After much debate and discussion and "looking into things", we've decided not to go ahead with the house we went to view. My husband just loved the house so it has been a hard decision as the house and field ticked so many of our boxes - probably more than any other property that we've seen.
Some boxes, however, remained unticked. It was an old two up two down kind of house. At some time in the past, one of the upstairs rooms was divided into two so that it is priced as a 3 bedroom house. There is also an extension across the back which gives a nice size kitchen, a conservatory and a bathroom. There is no bathroom upstairs and we could not see any way of installing just a toilet without losing the upstairs cupboard, sorry, third bedroom. The stairs are fairly narrow and the ceiling is very low and the handrail swaps from side to side to accomodate the odd wall/cupboard arrangement and it would be a long and potentially dangerous journey to the downstairs bathroom at 3am. When I am tired or indeed half asleep as at 3am, my balance is dreadful. The house is semidetached and I cannot see the council giving planning permission for a two storey extension as it would ruin the symmetrical look of the house from the road. Councils seem to be big on the "look" of things. There is the slight complication that we would have to have a mortgage again (yuk!!) in order to buy the house and what would we use to pay for the extension even if the council gave permission? If we gave up the third bedroom and turned it into a toilet ( maybe fit a shower cubicle in as well but it would be very tight), that still leaves the problem of the stairs. We'd also have reduced the saleability of the house as there would only be two bedrooms. At some stage, when we are old and decrepit (more than now...) we would have to move again so resale value needs to be thought about as well. Not a major factor at this point but one not to be ignored either. What if eyesight got worse or our creaky knees or something and we couldn't drive? The nearest shop is definitely driving, not walking, distance away.
Ah well. I was encouraged that there are such properties still to be found out there. And disappointed that this was not The One.
Some boxes, however, remained unticked. It was an old two up two down kind of house. At some time in the past, one of the upstairs rooms was divided into two so that it is priced as a 3 bedroom house. There is also an extension across the back which gives a nice size kitchen, a conservatory and a bathroom. There is no bathroom upstairs and we could not see any way of installing just a toilet without losing the upstairs cupboard, sorry, third bedroom. The stairs are fairly narrow and the ceiling is very low and the handrail swaps from side to side to accomodate the odd wall/cupboard arrangement and it would be a long and potentially dangerous journey to the downstairs bathroom at 3am. When I am tired or indeed half asleep as at 3am, my balance is dreadful. The house is semidetached and I cannot see the council giving planning permission for a two storey extension as it would ruin the symmetrical look of the house from the road. Councils seem to be big on the "look" of things. There is the slight complication that we would have to have a mortgage again (yuk!!) in order to buy the house and what would we use to pay for the extension even if the council gave permission? If we gave up the third bedroom and turned it into a toilet ( maybe fit a shower cubicle in as well but it would be very tight), that still leaves the problem of the stairs. We'd also have reduced the saleability of the house as there would only be two bedrooms. At some stage, when we are old and decrepit (more than now...) we would have to move again so resale value needs to be thought about as well. Not a major factor at this point but one not to be ignored either. What if eyesight got worse or our creaky knees or something and we couldn't drive? The nearest shop is definitely driving, not walking, distance away.
Ah well. I was encouraged that there are such properties still to be found out there. And disappointed that this was not The One.
Labels: househunting
posted by Jo @ 4:28 AM
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