House Buying - Regrets & Boo-boos

Davesnave

Saga wrote: »

That's interesting: all these property TV shows say there's nothing such as the perfect house, so don't keep searching for it, and that compromise is normal and to be expected.

I think compromise is inevitable due to the complexity of peoples wants, but many properties might suit their needs, given the chance. Often, it's just a little imagination that's lacking.

For example, we wrote off a whole swathe of Somerset near the Levels because of potential flooding issues, despite it being more affordable and reasonably close to family and friends. With hindsight, not every square km of that area is prone to flooding, so while it was right to be cautious, property should have been looked at on a case by case basis.

Then there are things like Acorn profiles, deprivation indexes or whatever they're called. Some people will read those and write-off areas based on a score.

Well, we live in an officially 'deprived' area, but that doesn't mean it's awful; just that wages in the immediate area are low and there aren't any theatres, Maccy D's or major supermarkets within 10 miles. If you can live with that, then the two local schools are outstanding, the health centre can usually fit you in if it's urgent, and you can even get a NHS dentist. Good curry's a bit tricky, though!


Many things that cause people to write off a potentially good house can be altered, but matters like aspect, location and plot size are fixed, so need much greater scrutiny. When friends moved in near us years ago, we laughed at the 'peculiar' house they'd bought in the weird road that didn't match any others locally. Two years later, we bought it from them!

What we couldn't match elsewhere was the plot size and the secluded location, but we needed to see a dozen or more other houses in the same price bracket to understand that the 'peculiar' property was really a gem in disguise. We stayed 20 years.

Crashy_Time

vroombroom wrote: »

We bought our first house in 2014 in a help to buy/shared ownership scheme. Whilst I love the house as it's great for school/work, we're now desperate to move as we've since had another child (b/g 6 years between) and we're stuck in this tiny 2 bed.
Due to the scheme we are on, we have to sell it at a price the company we bought it through gives us. If we get any offers less, we have to pay the difference which means we'll not only have to pay them a load of money we don't have, but we'll have no shares either.

Worst thing we ever did.:(

HTB/SO needs to be cancelled ASAP IMO, biggest scam ever to try and prop the bursting property bubble.

John_Smith_2019

Davesnave wrote: »

I think compromise is inevitable due to the complexity of peoples wants, but many properties might suit their needs, given the chance. Often, it's just a little imagination that's lacking.


Then there are things like Acorn profiles, deprivation indexes or whatever they're called. Some people will read those and write-off areas based on a score.

Well, we live in an officially 'deprived' area, but that doesn't mean it's awful; just that wages in the immediate area are low and there aren't any theatres, Maccy D's or major supermarkets within 10 miles. If you can live with that, then the two local schools are outstanding, the health centre can usually fit you in if it's urgent, and you can even get a NHS dentist. Good curry's a bit tricky, though!

What we couldn't match elsewhere was the plot size and the secluded location, but we needed to see a dozen or more other houses in the same price bracket to understand that the 'peculiar' property was really a gem in disguise. We stayed 20 years.

I would always ignore any kind of crime index map, or whatever they're called. They're a complete nonsense. For a start, they'll be skewed by how many people claim on insurance or what kind of businesses (eg shoplifting) you have nearby.

daivid

If you have the option to overlap renting (or living with family/friends) and completing consider carefully how long you want/can afford to overlap.

I overlapped by a week, which took the stress out of moving. In hindsight I would have overlapped by a month and carried out a good amount of dusty structural altering and some re-decorating in an empty house. It would have cost a months rent but to save the multiple moves of furniture and accelerate the progress I think it would have been well worth it.