Choosing where to live

[Porridge GTI]

When you last moved house or flat, what were the overriding factors in making up your mind?

Did you give much weight to an imagined future where we are all working remotely with 3D conference calls etc?

[Xaero]

The only future proofing thing I looked for was an off road parking space where an electric charging point could be added if necessary, allocated parking spaces are not the same. Any other technology that goes in the home needs to adapt to older houses so I wouldn't worry about your 3D conferencing (which is probably achievable with today's VR technology anyway).

The other non-future proofing things I looked for was commuting distance to work, price, space and local amenities.

[alorotom]

For our current house we simply wanted to be on the out skirts of Newcastle in a more rural location than current (quite inner city) and to have multiple floors as we had a 2bd terraced cottage.

We are currently looking at buying our "forever home" - her words not mine - and the list has grown somewhat to;

Detached
4bedrooms minimum (at least 2 ensuite)
Double garage plus large drive/car port
Separate additional room for office duties
Large rear garden (front garden not required)
Quiet, rural location, or, new build area but must be end of road/cul de sac

these are the non-negotiable elements - there are a range of additional "Would Likes"

Location is really flexible, Mrs is a stay at home mum, I work all over so access to an airport and rail stations and/or reasonable road links are desirable - we are considering all of Northumberland at the moment and the Scottish borders east to west.

The beauty is I have seen an ideal property that ticks all the boxes and then some and isi still well under £300k, and we own our current home (only £110k current market value) outright so the mortgage wont be that big a deal thankfully - although appreciate will be quite a shock to the system after not having one for a few years!

[TheAngryDog]

For us it was trying to avoid the really rough areas and get the best we could afford in a limited timescale. We around 3 months to buy a house due to notice being served on us for the house we rented. We did have considerations though;

Off street parking for 2 / 3 cars
Garage
3 bedrooms
Decent sized kitchen
Downstairs toilet.

We ended up with;

Off street parking for up to 4 cars
4 bedrooms
Good sized kitchen
Large lounge
100ft rear garden

The only reason I would move now would be for a house with a downstairs toilet and garage. We will probably extend and add a toilet and not worry about a garage as I don't really need one.

[ollie05]

Been looking for a while;

-4 bed modern/new build
-Garage and drive for at least 2 cars to park next to each other. Not that st 2 spaces in a line thing, so you have to shift cars round all the time, which lots of new builds are opting for!
-decent open plan kitchen/dining room
-utility room
-Decent size living room
-nice rear garden which ideally isn't overlooked in all directions!!
-not next door to social housing, though I know each new site does have a certain percentage for them, so we try to make sure it's as far away as poss.

Have viewed loads of new sites, lots have been st, the one we like is most expensive, obviously!! But they are releasing circa 15 houses every several months, but only 2 to 3 of the type we like, so they are literally gone on day one of release with no chance of negotiation etc.

I get how business works, but when you are on the buying side, it's a right bd! Lol

All fun and games eh!

[Nickbrapp]

Close to a shop, how annoying it must be to drive somewhere when you’ve forgotten to get Milk

[anonymous-user]

Nickbrapp said:

Close to a shop, how annoying it must be to drive somewhere when you’ve forgotten to get Milk

Lol

[NewNameNeeded]

Nickbrapp said:

Close to a shop, how annoying it must be to drive somewhere when you’ve forgotten to get Milk

The opposite for us. Moved out of a Borough of London to a rural setting. No street lighting. Very few neighbours (except the herds of deer). One and a half miles walk to our local pub. Absolute bliss.

[GhostyDog]

Nickbrapp said:

Close to a shop, how annoying it must be to drive somewhere when you’ve forgotten to get Milk

Always have a spare or two in the freezer that get cycled out

[TheAngryDog]

Nickbrapp said:

Close to a shop, how annoying it must be to drive somewhere when you’ve forgotten to get Milk

We are 5 mins walk for milk and 5 mins walk for a pub. 25 mins walk to the town centre where we work. I only use my car at weekends generally now.

[Nickbrapp]

TheAngryDog said:

We are 5 mins walk for milk and 5 mins walk for a pub. 25 mins walk to the town centre where we work. I only use my car at weekends generally now.

I live on a new build estate, not over looked, face oto a park, country side all around, but it’s into a nice village with a shop and a pub, great place to live,

[Sheets Tabuer]

NewNameNeeded said:

Nickbrapp said:

Close to a shop, how annoying it must be to drive somewhere when you’ve forgotten to get Milk

The opposite for us. Moved out of a Borough of London to a rural setting. No street lighting. Very few neighbours (except the herds of deer). One and a half miles walk to our local pub. Absolute bliss.

I'm about to do this and suddenly I'm thinking what the hell am I going to do on my todd all day, nearest town is 6 miles away.

[TheAngryDog]

Nickbrapp said:

TheAngryDog said:

We are 5 mins walk for milk and 5 mins walk for a pub. 25 mins walk to the town centre where we work. I only use my car at weekends generally now.

I live on a new build estate, not over looked, face oto a park, country side all around, but it’s into a nice village with a shop and a pub, great place to live,

Sounds decent to me. We are on a mixed estate, some council houses, our street is mostly owned. Mine, my neighbours, 2 opposite and the 2 we back on to houses were after thoughts as the builders were going to put a road where ours are, but couldn't get permission, so built houses instead. As a result our houses are the larger ones on the street with longer rear gardens as well. We aren't overlooked from all sides which is good as well, unlike our last house.

[NewNameNeeded]

Sheets Tabuer said:

I'm about to do this and suddenly I'm thinking what the hell am I going to do on my todd all day, nearest town is 6 miles away.

Way I see it is I'm only a car ride or cab from civilization, but there is nothing quite like shutting the front door and feeling away from it all. And you can run around nuddy in the garden.

[Yipper]

Fast fibre and strong 4G / 5G is an absolute must now if you're running a business and need to take work home.

[talksthetorque]

Somewhere better than I live now, or I'm not moving.
These are the instructions to the missus now that we have been here a whole 3 years and she has started to get itchy feet again
She wants to move because no mains gas, septic tank, cars get muddy. Normal semi rural things which add a small amount to the cost of living.
We are 5 minutes drive from most things, although a decent supermarket is 20 minutes drive away.

[LimaDelta]

Our "forever home" requirements were:

• Rural
• Not a new-build
• Equal sized bedrooms for the kids
• 50m2+ garden shed/workshop
• Close to an airport

I work overseas so no real travel considerations except for the airport above, and kids in an indy, so school catchment areas not an issue either. In the end we actually had too much choice, and it would have probably been easier to have a narrower geographic area of interest. The shed was the hardest criteria to fill, and the 'equal sized' bedrooms also surprisingly difficult.

[Sheets Tabuer]

NewNameNeeded said:

Way I see it is I'm only a car ride or cab from civilization, but there is nothing quite like shutting the front door and feeling away from it all. And you can run around nuddy in the garden.

I'm sure I'll be fine, there is a pub about a mile away but what started out wanting a rural bit of heaven has turned in to a nagging doubt about boredom and loneliness, coming from a city with shopping parks and cinemas to sheep and cows.

It'll be fine....

[PositronicRay]

NewNameNeeded said:

Sheets Tabuer said:

I'm about to do this and suddenly I'm thinking what the hell am I going to do on my todd all day, nearest town is 6 miles away.

Way I see it is I'm only a car ride or cab from civilization, but there is nothing quite like shutting the front door and feeling away from it all. And you can run around nuddy in the garden.

"What with these feet"!

Just did this, taxi/car/bus/train/cycle to local towns. Village has 2 pubs and 1 shop.

It's actually more convenient than the town we moved from, where the nearest shop was a 20min walk away. The road outside the house gets gritted too.

[TwistingMyMelon]

For us it was 4 bedrooms within our budget!!! Or 3 bedrooms with a room that could be used as a bedroom

Driveway ideally

2 + toilets /bathroom (lots of houses round here often only have one toilet even though they are 3/4 bedroom!)

Garage was needed

Good Schools - failed this primary looks nice, secondary less so, but OK

Quick timescale, needed to be in under 4 months

Not too bad an area, area is ok, not perfect not too bad

Also this was peak August and market was quiet, not much to choose from so limited choice, in the end we bought the only place I viewed in under 2 days of looking!