living in a much busier place. Also, there's only so many times one can tolerate being pushed off the pavement by crocodiles of foreign school kids/students....

Yes, people seem to be kind of asleep nowadays as they walk around bumping into you. This is why we had a win for Brexit though, many people, rightly or wrongly, associate the deterioration in their quality of life with FOM.