Prosperous soul, mortgage neutrality & creativity Year 2

Swayingseaweed

Glad your sister and bil were able to help you. 
Seaweed x 

KajiKita

That house sounds like a HUGE amount of work! I would avoid. (Shame about the views). 

Looking at your criteria list I think you might struggle to get the removedness you want (quiet from both people and traffic, clean air, not overlooked etc.) as well as a corner shop. Might it be worth making the corner shops lesser criteria? The nearest one to here is 10 minutes drive away and it doesn’t really bother us, just takes some planning and thought to have in what you need. 

KK

jwil

Good that Sis and BIL were able to help and give advice, especially if she will also help with negotiating.  Sounds like a lot of work needed for that one.

It might be worth having a look at your list and see which ones are absolute musts and which ones you could compromise on for the right house.

With the garden for example - is it worth chasing a decent garden when you say you prefer to look at it rather than sit in it?  Would a decent view suffice instead?  You can create a wildlife garden with some pots on a small plot if need be.  

savingholmes

Thanks Beanie, KK, Seaweed and Jwil 

KK - yes the corner shop wouldn't necessarily stop me buying it just makes life a little harder.

Jwil - with the garden size - I have been scaling back what I want - however I still need as 'guaranteed a view' as possible. I.e. that if the land next to me isn't currently built on that my house isn't going to suddenly become severely overlooked etc if that changes. One way to achieve that is depth of garden. What I've found on a lot of properties - is that they extend which sacrifices the garden, makes you more overlooked - and then to achieve privacy - your plants / trees / shrubs need to be tall which would then be too shady - where if you have a deeper garden you can have the height without it providing too much shade.

Too many houses are also link detached. That is not detached. You have a party wall so noise transfer and the potential for disputes. It also means that your houses are closer together making it more claustrophobic etc.

My current house has college field views from upstairs at the front, is not overlooked to the front (there are shrubs in my view and the wall of someone's house but not a window - but is very overlooked at the back. It is very spacious.

KajiKita

“ My current house has college field views from upstairs at the front, is not overlooked to the front (there are shrubs in my view and the wall of someone's house but not a window - but is very overlooked at the back. It is very spacious.”

I can see why you are struggling to ‘upgrade’ from that …. 

kK

savingholmes

Thanks KK. I've found one house with views that I'm going to try and get a look at. It's on for £20K more than I ideally want to pay but hopefully sis can bargain them down if needed. Worst case I could borrow the extra - I'd just rather not need to. It's a 3 bed, with a huge conservatory on the back with panoramic views and a tiered garden.

Just had a long chat with my mum on the phone - she definitely thinks I need to ensure the house is big enough - or she thinks I'll be unhappy and regret it. 

KajiKita

Mums have a canny knack of knowing us rather well. I would listen to that advice …. 😊

KK

WelshmansDaughter

I'm the total opposite to your mum! I think you should get somewhere smaller. And honestly I think you need somewhere all on one level, I'm frightened of you falling downstairs already and thats not old age yet! 

Humdinger1

@savingholmes not wanting to cause a furore...but if you hadn't had the offer, would you still be thinking about whether you wanted to move? I'm not saying it's the wrong decision- you're in charge of your life- and I understand that a fresh start is appealing ' but you have done so much to make the house yours.  Food for thought perhaps? Love Humdinger xx 

lucielle

I agree with Humdinger.  I think the new meds are helping with the clarity of your thinking.
L