Prosperous soul, mortgage neutrality & creativity Year 2

Blackcats · 21 September 2023 at 10:17PM

The cottage holiday will do you the world of good.
You have a lot to think about and perhaps at the moment there is too much to think about.
if you made a slightly higher offer and it was accepted would you be over joyed? would it be a dream come true?

I know that my heart absolutely rules my head when buying property but I've always wanted to agree an offer as soon as I can in order to get the house that I've fallen in love with. On occasion I might have saved a little money by negotiating harder but I haven't wanted to risk losing it. I appreciate you are being very sensible but from reading your posts I do wonder if the house you've offered on is what you really want.

WelshmansDaughter · 22 September 2023 at 9:01AM

no more information, I hope you find this peaceful to look at

savingholmes · 22 September 2023 at 9:08AM

Thanks all

For now I've blocked out viewings on this house which feels more restful. I have a buyer on the line - which enables me to get prioritised viewings of houses I'm interested in. I agree I shouldn't feel guilty about having more space. I should be able to get the privacy film up on the top part of the kitchen windows as a minimum this week - and I can then see if that reduces the feeling of intrusion from the neighbours. The feeling intensified when I took down two huge trees in my back garden over the last couple of years - which in the past blocked out the neighbours in summer but not winter. It was still the right call to remove the trees as they completely overshadowed the garden - and I still have multiple other trees but on a more proportionate scale - but their privacy benefits were huge.

If I stayed - I need to investigate evergreen options that would block the neighbours - even if I have to spend hundreds on buying something at the right height and pay for someone to put it in for me. Some of those gardening TV programmes suggest it should be possible.

I've enquired about a house in Wales it's in a beautiful area and while it doesn't have the direct views I want it has a huge garden (mostly lawn) with evergreen hedging so I could potentially create them. It only went on the market yesterday. I looked at it and went 'wow' which I didn't for any of the others yesterday. It's on for less than £270K so I'd have some money left to play / do stuff to it if I wanted. There I'd need help with the garden - but would probably want to plant my own plants initially for screening and then once they'd established consider removing some of the 'evergreen' stuff as it looks like it may be leylandii which requires too much annual pruning and stays brown if you cut it too deep.

My counsellor unsurprisingly was very much on at me to prioritise wellbeing. She too emphasised there was no need to rush to find a new house. Will keep you posted. This is proving an expensive month - and TBH - if I don't want to take money out of savings - I will probably carry a CC balance into next month due to the holiday booking. Worth it though - and as it should hopefully be cleared next payday which is shortly before the holiday so that seems reasonable. I'd take some money out of savings - but one of them I think matures in October so don't want to.

lucielle · 22 September 2023 at 4:42PM

And breathe! Hope you find your piece of tranquility in your searches.
L

MovingForwards · 22 September 2023 at 4:59PM

EH summed everything up well and you've placed a lot of pressure on yourself to find somewhere, which can't be easy.

Hope you're not working this weekend and can do a few bits to your home.

The holiday sounds great and well overdue.

mark55man · 23 September 2023 at 9:28AM

Enjoy your break - and well done on finding a wow house - as long as you can make it work logistically afterwards that's a great start

Gardeners are cheap compared to solicitors so I like that line of thinking as well

OH and I did talk about lodgers when the youngest has left but may enjoy the peace for a decade or two before we decide

EssexHebridean · 23 September 2023 at 9:49AM

I’m a 100% no to lodgers unless as someone else said the breadline was beckoning. Having to bite my tongue about little things someone was doing in my house that annoyed or irritated me because they pay rent and are entitled to call it their home too is not for me!