julicorn's journey 2 - Moving Up 1 January 2022 at 11:21AM in Mortgage-free wannabe 470 replies 14.3K views

julicorn

Karmacat said:

Yup, I love Brighton too, I lived there for a long time.

Julicorn, have a lovely time at CenterParcs, and at Las Iguanas too, such fun!

Thank you so much! 🥰 currently enjoying a drink on the train, if that doesn't say "the holiday has begun" then I don't know what does 😂

Nichelette

julicorn said:

Nichelette said:

Just discovered your diary. How exciting about moving! We're hoping to do the same in a couple of years once the mortgage fix is over. When we bought this place it was the two of us, and now having us both working from home, my bunny living under the stairs(!) and a nearly 10 month old we just don't have enough space. 

I hope your potential viewing is good. I used to live in Trafalgar Street many years ago pre meeting DH and really do miss Brighton. We got married there, and I think for that reason he has a soft spot for it and would maybe move there one day . 

How exciting! Definitely sounds like more space is needed - how much longer do you have left on your fix?
And I have to ask, did you get married at the Town Hall? We did, it was lovely (coming up to 8 years this year, absolutely wild!). And it doesn't get much more central than Trafalgar Street.

Have a couple of years left. Sort of unfortunately but ideally we need to pay it down as much as we can so mixed blessing maybe.

Funny story! We actually did have it booked for there, but the room we booked didn't have an aisle and I had this massive princess dress (not what I thought I'd end up with!) and I thought it needed an aisle really, so in the end we had the ceremony at Hotel du Vin where the reception was. It's a lovely building though. The registrar kindly let me off a chunk of the fee because it was another couple of hundred to move it to a licensed venue despite it being 2 mins walk away. We got married over the August Bank Holiday weekend in true MSE style 😂. 

julicorn

Nichelette said:

julicorn said:

Nichelette said:

Just discovered your diary. How exciting about moving! We're hoping to do the same in a couple of years once the mortgage fix is over. When we bought this place it was the two of us, and now having us both working from home, my bunny living under the stairs(!) and a nearly 10 month old we just don't have enough space. 

I hope your potential viewing is good. I used to live in Trafalgar Street many years ago pre meeting DH and really do miss Brighton. We got married there, and I think for that reason he has a soft spot for it and would maybe move there one day . 

How exciting! Definitely sounds like more space is needed - how much longer do you have left on your fix?
And I have to ask, did you get married at the Town Hall? We did, it was lovely (coming up to 8 years this year, absolutely wild!). And it doesn't get much more central than Trafalgar Street.

Have a couple of years left. Sort of unfortunately but ideally we need to pay it down as much as we can so mixed blessing maybe.

Funny story! We actually did have it booked for there, but the room we booked didn't have an aisle and I had this massive princess dress (not what I thought I'd end up with!) and I thought it needed an aisle really, so in the end we had the ceremony at Hotel du Vin where the reception was. It's a lovely building though. The registrar kindly let me off a chunk of the fee because it was another couple of hundred to move it to a licensed venue despite it being 2 mins walk away. We got married over the August Bank Holiday weekend in true MSE style 😂. 

Hotel du Vin is such a lovely venue, that must have been amazing! And definitely gotta use a dress like that to its full effect

julicorn

We've been having a great time in Center Parcs already, lots of swimming, Badminton, pottery painting, and tasty food. 

Today is the moment of truth, we'll find out this afternoon whether we've gotten any offers on our flat following the open day. I'm a little nervous, but we'll be spending this morning in the spa, so that should help hopefully. not sure what we'll do if not. 

In the meantime, I have fallen head over heels in love with probably the smallest house I've ever seen for £650k, not sure if we can make it work but I'm just absolutely in love with the idea of living there. It's on a little twitten right in my favourite part of the centre, has a huge garden for where it is, but only 2 bed. Here you go, in case you want to have a nosey: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/s6p/119557115
We have a viewing booked on Saturday, again conditional on having an offer accepted by then. 

Sistergold

👋🏾 Good morning. Oh sounds like you are having a smashing time at centre parks! Lucky you! 

Oh the house is truly adorable(have had a nose around), and I must also say it’s might be the smallest house I have seen for £650k - I am sure that’s not true but hey. “Falling in love aside” will that size be okay for you? Stamp duty and all of size soon becomes an issue and have to move again? Planning a family and all? Expense of moving again soon and all? Tight squeeze for space and all? 

For £650k I will try to be able to stay put for some time. Well once all above have been considered it’s is truly a lovely house with nice period features! Good luck.
I also hope viewings went okay and you get solid offers so that you don’t need to do more viewings. 

julicorn

Thanks @Sistergold! It's definitely pokey, we'll have to see it in person to see if we can make it work. We've just booked another viewing for a bigger house in Hove on Friday, trying to get as many viewings as we can lined up for the weekend so we feel we've got a decent overview of what we can get

We've also now accepted an offer on our flat, £310k  Really happy with that, means we can confirm our viewings and get the ball rolling properly. 

Karmacat

Well done on accepting an offer!  Gosh, that was quick!

The twitten house, oh my word!  It's been tidied within an inch of it's life - is there more space than the flat you're currently in?  It's really gorgeous, but it's so inaccessible for deliveries, and the parking at either end will always be difficult too in that location; plus as Sistergold says, future expansion means a problem all it's own.  Good to see it mind you, even if you decide between now and then that you don't want it - getting an idea of the market is so important nowadays.  It does have the wow factor in spades, mind you, I can understand you wanting to see it!

julicorn

Thanks @Karmacat We're currently in a 1 bed flat, 42sqm, so it's a good 50% bigger than where we are now basically (with the garden being about 3x the size I reckon). Neither of us drive, and we actually don't intend to get a car ever if we can get away with it haha! (Parking is a bit of a nightmare in most of Brighton, mind) 

But yes, it's small for sure, it might not be the forever and ever home we were initially looking for... It's a funny one, I have quite a few friends back in Germany who moved out into massive houses out in the sticks, trying to start a family, and it's not working out for them - so they're now in 4 bed houses just as couples, far enough out that their friends never come and visit. It sounds silly, but I think those examples also prevent me a bit from wanting to buy purely for 'future us' with a hypothetical kid, but kind of find a middle ground between the lifestyle we have now and the lifestyle we want then. Not saying that 'middle ground' is necessarily a 2 bed in the town centre though. One thing I'm curious about is if you can get some sort of electricity and water connection into the garden, building a little office out there would make a big difference for us being able to use it longer term I reckon.

Karmacat

Thats a really good point about buying a too-big house too soon.  And yes, a little shed you could weatherproof into an office would give you much more flexibility.  

I'm thinking now of the flat where I did the catsitting gig, in Wandsworth, for my nephew and his wife; its a 2 bed 2 bath, and in the last 6 years that 2nd bed has been so flexible:  a bedroom, an animal sanctuary (for the cats) a dining room (we had Christmas dinner there!) and now a place to stash all the baby clutter - the baby herself is in one of those side-cots that fit onto your bed.  The baby has arrived, they're moving outside London to the town where all his best mates live, it's a win-win.  For you, maybe the Trafalgar Terrace house is the right decision.  

Just a thought - is it on the east or the west of the terrace?  That affects where the sun is in evening, after all  

Sistergold

You have gotten an offer! Congratulations! Hope all is smooth sailing so you find a place you love.