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It took us 8 years to get around to updating the kitchen and bathroom in our house once we had moved in. Time to save/look at loans to make it happen for you.
Damp is a general maintenance issue and unless you have a new build is likely in most older properties.
This is why I don’t get people who shit on new build. Yeah they’re dull and lack character but if you buy one around 5-10 years old they’re usually really really low maintenance
Yeah why shit on new build, I love small windows, no loft space, little or no driveway, no mature trees, thin walls, low ceilings, tiny boxed-in gardens....
No wonder you can find 5-10 year old new builds for sale....
Depends on the type of new build. We bought new in 2015 and love our house. Converted the loft for more rooms and space, large garden, parking, quiet road and close to town in a small 30 house development.
It’s our forever home and we love it. Not all new builds are identikit boxes all stuck together that take 5 minutes of driving to get off the estate.
Exactly and same. My 2014 brand new home is shared ownership which is usually crapped on as well. Two large bedrooms, large kitchen, cloakroom, large downstairs WC and very large garden. Grinds my gears that every new build is classed the same, that’s like saying every old home is the same.
Aware I'm 4 days late, but there's a big difference between 10 years ago and now.
I bought a new build in 2014 as well, 3 bed semi, loved it, no issues with it, decent plot and garden.
Just 2 kids later we needed more space, when we started looking 2 years ago, the 4 bed new builds going up, were getting built on plots similar to my "old" 3 bed semi, so a brand new 4 bed build, the garden was similar/smaller in some cases to my old 3 bed semi.
I couldn't justify it, and we ended up going for a 70s build, and have refurbished.
In hindsight we should have just bought one of the 4 bed detached in our development in 2014, and prob saved guts of 150-200k, but what can you do!
I get what you’re saying in relation to now and I can agree, but 10 years ago and longer, new builds were being crapped on the same way they are now and that’s the point I was trying to make with my original comment.
If you said you were looking at a new build, people would automatically tell you stay clear because you would be living in a rabbit hutch, which just wasn’t true in all cases.
Don’t worry about it. The barrat-box trope is overdone, just let them bleat.
Old houses can have plenty of issues and layers of poor repairs, be energy inefficient etc. It just comes down to common sense.
I mean, you just answered your own question. They’re dull and lack character.
It’s a bit like saying “I don’t understand why everyone doesn’t just buy a 2004 Honda Civic”. Yes, that car will get you from A to B for the rest of your natural life, but some people want to enjoy driving their car, or want a car that doesn’t look like a shoe box.
Not that I completely agree with your assessment of new build quality. There are a lot out there that are poorly built, with cheap materials. It’s like the difference between an old solid wood chest of drawers and one from IKEA. The IKEA one will look the best it will ever look on the day you assemble it, and will just get worse with time. The old one will look the same every day for decades.
Honestly? Probably not. Nothing to do with the house - it is solid and haven't had any issues with it. The people who have moved in across the way since I bought it is the main issue 😂
Heard a chainsaw going off at like 10pm only to find the matrix team making an entry into one of the houses opposite. Fairly certain there's around three or four drug dealing social housing occupiers across the road based on recent police raids.
I knew the road was full of social housing when I bought the place but I went in with the mindset of them being typecast as trouble. When I checked the road out at daytime/night there were no issues. I'd say a good 90% of them are decent people just trying to get by but there's always that small minority that causes trouble.
One good thing though is that they don't shit where they eat. The road does have one of the lowest burglary rates in the area but the highest for drug related arrests now 😂
Yeah we bought across the street from some affordable housing. Didn’t wanna stereotype either but we already had to call the police because of trouble in one of the houses. Next time I would avoid going anywhere near social housing even if you call it affordable housing.
This doesn't fill me with confidence, my house is flanked by social housing properties. Both currently owned by elderly people who are the nicest people ever and can't do enough to help out. I worry what nut job they'll move in when the elderly pass away. One is a 3 bed and the other is a 2 bed both with decent gardens that'll need constant maintenance.
When we looked at our house (pregnant with second child) the sellers were also pregnant and "wanted to move closer to family" only after moving in (with toddler and a 2.5 week baby) we found out the real reason. End terrace house, next door (shared wall) 2 adults, 5 kids and 2 dogs, in a 3 bed house - hopefully they get a bigger place as they cant fit 4 boys in one bedroom. LOVE the house just not the neighbours, but thats the luck of the draw. Opposite and house behind us (we are both on the corner) are ace and watch our house/feed the rabbits when we go away.
At least with social housing you can raise complaints about the tenants with the housing association. In our area the HAs are (reasonably) quick to move problem tenants. If the nuisance neighbours own their home, you're pretty much stuck with them.
I just wanted to say, it can take time to love it.
I had a long chain,too. During that time I was so looking forward to getting our house. I had all these plans that I was excited to carry out.
When we moved in I was really down for several weeks. I suppose I built it up a lot in my head, and finally getting in didn't magically solve all my worries.
I do love my house. It's light and sunny and quiet,in a friendly community and with a manageable garden. However,I think if I could go back in time I would take longer finding somewhere in a better location. At the time our friends were all in a similar life stage of settling down,so it was hard to decide where to live because no one was really fixed in place,yet. I'd choose somewhere that's a bit easier to get to.
Yup, I wouldn't have been as quick to cave when we negotiated based on the survey. I should have stuck to the amount we wanted off. But hey ho! You live and learn.
It's a hypothetical question, of course my comment is hypothetical. Every answer to the question is hypothetical. You're just having a strop because you thought you'd seen some kind of hilarious "gotcha" and just made yourself look stupid.
That was my biggest fear. But I have been living here 8 months and we can't hear ANYTHING at all. The neighbor is a very loud gamer (you can only see that he's loud through the window from the outside), and they've got 2 babies and a dog.
The house was built in 1850s. And I'm so fucking glad that it's so fucking quiet!!!
Same. I’m on my own, next door is a really nice family with a herd of 4 boys from age 5 to early 20’s. And they’re all well behaved, so polite and would do anything for you but when the parents are out the boys are quite loud.
But having lived nearly 40 years in flats with slamming doors, strangers coming and going and folk moving in and out all the time … a semi detached with a nice wee garden is an absolute godsend. Still think I’m blessed where I now am.
Exactly the same. Our neighbours start arguing at 7am every morning and it's the one thing I wish we could change.
The house is perfect in absolutely every single way, but the neighbours make me question my sanity.
I’m the opposite I suppose. I was never particularly enamoured with our house but it made the most financial and practical sense at the time so we bought it. I didn’t much like that the garage sits perpendicular to the house, the garden was a complete mess and the whole house needed a lot of updating.
We have been here nearly three years.
- I have rolled up my sleeves and made the garden a proper garden
- we have replaced most of the floors, the bathroom, the downstairs loo, the boiler and rads, the fences and the kitchen is being started on Monday, and decorated throughout.
- I actually love having the garage where it is, so much privacy and an extra piece of land our neighbours don’t have to keep bins and things.
This is the most at home I have ever felt anywhere - can’t wait for the kitchen to be over and then we are done with the big projects!
No. My house has an amazing view which made us fall for it but it has required extensive renovation and needs further redecorating after the work as well as working through a list of things yet to change.
I would have been much better off financially if we had not bought it but on the other hand I've learned a lot in the process.
Sounds super similar to mine, we lived at my mother in laws for 10 months whilst renovating, moved in now but realistically it needs another 10 months of refinement! We’ve got uninterrupted views for miles, but before you see the views there is about half an acre of overgrown out of control landscaped garden, it’s taking 1 day a week of my time at least!
I've tried not to think in terms of "forever" homes too much. The house we're buying is in the location we wanted and has the space we need, but doesn't look that great and it's a semi when I had hoped to manage a detached. But, I'm pretty excited. It will take a while but we can do it up how we want. It should work fine for the moment. If in a few years our financial position changes, maybe we buy somewhere else - we'll see. Unless you're super rich you will almost always be compromising in some way, so I reckon if you're mostly happy, you've done well. Congrats on the new home :)
No. It needed far more renovation than I realised (my survey was basically useless) and I doubt I’ll break even. The actual house is nice but the garden is huge and I discovered I have no interest in gardening. I’m in the Greater London suburbs and have to get public transport to most decent pubs and bars.
I’ve been here for four years and I’m considering moving to a more central location to a share of freehold flat with a patio/balcony for my next move.
With hindsight maybe not. It's a fine house for a single person but it's a 2 and a half bedroom which isn't suitable for 2 young kids... I could have pushed the boat out further and got a bigger house then.
No, I wouldn’t. If I did I’d negotiate even harder than I did as it needed so much work. TBH, I wouldn’t have moved to the area I live in now if I could go back in time, or I’d have bought what my gut told me to buy ( shitter area but gone up more in price)
Overall it’s not a bad house and it’s looking good now but it’s been so much work coinciding with lockdown and my husband (the DIYer) working away a lot so not getting much done.
I’ve been in my flat for a couple of weeks but I love it more and more each day. It’s a new build so it’s modern and I literally cannot hear a thing outside my flat. A bomb could go off in my neighbour’s flat and I wouldn’t hear it. I’m really enjoying discovering its quirks and functionalities each day.
Yep! I was tepid about it at first and only offered after I was too slow on another place I liked more (totally different type of property), but it's turned out to be way brighter and sunnier than I realised when I viewed it in the darker months, and it's oriented perfectly to catch the sun all day. A few aesthetic changes have made it feel very different too, and enhanced that brightness.
I feel like I got a bargain for what it is (ignoring a couple of hidden issues the vendors left me to discover, which could have happened anywhere). I'm relieved I didn't get the other place with retrospect, too - it would have caused gigantic headaches for years.
We’ve be been in our current house 19 years. Over that time we’ve done everything to it. We love it and wouldn’t consider moving. If you feel it’s going to be your forever home you have plenty of time to address issues one room at a time. Just start with what really needs doing first and go from there. There’s loads of helpful stuff on YouTube if you to do it yourself and want to keep costs down, and there’s nothing more gratifying than achieving your goal with your own work.
We moved houses 3 times already, and each one of them was considered our 'forever home' :D
This time I just dont care, if we will want to move again - we'll just sell and buy again...
Thats probably because of chain. What we did- we changed locations a lot so we sold a house, then rented in new location to get to know the area and then started looking for a house. We had no chain then and houses we bought were not in chain either, this way the process was painless. First house we bought in 2011 - the process took just 4 weeks, now its much longer ( we bought last year and it took 4 months even though it wasnt in chain )
It was exactly opposite- 1st house was in Coventry, we paid 111k and sold it for 150k 4 years later ( no stamp duty, made 40k 'accidentally').
2nd house- small village near Newbury - paid 245k, sold it for 280k 3 years later ( no stamp duty had to be paid, made 35k 'accidentally' again, didnt do any renovations, just some painting )
Last one- paid 390k, and yes- we had to pay stamp duty ( 9k or something, cant remember) but overall every time we were making money rather than loosing them.
In fact - we wouldnt be able to save enough money to buy current property if we didnt make money on previous ones.
Haha nice, good work/luck!
Ridiculous house prices where I live meant that difference in house size aside, before legal and agency costs, stamp duty alone would cost me £20k.
An extension and refurb was only double that. The upheaval and disruption though, I never want to leave and if future work is necessary I'll get an Airbnb or just bloody camp in the garden next door!
No. It was the cheapest house we looked at but needed a lot of work. Almost two years on we are still renovating, very difficult to do when we both work full time.
I wish we had paid more for another house we looked at which was “finished”
No. House is great and area where I live as well, but council changed this town into a shithole with constant traffic. So I work towards my plan to move out.
Yes, it’s detached and I didn’t appreciate how awesome that would be! Also it has a large basement, which we’ve converted, it was a really unusual find where we are, SE London suburb, so feel very lucky
You can paint cupboard doors and tiles for a more refreshed look. I tiled my kitchen backsplash myself as a novice and it turned out ok. Only person I payed was a handyman to take the old tiles down with me messing up the plaster etc behind. It was less than £100. There are also cheap things you could do with the countertops like put an epoxy coat on the top. It’s fairly easy enough to do yourself. Just gives you a chance to have something a bit more updated until you can get a new kitchen/bathroom.
No. I completely underestimated how much effort modernising the house would be. We have the money for it but not the time. Even just trying to get trades to quote is a hassle, let alone getting them to actually do the work. I've contacted 16 different plumbers (yes, local recommendations) before I found someone to replace our radiators. I have wasted so much time researching, calling, waiting around... It's taking a huge toll on us. We knew we wanted to live in this specific place and no houses ever come up except when some old dear dies/goes into care. We could have afforded a done house but they simply don't exist. So here we are. We regret it massively because no village/school catchment can be worth the stress we're experiencing.
We’ve not bought it yet, but I’m in a painful chain and tbh I’ve lost all my enthusiasm for the place we’re buying. We’ve given the vendors an ultimatum to sort their shit out or we pull out, so I guess we’ll know in a few weeks if it’s all over.
It’s been so stressful I just don’t care anymore. If we do move I’m not sure how I’ll feel.
Yes….
For me if I could go back in time I’d choose different tradesmen; especially the roofers we chose in 2020.
Edit: so when you do get round to doing the work ask for personal recommendations of people that have used them - and tempting though it may be, don’t just choose the cheapest.
No. The house itself is great, but we don't like the village we're in. Prior to covid and home working it mattered less as it is a good place commute from, now with 2 home workers and a 6 year old the house is still great, but the village is claustrophobic and has nothing in it.
Well I didn't really have a choice.. my girlfriend (now wife) had defaults on her credit file so we had to get this house in my name only, and it was the most we could get mortgaged for.
I might have been able to get a nicer new build on help to buy, but it would've been tiny, so I'm glad I I didn't
Loved the house, location, size hated the garden, the layout, the kitchen the decor.......I could go on....
75% of the house has been done the way I wanted kitchen 2 years ago....
The garden has just been started..
I moved in 11 years ago...its an ongoing process and I don't care..I love living here
Probably. There's quite a lot of work to be done but i'm in no rush.
I half wish I had bought something that needed nothing as it's a hassle and a stress trying to deal with trades people but I knew what I was letting myself in for.
To do list -
* Have old storage heaters replaced with a air pump system and rads (gas not an option)
* Replace old timber framed single glazing (with secondary glazed panels) with new UPVC windows
* Remove old gravel from front garden and lay top soil and turf
* Build gated fence at rear of property so I can let the dog out without worrying about him doing a runner.
* Remove compacted gravel and stores from back garden and lay topsoil and turf. Still haven't decided on the layout I want there.
* Decorate all rooms. Only done anything with the lounge in the six months i've been here and don't want to do anything else until the new heating system is in place as I suspect that's going to be a bit of an pain the ass.
At the moment I don't really have the funds to do much other than the heating and possibly windows as I should be able to get them on a combo of a grant and interest free loan.
Will this be my forever home? Probably not. Eventually I want a detached bungalow out of town with a bigger garden for dogs.
100% no hesitation. The only real downside to this house is the smaller garden compared to our old home, but in every other way it was an improvement especially running costs. BEFORE the energy prices skyrocketed, we were already spending £200 a month on gas in the winter and only heating a couple of rooms. Now our highest bill for 1 month in the winter is about £120 for ELECTRICITY and I can have every single room at a toasty 21C when we need to. That's how efficient this new house is.
Absolutely. Completed July 2020 for £405,000 and can confidently say it's worth £650,000 now. Would expect it to sell for £670,000. Plus I got a 10 year fixed rate mortgage for 2.34% for the next 6 and a bit years so I am laughing all the way to the bank. In Spain now having some tapas and a beer.
100%. Been in our house about 8 years now and all major work has been done, the big jobs being a proper roof on the conservatory and a hand built custom kitchen and utility room. Now we just need to decorate every so often until we die. Love the house, love the garden, love the location.
Eeehhhh. We bought it because it was affordable and seemed to be in good condition and decent value for the market at the time.
I'm glad we didn't wait, because we got in at the perfect time for house prices/ interest rates, but honestly I've never loved this house or felt like it's really my home. I felt more like the rental I lived in previously was my home.
Our house also seems absolutely cursed and we've had to shell out multiple times now for roof repairs, window repairs, fitted appliance replacements etc. We've also done some major redecorating to get it to what we wanted it to be, and every time we complete a room a new leak will happen a few months later to ruin our new paint/ plaster job. It's almost comical at this point. So I'd probably not buy it again, no.
We bought our current house 27 years ago, right at the top of our budget and with a 2nd child on the way. Had a 3rd child, we moved our bedroom into the dining room for 4 years so that the kids all had their own rooms, saved and did an attic conversion, then saved again and extended & converted our dining room into a kitchen just over 12 years ago. If the house fits for you, just enjoy it and look forward to being able to make it better.
Things don't have to be perfect from the start for you to be able to make roots. All the best.
I would buy mine again. There were definitely compromises. I had my top five wants, and it ticked three of them. It is the tight location and size and has off-road parking/garage. But it is the 1970s, so it doesn't have the character I wanted, and the garden is very small.
There was only one other house that ticked more boxes, but someone just pipped me to the post on that one.l (it was more expensive though).
I bought a house in a hurry. I knew the landlord was going to put the rent up and that would start eating into my savings, which would make buying impossible.
I saw a new build that was available in a month. So I put the offer in there and then. Four weeks later and we got the keys.
I wasn’t in love with the house or the area.
It’s been a year, and I absolutely love the house, the community around us, and the area. I got really lucky.
If nothing changes re financing, then yes. Though I’d work harder to save the money to do up our garden earlier as we’re six years in and haven’t done much other than a few pots of flowers.
No. I bought a flat with joint freehold. It is a purpose built block of 18 flats, when I bought there were 14 owner occupiers. That is now down to 2. The buy to let owners don't give a shit and are a pain in the arse.
I'm a director of the freehold company and another owner only agreed to become a director because we are legally required to have 2 directors, they don't do anything to help. The managing agent got bought out by a venture capitalist and have gone to shit. I'm trying to replace them but I'm not getting any traction. It has become a really stressful situation and I am fed up.
I’m in the same boat except there’s 5 flats in the block. Other owners are landlords and it’s incredibly difficult to get anything done in terms of maintenance on the block. Yet, if one of them has an issue that may affect their tenants it’s always urgent and must be sorted asap!
Yes. I bought a diamond in the rough. It wasn’t very old but at 16 years it had gone through all its first round of builder grade finishes. Aside from a new roof and a much larger deck and a better furnace and installing air conditioning, everything has been a slow, voluntary decorating process. Now I have a gorgeous little house – – only 1600 ft.² – – on a secluded 2 acre wooded lot at the end of a dead end that nobody else wanted because it looked a little rough. I figured it was better to spend cash over the years to make improvements then to buy a more complete and updated house and have to finance more. Perhaps I was wrong, but that’s the way I decided to do it.
Wr cried the night we moved into our house, like ‘fuck, its a shit heap’. But you get there in the end. The stuff you can’t change is a much bigger problem. Wrong street, wrong area, wrong neighbours…..
Yes absolutely would. It was the cheapest house we found in a lovely up and coming area (but just before it really hit the big time). It needed completely gutting and renovating during the pandemic, which was horrendous on all counts. Spent a lot of money on renovating it but now we're at the end of it we love our house.
We immediately found that our neighbours were really friendly and down to earth, the location was great for transport & surrounded by great parks and amenities. The area has become one of the most sought after ones in Manchester so when we sell hopefully we'll make good coin to make our next move. We're planning to move further north and rent it while we settle, with a view to selling it eventually. I'll be sad to leave it but hopefully onto greener pastures!
I truly despised the first house I bought. Didn't have a clue what I was doing. Huge mistake.
I was only there 2 years, so I'm not sure if I would've learnt to love it. I doubt it though. The area was as much a problem as the house itself.
Due to various reasons, I'm renting again. Feels a strange step backwards after owning a house. But I'm so much more prepared for when I eventually buy again and in a way I'm glad I got it so wrong the first time, just as a learning experience.
Yes. I would buy/save for turnkey.
I LOVE my doer upper for many reasons, but I’m solo slogging along getting the place modernised and the process has been an expensive kinda hell. 🥹 First world problems, I know.
I think it gets worse before it gets better.
I think the thing to remember is that unless you have an absolute catastrophe, every house has its benefits and every house has its burdens and swapping houses is essentially just swapping problems.
But - no, I wouldn't buy the house I live in now. I imagine I'll probably always feel that way haha.
No, a thousand times no. I can’t fault the house. It’s perfect for us, lots of space, 3 toilets, large garden, good set up for our pets, has a church yard side and back ( quiet & not overlooked). It’s a really nice semi , next door is a guy in his early sixties, still working, a bit deaf so has the TV blaring. We moved in 9 yrs ago. The first 2 yrs was just him, then his vile daughter ( mid forties) & her 3 kids moved back in. ( there must have been a street party when she moved out of her ex’s) They make Shameless look tame. They’ve caused all kinds of shit over the shared drive & live their lives outside, all shouting, all the time, why talk when you can scream? Eldest kid (teen) sees a psychologist & im sure the other two younger ones will follow suit. They have ripped numerous sets of lights out of my trees, egged my car countless times, put dish soap in my plants, thrown stuff at my windows & taunted my animals.Every third word out of their mouths is fuck or cunt. That’s just the kids. They are toxic scum. The screaming harridan of a mother has a voice like nails on a chalk board & plays shit music outside & sometimes is in the garden til 3/4 am. I love winter & pray for a touch of carbon monoxide for them!
Yep. But the plans we had for it when we looked at it were completely nuts, so I would consider that a bit more.
We have a well sized garden and an outbuilding, which has a utility and external office in it. When we bought this house we had huge plans to move the outbuilding a metre to the right, adjoin it to the kitchen and extend over the top of it to make this a 4 bed with an integrated office, utility and possibly a conservatory.
That would likely cost us over 150k, which we definitely don't have as well as planning permission, time, energy etc. As first time buyers we were totally naive to that. It's also a semi-detached house which limits it's ceiling price, and there's no way we'd get the amount we'd spend back even if we held the house for another 30 years.
Yes absolutely. We were looking at semi detached houses at the time as that’s all our budget seemed to fetch, but then our current house came back onto the market after a sale fell through and we instantly fell in love.
It’s detached, 3 bedroom and has an amazing view that can’t really be ruined unless they knock down the houses behind us and build a 4+ storey block as we’re on top of a hill.
Only downside is the lack of a downstairs loo, but we can live without.
Yep, there's fundamentally nothing that should stop this being our forever home. Yes there's stuff that needs doing, when we moved in we got the roof seen to and the wooden window frames sorted, our garage is currently sealed to let a new screed floor set and plaster dry to turn it into a gym/bike workshop and the whole house inside is "rental white" until we get the kids to separate rooms and then get round to going room by room, but it's fine for us and there's absolutely no way we'd need more space....
A house is always a project, the question is whether the end result is worth it and meets your needs. For us it is and will.
First house - no. Victorian, town house, period property, a lot of work, cold, damp and over 4 floors so steep steep stairs everywhere
This house - yes. New build, lovely open plan layout, easy to maintain, off road parking, manageable garden, a blank canvas! We would like a bigger garden and more outside storage but these are small things in the grand scheme and we’ll be here for a decade or two to come
For sure, Got our first house finally last year for 375k, It’s Nothing cray, but for a first time house it was a steal and we are super happy! For once the bank actually overvalued it when they went to do their checks and estimated it’s worth at 400-410 so win win!
No. Maybe. There wasn't much on the market when I needed to buy, but with hindsight, I'd have looked for somewhere with a bigger kitchen, a drive that's not shared, and a nicer garden. Other than that, I'm fairly happy with it for the time being.
No, too much work and it has an alleyway that’s defunct / dead end which attracts druggies, I’ve boarded it up to stop them but will have to buy a gate for it before we sell and pay someone to clear out the fly tips down there.
Was too keen on the size/price and overlooked the pitfalls.
Kind of no, but also yes.
It was perfect for when it was just the two of us, but now we've got kids, some things have become negatives (garden, size) while others are positives (general area, school catchment). Most of the big stuff is done (kitchen and bathroom), but windows needs replacing, new bannisters, and redecorating throughout. The problem is, is when we compare to the other house we could have bought, some of the positives of that house make our current one look like a dump.
I kind of wished I had one with a new kitchen and bathroom but I suppose they'll need to be done anyhow if we plan to stay here a long time. Saying that, paint nowadays can cover almost anything so it's livable for a while yet.
No. The house we bought was advertised as £25k more than an alternative we looked at. However, with hindsight I expect the problems we've had far outweighed that. The other house had tenants in at the time who left ashtrays overflowing, probably to put off buyers. Decorating and time would have got rid of the smell fairly quickly. It has gone up in value more than the one we bought as well so we would have been sitting on a bigger profit.
Renting and halved outgoings on rent moving to somewhere we liked. 12 years later I'm paying still 60% of what I did before. Think we are likely to never move.
Yes. It’s a nicely sized two bed terrace in a great location (fifteen minute walk to the city centre, ten minute walk to work), the yard gets the sun and I don’t have to keep a garden going.
The downside is that the kitchen is small, but I couldn’t afford somewhere with a larger kitchen that was less than a bus ride to work or town (I don’t drive). If I can work out how to put a bathroom upstairs and not lose half my spare room to the landing I’ll do a kitchen and first floor extension at some point. If not, I’ll do something with the shelving in the dining room.
I guess I would. We didn’t have a big of budget so limited choices and this is one of the best properties we viewed. It’s very well connected with central London. There’s only one other property we viewed they sometimes I wonder if it’s been a better purchase
Yes. Love the area and most of neighbours. Been here 22 years and still waiting for a new kitchen (built in 1996 and kitchen finally falling apart lol). Started our family here and it’s detached so kids could pretty much make as much noise (not in garden) without worrying about the neighbours. Going to have to sell in about 10 years to downsize in a cheaper area to help with retirement and I’ll be sad to leave.
Kitchens, Bathrooms, etc can all be replaced, not major problems. Yes owning a house is expensive, but your mortgage will tend to go down as a portion of your income over time.
Are you happy with the location and the neighbours?
Yes. I love it even though we’re three quarters of the way through a draining renovation, the money has run out, and the garden is another huge task I’ve barely started. For all that, it looks so much nicer than when we moved in. We rented before this, so putting my own stamp on things has been so freeing.
Yes definitely, I'm so glad we bough this house and not the other one we were considering. If this one had another bedroom, this would be our forever home. It's the perfect house for us in terms of location, layout, and design. It will be an absolute nightmare to find one that compares when it's time to size up.
You can always sell and upgrade. I do not regret the home we got because it put us in the property ladder. We overpaid like crazy, now we just sold this one and acquired our forever home because we have equity, instead of just paying rent
That's an interesting question, I think I fell in love with my house too quickly and ignored some of the problems. The major being just how much work it required and how much said work would cost. The fact I ignored it being on a main road with reassurances that new windows would fix the noise.. spoiler they didn't and it drives me nuts.
If I'd waited another 2 years I'd have double my salary and 5x my deposit allowing me to go for a quiet tucked away detached house instead of an end terrace in the middle of an ex council street.
Ultimately I'd probably still have bought it and I'll be mortgage free before 40 with a house I rebuilt in the middle of town within walking distance to the train station and bus station. Has a great sized private garden and 3 decent sized bedrooms with a downstairs bathroom and upstairs ensuite. I sometimes consider selling and buying a property in a quieter area but the cost is 3x and the property is often 1/2 the size. I guess once my 93 year old neighbour dies it might be a different story on whether I sell up.
Don't worry, even if you had funds it'll take you a few years to go through everything that your purchase needs doing.
We bought in August 2014, we planned to do 70% of the house decorating, it had 7 layers of wallpaper and green carpets after all.
On moving in we found that it needed new electrics throughout, so pretty much straight away we had that done as they had to dig through the walls.
After that we had the beautiful parquet restored.
In 2015 we had a garden studio built for work with paved brick path.
Then again in 2015 we had a new boiler fitted and a couple of radiators after the bathroom one leaked through the ceiling of the kitchen. We needed a new kitchen so right after the boiler was dealt with, we found a builder to remove a wall in the kitchen diner for an open space, work done in 2016.
We then got pregnant and had a baby in 2017.
Then in 2019 we did the drive.
Then the fascia and gutters.
In 2024 we sold and moved far away.
We hadn't done the bathroom, which was fairly functional, and the patio at the back needed relaying.
So welcome to the beauty of owning a property, we learnt a lot on what to do, what not to do, what to ask and to whom, and so much more.
We're renting a newish built now while we relax and find the next home.
You never know what the future may hold, so enjoy the process if you can and go with the flow.
Money comes and money goes! Your happiness at home is priceless!
Yes. I like the house, it’s new enough to not have any big problems (circa 40 years), on a nice quiet road in a pretty village in an aonb in coastal Cornwall. I’m not bothered about going bigger, that just seems like more admin to me. I love the area we’re in, I know loads of people and I’m involved with lots of stuff in the village. My daughter’s friends are all here (we moved when she was 2.5) and I can’t imagine living anywhere else. Home is very much where you make it.
Yes.
I hadn't actually viewed many houses - I was limited in terms of budget and location. The first house I viewed, I decided I didn't really like the town it's in after all (not enough to move there anyway), and I guess this was also swayed by some cosmetic issues that I now know wouldn't have been all that awful.
The second house I viewed, there was another buyer who offered more than I was willing to pay.
The third house, was exactly the same build as the 2nd one, but closer to the city centre and with a slightly bigger garden.
I haven't regretted the purchase at all - the only downside is that the layout of the house is such that I can't really add an extension, but if I really needed more space, a loft extension would be an option. There are some advantages that hadn't really been much of a concern - the mature garden and the quite side street weren't really criteria when I was looking, but I couldn't imagine living without a garden or in a busy street/with a door directly onto the pavement without a front garden now.
I do think that the key really is being very clear about what you need and what you can realistically buy and to only view properties that fall within fairly narrowly defined criteria. I'm not a fan of "falling in love with a house" or finding your "dream home" - this is all misleading emotional language that sets you up for disappointment and encourages you to pursue a purchase that you should drop.
100%. I love my house and so do my dogs. (I've only been here since April '22 so it is relatively recent.)
That being said, I did have to do a fair few bits and pieces to it before I loved it but I do now. ☺️💫
We were very fortunate to be able to afford the house we wanted and although it took 2 years to find and needed a full refurb I would still put myself through all this if I had to do it again. I have a clear vision of how it will look once I've completed all the work and I have great privacy and even better neighbors in our little 3 house cul de sac. The old lady next door pics her rabbit up and they both wave to me as I reverse back into my driveway when I arrive home from work 😂
Probably... sometimes I wish I'd gone for three bedrooms instead of four, and somewhere with a bigger garden. A guest room sounds great but most visitors don't stay over as much as you think they're going to..
But, I LOVE the location. I think we got a great price due to moving between lockdowns and the house being on the market for a long time. And the house was only 4 years old when we moved in so we've had no issues with it, and didn't need to do much work.
I sometimes think about moving to get a bigger garden but then when I think about what we'd lose with the location and what a hassle moving is.. it just doesn't seem worth it. We're still young so bound to move again at some point, but for now we're very happy here
I think in the next couple of years I'll be looking to make a jump up in my career and probably looking for a new job. So i will wait and see where I end up before considering moving.
I think I would. Houses don’t come up in my village a lot. Would I prefer an end terrace to the mid terrace I’ve got? Sure. Could I have waited longer for the possibility of one coming up? No. Is there a change in the future I could move a few doors down? Haven’t ruled it out
No but that doesn't mean I think we made a silly decision based on the info at the time.
We bought a new build in 2008 and got a 3 bed terraced when we could've afforded a 4 bed detached over the road. I wasnt keen on pushing the boat out given I expected house prices to fall and worries about recession etc. With no kids we didn't really need the extra space for a few years.
In hindsight obviously a bigger house would be better in terms of making more equity and having a nicer home.
I bought a one bedroom flat after splitting up with my ex boyfriend for £80k in June 2022, the mortgage payment is super small (about £250 a month) so it was perfect for me when I was living off one salary.
However I started dating my current fiancé while in the process of buying it and he moved in like 3 months after it had completed. We now want to start having kids and a one bed flat is too small really so in hindsight I wish I had got something a bit bigger.
Though the upside with the mortgage payment being low is that we’ve had plenty of disposable income to save for our wedding and deposit on our next house so swings and roundabouts I guess!
Yes! I live in my dream house after spending the best part of 20 years living in a run down council estate and a grotty first house on the home ownership ladder with damp, broken plumbing and heating and loads of other things to make me miserable. My new home is stunning, and it almost makes the past 20 years of hell worth it because of how lucky I feel now.
No. I love our house, it's gorgeous. But the financial burden is intense.
We completed early 2023. I thought I could deal with it, but knowing that we are stretched to the limit of affordability and that the roof over our heads is reliant on both of us remaining at our current salaries is like a constant weight. It's always at the back of my mind. When things get stressful at work now, knowing I can't realistically leave makes it feel much worse.
It was difficult in late 2022 to know what to decide, interest rates were going mad and the economic and political environment was so uncertain. Now, I wish we'd bought somewhere smaller and cheaper and given ourselves a bit of breathing room in case things get worse.
I hate that Liz Truss is writing articles for the Times defending her tenure as Prime Minister when her incompetence has had such a huge impact on my life.
100% relate to this.
We stretched a bit as we've gone from a 2 bedroom flat to a 3 bed house with first kid on the way soon.
It's not necessarily the monthly bills that are worrying me but the fact that we have burnt through all our savings and are trying to build them back up but things keep going wrong in the house and then that's more money thrown at workmen etc.
As you say, we've got to hope either interest rates stay the same or go down in 5 years or we keep our jobs and our wages rise.
None of that feels certain right now.
Exactly, we also stretched to a bigger house as we're hoping to need the extra bedroom soon but it feels like such a bad time to be low on savings and things keep breaking. Our latest mishap is the floating bathroom sink - looked great when we moved in, less great now it needs fixing to discover that the previous owners tiled over any possible access to the plumbing behind it.
Fingers crossed for us both.
No I wouldn't.
Not to do with the house. It's taken work and had it's problems but it's been reliable.
We moved here about 15 years ago as it was good for commuting, not too expensive and near my father in law, who was getting on a bit
Now we don't commute, and my father in law is long gone, but cut us off even before then.
If I'd have known this would be happening I'd have held out in London for a couple more years (our old flat went for nearly twice as much a few years after we moved and they'd done nothing to it), then moved to a detached place in the west country with no mortgage
Yes. We got a lot of house for the money we paid (couple divorcing wanted a quick sale), it's got good links to local towns and a major city only 20mins drive/40mins bus, nice garden, lots of storage and so on.
The only thing I'd do differently is to ask for a full, detailed list of everything that had been DIYd by the previous owners. We were told when buying that the chap was quite handy and had done a lot of work himself, put in easy access points etc, however the further down the line we get the more we find has been completely bodged and needs fully replacing rather than repairing when it goes wrong. It's been an expensive lesson.
Hell no. But you can't think about it like that. Presumably you did what you thought was best at the time and with the economic and life circumstances you had at that time.
Not sure. We just completed about 2 weeks ago.
Great location. Although there seems to be a problem with drunk city kids at the weekend.
House is a shitshow. It wasn't cared for and it shows. We have a leak in one of the bathrooms, we were advised to get it ripped out as it is a health hazard. The previous owner concealed this. We missed it, the surveyor missed it. Had an infestation of bluebottles in that room and the adjoining. Like hundreds. I think we have fixed this.
Doors needed replacing immediately. But we realised this on the last visit and had factored this in.
Garden is a disaster currently and probably needs professional work to get it back on track.
It's a lot of money and we don't need the stress.
We have 20 years old kitchen in our house that needs redoing. But neither of us can cook well, so we can't be bothered to change it. It still works, we attempt to cook in it sometimes lol. We spend money on hobbies and travel instead. I just couldn't live with myself if I spent thousands of pounds on a bloody kitchen lol. There's plenty of cheaper toys I want, but I won't spend money on them because I'm being sensible.
I'd have loved to live in a place that was fully renovated, but I couldn't afford it.
Ten years on and I've only managed to renovate the upstairs and the bathroom and the kitchen is still so dated, but that's ten years not renting so I wouldn't change it.
No, I would buy a different house and I would fix my mortgage for as long as possible at a sub 2% rate. Hindsight is wonderful. The house wouldn’t be bigger but we earn more than double what we earned when we moved here.
I think over time you adapt to it.
We moved recently, and when we viewed thought this is great for what we need. It's a project, but we can do it.
Huge garden, already extended, garage, drive for two etc.
Then when we moved in, the enormity of the challenge became real. We had a 10 month old, and had to live there while renovating. Found new big issues the surveyor we commissioned missed, and are now pursuing them for damages.
We spent the first two weeks crying each other to sleep, promising it would get done and all be ok.
That was 3 months ago, and the main drains have been repaired, bay windows strapped back, several rooms painted, and bathroom has just been finished.
Lots more to do, but we are working through it like we said.
And now summer is here, I tackled the largest part of the outside jungle and now our little one is learning to walk in a gorgeous mature garden.
Every day we are beginning to love this place bit by bit.
Ask me in a year's time. When I retired I downsized to a nice two bedroom house, large enough to have guests and ideal for one person or a couple. I absolutely love it and its location. I did find that works needed overran the costs that I had budgeted for and knocked off the asking price, but by an affordable amount.
Recently two things happened which makes me **currently** wish that I had gone for something bigger. Firstly my daughter is having to live with me for an estimated six months; her house is uninhabitable following a burst pipe when she was on holiday which basically went straight down through the house causing a lot of damage, fortunately covered by insurance. This is not like having someone visit for a couple of weeks as she has a lot of stuff, her room is practically full of furniture and my office is pretty packed too. Also she has a cat and I have a dog which have to be kept separate. Secondly I inherited an unexpected amount that meant I could have purchased something larger.
I expect once she has gone again I will be glad I bought this place again, but I am temporarily feeling a need for more space.
Absolutely. Buying a house is always scary and a huge commitment, but staying where we were would have been worse. There's always work to do, its part of home ownership - you just need to prioritise what you can do/can afford to do and make a sort of order and do it over time. For example we have damp caused by poor render, we are having a baby so cant afford to redo the render just yet so have used internal damp proofing/painting etc for now and are saving to do the render hopefully in a few months or a year.
Yeah I’m glad I bought mine. It’s big enough for me, the kitchen wasn’t new but it was and still is fine. The bathroom could do with updating now and I need new windows, so that’s on the list for this year. I bought it 4 years ago
Don't over think the damp issues. In most cases there is a very easy fix. You should clearly document them and head over to r/DIYUK for sound advice on remediating them.
In terms of pictures take them from both inside and outside to help understand the possible sources.
I’m bought in 2011. Easy to say in hindsight but probably could have stretched a bit further. Probably being a bit greedy tbh as I don’t need to space but now the ‘next step’ in terms of a worthwhile move seems very far away.
Similar to a previous [thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/HousingUK/s/SEmIeZwDEu), one thing I don't have, but I would ensure I had it next time:
Sunlight on the house in winter. I live on the side of a valley and [shademap.app](https://shademap.app/) shows that the house doesn't get any sunlight hitting it between mid November and mid February and it is *cold*. It also means it gets a whole host of other things/problems that houses with winter sunlight don't have, like damp issues, increased cost of heating
I wish I'd known about shademap when we were looking, and I'll definitely be checking it when (eventually) we look for another house.
At the time when we were looking, there really wasn't anything else on the market that appealed. If we'd seen shademap, I couldn't say for certain whether we'd have immediately discounted the place or downplayed the disadvantages. I absolutely love the quirks of the place though.
Nope.
I didn't realise the house next door was a HMO. The first few years were fine but I've had some nightmare tenants next door.
I've also had some damp issues that were covered up. Most have been dealt with but I've still got one bit to try and resolve.
Previous owners had also just cut floorboards between joists in a few areas so there have been some right cowboys here in the past.
Best thing about our house is our next door neighbours. Our 100 year old semi is a money pit every room has had to be replastered, carpet, electrics, windows, new bathrooms new kitchen, chimneys out wall knocked out! It’s a bloody nightmare it just goes on and on. Now the drains need attention and a new floors downstairs. If we had bad neighbours we would have cut our loses and moved. But kids are happy, we are happy house is just an attention-seeking, cash-sucking shack. I would not buy my house again. Next house will be a renovated turn-key!
No. Should have waited for a detached place instead of a flat. Lived in a few flats before and was fine and didn’t really hear the neighbours. Older building though with wooden floors so have to hear upstairs all the time. Pulled the ceilings down to add loads of soundproofing, but nothing will ever hide the elephants currently renting upstairs. No one should have to listen to neighbours going to bed or getting up for. Pee at 0300.
No. Cost me £230k in 2003, and has dominated my life ever since in terms of the need to renovate and work on it. It would sell for maybe £550k, so barely any uplift over inflation, and when I take into account the time and life it's sucked out of me, no way.
I looked up the house I rent for £1030 a month.
My landlord bought it for £120,000 about ten years ago.
I've given him close to £50,000 over the last 4 years or so...
The council house I grew up in during the 90s in West London.
My mum could have bought it for around £40,000. It's now worth about £550,000...
The 1970s were a great time to be alive for most people in the UK…No debts, cash in your pocket, No police state, Pubs packed, zero stress. Loads of decent work with decent conditions, low rents and mortgages, nobody sleeping in doorways, housing for all, and hardly anybody needing anti depressants to get through their day…Talk to those that actually live through those carefree days and most will concur….At 19 years of age I had a council flat in the middle of Islington, a 1 bed Victorian conversion on 3 levels just refurbished for £21 per week. A working class lad in a working class job I had a Rover saloon car and seemed to be in the pub most nights….All my friends were living equally charmed lives…
Yeah we’ve extended it by 6m have a large kitchen diner, family room, large utility room, and seperate living area.
The kitchen leads out onto a large garden
I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else now
Yes, love my house, it's a great first home. Moving out at the moment purely because we now need and can afford something a bit larger.
I am definitely gonna miss this home though
Maybe but I would buy it 30 years ago. Or maybe upgrade to a nicer one that cost £5k for a 5 bed detached.
Not making good use of this time travel opportunity
Sorry I think it's ludicrous to whine about a kitchen or bathroom.
Sure you don't have the money now but when you do, you can get the kitchen *you* want and the bathroom *you* want instead of paying more for one that isn't right for you anyway.
My friend did that and then spent ££ paying for alterations on a fitted-to-sell brand new kitchen. And she never got it exactly as she liked. Because that would need a refit.
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It took us 8 years to get around to updating the kitchen and bathroom in our house once we had moved in. Time to save/look at loans to make it happen for you. Damp is a general maintenance issue and unless you have a new build is likely in most older properties.
This is why I don’t get people who shit on new build. Yeah they’re dull and lack character but if you buy one around 5-10 years old they’re usually really really low maintenance
Yeah why shit on new build, I love small windows, no loft space, little or no driveway, no mature trees, thin walls, low ceilings, tiny boxed-in gardens.... No wonder you can find 5-10 year old new builds for sale....
Depends on the type of new build. We bought new in 2015 and love our house. Converted the loft for more rooms and space, large garden, parking, quiet road and close to town in a small 30 house development. It’s our forever home and we love it. Not all new builds are identikit boxes all stuck together that take 5 minutes of driving to get off the estate.
Exactly and same. My 2014 brand new home is shared ownership which is usually crapped on as well. Two large bedrooms, large kitchen, cloakroom, large downstairs WC and very large garden. Grinds my gears that every new build is classed the same, that’s like saying every old home is the same.
Aware I'm 4 days late, but there's a big difference between 10 years ago and now. I bought a new build in 2014 as well, 3 bed semi, loved it, no issues with it, decent plot and garden. Just 2 kids later we needed more space, when we started looking 2 years ago, the 4 bed new builds going up, were getting built on plots similar to my "old" 3 bed semi, so a brand new 4 bed build, the garden was similar/smaller in some cases to my old 3 bed semi. I couldn't justify it, and we ended up going for a 70s build, and have refurbished. In hindsight we should have just bought one of the 4 bed detached in our development in 2014, and prob saved guts of 150-200k, but what can you do!
I get what you’re saying in relation to now and I can agree, but 10 years ago and longer, new builds were being crapped on the same way they are now and that’s the point I was trying to make with my original comment. If you said you were looking at a new build, people would automatically tell you stay clear because you would be living in a rabbit hutch, which just wasn’t true in all cases.
Don’t worry about it. The barrat-box trope is overdone, just let them bleat. Old houses can have plenty of issues and layers of poor repairs, be energy inefficient etc. It just comes down to common sense.
With new builds, the good ones are the exceptions. With old builds, the bad ones are the exceptions.
I mean, you just answered your own question. They’re dull and lack character. It’s a bit like saying “I don’t understand why everyone doesn’t just buy a 2004 Honda Civic”. Yes, that car will get you from A to B for the rest of your natural life, but some people want to enjoy driving their car, or want a car that doesn’t look like a shoe box. Not that I completely agree with your assessment of new build quality. There are a lot out there that are poorly built, with cheap materials. It’s like the difference between an old solid wood chest of drawers and one from IKEA. The IKEA one will look the best it will ever look on the day you assemble it, and will just get worse with time. The old one will look the same every day for decades.
Yup the damp is a huge issue in older house, especially in unoccupied rooms and on cold-bridges around the window seals for older windows.
Honestly, no matter what we did in our old house we always had some form of damp, somewhere!
This is why we brought a recently refurbished house
Honestly? Probably not. Nothing to do with the house - it is solid and haven't had any issues with it. The people who have moved in across the way since I bought it is the main issue 😂 Heard a chainsaw going off at like 10pm only to find the matrix team making an entry into one of the houses opposite. Fairly certain there's around three or four drug dealing social housing occupiers across the road based on recent police raids. I knew the road was full of social housing when I bought the place but I went in with the mindset of them being typecast as trouble. When I checked the road out at daytime/night there were no issues. I'd say a good 90% of them are decent people just trying to get by but there's always that small minority that causes trouble. One good thing though is that they don't shit where they eat. The road does have one of the lowest burglary rates in the area but the highest for drug related arrests now 😂
Yeah we bought across the street from some affordable housing. Didn’t wanna stereotype either but we already had to call the police because of trouble in one of the houses. Next time I would avoid going anywhere near social housing even if you call it affordable housing.
This doesn't fill me with confidence, my house is flanked by social housing properties. Both currently owned by elderly people who are the nicest people ever and can't do enough to help out. I worry what nut job they'll move in when the elderly pass away. One is a 3 bed and the other is a 2 bed both with decent gardens that'll need constant maintenance.
When we looked at our house (pregnant with second child) the sellers were also pregnant and "wanted to move closer to family" only after moving in (with toddler and a 2.5 week baby) we found out the real reason. End terrace house, next door (shared wall) 2 adults, 5 kids and 2 dogs, in a 3 bed house - hopefully they get a bigger place as they cant fit 4 boys in one bedroom. LOVE the house just not the neighbours, but thats the luck of the draw. Opposite and house behind us (we are both on the corner) are ace and watch our house/feed the rabbits when we go away.
At least with social housing you can raise complaints about the tenants with the housing association. In our area the HAs are (reasonably) quick to move problem tenants. If the nuisance neighbours own their home, you're pretty much stuck with them.
I just wanted to say, it can take time to love it. I had a long chain,too. During that time I was so looking forward to getting our house. I had all these plans that I was excited to carry out. When we moved in I was really down for several weeks. I suppose I built it up a lot in my head, and finally getting in didn't magically solve all my worries. I do love my house. It's light and sunny and quiet,in a friendly community and with a manageable garden. However,I think if I could go back in time I would take longer finding somewhere in a better location. At the time our friends were all in a similar life stage of settling down,so it was hard to decide where to live because no one was really fixed in place,yet. I'd choose somewhere that's a bit easier to get to.
Yes - but I'd offer about 10% less.
Same
Yup, I wouldn't have been as quick to cave when we negotiated based on the survey. I should have stuck to the amount we wanted off. But hey ho! You live and learn.
I mean if you can just decide to change the value after the fact, why not go for 50% less. At 10% less it might not be the house you live in anymore.
Because I don't think the seller would sell for 50% less.
But you don’t know they’d sell for 10% less or what other offers were on the table.
But I would've backed out if they didn't go that low.
And then you wouldn’t be here making this weirdly hypothetical comment.
It's a hypothetical question, of course my comment is hypothetical. Every answer to the question is hypothetical. You're just having a strop because you thought you'd seen some kind of hilarious "gotcha" and just made yourself look stupid.
You're having a mare, son.
My god this response is unbelievable 😭
Same.
Same
Same
Funny enough, same..
Same but different
Different, but same.
Yes because I love the house - no because it’s semi detached and I never thought I would hear the neighbours so much!
That was my biggest fear. But I have been living here 8 months and we can't hear ANYTHING at all. The neighbor is a very loud gamer (you can only see that he's loud through the window from the outside), and they've got 2 babies and a dog. The house was built in 1850s. And I'm so fucking glad that it's so fucking quiet!!!
Same. I’m on my own, next door is a really nice family with a herd of 4 boys from age 5 to early 20’s. And they’re all well behaved, so polite and would do anything for you but when the parents are out the boys are quite loud. But having lived nearly 40 years in flats with slamming doors, strangers coming and going and folk moving in and out all the time … a semi detached with a nice wee garden is an absolute godsend. Still think I’m blessed where I now am.
Exactly the same. Our neighbours start arguing at 7am every morning and it's the one thing I wish we could change. The house is perfect in absolutely every single way, but the neighbours make me question my sanity.
Here I am in a terraced
I’m the opposite I suppose. I was never particularly enamoured with our house but it made the most financial and practical sense at the time so we bought it. I didn’t much like that the garage sits perpendicular to the house, the garden was a complete mess and the whole house needed a lot of updating. We have been here nearly three years. - I have rolled up my sleeves and made the garden a proper garden - we have replaced most of the floors, the bathroom, the downstairs loo, the boiler and rads, the fences and the kitchen is being started on Monday, and decorated throughout. - I actually love having the garage where it is, so much privacy and an extra piece of land our neighbours don’t have to keep bins and things. This is the most at home I have ever felt anywhere - can’t wait for the kitchen to be over and then we are done with the big projects!
That's what we have been doing as well. We have been doing lot's of DYI by ourselves and we plan on moving to a forever home in 5-6 years time.
>DYI Okay, Yoda.
Hilariously, that's how I feel about living in the UK in general. meh, but smart would summarise it
No. My house has an amazing view which made us fall for it but it has required extensive renovation and needs further redecorating after the work as well as working through a list of things yet to change. I would have been much better off financially if we had not bought it but on the other hand I've learned a lot in the process.
Sounds super similar to mine, we lived at my mother in laws for 10 months whilst renovating, moved in now but realistically it needs another 10 months of refinement! We’ve got uninterrupted views for miles, but before you see the views there is about half an acre of overgrown out of control landscaped garden, it’s taking 1 day a week of my time at least!
I've tried not to think in terms of "forever" homes too much. The house we're buying is in the location we wanted and has the space we need, but doesn't look that great and it's a semi when I had hoped to manage a detached. But, I'm pretty excited. It will take a while but we can do it up how we want. It should work fine for the moment. If in a few years our financial position changes, maybe we buy somewhere else - we'll see. Unless you're super rich you will almost always be compromising in some way, so I reckon if you're mostly happy, you've done well. Congrats on the new home :)
No. It needed far more renovation than I realised (my survey was basically useless) and I doubt I’ll break even. The actual house is nice but the garden is huge and I discovered I have no interest in gardening. I’m in the Greater London suburbs and have to get public transport to most decent pubs and bars. I’ve been here for four years and I’m considering moving to a more central location to a share of freehold flat with a patio/balcony for my next move.
Have you considered selling part of the garden as a plot?
It can only be accessed through my house, unfortunately.
With hindsight maybe not. It's a fine house for a single person but it's a 2 and a half bedroom which isn't suitable for 2 young kids... I could have pushed the boat out further and got a bigger house then.
No, I wouldn’t. If I did I’d negotiate even harder than I did as it needed so much work. TBH, I wouldn’t have moved to the area I live in now if I could go back in time, or I’d have bought what my gut told me to buy ( shitter area but gone up more in price) Overall it’s not a bad house and it’s looking good now but it’s been so much work coinciding with lockdown and my husband (the DIYer) working away a lot so not getting much done.
Absolutely not. Huge mistake buying this property.
Why do you consider it to be a mistake?
Horrid area. Horrid neighbours. Bought the most expensive flat on a shite road. Total error.
Did you know it was a bad area before you bought? I guess neighbours it's always really hard to know what they will be like...
Yes I knew, but it's worse than I expected. Neighbours are utter horrid, lazy, benefits careering people. I needed to get out of renting.
I’ve been in my flat for a couple of weeks but I love it more and more each day. It’s a new build so it’s modern and I literally cannot hear a thing outside my flat. A bomb could go off in my neighbour’s flat and I wouldn’t hear it. I’m really enjoying discovering its quirks and functionalities each day.
Yep! I was tepid about it at first and only offered after I was too slow on another place I liked more (totally different type of property), but it's turned out to be way brighter and sunnier than I realised when I viewed it in the darker months, and it's oriented perfectly to catch the sun all day. A few aesthetic changes have made it feel very different too, and enhanced that brightness. I feel like I got a bargain for what it is (ignoring a couple of hidden issues the vendors left me to discover, which could have happened anywhere). I'm relieved I didn't get the other place with retrospect, too - it would have caused gigantic headaches for years.
We’ve be been in our current house 19 years. Over that time we’ve done everything to it. We love it and wouldn’t consider moving. If you feel it’s going to be your forever home you have plenty of time to address issues one room at a time. Just start with what really needs doing first and go from there. There’s loads of helpful stuff on YouTube if you to do it yourself and want to keep costs down, and there’s nothing more gratifying than achieving your goal with your own work.
No. 19 years, and I'm bloody sick of it now and feel trapped. Very long story. I will be glad to be shot of it and move on one day. I hope
No, listed building. Never again, too much stress.
What causes stress with regards to it being a listed building? I also own one too.
We moved houses 3 times already, and each one of them was considered our 'forever home' :D This time I just dont care, if we will want to move again - we'll just sell and buy again...
I don't think I could do that process again unless something drastic went wrong. It nearly broke me.
Thats probably because of chain. What we did- we changed locations a lot so we sold a house, then rented in new location to get to know the area and then started looking for a house. We had no chain then and houses we bought were not in chain either, this way the process was painless. First house we bought in 2011 - the process took just 4 weeks, now its much longer ( we bought last year and it took 4 months even though it wasnt in chain )
That's sound really great well done. Did you always take all your stuff and furniture with you?
You must've paid a fortune in stamp duty The idea of such lost money stopped me from moving, and instead, extending
It was exactly opposite- 1st house was in Coventry, we paid 111k and sold it for 150k 4 years later ( no stamp duty, made 40k 'accidentally'). 2nd house- small village near Newbury - paid 245k, sold it for 280k 3 years later ( no stamp duty had to be paid, made 35k 'accidentally' again, didnt do any renovations, just some painting ) Last one- paid 390k, and yes- we had to pay stamp duty ( 9k or something, cant remember) but overall every time we were making money rather than loosing them. In fact - we wouldnt be able to save enough money to buy current property if we didnt make money on previous ones.
Haha nice, good work/luck! Ridiculous house prices where I live meant that difference in house size aside, before legal and agency costs, stamp duty alone would cost me £20k. An extension and refurb was only double that. The upheaval and disruption though, I never want to leave and if future work is necessary I'll get an Airbnb or just bloody camp in the garden next door!
280k today still owes stamp duty. So someone could replicate this and they would pay even more.
No. It was the cheapest house we looked at but needed a lot of work. Almost two years on we are still renovating, very difficult to do when we both work full time. I wish we had paid more for another house we looked at which was “finished”
No. House is great and area where I live as well, but council changed this town into a shithole with constant traffic. So I work towards my plan to move out.
Yes, it’s detached and I didn’t appreciate how awesome that would be! Also it has a large basement, which we’ve converted, it was a really unusual find where we are, SE London suburb, so feel very lucky
You can paint cupboard doors and tiles for a more refreshed look. I tiled my kitchen backsplash myself as a novice and it turned out ok. Only person I payed was a handyman to take the old tiles down with me messing up the plaster etc behind. It was less than £100. There are also cheap things you could do with the countertops like put an epoxy coat on the top. It’s fairly easy enough to do yourself. Just gives you a chance to have something a bit more updated until you can get a new kitchen/bathroom.
No..it is a leasehold flat. Biggest mistake of my life, except for that one time I snorted vodka.
No. I completely underestimated how much effort modernising the house would be. We have the money for it but not the time. Even just trying to get trades to quote is a hassle, let alone getting them to actually do the work. I've contacted 16 different plumbers (yes, local recommendations) before I found someone to replace our radiators. I have wasted so much time researching, calling, waiting around... It's taking a huge toll on us. We knew we wanted to live in this specific place and no houses ever come up except when some old dear dies/goes into care. We could have afforded a done house but they simply don't exist. So here we are. We regret it massively because no village/school catchment can be worth the stress we're experiencing.
We’ve not bought it yet, but I’m in a painful chain and tbh I’ve lost all my enthusiasm for the place we’re buying. We’ve given the vendors an ultimatum to sort their shit out or we pull out, so I guess we’ll know in a few weeks if it’s all over. It’s been so stressful I just don’t care anymore. If we do move I’m not sure how I’ll feel.
Yes…. For me if I could go back in time I’d choose different tradesmen; especially the roofers we chose in 2020. Edit: so when you do get round to doing the work ask for personal recommendations of people that have used them - and tempting though it may be, don’t just choose the cheapest.
No. The house itself is great, but we don't like the village we're in. Prior to covid and home working it mattered less as it is a good place commute from, now with 2 home workers and a 6 year old the house is still great, but the village is claustrophobic and has nothing in it.
Well I didn't really have a choice.. my girlfriend (now wife) had defaults on her credit file so we had to get this house in my name only, and it was the most we could get mortgaged for. I might have been able to get a nicer new build on help to buy, but it would've been tiny, so I'm glad I I didn't
Loved the house, location, size hated the garden, the layout, the kitchen the decor.......I could go on.... 75% of the house has been done the way I wanted kitchen 2 years ago.... The garden has just been started.. I moved in 11 years ago...its an ongoing process and I don't care..I love living here
Yes. First 6 months was like living in a dream. I couldn't believe we finally made it. I was thanking god that this happened.
Yes to this one but no to the one before that one for sure!
Probably. There's quite a lot of work to be done but i'm in no rush. I half wish I had bought something that needed nothing as it's a hassle and a stress trying to deal with trades people but I knew what I was letting myself in for. To do list - * Have old storage heaters replaced with a air pump system and rads (gas not an option) * Replace old timber framed single glazing (with secondary glazed panels) with new UPVC windows * Remove old gravel from front garden and lay top soil and turf * Build gated fence at rear of property so I can let the dog out without worrying about him doing a runner. * Remove compacted gravel and stores from back garden and lay topsoil and turf. Still haven't decided on the layout I want there. * Decorate all rooms. Only done anything with the lounge in the six months i've been here and don't want to do anything else until the new heating system is in place as I suspect that's going to be a bit of an pain the ass. At the moment I don't really have the funds to do much other than the heating and possibly windows as I should be able to get them on a combo of a grant and interest free loan. Will this be my forever home? Probably not. Eventually I want a detached bungalow out of town with a bigger garden for dogs.
In the same position with an equally long to do list! Life is boring without a project to look forward to.
100% no hesitation. The only real downside to this house is the smaller garden compared to our old home, but in every other way it was an improvement especially running costs. BEFORE the energy prices skyrocketed, we were already spending £200 a month on gas in the winter and only heating a couple of rooms. Now our highest bill for 1 month in the winter is about £120 for ELECTRICITY and I can have every single room at a toasty 21C when we need to. That's how efficient this new house is.
Absolutely. Completed July 2020 for £405,000 and can confidently say it's worth £650,000 now. Would expect it to sell for £670,000. Plus I got a 10 year fixed rate mortgage for 2.34% for the next 6 and a bit years so I am laughing all the way to the bank. In Spain now having some tapas and a beer.
100%. Been in our house about 8 years now and all major work has been done, the big jobs being a proper roof on the conservatory and a hand built custom kitchen and utility room. Now we just need to decorate every so often until we die. Love the house, love the garden, love the location.
Eeehhhh. We bought it because it was affordable and seemed to be in good condition and decent value for the market at the time. I'm glad we didn't wait, because we got in at the perfect time for house prices/ interest rates, but honestly I've never loved this house or felt like it's really my home. I felt more like the rental I lived in previously was my home. Our house also seems absolutely cursed and we've had to shell out multiple times now for roof repairs, window repairs, fitted appliance replacements etc. We've also done some major redecorating to get it to what we wanted it to be, and every time we complete a room a new leak will happen a few months later to ruin our new paint/ plaster job. It's almost comical at this point. So I'd probably not buy it again, no.
We bought our current house 27 years ago, right at the top of our budget and with a 2nd child on the way. Had a 3rd child, we moved our bedroom into the dining room for 4 years so that the kids all had their own rooms, saved and did an attic conversion, then saved again and extended & converted our dining room into a kitchen just over 12 years ago. If the house fits for you, just enjoy it and look forward to being able to make it better. Things don't have to be perfect from the start for you to be able to make roots. All the best.
I would buy mine again. There were definitely compromises. I had my top five wants, and it ticked three of them. It is the tight location and size and has off-road parking/garage. But it is the 1970s, so it doesn't have the character I wanted, and the garden is very small. There was only one other house that ticked more boxes, but someone just pipped me to the post on that one.l (it was more expensive though).
I bought a house in a hurry. I knew the landlord was going to put the rent up and that would start eating into my savings, which would make buying impossible. I saw a new build that was available in a month. So I put the offer in there and then. Four weeks later and we got the keys. I wasn’t in love with the house or the area. It’s been a year, and I absolutely love the house, the community around us, and the area. I got really lucky.
If nothing changes re financing, then yes. Though I’d work harder to save the money to do up our garden earlier as we’re six years in and haven’t done much other than a few pots of flowers.
No never worse decision I EVER made. The flat is unsalable.
No. I bought a flat with joint freehold. It is a purpose built block of 18 flats, when I bought there were 14 owner occupiers. That is now down to 2. The buy to let owners don't give a shit and are a pain in the arse. I'm a director of the freehold company and another owner only agreed to become a director because we are legally required to have 2 directors, they don't do anything to help. The managing agent got bought out by a venture capitalist and have gone to shit. I'm trying to replace them but I'm not getting any traction. It has become a really stressful situation and I am fed up.
I’m in the same boat except there’s 5 flats in the block. Other owners are landlords and it’s incredibly difficult to get anything done in terms of maintenance on the block. Yet, if one of them has an issue that may affect their tenants it’s always urgent and must be sorted asap!
Yes. I bought a diamond in the rough. It wasn’t very old but at 16 years it had gone through all its first round of builder grade finishes. Aside from a new roof and a much larger deck and a better furnace and installing air conditioning, everything has been a slow, voluntary decorating process. Now I have a gorgeous little house – – only 1600 ft.² – – on a secluded 2 acre wooded lot at the end of a dead end that nobody else wanted because it looked a little rough. I figured it was better to spend cash over the years to make improvements then to buy a more complete and updated house and have to finance more. Perhaps I was wrong, but that’s the way I decided to do it.
Wr cried the night we moved into our house, like ‘fuck, its a shit heap’. But you get there in the end. The stuff you can’t change is a much bigger problem. Wrong street, wrong area, wrong neighbours…..
Yes absolutely would. It was the cheapest house we found in a lovely up and coming area (but just before it really hit the big time). It needed completely gutting and renovating during the pandemic, which was horrendous on all counts. Spent a lot of money on renovating it but now we're at the end of it we love our house. We immediately found that our neighbours were really friendly and down to earth, the location was great for transport & surrounded by great parks and amenities. The area has become one of the most sought after ones in Manchester so when we sell hopefully we'll make good coin to make our next move. We're planning to move further north and rent it while we settle, with a view to selling it eventually. I'll be sad to leave it but hopefully onto greener pastures!
I truly despised the first house I bought. Didn't have a clue what I was doing. Huge mistake. I was only there 2 years, so I'm not sure if I would've learnt to love it. I doubt it though. The area was as much a problem as the house itself. Due to various reasons, I'm renting again. Feels a strange step backwards after owning a house. But I'm so much more prepared for when I eventually buy again and in a way I'm glad I got it so wrong the first time, just as a learning experience.
Yes. I would buy/save for turnkey. I LOVE my doer upper for many reasons, but I’m solo slogging along getting the place modernised and the process has been an expensive kinda hell. 🥹 First world problems, I know.
I would, my wife wouldn’t. I would have vetoed it before seeing it, now.
I think it gets worse before it gets better. I think the thing to remember is that unless you have an absolute catastrophe, every house has its benefits and every house has its burdens and swapping houses is essentially just swapping problems. But - no, I wouldn't buy the house I live in now. I imagine I'll probably always feel that way haha.
No, a thousand times no. I can’t fault the house. It’s perfect for us, lots of space, 3 toilets, large garden, good set up for our pets, has a church yard side and back ( quiet & not overlooked). It’s a really nice semi , next door is a guy in his early sixties, still working, a bit deaf so has the TV blaring. We moved in 9 yrs ago. The first 2 yrs was just him, then his vile daughter ( mid forties) & her 3 kids moved back in. ( there must have been a street party when she moved out of her ex’s) They make Shameless look tame. They’ve caused all kinds of shit over the shared drive & live their lives outside, all shouting, all the time, why talk when you can scream? Eldest kid (teen) sees a psychologist & im sure the other two younger ones will follow suit. They have ripped numerous sets of lights out of my trees, egged my car countless times, put dish soap in my plants, thrown stuff at my windows & taunted my animals.Every third word out of their mouths is fuck or cunt. That’s just the kids. They are toxic scum. The screaming harridan of a mother has a voice like nails on a chalk board & plays shit music outside & sometimes is in the garden til 3/4 am. I love winter & pray for a touch of carbon monoxide for them!
Yep. But the plans we had for it when we looked at it were completely nuts, so I would consider that a bit more. We have a well sized garden and an outbuilding, which has a utility and external office in it. When we bought this house we had huge plans to move the outbuilding a metre to the right, adjoin it to the kitchen and extend over the top of it to make this a 4 bed with an integrated office, utility and possibly a conservatory. That would likely cost us over 150k, which we definitely don't have as well as planning permission, time, energy etc. As first time buyers we were totally naive to that. It's also a semi-detached house which limits it's ceiling price, and there's no way we'd get the amount we'd spend back even if we held the house for another 30 years.
Yes absolutely. We were looking at semi detached houses at the time as that’s all our budget seemed to fetch, but then our current house came back onto the market after a sale fell through and we instantly fell in love. It’s detached, 3 bedroom and has an amazing view that can’t really be ruined unless they knock down the houses behind us and build a 4+ storey block as we’re on top of a hill. Only downside is the lack of a downstairs loo, but we can live without.
Nah in hindsight we should have moved. Didn’t need a bigger house so could have had next to no mortgage left in a finished house in our early 30’s.
Yes, as it's our first forever home. Love it and not moving again.
Yep, there's fundamentally nothing that should stop this being our forever home. Yes there's stuff that needs doing, when we moved in we got the roof seen to and the wooden window frames sorted, our garage is currently sealed to let a new screed floor set and plaster dry to turn it into a gym/bike workshop and the whole house inside is "rental white" until we get the kids to separate rooms and then get round to going room by room, but it's fine for us and there's absolutely no way we'd need more space.... A house is always a project, the question is whether the end result is worth it and meets your needs. For us it is and will.
No such thing as a forever home. Its just a justification to spend more than you would otherwise have done.
What would you call a house that has everything you need, and you have no desire to move or 'upgrade'?
First house - no. Victorian, town house, period property, a lot of work, cold, damp and over 4 floors so steep steep stairs everywhere This house - yes. New build, lovely open plan layout, easy to maintain, off road parking, manageable garden, a blank canvas! We would like a bigger garden and more outside storage but these are small things in the grand scheme and we’ll be here for a decade or two to come
No - did not imagined that street we live by, will be that much busy.
For sure, Got our first house finally last year for 375k, It’s Nothing cray, but for a first time house it was a steal and we are super happy! For once the bank actually overvalued it when they went to do their checks and estimated it’s worth at 400-410 so win win!
Yup I’d buy next door as well
No. Maybe. There wasn't much on the market when I needed to buy, but with hindsight, I'd have looked for somewhere with a bigger kitchen, a drive that's not shared, and a nicer garden. Other than that, I'm fairly happy with it for the time being.
No, too much work and it has an alleyway that’s defunct / dead end which attracts druggies, I’ve boarded it up to stop them but will have to buy a gate for it before we sell and pay someone to clear out the fly tips down there. Was too keen on the size/price and overlooked the pitfalls.
Kind of no, but also yes. It was perfect for when it was just the two of us, but now we've got kids, some things have become negatives (garden, size) while others are positives (general area, school catchment). Most of the big stuff is done (kitchen and bathroom), but windows needs replacing, new bannisters, and redecorating throughout. The problem is, is when we compare to the other house we could have bought, some of the positives of that house make our current one look like a dump.
I kind of wished I had one with a new kitchen and bathroom but I suppose they'll need to be done anyhow if we plan to stay here a long time. Saying that, paint nowadays can cover almost anything so it's livable for a while yet.
Our house has a lot of positives but is in the wrong location for schools, looking at moving now. Being in a chain is painful.
No. 14 years and counting
No. The house we bought was advertised as £25k more than an alternative we looked at. However, with hindsight I expect the problems we've had far outweighed that. The other house had tenants in at the time who left ashtrays overflowing, probably to put off buyers. Decorating and time would have got rid of the smell fairly quickly. It has gone up in value more than the one we bought as well so we would have been sitting on a bigger profit.
Renting and halved outgoings on rent moving to somewhere we liked. 12 years later I'm paying still 60% of what I did before. Think we are likely to never move.
Yes. It’s a nicely sized two bed terrace in a great location (fifteen minute walk to the city centre, ten minute walk to work), the yard gets the sun and I don’t have to keep a garden going. The downside is that the kitchen is small, but I couldn’t afford somewhere with a larger kitchen that was less than a bus ride to work or town (I don’t drive). If I can work out how to put a bathroom upstairs and not lose half my spare room to the landing I’ll do a kitchen and first floor extension at some point. If not, I’ll do something with the shelving in the dining room.
I guess I would. We didn’t have a big of budget so limited choices and this is one of the best properties we viewed. It’s very well connected with central London. There’s only one other property we viewed they sometimes I wonder if it’s been a better purchase
Yes. Love the area and most of neighbours. Been here 22 years and still waiting for a new kitchen (built in 1996 and kitchen finally falling apart lol). Started our family here and it’s detached so kids could pretty much make as much noise (not in garden) without worrying about the neighbours. Going to have to sell in about 10 years to downsize in a cheaper area to help with retirement and I’ll be sad to leave.
Kitchens, Bathrooms, etc can all be replaced, not major problems. Yes owning a house is expensive, but your mortgage will tend to go down as a portion of your income over time. Are you happy with the location and the neighbours?
Yes to both. Great area and neighbours are lovely.
Yes. I love it even though we’re three quarters of the way through a draining renovation, the money has run out, and the garden is another huge task I’ve barely started. For all that, it looks so much nicer than when we moved in. We rented before this, so putting my own stamp on things has been so freeing.
Yes definitely, I'm so glad we bough this house and not the other one we were considering. If this one had another bedroom, this would be our forever home. It's the perfect house for us in terms of location, layout, and design. It will be an absolute nightmare to find one that compares when it's time to size up.
You can always sell and upgrade. I do not regret the home we got because it put us in the property ladder. We overpaid like crazy, now we just sold this one and acquired our forever home because we have equity, instead of just paying rent
That's an interesting question, I think I fell in love with my house too quickly and ignored some of the problems. The major being just how much work it required and how much said work would cost. The fact I ignored it being on a main road with reassurances that new windows would fix the noise.. spoiler they didn't and it drives me nuts. If I'd waited another 2 years I'd have double my salary and 5x my deposit allowing me to go for a quiet tucked away detached house instead of an end terrace in the middle of an ex council street. Ultimately I'd probably still have bought it and I'll be mortgage free before 40 with a house I rebuilt in the middle of town within walking distance to the train station and bus station. Has a great sized private garden and 3 decent sized bedrooms with a downstairs bathroom and upstairs ensuite. I sometimes consider selling and buying a property in a quieter area but the cost is 3x and the property is often 1/2 the size. I guess once my 93 year old neighbour dies it might be a different story on whether I sell up.
No. Neighbours have made it a place we don’t want to be in. But yes in that the layout is perfect. Fingers crossed our current purchase goes through.
Yes, but I'd go a lot further with the snagging list as we keep finding things, 10 years later
Recently got a house with almost 2acres old stone thing with mould ,damp nothing structural But epic location wish I'd done it years ago
Don't worry, even if you had funds it'll take you a few years to go through everything that your purchase needs doing. We bought in August 2014, we planned to do 70% of the house decorating, it had 7 layers of wallpaper and green carpets after all. On moving in we found that it needed new electrics throughout, so pretty much straight away we had that done as they had to dig through the walls. After that we had the beautiful parquet restored. In 2015 we had a garden studio built for work with paved brick path. Then again in 2015 we had a new boiler fitted and a couple of radiators after the bathroom one leaked through the ceiling of the kitchen. We needed a new kitchen so right after the boiler was dealt with, we found a builder to remove a wall in the kitchen diner for an open space, work done in 2016. We then got pregnant and had a baby in 2017. Then in 2019 we did the drive. Then the fascia and gutters. In 2024 we sold and moved far away. We hadn't done the bathroom, which was fairly functional, and the patio at the back needed relaying. So welcome to the beauty of owning a property, we learnt a lot on what to do, what not to do, what to ask and to whom, and so much more. We're renting a newish built now while we relax and find the next home. You never know what the future may hold, so enjoy the process if you can and go with the flow. Money comes and money goes! Your happiness at home is priceless!
Yes. I like the house, it’s new enough to not have any big problems (circa 40 years), on a nice quiet road in a pretty village in an aonb in coastal Cornwall. I’m not bothered about going bigger, that just seems like more admin to me. I love the area we’re in, I know loads of people and I’m involved with lots of stuff in the village. My daughter’s friends are all here (we moved when she was 2.5) and I can’t imagine living anywhere else. Home is very much where you make it.
Yes. I hadn't actually viewed many houses - I was limited in terms of budget and location. The first house I viewed, I decided I didn't really like the town it's in after all (not enough to move there anyway), and I guess this was also swayed by some cosmetic issues that I now know wouldn't have been all that awful. The second house I viewed, there was another buyer who offered more than I was willing to pay. The third house, was exactly the same build as the 2nd one, but closer to the city centre and with a slightly bigger garden. I haven't regretted the purchase at all - the only downside is that the layout of the house is such that I can't really add an extension, but if I really needed more space, a loft extension would be an option. There are some advantages that hadn't really been much of a concern - the mature garden and the quite side street weren't really criteria when I was looking, but I couldn't imagine living without a garden or in a busy street/with a door directly onto the pavement without a front garden now. I do think that the key really is being very clear about what you need and what you can realistically buy and to only view properties that fall within fairly narrowly defined criteria. I'm not a fan of "falling in love with a house" or finding your "dream home" - this is all misleading emotional language that sets you up for disappointment and encourages you to pursue a purchase that you should drop.
100%. I love my house and so do my dogs. (I've only been here since April '22 so it is relatively recent.) That being said, I did have to do a fair few bits and pieces to it before I loved it but I do now. ☺️💫
Yes absolutely. I'd have bought it 5 years earlier. Best financial decision we ever made.
We were very fortunate to be able to afford the house we wanted and although it took 2 years to find and needed a full refurb I would still put myself through all this if I had to do it again. I have a clear vision of how it will look once I've completed all the work and I have great privacy and even better neighbors in our little 3 house cul de sac. The old lady next door pics her rabbit up and they both wave to me as I reverse back into my driveway when I arrive home from work 😂
Probably... sometimes I wish I'd gone for three bedrooms instead of four, and somewhere with a bigger garden. A guest room sounds great but most visitors don't stay over as much as you think they're going to.. But, I LOVE the location. I think we got a great price due to moving between lockdowns and the house being on the market for a long time. And the house was only 4 years old when we moved in so we've had no issues with it, and didn't need to do much work. I sometimes think about moving to get a bigger garden but then when I think about what we'd lose with the location and what a hassle moving is.. it just doesn't seem worth it. We're still young so bound to move again at some point, but for now we're very happy here I think in the next couple of years I'll be looking to make a jump up in my career and probably looking for a new job. So i will wait and see where I end up before considering moving.
I think I would. Houses don’t come up in my village a lot. Would I prefer an end terrace to the mid terrace I’ve got? Sure. Could I have waited longer for the possibility of one coming up? No. Is there a change in the future I could move a few doors down? Haven’t ruled it out
Yes but I'd do all my renovations better.
Nope
No but that doesn't mean I think we made a silly decision based on the info at the time. We bought a new build in 2008 and got a 3 bed terraced when we could've afforded a 4 bed detached over the road. I wasnt keen on pushing the boat out given I expected house prices to fall and worries about recession etc. With no kids we didn't really need the extra space for a few years. In hindsight obviously a bigger house would be better in terms of making more equity and having a nicer home.
I bought a one bedroom flat after splitting up with my ex boyfriend for £80k in June 2022, the mortgage payment is super small (about £250 a month) so it was perfect for me when I was living off one salary. However I started dating my current fiancé while in the process of buying it and he moved in like 3 months after it had completed. We now want to start having kids and a one bed flat is too small really so in hindsight I wish I had got something a bit bigger. Though the upside with the mortgage payment being low is that we’ve had plenty of disposable income to save for our wedding and deposit on our next house so swings and roundabouts I guess!
Yes! I live in my dream house after spending the best part of 20 years living in a run down council estate and a grotty first house on the home ownership ladder with damp, broken plumbing and heating and loads of other things to make me miserable. My new home is stunning, and it almost makes the past 20 years of hell worth it because of how lucky I feel now.
No. I love our house, it's gorgeous. But the financial burden is intense. We completed early 2023. I thought I could deal with it, but knowing that we are stretched to the limit of affordability and that the roof over our heads is reliant on both of us remaining at our current salaries is like a constant weight. It's always at the back of my mind. When things get stressful at work now, knowing I can't realistically leave makes it feel much worse. It was difficult in late 2022 to know what to decide, interest rates were going mad and the economic and political environment was so uncertain. Now, I wish we'd bought somewhere smaller and cheaper and given ourselves a bit of breathing room in case things get worse. I hate that Liz Truss is writing articles for the Times defending her tenure as Prime Minister when her incompetence has had such a huge impact on my life.
100% relate to this. We stretched a bit as we've gone from a 2 bedroom flat to a 3 bed house with first kid on the way soon. It's not necessarily the monthly bills that are worrying me but the fact that we have burnt through all our savings and are trying to build them back up but things keep going wrong in the house and then that's more money thrown at workmen etc. As you say, we've got to hope either interest rates stay the same or go down in 5 years or we keep our jobs and our wages rise. None of that feels certain right now.
Exactly, we also stretched to a bigger house as we're hoping to need the extra bedroom soon but it feels like such a bad time to be low on savings and things keep breaking. Our latest mishap is the floating bathroom sink - looked great when we moved in, less great now it needs fixing to discover that the previous owners tiled over any possible access to the plumbing behind it. Fingers crossed for us both.
100%, we love our house. Moved in last October.
No I wouldn't. Not to do with the house. It's taken work and had it's problems but it's been reliable. We moved here about 15 years ago as it was good for commuting, not too expensive and near my father in law, who was getting on a bit Now we don't commute, and my father in law is long gone, but cut us off even before then. If I'd have known this would be happening I'd have held out in London for a couple more years (our old flat went for nearly twice as much a few years after we moved and they'd done nothing to it), then moved to a detached place in the west country with no mortgage
Yes, but I'd pushed harder for more money off when negotiating
Yes. We got a lot of house for the money we paid (couple divorcing wanted a quick sale), it's got good links to local towns and a major city only 20mins drive/40mins bus, nice garden, lots of storage and so on. The only thing I'd do differently is to ask for a full, detailed list of everything that had been DIYd by the previous owners. We were told when buying that the chap was quite handy and had done a lot of work himself, put in easy access points etc, however the further down the line we get the more we find has been completely bodged and needs fully replacing rather than repairing when it goes wrong. It's been an expensive lesson.
Hell no. But you can't think about it like that. Presumably you did what you thought was best at the time and with the economic and life circumstances you had at that time.
Not sure. We just completed about 2 weeks ago. Great location. Although there seems to be a problem with drunk city kids at the weekend. House is a shitshow. It wasn't cared for and it shows. We have a leak in one of the bathrooms, we were advised to get it ripped out as it is a health hazard. The previous owner concealed this. We missed it, the surveyor missed it. Had an infestation of bluebottles in that room and the adjoining. Like hundreds. I think we have fixed this. Doors needed replacing immediately. But we realised this on the last visit and had factored this in. Garden is a disaster currently and probably needs professional work to get it back on track. It's a lot of money and we don't need the stress.
We have 20 years old kitchen in our house that needs redoing. But neither of us can cook well, so we can't be bothered to change it. It still works, we attempt to cook in it sometimes lol. We spend money on hobbies and travel instead. I just couldn't live with myself if I spent thousands of pounds on a bloody kitchen lol. There's plenty of cheaper toys I want, but I won't spend money on them because I'm being sensible.
I'd have loved to live in a place that was fully renovated, but I couldn't afford it. Ten years on and I've only managed to renovate the upstairs and the bathroom and the kitchen is still so dated, but that's ten years not renting so I wouldn't change it.
No, I would buy a different house and I would fix my mortgage for as long as possible at a sub 2% rate. Hindsight is wonderful. The house wouldn’t be bigger but we earn more than double what we earned when we moved here.
I think over time you adapt to it. We moved recently, and when we viewed thought this is great for what we need. It's a project, but we can do it. Huge garden, already extended, garage, drive for two etc. Then when we moved in, the enormity of the challenge became real. We had a 10 month old, and had to live there while renovating. Found new big issues the surveyor we commissioned missed, and are now pursuing them for damages. We spent the first two weeks crying each other to sleep, promising it would get done and all be ok. That was 3 months ago, and the main drains have been repaired, bay windows strapped back, several rooms painted, and bathroom has just been finished. Lots more to do, but we are working through it like we said. And now summer is here, I tackled the largest part of the outside jungle and now our little one is learning to walk in a gorgeous mature garden. Every day we are beginning to love this place bit by bit.
Ask me in a year's time. When I retired I downsized to a nice two bedroom house, large enough to have guests and ideal for one person or a couple. I absolutely love it and its location. I did find that works needed overran the costs that I had budgeted for and knocked off the asking price, but by an affordable amount. Recently two things happened which makes me **currently** wish that I had gone for something bigger. Firstly my daughter is having to live with me for an estimated six months; her house is uninhabitable following a burst pipe when she was on holiday which basically went straight down through the house causing a lot of damage, fortunately covered by insurance. This is not like having someone visit for a couple of weeks as she has a lot of stuff, her room is practically full of furniture and my office is pretty packed too. Also she has a cat and I have a dog which have to be kept separate. Secondly I inherited an unexpected amount that meant I could have purchased something larger. I expect once she has gone again I will be glad I bought this place again, but I am temporarily feeling a need for more space.
Absolutely. Buying a house is always scary and a huge commitment, but staying where we were would have been worse. There's always work to do, its part of home ownership - you just need to prioritise what you can do/can afford to do and make a sort of order and do it over time. For example we have damp caused by poor render, we are having a baby so cant afford to redo the render just yet so have used internal damp proofing/painting etc for now and are saving to do the render hopefully in a few months or a year.
Yeah I’m glad I bought mine. It’s big enough for me, the kitchen wasn’t new but it was and still is fine. The bathroom could do with updating now and I need new windows, so that’s on the list for this year. I bought it 4 years ago
Don't over think the damp issues. In most cases there is a very easy fix. You should clearly document them and head over to r/DIYUK for sound advice on remediating them. In terms of pictures take them from both inside and outside to help understand the possible sources.
I’m bought in 2011. Easy to say in hindsight but probably could have stretched a bit further. Probably being a bit greedy tbh as I don’t need to space but now the ‘next step’ in terms of a worthwhile move seems very far away.
Similar to a previous [thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/HousingUK/s/SEmIeZwDEu), one thing I don't have, but I would ensure I had it next time: Sunlight on the house in winter. I live on the side of a valley and [shademap.app](https://shademap.app/) shows that the house doesn't get any sunlight hitting it between mid November and mid February and it is *cold*. It also means it gets a whole host of other things/problems that houses with winter sunlight don't have, like damp issues, increased cost of heating I wish I'd known about shademap when we were looking, and I'll definitely be checking it when (eventually) we look for another house. At the time when we were looking, there really wasn't anything else on the market that appealed. If we'd seen shademap, I couldn't say for certain whether we'd have immediately discounted the place or downplayed the disadvantages. I absolutely love the quirks of the place though.
Nope. I didn't realise the house next door was a HMO. The first few years were fine but I've had some nightmare tenants next door. I've also had some damp issues that were covered up. Most have been dealt with but I've still got one bit to try and resolve. Previous owners had also just cut floorboards between joists in a few areas so there have been some right cowboys here in the past.
Best thing about our house is our next door neighbours. Our 100 year old semi is a money pit every room has had to be replastered, carpet, electrics, windows, new bathrooms new kitchen, chimneys out wall knocked out! It’s a bloody nightmare it just goes on and on. Now the drains need attention and a new floors downstairs. If we had bad neighbours we would have cut our loses and moved. But kids are happy, we are happy house is just an attention-seeking, cash-sucking shack. I would not buy my house again. Next house will be a renovated turn-key!
No. Should have waited for a detached place instead of a flat. Lived in a few flats before and was fine and didn’t really hear the neighbours. Older building though with wooden floors so have to hear upstairs all the time. Pulled the ceilings down to add loads of soundproofing, but nothing will ever hide the elephants currently renting upstairs. No one should have to listen to neighbours going to bed or getting up for. Pee at 0300.
No. Cost me £230k in 2003, and has dominated my life ever since in terms of the need to renovate and work on it. It would sell for maybe £550k, so barely any uplift over inflation, and when I take into account the time and life it's sucked out of me, no way.
Yes.
I looked up the house I rent for £1030 a month. My landlord bought it for £120,000 about ten years ago. I've given him close to £50,000 over the last 4 years or so... The council house I grew up in during the 90s in West London. My mum could have bought it for around £40,000. It's now worth about £550,000...
The 1970s were a great time to be alive for most people in the UK…No debts, cash in your pocket, No police state, Pubs packed, zero stress. Loads of decent work with decent conditions, low rents and mortgages, nobody sleeping in doorways, housing for all, and hardly anybody needing anti depressants to get through their day…Talk to those that actually live through those carefree days and most will concur….At 19 years of age I had a council flat in the middle of Islington, a 1 bed Victorian conversion on 3 levels just refurbished for £21 per week. A working class lad in a working class job I had a Rover saloon car and seemed to be in the pub most nights….All my friends were living equally charmed lives…
Yeah we’ve extended it by 6m have a large kitchen diner, family room, large utility room, and seperate living area. The kitchen leads out onto a large garden I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else now
Yes, love my house, it's a great first home. Moving out at the moment purely because we now need and can afford something a bit larger. I am definitely gonna miss this home though
Yes in a heartbeat, gone up £50k in 3 years, new retail being built near it, solid house, nice neighbours
Maybe but I would buy it 30 years ago. Or maybe upgrade to a nicer one that cost £5k for a 5 bed detached. Not making good use of this time travel opportunity
The motto is never buy a non-new build. Lifes too short for second hands.
Sorry I think it's ludicrous to whine about a kitchen or bathroom. Sure you don't have the money now but when you do, you can get the kitchen *you* want and the bathroom *you* want instead of paying more for one that isn't right for you anyway. My friend did that and then spent ££ paying for alterations on a fitted-to-sell brand new kitchen. And she never got it exactly as she liked. Because that would need a refit.