priorities when buying for yourself

Flugelhorn

RHemmings said:

tiger135 said:

Thanks Rhemmings, its just like you describe, 4 houses in a cluster. In this case the two away from the road have private gardens and the two nearest the road have open gardens bordering on the path and parking spaces.

Does each quarter house have an upstairs and a downstairs? Or is there a different arrangement?

certainly the cluster houses I have seen in the past have been 2 floors, 2 outside walls - downstairs usually sitting room either open plan or with separate small kitchen. Upstairs one bedroom and bathroom. Windows on two aspects at right angles to each other - no "back door". Much  of it is like living in a terrace but the neighbours are against the "back walls"

RelievedSheff

Who are you buying this house for? Yourself or your parents?

RedFraggle

They are quite likely right about the fence though to be fair. But it'll be a covenant in the title deed not the council. 

RHemmings

Flugelhorn said:

certainly the cluster houses I have seen in the past have been 2 floors, 2 outside walls - downstairs usually sitting room either open plan or with separate small kitchen. Upstairs one bedroom and bathroom. Windows on two aspects at right angles to each other - no "back door". Much  of it is like living in a terrace but the neighbours are against the "back walls"

Personally I think these cluster houses are a good idea. As you say, similar to a terrace in terms of multiple party walls, and the ones I've seen on Rightmove have had good gardens, considering the division of the house. There are few one bedroom terraced houses, and around my way there are lots which are one room wide, but go back a long way, and have two or three bedrooms. (Or more event). It would be inefficient to have smaller terraced houses I think. As the only dimension to shrink the houses would be lengthwise, and if estates were designed like that then the roads would be closer together. But, then you couldn't really have an estate of tiny 1 bedroomed terraced houses. 

If I lived in one, then I'd be fine with a neighbour sharing a garden with me - barring 'disputes' of course. I'd hope to have reasonable neighbours and be able to work things out. 

This is of course @tiger135's thread, and of course one problem with forum advice is that I can easily say 'this house sounds great - go for it' based on limited information and a personal bias towards that sort of property. Hearing from people who have experience of living in such a house/arrangement would be much more informative. 

RedFraggle said:

They are quite likely right about the fence though to be fair. But it'll be a covenant in the title deed not the council. 

I'm hoping that @tiger135 will have a look at the title register and tell us what it contains. (Or, have I skimmed a post that talks about this already). 

ReadingTim

• Price
• Location
• Specification

Pick 2....

tiger135

price of this house is fine for me, although i wonder if i could offer lower due to it sitting on market for 6 weeks or so. i know they will accept 1.5k less than asking price. not sure if its worth going in lower or just offering what i know they will accept?

RHemmings

tiger135 said:

price of this house is fine for me, although i wonder if i could offer lower due to it sitting on market for 6 weeks or so. i know they will accept 1.5k less than asking price. not sure if its worth going in lower or just offering what i know they will accept?

It depends on your finances, but I think that in your situation if you can afford the 1.5k less than asking, I'd go for that. 

Though, I'm not a long term experienced house buyer. I'm just a FTB thinking that I would be happy to pay a bit over market value if it gets me a suitable house to live in for a long period of time. 

Bonniepurple

OP, when we were looking to buy our first house my Dad was very pleased but my Mum was more cautious until we viewed one that was very similar to her first house.  She got caught out by inflation in the 1970s and in effect lost money on her house when she sold.

If you like the house, put an offer in.  Unless your parents are buying with you, they have no input.

lincroft1710

RHemmings said:

Flugelhorn said:

certainly the cluster houses I have seen in the past have been 2 floors, 2 outside walls - downstairs usually sitting room either open plan or with separate small kitchen. Upstairs one bedroom and bathroom. Windows on two aspects at right angles to each other - no "back door". Much  of it is like living in a terrace but the neighbours are against the "back walls"

Personally I think these cluster houses are a good idea.  

RedFraggle said:

They are quite likely right about the fence though to be fair. But it'll be a covenant in the title deed not the council. 

 

Haven't seen any cluster houses built for over 20 years, developers prefer to build apartments.

tiger135

thats a shame, they are quite nice and ideal for first time buyer or singles. plus you get the freehold. obviously apartments make more money, more flats on the same plot and service charges.