We sold our home on the third day it had been on the market for over the asking price. We were shell shocked to be honest, we genuinely had no idea how long it would take and we certainly hadn’t found a house we wanted to buy.
Since the shiny red sold sign went up just over a month ago we have looked at endless properties on the internet, viewed 7 and been inspired by precisely….none. Well I tell a fib actually – the first house we viewed was a essentially a larger detached version of our victorian semi and is was perfect….except it was on a flood plain. And there wasn’t really any parking. I could’ve dealt with the flood plain issue – the property hadn’t actually ever flooded and apparently the insurance wasn’t an issue. But Mr O’Shea works in the industry and said if it was a site he was offered to buy with the view to build he would refuse it based on the potential risk. A no go then in that case.
And I think there lies the problem – we love our current house. What we want is essentially the same sort of thing only with more space.
We’re willing to take on a project, in fact we would rather completely renovate somewhere than pay a premium for someone else’s brand new kitchen and bathroom that isn’t to our taste. We’ve also given ourselves a fairly wide search area to consider in the vain hope we’ll find our dream home, even if it isn’t our first choice of location.
The most surprising aspect of the search thus far has been what is actually important to us that we hadn’t even considered. Turns out I want a spacious landing. Yes a landing. Who knew?! And James wants a driveway that doesn’t require some kind of crazy eight point turn to reverse. Also light, lots of light. We’re spoilt in our current abode I know, but I just can’t get over how dark and dingy so many seemingly pretty-from-the-outside places actually are once you step over the threshold.
There are lots of other lovely things I would like as well obviously (see my “desirable” pinterest board for details!) but for fear of us both appearing like one of those couples on any number of shows presented by Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer where you shout things at the telly like “But what you want doesn’t exist for the budget you have! you have to compromise somewhere!” etc etc we are genuinely trying to see the bigger picture when it comes to planning our major future investment. We have spent many an evening viewing the floorplans of seemingly suitable options on Rightmove, knocking down virtual walls and positioning an island unit and several velux windows…only to realise the potential property isn’t in a school catchment area, is on a busy road or has a shady north facing garden.
We are already beginning to lose faith in the fact we will ever find what we’re looking for, I mean, does the perfect house even exist?
What has been the most notable challenge is the nostalgia for our current “family” home as soon as we agreed the sale. Because that’s what it is, it’s the place we planned our wedding, we had our first baby, argued over grey emulsion and a hundred other pointless topics and made up a hundred times more. It’s where I built my own company from scratch, we’ve danced drunk in the living room, spent many sunny days dining al fresco on the patio and thrown more than one cocktail fuelled party with our favourite people on the planet. It’s where my daughter learnt to walk, talk and make us fall a little bit more in love with her every day. There are an abundance of happy memories in every corner, floor tile and unsightly scuff on the paintwork and it breaks my heart a little that we have to one day pack up and leave it all behind.
It hasn’t escaped our notice that perhaps we should consider an extension….the garden does after all back onto one of our preferred schools for Mabel, she is basically guaranteed a place. But then there’s the issue of sealing prices, planning permission and creating what we want with the limited outside area we have.
Do let me know about your house selling and buying adventures – what compromises you made and why. Did it take you a long time to adjust to your new surroundings or was moving immediately the best decision you ever made?
if you fancy a butchers at some of our current home you can have a look at Mabel’s nursery here, our master bedroom renovation here and my home office here.
Great post Charlotte – it resonates with me as we have decided not to move in the short term but know that in the next 2 years we almost certainly will. I’m pregnant with our first baby & this house isn’t really a family house, but we love it! I also feel very settled here & with everything else changing I wanted to stay here rather than attempt to move when pregnant. We’re dealing with the short-term by having a porch extension built (the Pram House if you will) but longer term I just think we will want boring sensible things like a utility room, grassy garden, garage etc. Good luck with your dilemma & the house hunt! Katie x
Hi Katie! I think that’s the right decision to stay – be somewhere familiar when you have your first baby. We were looking to move literally the month I found out I was pregnant! SO glad we decided to stay put. We have a teeny utility currently so we’re looking for a bigger one of those an extra reception room/play room and an extra bedroom and bathroom – we’re happy to “build” any of these, it’s just a case of finding the right initial plot. A pram porch sounds like an excellent idea x
Oh I can totally get where you are coming from!
We moved from our truly lovely last house ( that ticked 90% of our ideal home boxes) because we couldn’t deal with neighbours, parking and schools. After selling it quickly and having a gorgeous house fall through we ‘settled’ for the house were in now.
To be honest I hated it. It has the gorgeous village location, right by our favoured school but the house was just awful! The day we moved in I cried… Big cry, not little sniffles.
Two years in and we’ve almost rebuilt the whole house and I LOVE it. I know every sanded floor board, every moved and re plastered wall, every inch of the new lay out is designed to suit us perfectly.It is 100% our home, totally unique and I can safely say it’s now our forever home even with 40% work still to go! Sometimes i think there’s a difference between the house you WANT and the house you are MEANT to have. I can’t imagine being anywhere else, which is so surprising given how much I hated it!
Hang on in there, the right house is just round the corner (metaphorically speaking!!) x
Ali thanks so much for your comment! definitely makes me feel better about potentially buying something that it a a major project. I know I’ll have a big cry when we move too 🙁
You must send some pictures into us of your renovation – I’d love to see x
Selling that fast is ace! We looked for about a year and had one fall through which really upset me but have just moved into our new home last week! It def wasnt something that screamed dream house to me from the pictures but I decided to view it anyway based on location and ticking the boxes we had as essentials (parking for both cars, garden, more space). So we viewed it in April and loved it! It has huge high ceilings and solid wooden flooring (the kind of slightly old not shiny a bit more worn but love it sort)! It also has a huge bathroom and master bedroom and gorgeous garden split into two (South facing) with a completely private courtyard at the bottom! The third bedroom is a box room but fine for the office we have planned! And it has two enormous cellars that we plan to do out as actual rooms, one being a garden room with doors opening into the garden (it’s level with the garden). It has my bay window I always wanted and a gorgeous feature Fire place. So…it def needs work!! We need to decorate throughout and get some light into the the walls (the current colours are a mix of brown purple and red!!) We also are lacking majorly in storage and furniture! Tonight my friends husband is coming to look and give us quotes for building us some wardrobes in the bedroom (based on Madame O’Shea’s from the home tour!) and some built in cupboards in the alcoves in the kitchen and living room. As well as a quote for a new bathroom and the cellars (we wanted to know the entire cost of the dream home we are aiming for even if it won’t be completed for a few years!) Er this has gone on a long time sorry, I am majorly excited!! Anyway basically you will def find what you want and what is meant to be but (im sure you have anyway) consider looking at ones you think don’t look that great cos it might surprise you! This felt like home straight away! And think of all the amazing new memories you will create in a new home too not just the memories of your current home. It will probably be the place mabel grows up and starts school and you take over the world business wise! Loadsa awesome memories to make!! Xx
Hi Alex! SO happy for you, you have literally described many of the features I fancy myself 🙂
Would love a big bay window and original wooden floors. The house we saw on the flood plain had many of these types of character details – the floor was amaze as was the enormous landing 🙂
We are beginning to look at quite ugly looking houses (for want of a better word!) as I think we’re a lot more confident with how we can render/adapt having done quite a lot of investigation.
You must send in your renovation to us too – sound like it’s going to look beaut x
I will def send you pics, might be a while haha we def don’t have the budget to make all our dream home wishes happen immediately! Hoping all the hard work and saving up will make it even better when it’s done though! I know I love the window, the previous owners current curtains hide most of it which is such a shame so can’t wait to get some fitted blinds! Will look so much bigger and lighter! I was all about how it was Victorian cos of the bay and ceilings but we found all the deeds hidden away with genuine paper mortgages from 1800’s when the land was first bought and actually the house was built in 1903 so it’s Edwardian not Victorian so shows how much I know haha! My MIL explained about the eras and timings etc! It’s fab having some history though! They bought the house for £280 and paid £80 deposit and the. £1 a month for 12 months!! I was fascinated!! Haha geek! I digress massively sorry!! Pics def will be sent though! Pinterests gonna take a beating!! Xx
After a year and a half on the market we sold our 1 bedroom flat earlier this year £10,000 less than we brought it for and ended up leaving us in a bit of a mess. Part of me was glad to get going a year and a half was a long time on the market, but the day we actually packed up and moved i was beside myself! Dramatic? Yes. If we were moving to a new property it’d have probably have been fine, but I’ve moved in with the mother in law! God help me! A month in things aren’t too bad but we are saving like mad to move on and start a new chapter.
Kirsty, bless you – it must have been quite traumatic for you both, I’m sure it’ll be worth it in the end. James and I moved 8 times in the first two years together and it nearly broke us, it’s a really stressful experience. Depending on the level of renovation work required on our next property we may have to move in with my parents for a while or rent a…caravan?!
Lots of love and luck for the next chapter x
Oh this is such a toughie. We moved into our new house last year – we found out I was pregnant, our last place was too small so we started looking. For us, the search wasn’t too painful, we knew what we wanted on paper (a sunny garden, 3 or 4 bedrooms, driveway, garage, dining space etc) and found it after about 7 views of other places. (And moved, 7 months pregnant in the hottest day of the year. I DO NOT recommend it!)
We made some fairly major compromises, mainly on the house itself, but we were really strict with ourselves when it came to head over heart. It’s a pretty ugly house from the outside at the moment but the potential of the inside is more than worth it. It’s not our perfect house- yet – but give it 8 or 10 years and it might be. But already I love it – I love how light it is, how much space we have, all it’s little idiosyncrasies (maybe not all … some!) and how much we can grow into it. We’ve got big plans for the place that will take many years to come into fruition – namely the ugly dark cladding on the dormer extension (I mean, mahogany stained planks?! Are we *in* the 70’s??!!) but we’ll take it slow and do it bit by bit.
My point is, you are probably not going to find the perfect house in the perfect location, but just as you have with your current house, you will grow and change and make wherever you live your own. And it will feel like home because it will be filled with your family. X x
Exactly Tallulah! I feel as though once we have one or two rooms figured out/finished we will already start to feel more “at home”. I’m usually quite good at visualising but some of these properties we’ve seen…oh my goodness, even my creative brain hits a brick wall (literally)
A sunny spacious garden is so important, it wasn’t necessarily on our “must” list to begin with but I think that is because we already have one and take it for granted x
Oh I moved when 7 months pregnant too but our was the coldest day of the year only to find none of the heating worked in the new house! Don’t know why I ever thought moving when pregnant was ever a good idea. It just isn’t!! Stress, hard work and big emotions! Glad I’m not the only one to do it though! 🙂
Ooh my last comment just vanished… my thesis has gone awol so rather more strait to the point – Get a date with an architect – sounds like you should really look at extending! I’ve just been looking recently after a house valuation and its just so overwhelming trying to find something that means we get the space we need without compromising on so much of what we love about our home… so we’re staying put. We did a ground floor extension 3 years ago and just adding an extra 3m x 8m to our house has completely changed it- squashed house to party house in just 4 weeks. We’re about to put in for planning permission to go up from that and then comes the fun of complete redesign of the upstairs. Rolls of kitchen paper full of possible designs are all over the place and the kids are loving the idea of building their own bedrooms (obvs we’ll let real builders actually do it)
I know we’ve not done things as clever financially as we could have we bought the land, then the ground floor and then up again when we could have saved to do it all in one go – but its all been done as part of our growing family adventure. If we don’t make it back on a resell in the future then never-even-mind because we’ve paid for a home to live in that has suited us perfectly, had brillaint neighbours, very good catchment for schools and lovely area and that we’ve been involved in forming and recreating.
We’re saving the actual ‘grand designs’ project for post-parenting days when we need something to do and have that bit more time to carve a stairwell out of a tree trunk.
Amanda, a stairwell out of a tree trunk? Amazing! 🙂
I have had this conversation recently actually, it’s not just about the actual market value when any extension is “finished” per se, it’s about how long you live there, what it means to you and how much “value” you get out of it. x
Snap! Well, almost snap. Definitely agree on altering property if it makes sense. We are about to embark on a “simple” (and yet still so expensive?!) kitchen extension to double our kitchen space and adapt the house for our expected new addition. Work should be finished in theory 2 weeks before the baby is due!! Nothing like pregnancy and building stress. We are unlikely to make back every penny on the extension, but we love our house and quite frankly in London best to make do than waste money on stamp duty right now. I definitely agree on building a house to suit you perfectly, at least if you are planning on spending a while there, whether buying somewhere not quite right and making it work for you, or adapting your current home. Even small things make a huge difference – we took a chimney breast out of a bedroom, and the room is completely transformed. We also have lovely neighbours, a school at the end of the road, and a south facing garden – things that are just too good to lose. And we did everything in the wrong order too, for budget reasons, but you have to make these decisions sometimes… Glad we’re not the only ones! Good luck Charlotte – I’m sure you will find something soon, we spent forever looking for ours but I believe a lot in fate, and things happen at certain times for the right reason, I’m convinced! x
We we’re looking for four years! Everything (not so many) we offered on went to sealed bids, such an emotional roller coaster. A bit like you everything in our budget had somekind of flaw, some worse than others. “the one” we finally purchased is just off of a flood zone (never flooded) on a 30 mile an hour costal road. The house was riddled with polystyrene tiles and not actually much bigger than the house we were in. On the plus side it really had not been touched for 100 years, has bags of potential, surrounded by beautiful countryside,3miles from the sea and has perfect light . My point is, is that like meeting the man in your life, when you find “the one” you deep down know it is right and the flaws don’t seem to matter. We are in phase one of what is a massive project,doing more or less everything ourselves which will make it all the more special. We are not in yet clocking up year 2 of renovation. My husband said we will be in for Christmas, I am just not sure which one he means?! Over the time we have spent I have really leant the meaning of chipping away at it and every week that goes by we fall deeper and deeper in love with the little place. Hope you find the one to create new memories in. Rebecca x
Thanks so much Rebecca, your home sounds like it is going to be so special, I can only dream of being so close to the sea.
I think if we didn’t have Mabel we would be more keen to take on a huge project but I’m keen to always have at least an area of a home that is “done” as it were for her. Like you say though little by little and hopefully we’ll create something lovely x
I think aside from the obvious safety aspects, now is exactly the time you should take advantage of the fact she a) won’t remember and b) will adapt pretty quickly to living somewhere that isn’t necessarily ‘finished’
It’s the safety aspects that concern me Claire, I just want some rooms that are…Mabel proof!
Is there such a thing 😉
Possibly not 🙂
We moved into what we thought was our ‘forever home’ nearly 2 years ago and before we even opened the door, I knew we’d made a huge mistake. I liked the house but the location had been a compromise as my husband wanted to be nearer his family and I wanted to stay closer to where we already lived. I tried to like the area but after a few months, I broke down in tears and told my husband how I was feeling to find he felt the same.
Since then, we’ve been on Right Move on a daily basis and have viewed a few properties but haven’t found one that ticks the ‘must haves’ boxes. It’s incredibly frustrating as we’re living in a house that doesn’t feel like home and we’re reluctant to redecorate as it’s neutral, so perfect for selling, but just not our taste.
I can completely empathise with you Charlotte as I feel like what we’re looking for a house that doesn’t exist too! I’m a total believer in things happening for a reason so fingers crossed our dream properties come onto the market soon!
Naomi I’m with you – that everything happens for a reason. I’m sure your “actual” forever home is just around the corner. The location thing is a huge consideration, our area search doesn’t go as far as somewhere unfamiliar for either of us but there are places we love more than others which are typically more expensive 🙂
Lots of luck in finding the one! x
Exciting times! We are in a two bed terrace and when we were searching we couldn’t believe how different each terrace was, so we saw a number if possible layout options. I was a dement I would not settle for a bathroom off a bedroom… until we found our house. It just didn’t matter because the house ticked every other box. Because if this it will be difficult to stay in thus house with a child older than a toddler so we know the timescale we will be on once we have a family. We have thought about a change of layout and extending because we are in great area but I’m looking forward to having a swish new house do up again
It’s funny isn’t it how you can change your mind towards a negative aspect providing everything else works. A great area makes up for so much too x
I wrote a crazy long reply – almost therapeutic! – but it vanished! But I’ll summarise. We moved in to our home almost a year ago and it was the third one we bought, the others fell through. I really wanted Victorian because that’s what we had before and I loved the high ceilings and features. I now live in a 1930’s semi..
However, while it’s currently devoid of character we are renovating the house room by room and when we’re done I know it’s going to be awesome. By changing the style of house I was set on we’ve ended up with somewhere warm, with large rooms and a massive back garden. Which is good since we’ve just had a baby! I think our house looked ugly when we bought it. It had a patio door for a front door!! But we’ve already changed that for a traditional wooden door that I painstakingly painted peacock blue and it’s made a massive difference already. It’s tough sometimes because so much needs doing and we can’t afford to do it all the time but I guess that’s part of the process. When I go back to work in the new year after maternity leave we’ll be doing the kitchen which gives me months to finish planning it properly. Changing the style of home I looked at worked wonders for us even though it will be a long process! Good luck! Xx
It’s funny you should say that Jennifer as we’ve had a look at a few 1930’s properties on the internet and I’m pleasantly surprised by how spacious the rooms are, most with massive windows! Not the most attractive from the exterior but with the right door and roses round it etc 🙂
The kitchen will look fab! x
Wow! I’m not surprised your house sold in 3 days, it’s so beautiful and you really were selling the dream to some other lucky couple! I was so sad to leave our last house too but my mum said to me, a house is just bricks and mortar, you make the home and that’s so true. Yes it’s sad, but so exciting too! We couldn’t find a house we loved enough to buy so we moved into a rented house for a year and when the perfect one came up we were ready and waiting. We now live in a converted potato barn, in the most stunning little village and every morning I wake up and pinch myself that we live there. We would never have found it when we were originally looking. I know renting can be a nightmare and upheaval (especially with a newborn like us) but sellers like that you aren’t in a chain and can move quickly. In fact, our seller had another offer over the asking price and decided to go with us because we had nothing to sell and if it’s just for a short time then it can be advantageous. Just something to think about! Good luck with the search and looking forward to hearing all about your next project (and more grey paint!)
I definitely agree with this advice, renting can be an awesome way to test out a new area without the commitment to buying, even if you only have a 6 month tenancy.
A potato barn?! That sounds amazing! And you are right about renting, the problem is we have such a cheap mortgage on our current property, renting would literally cost us thousands, even for a 6 month contract. But I guess you have to factor in those costs to be as you say, in with a chance of moving super quick. Going by the limited properties in our chosen search area it could be a bidding war once we do find the house we want! x
We almost didn’t go and see the house that we now live in! I was adamant that I wanted a 3 bedroomed house and as this had 4 it was going to be way too big. I’m so thankful I changed my mind because it was exactly what we were looking for. We had to stretch ourselves a little more that we originally intended but the sums worked and we now shouldn’t need to move for a while. That’s the hope anyway.
Good work Sarah, we stretched ourselves at the time to buy our current home and so glad we did, we had no furniture for over a year except an old sofa and an Ikea bed as we couldn’t afford any (!) but it was totally worth it. x
I can totally relate to this post. Earlier in the year we put our flat up for sale thinking it may take months if not years to sell, and it sold within weeks. It was slightly daunting being in a position where we had to actually FIND a house rather than just browse on rightmove like we had been doing for the last few months.
We have purchased our next property and move in a month today but its a whole world away from what we currently have and I must admit I am quietly freaking out at how much of a project we have taken on with such little funds but I know it could be our dream house (in a few years). I just hope I have the patience!
I am going to be heartbroken when I close our flat door for the last time. I have prepared my husband for tears…lots of tears. It was the first property I owned, I got engaged there and its seen us through the early months of marriage, I adore it and its filled with happy memories! I wanted the buyer of our property to love it as I do and am pleased we seem to have found someone who does.
Carly I know what you mean, at the moment it’s all consuming this FIND a house business, we check our designated area on Rightmove and Zoopla every day, we also go back to properties we’re unsure about to see if actually it might be worth a viewing!
Good luck with your move in a month x
I was so glad to see that there are other people that have been in the same position as we have been in – and there is always light at the end of the tunnel. We get the keys to our first house on Friday. I am so excited!! Although we didn’t have a house to sell we really struggled to find a house we loved or even liked (some were very “interesting”). We found what we thought was the perfect house but lost it to someone with a larger deposit. This turned out to be the best thing in the long run.
We have bought a house in a different village to which we were looking as previously we thought we couldn’t afford this area. There have been some compromises – there isn’t the downstairs toilet we wanted and the bathroom and kitchen need replacing quickly. However there is lots more living space downstairs with a study and a conservatory and there are three double bedrooms upstairs and this makes up for all the compromises and more. I am not sure whether it is our forever home but we will be here for a very long time. We have big plans for the new house – I am hoping that we can build an extension on the kitchen to have the big open plan kitchen I have dreamed about. Although this is for far in the future!
It wasn’t easy finding this house. It was the 8th house we put an offer in for and we viewed well over 20 houses. My advice is keep going – you will know when you find the house that is meant to be I am sure of that. Good luck!
Wow Helen 8 houses? goodness, it makes me feel like we’ve got it easy. I’m glad you got something lovely in the end – I too am all about the big open plan kitchen with lots of light and a um…island unit 🙂
Everything is meant to be isn’t it? x
Charlotte I feel your pain! My husband wants to move but I love our current house – mostly because it’s so light and airy and well located. That said I wasn’t too bothered about it when we bought it but it was practical. Now I don’t want to leave, even though we are running out of space and its on a busy road. I’ve looked online and nothing else has really appealed to me. I think part of the problem is we always knew that this one would be short term, but the next one will be a big step up moneywise and a much more long term house so maybe I’m expecting a bit much! Hope you find your house soon – if you get a practical house you can soon turn it into something beautiful!
Hi Fran! I wasn’t as positive about our house as James when we moved in – funny how things change isn’t it? the previous buyers had huge bulky furniture and lots of…stuff. It looked so much more spacious with our sparse (at the time) belongings!
I think the looking on line aspect is hindered if you really love your own home, we’re constantly like “That kitchen and dining space isn’t as nice as ours….” ” That garden isn’t as nice as ours…” etc
We are certainly looking at the bigger picture though now (or trying too!) x
Wowee – three days! You lucky things 🙂 we have literally just 5 days ago moved into our new house having been renovating it for four months. And before that, the sale/purchase process took a whopping 6 months! I absolutely understand your woes – our issue was location, and if we could have picked our new build 3-storey townhouse, we would have done!
I can also totally vouch for the spacious landing – it’s like having a whole other room to play with! Our move has very much been preparatory for future family life, and it’s exciting to think of the memories which will be made in the house that we’ve done up between us.
Just think of all the memories you’ve yet to make, somewhere new… 🙂 x
Exactly Claire, and we do know that with the new property we’ll be able to do so much more than what we have in the current place which will really put our stamp on it. I have never ever designed/bought my own kitchen (the one we have was fairly new when we bought and was nice “enough”)…..so I am REALLY looking forward to that.
Once we do find somewhere lordy knows how long the process could take, these chains can take forever x
So sad to be leaving a home full of lovely happy memories – heart-wrenching! When we got our current place at the start of the year, we’d looked at probably >30 places throughout 2014. Including 3 that fell through (costing £’000s argh!! Survey nightmares!). Anywayyy to cut a long boring dramatic story short, we found a perfect little place unlike any we’d seen – location, space and style all seemed to fit (not perfect, but with potential). The only compromise funnily enough was a bathroom downstairs, which I’d written off to begin with! I just think you’ll find something amazing, keep looking – it will be there for you and all your new happy family memories waiting to be created! Krish x
Sounds idyllic Krish! bathroom downstairs or otherwise. Interestingly we’re seeing a lot of refurbished properties at the moment where they haven’t added an en suite but a shower room downstairs….which I guess is fine, it’s like anything, once you get used to it who cares!
I’m so sorry to hear about your survey nightmares but glad you found the right place in the end, we’ve just had one done on our home and luckily nothing much wrong with it – phew! x
Hi Charlotte, our shower room is downstairs just off our utility room at the very back of the house. At first I thought it was a bit weird but it’s actually very practical. There have been a couple of times (coming home from Glastonbury being one) where one or both of us have come home muddy or dirty and we’ve walked straight in the back door and then right into the shower without dragging dirt all through the house. I imagine this would be even more practical for families with pets and littles! x
Our house also sold within 3 days, and it completely blindsided us that it all happened so quickly! In a bit of a panic we had an offer accepted on a large Victorian house which, once we scratched the surface, needed an awful lot of work. We were prepared to do the work and thought we would love the house when it was done, but the stinger was that the garden was absolutely tiny and we would have had to actually remove the brand new sunroom to end up with a garden that still wasn’t anywhere near big enough. Crazy. So we took a weekend to think about things and then decided to pull out of the sale. I felt really bad for the sellers for doing that but, we are both so glad that we did and think that perhaps we dodged a bullet! A week or so later I was in the estate agents enquiring about another property that had a great garden, great location but also a lot of work to do. They suggested that we go and see another on the same street that was just coming onto the market as it wasn’t much more price-wise, and had already been ‘done’. To cut an already long story short, despite our reservations (the house is 20 years old so neither ‘period’ nor ‘new build’ and we wanted a bit of a project) we knew that this was the house for us as soon as we walked in and, after the usual to-ing and fro-ing secured the sale before their for sale sign even went up. There is enough work to be done to be satisfying for us and to make it ‘ours’ but not too much that our lives will be dominated by diy and renovations for the next few years. All going well, we will be moving in in a month and couldn’t be happier. Best of luck with your move, I’m sure the perfect home will pop up when you least expect it!
Wow jane sounds amazing! it would be lovely to find something that didn’t need every single room doing…we did see a lovely barn conversion but no utility, that bit too isolated and possibly not any room for an extension.
Congratulations on your new house!
Charlotte I’m not surprised your house sold in 3 days and over the asking price, it’s definitely a sellers market. As first time buyers we started looking at a popular area in South Manchester earlier in the year and I was hot on the case of checking all the property apps and websites every 2-3 hours and booking in viewings the next day. Pretty much every house we viewed (a lot) already had offers on the table, some already over asking price or they had multiple viewings that day with a lot of interest. We were looking at properties similar to yours (done to a very nice standard!) as we’ve not got a very big deposit and don’t have much spare cash to put a new kitchen/bathroom in. We offered on a few that went to sealed bids but got out bid, luckily ours we managed to seal but had to bid £10k over the asking price (luckily still within our budget). We managed to get a 3 bed Edwardian terraced with a bay which backs onto a park and is walking distance to the team and canal with only 2 year old bathroom and kitchen. We just need to bring its charm back (restore the fire place, rip up the laminate floor to expose the wood and replace the tacky pvc door for a traditional wood one – oh and paint over the bright orange and purple chimney breasts, deep red bedroom and lime green kitchen walls – seriously who chooses those colours?). I found it helped getting to know the estate agents (some better than others) – because we went to view so many houses we were a familiar faces so some would call us about a house before it had gone on the property websites. Not sure if it’s as cut throat where you are but it helps if you can get in first to view a house that might be the one. Good luck with the search and try to see the potential! X x
Congratulations on your home Steph! I imagine it could get quite cutthroat as there are so few properties, at least we’ll be in a strong position buyer wise though. My husband is in the property industry so luckily he knows quite a few estate agents – I think they’ve got a long waiting list though!
I’m at a loss over the lime green paint job but somebody must’ve loved it! x
We move next month from a flat to a house. Our requirements were : in Edinburgh (we’ve lived here 11 years) large not north facing garden, property 1960s or older. We’ve bought a 1992 build, north garden, in a town 30 miles away. And we love it (or will do once we’ve stripped it of some weird lighting and dodgy tiling) sometimes you have to compromise even on the big stuff(And i wouldnt have said this at the start of our search !) Good luck 🙂
Oh and to add…i have to work on the moving day from early morning (self employed-cant pass the work on!) Which i think weirdly makes it easier as there will be no time for tears just the usual rush out of the door into the car leaving my husband to organise the move (its ok last time we moved he went on a 3 week holiday the month before leaving me to organise and pack everything so i am owed haha!!)
I LOVE Edinburgh Linzi, what a lovely place to live – you lucky thing! I’m not adverse to a New Build, there are actually some homes that are beautiful on the boarder of our search area that are mid-90’s (I think?) but done so well! I’d definitely consider one if it came up for sale x
I really feel your pain with this post. We are first time buyers and currently renting and there just is so little on the market. We live in the Cotswolds which is beautiful but oh so expensive and there are very few properties on the market for £350-£400k. They are either properties which are just not to our taste at around £300k, in the wrong location, or lovely properties for £500k upwards. It is so frustrating. We found our DREAM house and put an offer in but it went to someone else and now that house is all I can think about!
Oh No Milly! I’m sure it happened for a reason and something better will come up instead. The Cotswolds is beaut – we go there fairly often in the summer x
Hey Charlotte!
Great post and completely resonates with how I felt about leaving our last house. We’d created all the same memories and I sobbed the day we moved when I took one last look at Maisie’s nursery. It took two years of searching daily on Right Move to find our current house…we looked at it many times online and has mostly discounted it as it was on the other side of town and was 1930s rather than my preferred period property. But as soon as we saw it in the flesh we knew it had the potential to be amazing. One year on, a huge extension and a very empty bank balance later and we couldn’t be happier here! What was a very dark, dated and relatively modest house has been transformed into a completely different home flooded with natural light and ticking all the family-life boxes. It’s been such a brilliant experience (if a little all consuming at times) and well worth the investment. So keep looking, it’s always sad to leave but your memories come with you – you won’t regret it and your dream home will be around the corner, you just might not know it yet! Good luck! Xx
Wow Jo sounds lovely – I’ve said this to loads of commenters on here but please do send us some pictures in via the contact form! it’s so useful for folks to get ideas on how to re-model their own properties. There are some amazing 30’s properties in our search area in terms of space and large windows, just not very attractive exterior wise – nothing some render and a nice door can’t fix though! x