Don’t Be In A Rush To Buy A New House, Or Why You Must Check Out Everything When Buying A Home
// August 15th, 2010 // Real Estate
A couple of years ago I decided to Sell My House in the centre of Reading. When We Buy Homes we don’t normally consider that fact that somebody else else may move in next door who plays the drums. It’s ok , I was thinking of selling up and moving anyway but I must say an enthusiastic drummer moving in next door certainly managed to concentrate my mind on my next move a bit . I put the house on the market after tidying the house up a bit, lick of paint, get rid of all my junk , well you know the sort of thing. Also dutifully remind myself to put myself in the mind of a prospective new buyer and also consider that there is no requirement to mention any arguements with the neighbour because if I Sell My House to someone who is just not in love with the fact that next door is a restless drummer then there must be no come back on me. It’s a bit cruel I know, but then we should all be doing our homework as and when We Buy Houses and, really, it’s buyer beware for some of these purchases .
I sold my house in quick time. As it was it sold to a large family who happened to be even noisier than the drummer next door, even without the drums, so I didn’t in fact feel very guilty about it all. I made certain that I had deposited most of my belongings into storage and came the day there was little more for me to do than to give the keys to the estate agent , take one last look over my shoulder, and move on. I was moving into a room in a shared house anyway and my intention was to buy a more expensive house as I was still quite young and had the idea that when We Buy Homes it’s always necessary to buy bigger and better particularly if one is going to achieve real status by having that ideal home.
I was taking a break between IT contracts . “Resting” as they say in the acting profession . So I had quite a bit of time on my hands for doing my research well and properly and within a reasonably short time I had decided on a range of neighbourhoods that I would like to live in. I had a number of criteria which were as follows:
1. Away from any busy roads, if possible a close
2. A a lot more spacious house than I had before. Well it is just common sense really doesn’t it? It’s the old “more bang for your buck” scenario.
3. A huge garden. Even though I am not a gardener by nature the thought of a beautifully laid out formal garden has always appealed to me.
4. I needed at least one car parking space. I only have one car so any more was pointless to me.
A semi detached came up in one of the areas I have decided was a good area. It was to be offered for sale on a sealed bid basis with the highest viable bid winning. I won and was advised that I needed to move hastily as the owner was very keen to sell and considered that it had gone for below the market price. I also thought this and bypassed my usual checks and expedited the purchase and moved in.
The first night I moved in I was a bit surprised that around eleven in the evening a large collection of teenagers turned up in and around my front garden smoking, drinking and generally being a pest . It turned out that all the houses in the close had at least one teenager and as it was a close they sort of ruled the roost. If you were a parent of one of these then you would probably be glad to get them away from your own property so they all seemed to congregate around my house. Not good news.
The next day was the weekend and I met my next door neighbour. He proudly announced “The best thing about me is I can whisper across a meadow”. I dare say he could too. House construction was not really an issue to me so I had decided not to make it a priority but If I had discovered in advance who my neighbours were going to be I would have specified three foot thick solid stone walls!
To cut a long story short I found myself increasingly not wanting to stay in the house. My driveway was always blocked by groups of teenagers at night, my neighbour shouted at his children from dawn to dusk and I felt I couldn’t invite any of my friends over as they would be quite shocked. My DIY and improvement plans for what was a large house needing some upgrading melted away as I really didn’t want to stay there let alone invest further in the property. I spent increasingly more time away from the place and it wasn’t long before I decided to sell up and cut my losses.
At last I sold the house. Because I found it increasingly difficult to live in that neighbourhood I made a small loss on the property , and that’s not the sort of thing we expect to happen when We Buy Homes. The whole experience was not one of the best in my life it has to be said but looking back with the benefit of hindsight I should have followed some simple rules :
1. Before We Buy Houses we must always think of who else in that neighbourhood would buy that house. If you think that you in fact aren’t going to fit in then it’s best to hold back no matter how much of a bargain it appears .
2. If you have plans for a property that you want to grow into then for goodness sake follow it through. It’s no good being half hearted about interior improvements etc and just leave the place go to rack and ruin. Have a plan and follow it through. I can’t stress this enough.
