Should we? Very confused...!

Davesnave

Splatfoot said:

Davesnave said:

Any specific reason for Wales? Middle Devon is still relatively cheap away from the major road arteries, there's no language issue and the bloody tourists don't seem to know it exists. That's 3 positives.

We just love the ceredigion area. But, we are not absolutely tied to that decision. The original plan was to literally travel round the country and look. 

I understand that, having spent 3 years, on and off, getting to know West Wales, eventually viewing around 50 properties there, some only drive-bys and walk arounds. For us, Carmarthen was 2 hours away, so we might have spent 6 or 7 hours travelling on days over there. We had 3 weeks of winter holidays in the area as well. Cheap as chips at this time of year!

Sadly, we never found exactly what we were looking for, though the scenery was brilliant. Great scenery wasn't quite enough to counterbalance some down-sides peculiar to us, and in the end we decided to take the option of moving somewhere we knew would work.

Welsh smallholdings enjoyed a boom in the early noughties. When we were in rented after the huge price falls in 2008, many vendors over there were still in denial of those; after all Welsh smallholdings could take 2-3 years to sell in normal times. This was also a factor. Frankly, sellers we met (many of them English) were asking far too much and the sums didn't add up, though we missed one property where they did. That was in 'Little England' though, where I felt there was a better balance between scenery, good beaches, commercial opportunities and prices.

Davesnave

Splatfoot said:

MalMonroe said:

I'm also sorry for your predicament but don't forget that at the moment nobody should be travelling anywhere if it's not essential. So it's probably best not to go property hunting, in any kind of vehicle, right now. 

We've decided to just sit tight after listening to Chris whitty. 

Yes, the government and their advisors are in full Project Fear mode and there's none who looks more scary than Chris! Many in our society aren't very biddable, but it's no good at all blaming the public for 'flexing' the rules, as Hancock did yesterday, when the same public have witnessed similar behaviour over the past year from those in the public eye, contracts given to mates,  disingenuous use of data and last minute U turns over important matters, like the Christmas debacle.

Splatfoot

Davesnave said:

Splatfoot said:

Davesnave said:

Any specific reason for Wales? Middle Devon is still relatively cheap away from the major road arteries, there's no language issue and the bloody tourists don't seem to know it exists. That's 3 positives.

We just love the ceredigion area. But, we are not absolutely tied to that decision. The original plan was to literally travel round the country and look. 

I understand that, having spent 3 years, on and off, getting to know West Wales, eventually viewing around 50 properties there, some only drive-bys and walk arounds. For us, Carmarthen was 2 hours away, so we might have spent 6 or 7 hours travelling on days over there. We had 3 weeks of winter holidays in the area as well. Cheap as chips at this time of year!

Sadly, we never found exactly what we were looking for, though the scenery was brilliant. Great scenery wasn't quite enough to counterbalance some down-sides peculiar to us, and in the end we decided to take the option of moving somewhere we knew would work.

Welsh smallholdings enjoyed a boom in the early noughties. When we were in rented after the huge price falls in 2008, many vendors over there were still in denial of those; after all Welsh smallholdings could take 2-3 years to sell in normal times. This was also a factor. Frankly, sellers we met (many of them English) were asking far too much and the sums didn't add up, though we missed one property where they did. That was in 'Little England' though, where I felt there was a better balance between scenery, good beaches, commercial opportunities and prices.

We too have looked at a few. A few years ago, we found what we considered our perfect house. But we hadn't sold at that time and ended up staying where we were for a further 5 years. It seems to be getting harder to find somewhere. Whereas properties would sit about for a while, now they're snapped up. The scenery is beautiful, the coast in that area is just lovely. But sometimes, when we go, it does feel lacking in something. Which is why we are extending the search. My husband's sister has moved to Scotland so we are going to go that way When we can. Where is Little England?  Is that Pembrokeshire? 

Not to go along with Crashy's theme, but we are hoping for a little drop come spring.. the prices are utterly ridiculous. 

I think we could be classed as essential travel as we are technically houseless, if not homeless. But the difficulty would be in proving it. So, just going to hunker down on the drive and eat ourselves into oblivion. 

Davesnave

'Little England' is the part of  Pembrokeshire roughly south of the A40. Road signs are in English first, or they were. It lacks the drama of Ceredigion landscapes, but I think the beaches are better, and although still economically weak, there's more going on.

Everywhere rural seems to have enjoyed a property boost since the first lockdown. In our village very little hasn't sold, apart from 'problem' properties and the seriously overpriced.

When we made offers on 2 Welsh properties in '09 we were £25k and £100k away from where the vendors hoped to be. Sold data shows we were bang-on with the £100k discrepancy and  £20k too generous on the other one! Almost unbelievable, which is why we came here instead to the devil we knew. Haven't regretted it, but would have liked a fresh start and less renovation!

phoebe1989seb

Fingers crossed that you don't have to spend too long living on your family's driveway, Splatfoot!

We're originally from the south coast of England (Hampshire), although we did stints renovating old houses in Essex, Wiltshire and the West Midlands before buying our little slice of Carmarthenshire in February 2018.

We began looking in Wales (Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire) in 2016 and like Dave, viewed/did drive bys on a fair few properties with up to 20 acres. Some good ones slipped through the net as we weren't in a position to proceed and even when we were, we found we occasionally lost out despite being the highest bidder (sealed bids) or making the highest offer.

Having sold our last house, we moved our stuff into storage (three large units as we still had a lot even after a series of downsizes/decluttering, lol!) and our dogs into kennels after having an offer accepted on a house with land near Pembrey country park, where a quick sale was sought. Part way into the process we discovered another property (a repossession) we liked the location of had been relisted after a sale fell through. Being cash buyers (staying temporarily with relatives) we were in a good position to proceed quickly and the deal was done relatively easily.....although it has to be said I felt no love for the cottage we were buying.

In the end, because of the level of immediate work required, our worldly possessions stayed in storage for eight months which did eat into our capital set aside for phase two of the renovations somewhat, especially as during most of 2018 our existing (online) business was put on hold so we had no actual income.

Three years on - with that existing business long gone and another tried/failed - we are settled in the area (just outside the lovely Llandeilo in Carmarthenshire) with a liveable - if not entirely finished! - home that we plan to extend this year as well as a new business for DH that he loves. Due to the quantity of stuff we have, plus our dogs - not to mention how much it would've eaten into our cash reserves - renting probably wouldn't have worked for us although I appreciate it is a good idea for many people who are new to an area.

As an aside, we also considered Scotland, but with close family still in the south of England (Hampshire, East Sussex and Cornwall), it just felt too far for us. We also bid on a smallholding in Devon but it went for far more than we could afford at the time. To me Wales still seems to offer the best value for money, but the better properties do appear to be flying off the shelves right now, so being on the spot to view asap is probably recommended. Hopefully it won't be much longer before restrictions on travelling are eased!

Splatfoot

phoebe1989seb said:

Fingers crossed that you don't have to spend too long living on your family's driveway, Splatfoot!

We're originally from the south coast of England (Hampshire), although we did stints renovating old houses in Essex, Wiltshire and the West Midlands before buying our little slice of Carmarthenshire in February 2018.

We began looking in Wales (Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire) in 2016 and like Dave, viewed/did drive bys on a fair few properties with up to 20 acres. Some good ones slipped through the net as we weren't in a position to proceed and even when we were, we found we occasionally lost out despite being the highest bidder (sealed bids) or making the highest offer.

Having sold our last house, we moved our stuff into storage (three large units as we still had a lot even after a series of downsizes/decluttering, lol!) and our dogs into kennels after having an offer accepted on a house with land near Pembrey country park, where a quick sale was sought. Part way into the process we discovered another property (a repossession) we liked the location of had been relisted after a sale fell through. Being cash buyers (staying temporarily with relatives) we were in a good position to proceed quickly and the deal was done relatively easily.....although it has to be said I felt no love for the cottage we were buying.

In the end, because of the level of immediate work required, our worldly possessions stayed in storage for eight months which did eat into our capital set aside for phase two of the renovations somewhat, especially as during most of 2018 our existing (online) business was put on hold so we had no actual income.

Three years on - with that existing business long gone and another tried/failed - we are settled in the area (just outside the lovely Llandeilo in Carmarthenshire) with a liveable - if not entirely finished! - home that we plan to extend this year as well as a new business for DH that he loves. Due to the quantity of stuff we have, plus our dogs - not to mention how much it would've eaten into our cash reserves - renting probably wouldn't have worked for us although I appreciate it is a good idea for many people who are new to an area.

As an aside, we also considered Scotland, but with close family still in the south of England (Hampshire, East Sussex and Cornwall), it just felt too far for us. We also bid on a smallholding in Devon but it went for far more than we could afford at the time. To me Wales still seems to offer the best value for money, but the better properties do appear to be flying off the shelves right now, so being on the spot to view asap is probably recommended. Hopefully it won't be much longer before restrictions on travelling are eased!

Thank you for telling me your experience! We are in Sussex, I do know what you mean about Scotland feeling that bit too far. All of our families, apart from the SIL  in Scotland, are in Sussex, from brighton through to Bognor. We would like a few acres, and like you say, Wales does still seem the best value. But we're pretty flexible, we have cash in the bank so want to buy outright, don't mind a renovation project as we're both quite handy. We didn't want to rent so the camper was the next best thing and we also have pets. (3 cats, 2 dogs) The 3 cats have taken to the small amount of travel we've done so far, remarkably well!

AdrianC

phoebe1989seb said:

(just outside the lovely Llandeilo in Carmarthenshire)

Llandeilo is indeed lovely - Dinefwr and Carreg Cennen right on your doorstep...

phoebe1989seb

AdrianC said:

phoebe1989seb said:

(just outside the lovely Llandeilo in Carmarthenshire)

Llandeilo is indeed lovely - Dinefwr and Carreg Cennen right on your doorstep...

Indeed.....whilst it's not the *dream home* we sold, we feel very lucky to have found this place ❤️

jackieblack

Splatfoot said:

We've decided to just sit tight after listening to Chris whitty. 

For those of a certain age... 😉

Splatfoot

jackieblack said:

Splatfoot said:

We've decided to just sit tight after listening to Chris whitty. 

For those of a certain age... 😉

😁😂👊 this is jam hot