House viewing tips!

[parisdisneyfan]

Originally Posted by SquishTheWhale

I understand some of the comments but it's not only about the size, to us the house is lovely and there isn't a 'better' smaller house that we have seen. It's personal taste surely- we like this style of house. Other people like country cottages with 'character', we hate them. Personal taste and what suits our needs.

We aren't set on this house , it's the first one we're seeing and seems very good value for our budget. The thread was initially about general house buyjng advice, not this particular house. But we need to find out what the service charge is as that could kill it.

I've acknowledged people's concerns, thanked them for their advice and have not complained once that people are being negative, so not really sure what this reply is about. I'm not going to change the type of house we like just because someone on the Dibb isn't keen.

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We all like different houses and it is a good thing we do or else we'd be squabbling over one particular type. The house we are buying is 1970's ugly and there is not much we can do about that but we love the area and plot it is on. Strangely enough we also felt at home in it as it is a similar layout to the one we are in at the moment. If you have your eyes open and plan/budget most things can be overcome if the house feels right to you. I don't know how many houses we viewed inside or out and many of them I thought were my dream house but just didn't feel right. Finally as we had sold our house and needed to find somewhere we looked at the house we are buying. It fitted the criteria we had set - size, location and sort of price (bit over really! ) but the photos didn't appeal, but guess what we loved it and it had the feel Luckily we have got it at a good price because it needs work but we factored that in our offer. There are covenants attached which concern us but our solicitor looked into it and they aren't a problem - we are hoping to move in about a months time!

Sorry just realised how long i've taken to say go with the feeling but check everything!

[sparklegirl]

we also live in a new build estate and the annual service charge is £70 so not horrific by any means. This covers the insurance for the common ares and the landscaping etc of the same.

I do know of friends that bought a townhouse and whilst it was initially really good they found the differing floors for bedrooms a challenge with kids especially as they are under them and they wouldn't always know if the kids got up during the night.

Also their lounge was on 1st floor and its a pain going up and downstairs for cup of tea and drinks etc.

[floridasgirl]

Originally Posted by SquishTheWhale

Honestly I know nothing about this, would it be easy? Someone above said it was a big job! If it's £1000s to change then we just won't have the money for it any time soon and I would miss a bath so much. I'm probably a weird one but I hate showers and only use one if I have to.

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I'm no expert, just thought it would be!

[alkel2730]

Originally Posted by SquishTheWhale

Thank you, yes it's a 3 story town house we are looking at. The master suite is on the top floor and the other bedrooms on the second- I don't know if that would be a total pain in the bum with kids?!

Definitely want a bath, both for me and baby lol.

Good to know on the schools thing. The one slightly further away is better ofstead rated but obviously that can change. The main reason for preference is one is a religious school and one isn't, and we have strong feelings one way about that.

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Okay...I don’t want to put you off and this is just my option so I’m hesitant but I really wish someone had told me this as me and all my neighbours agree (who all moved in before kids) but I would never buy a 3 storey house with children. For a start there is excess stairs so excess baby gates, excess stress and worry, also are you going to be happy with your child a floor down from you when they are only one or even younger? Getting up and down in the night will be an absolute pain.

Also 3 storey terrace houses are excessively hot and are incredibly hard to cool and with little ones you have the extra concern of height if you open windows and such like. Mine is a different layout to yours as our bedrooms are all top floor bar one and our kitchen is on the second floor so we have the added headache of carrying shopping upstairs, rubbish downstairs etc. You just don’t think of these things before hand, well I didn’t before we moved in!

Just look really carefully at the layout and think about where bubs will be in the future and how they will navigate the house and such like. Just walking across a car park to a parking spot with a toddler in tow carrying shopping or bags - that type of thing becomes a nightmare as they can bolt. Then think about the practicalities if you need to put your baby in the car first then go back and get bags as you can’t carry it all - would you leave them in a car across a car park as you do that? It’s these types of things I’d strongly suggest you visualise to see if it works for you.

When we moved in here we thought 3 storey house was amazing, our cats had loads of space and we felt like we had our forever home. Along came kids and all of a sudden it became a headache and practically - all of us with kids have moved out or are moving out.

These houses are perfect for couples or older children but in my option not suitable for young children.

I really don’t want to put a cloud on it and I’m sure many people are thinking ‘Why would she say all this when it’s your ideal home’ but I really really wish someone had said this to me. x

[Twin mummy]

I agree that everyone likes different houses (thankfully) and on the whole I think people are just trying to point out what they see as potential pitfalls.
Personally I hate estates but our house is in a busy main road (set back with drive) and my Mum and Mil hated that when the girls were little as they thought it was dangerous. I worked around it but we were aware of the issue before we bought the house.
For me it’s understanding the negatives and checking you can work round them.
Personally I’d hate small children sleeping on a different level to us. I liked them close just in case and wanted my toddlers to be able to get to me in the night. You can work round it with gates and monitors but it’s worth thinking about and deciding if it would bother you.

[SquishTheWhale]

Originally Posted by alkel2730

Okay...I don’t want to put you off and this is just my option so I’m hesitant but I really wish someone had told me this as me and all my neighbours agree (who all moved in before kids) but I would never buy a 3 storey house with children. For a start there is excess stairs so excess baby gates, excess stress and worry, also are you going to be happy with your child a floor down from you when they are only one or even younger? Getting up and down in the night will be an absolute pain.

Also 3 storey terrace houses are excessively hot and are incredibly hard to cool and with little ones you have the extra concern of height if you open windows and such like. Mine is a different layout to yours as our bedrooms are all top floor bar one and our kitchen is on the second floor so we have the added headache of carrying shopping upstairs, rubbish downstairs etc. You just don’t think of these things before hand, well I didn’t before we moved in!

Just look really carefully at the layout and think about where bubs will be in the future and how they will navigate the house and such like. Just walking across a car park to a parking spot with a toddler in tow carrying shopping or bags - that type of thing becomes a nightmare as they can bolt. Then think about the practicalities if you need to put your baby in the car first then go back and get bags as you can’t carry it all - would you leave them in a car across a car park as you do that? It’s these types of things I’d strongly suggest you visualise to see if it works for you.

When we moved in here we thought 3 storey house was amazing, our cats had loads of space and we felt like we had our forever home. Along came kids and all of a sudden it became a headache and practically - all of us with kids have moved out or are moving out.

These houses are perfect for couples or older children but in my option not suitable for young children.

I really don’t want to put a cloud on it and I’m sure many people are thinking ‘Why would she say all this when it’s your ideal home’ but I really really wish someone had said this to me. x

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I really appreciate the advice honestly. It is something I've thought about how a 3 story works with young kids. We lived in one with my family and loved it but we were older then. Us kids loved having our own floor! I don't remember it being very hot but you don't notice these things when you're kids do you.

[SquishTheWhale]

Originally Posted by Twin mummy

I agree that everyone likes different houses (thankfully) and on the whole I think people are just trying to point out what they see as potential pitfalls.
Personally I hate estates but our house is in a busy main road (set back with drive) and my Mum and Mil hated that when the girls were little as they thought it was dangerous. I worked around it but we were aware of the issue before we bought the house.
For me it’s understanding the negatives and checking you can work round them.
Personally I’d hate small children sleeping on a different level to us. I liked them close just in case and wanted my toddlers to be able to get to me in the night. You can work round it with gates and monitors but it’s worth thinking about and deciding if it would bother you.

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I very much appreciate the potential pitfall advice! I don't appreciate people telling me to look elsewhere, like I'm not even allowed to go see it and make my own mind up lol. I'm sure no house is perfect, it's about what we're willing to compromise on. At least if we go see it and it's not right then that's put to bed rather than us comparing othet houses to it all the time.

Not keen on busy roads mostly as we have a cat, so that's definitley one of the things we will be checking.

[vampiress88]

Yes definitely always need to view the house that you like the most. It can always make all the difference viewing different styles to see which ones suit you.
Plus it’s nice to nosy at other house too. One might have a better garden or better garage. No house is perfect unless you build it yourself but somethings can be changed or compromised on

[Orlandobelle]

Parking
Storage
Electrical sockets
Space for a dishwasher 😁

[SquishTheWhale]

Originally Posted by Orlandobelle

Parking
Storage
Electrical sockets
Space for a dishwasher 😁

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Haha I have been scrutinizing every kitchen picture for that last one!