Reply to: Went to buy a house

[sasguru]

Neighbours can definitely make or break the experience, and it's not like living in a "nice" area means you'll get pleasant neighbours.

It's not guaranteed but in my experience, far, far more likely.
Unless you're unlucky enough to buy next to a chav lottery winner, living in a posh area, amongst bankers, lawyers and doctors means that anti-social behaviour is not at all common.
In fact the only time in the last few years it happened is when some teenage kids down the road had a wild party, when their parents weren't there.
The parents made the kids go and knock on every door to apologise and to promise it wouldn't happen again

[sasguru]

I don't live in Span or Spain.

I live near some extremely wealthy people who are stupid.

However the really wealthy ones are the owners of the building companies, some of the trades and some of the estate agents who repeatedly end up doing or selling the same houses.

I doubt they are stupid. They probably make money on every renovation.

[sasguru]

What on earth are you bumbling on about ? He is a search engine guru not a builder, why would he want to waste time and money modernising a pile of poo ?

WFAS +++

When I was shopping for my first house my parents were pressuring me to buy all sorts of old wrecks.

If I'd wanted to be a builder I would have done an apprenticeship to learn how to do it properly.

Major renovations aren't compatible with working long hours or away from home in your £££ job either.

That'll be why my property portfolio is worth north of 1 million and yours isn't. HTH, BIDI.

AtW the idea is to buy a house that has the location, shape and general character you are after cheap because the last owners were in their eighties and the kids are too busy arguing over the inheritance. Then spend £20-30 K for some builder to strip & refurbish it to your liking. So you get a 'new' house with a big garden away from the neighbours. I look out on woodland when I get up in the morning we have native squirrels that drive the cats nuts.

We bought a nice detached house with a large garden, a drive that you can park 10 cars in and a Garage you can park a range rover in.

We stripped the bathrooms & kitchen out, stripped the walls, cabled top to bottom and redecorated. Its the way we want it now.

We of course got a discount because flowery wallpaper and yellow bathrooms weren't selling points.

You of course can stay in rented accommodation while this happens. We lived in it because the cost of renting was too much for our family size. I did the work because we borrowed to near our maximum (but not the banks) remember I'm a permie and I enjoy DIY.

Or you can buy a house with a titchy Garage and paper walls for top dollar.

Not often I agree with veteran, but this is the way to go. Buy some oldies house that hasn't been redecorated so becomes a blank canvas.
Old detached houses usually have much larger plots of land than new builds so you can extend + your neighbours are at a distance.
Get a project manager who'll do a turn-key solution and you don't need to worry too much about it either - just move out while its being done.
And invariably if the location is right the cost of the doing up is much less than the value you immediately add when its done - houses in the right location will always sell easily, even in a recession (talking about London now)

I'm amazed at the stupidity of some people on here when it comes to house buying.

[vetran]

AtW the idea is to buy a house that has the location, shape and general character you are after cheap because the last owners were in their eighties and the kids are too busy arguing over the inheritance. Then spend £20-30 K for some builder to strip & refurbish it to your liking. So you get a 'new' house with a big garden away from the neighbours. I look out on woodland when I get up in the morning we have native squirrels that drive the cats nuts.

We bought a nice detached house with a large garden, a drive that you can park 10 cars in and a Garage you can park a range rover in.

We stripped the bathrooms & kitchen out, stripped the walls, cabled top to bottom and redecorated. Its the way we want it now.

We of course got a discount because flowery wallpaper and yellow bathrooms weren't selling points.

You of course can stay in rented accommodation while this happens. We lived in it because the cost of renting was too much for our family size. I did the work because we borrowed to near our maximum (but not the banks) remember I'm a permie and I enjoy DIY.

Or you can buy a house with a titchy Garage and paper walls for top dollar.

[AtW]

I live near some extremely wealthy people who are stupid.

Sounds like they can afford it ...

[SueEllen]

Do you live in Span?

Sounds like it - stupid Englishman buys cheap house, then it gets demolished by local council because there was no planning permission and later sold again to next stupid

I don't live in Span or Spain.

I live near some extremely wealthy people who are stupid.

However the really wealthy ones are the owners of the building companies, some of the trades and some of the estate agents who repeatedly end up doing or selling the same houses.

[AtW]

Around my way someone buys a house then the builders come in for a few months to a year. In some cases they knock the house down and rebuild it. Then they wait about 3 years and sell it. Then the next person calls the builders in.......

Do you live in Span?

Sounds like it - stupid Englishman buys cheap house, then it gets demolished by local council because there was no planning permission and later sold again to next stupid

[SueEllen]

WHS with bells on!

DIY me? Just as likely as DUI

Then you can customise your house to suit you.

Around my way someone buys a house then the builders come in for a few months to a year. In some cases they knock the house down and rebuild it. Then they wait about 3 years and sell it. Then the next person calls the builders in.......

[Sysman]

You should never underestimate how much neighbours can annoy you nowadays - better to get a detached.

Even if you have a decent set of neighbours when you move in, new ones could arrive to make your life hell.

[AtW]

I don't mind it early evening etc but the noise carries on until 1am, he's a real ignorant fvckhead. My next property will be an old detached.

Well, I normally blast my TV until 3am so that should not be a problem.

HTH

[Brian Potter]

You should never underestimate how much neighbours can annoy you nowadays - better to get a detached.

+1000 to the above.

Just across from my maisonette is an old bastard who is hard of hearing. As a result he has his TV on full blast, the old cows around me are scared tulipless of this tozzer so don't complain. Unfortunately, my maisonette doesn't deal well with flanking noise so I get the full force of the bastard's TV volume. Have complained numerous times which works for a few days but then the volume creeps back up...

I don't mind it early evening etc but the noise carries on until 1am, he's a real ignorant fvckhead.

My next property will be an old detached.

[AtW]

I assume the Adam Smith £20 note.

Aye

[Mulder]

I assume the Adam Smith £20 note.

Historical character -
Adam Smith (1723 - 1790) is one of the fathers of modern economics. In one of his great works, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Smith famously used the example of workers in a pin factory to describe the benefits created by the division of labour, and, as explained on the note, 'the great increase in the quantity of work that results'.

[Sysman]

WHS

Those who say otherwise should open their wallet and check famous words on £20 note... if they got one!

OK I give up. No Sterling in my wallet and can't find any readable images on the web.

What are the famous words you refer to?

[AtW]

I've always thought it better to concentrate on earning the moolah to pay someone experienced to do stuff like that, but I must admit that managing building workers is more of a pain than I thought, and that observation seems to apply worldwide.

WHS

Those who say otherwise should open their wallet and check famous words on £20 note... if they got one!