For all of you who don’t speak Spanish. This is a message. For the ones that didn’t believe in me. Guess where I am honey? I’m here TUESDAY.

Apparently I live in one of the lowest below sea level areas of land in the country. It’s practically a valley with houses on.

*buys snorkel*
 
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About a quarter of The Netherlands is below sea level, isn't it? You'll survive.
 
lolly said:
About a quarter of The Netherlands is below sea level, isn't it? You'll survive.
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Mind you, I'm just walking home now and decided to take the river path for the last 400m or so. But it's closed off -

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Obviously I don't need to worry so much about flooding as my house TUMBLING INTO THE RIVER OVERNIGHT
 
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Spawn's friend came to the Christening on Sunday and showed me pictures of what they've done to the field behind my old house. The field had a massive soakaway on it to stop the prison and nearby houses flooding but they've filled in the soakaway and are starting to build a load of houses on it. You could see the soakaway from my garden and on days with heavy rain it was up to the top level so it'll be interesting to see what happens now, I know I wouldn't pay hundreds of thousands of pounds for a house there.
 
Never buy a house built on moss land. You can never take control of the damp. Especially now, the way they're just throwing houses up.

The ex-council semis in our town are significantly cheaper because they're not on new build estates and yet they're bigger, stronger, have more land and they're closer to amenities because these days, local councils seem to think you can build 300 new homes without any new shops, schools, doctors, bus stops...

It's INSANE. Don't ever buy a new build.
 
We're new build - or at least it was when he moved in (about three days before meeting me). So it's 25+ years old now. Mr L wanted a new house partly because he had an old Victorian terrace before and was permanently throwing money at repairs.

My dad (who had been a builder) always said that he wouldn't buy a house less than 20 years old though, and when he used to come around he'd be permanently looking for problems, shaking his head, and telling us to keep an eye on certain things.
 
I don't think new builds from 20 or 30 years ago are bad. It's the ones they're building now. Shocking.

And what's more so many are being bought as buy to let, I went to see one when I was moving and I only went out of curiosity because it was out of my budget (and my budget is pretty decent) but it was SO small, 3 small bedrooms, small bathroom... all because it was a new build on a new build estate. There wasn't even a corner shop within walking distance. Madness.
 
We have a lot of new builds going up on the island and they look so cheap and unstable. They get them up in a few days.

My friend bought one and 2 years later the whole thing has moved, doors won't close, everything is on a slant.
 
Back when I bought my house with Epponnee Rae in the mid 90s, we happened to look at a new build 2 bedroom house on the then new estate where Mr L coincidentally bought his house a year or so later. A three bedroom new build was out of our budget, but a 2 bed we could manage. However, we discoveres that all new build two beds have TINY second bedrooms. Like you'd even struggle to put a single bed in it alongside a bedside cabinet. So we bought a Victorian three bed instead which had two double bedrooms, plus a box room, and was just a lot bigger generally, and with a larger garden.

Still, that was in the days when two people each earning about 10 - 12k could save a deposit in less than a year, and then get a mortgage to buy a house. That house has increased in value by about 800%. My salary has about tripled. And it's not THAT long ago in the great scheme of things.
 
Star said:
I'm not a fan of new builds, I like a house with a bit of character. New builds gardens in particular are the WORST.
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I don't think that's necessarily true about gardens - in some ways it's quite nice to have a blank slate of a rectangle of lawn to do whatever you want with, rather than buying an old one where you're inheriting someone else's decision to pave it all or whatever. It just takes a lot of work (and then time to let it mature) or else a new build garden can be very dull indeed.

Agreed about the houses nearly always lacking character, though.
 
I couldn’t believe the size of the bedrooms! A 3 bed now is basically one small double and 2 box rooms! And this is coming from someone who spent most of their adult life in London apartments! I know what SMALL is :D
 
lolly said:
I don't think that's necessarily true about gardens - in some ways it's quite nice to have a blank slate of a rectangle of lawn to do whatever you want with, rather than buying an old one where you're inheriting someone else's decision to pave it all or whatever. It just takes a lot of work (and then time to let it mature) or else a new build garden can be very dull indeed.

Agreed about the houses nearly always lacking character, though.
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The ones I've seen always have tiny gardens which are built on unsuitable land and just flood constantly!
 
Funky said:
I couldn’t believe the size of the bedrooms! A 3 bed now is basically one small double and 2 box rooms! And this is coming from someone who spent most of their adult life in London apartments! I know what SMALL is :D
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We've got a decent sized second bedroom in terms of floor area, but it's long and thin, so you couldn't get a double bed in it and walk around it easily regardless how you did it. So we've got a sofa bed in it because that's the only way we can practically use the room.

Well, I say 'we' - it's actually only used as an Abba room, where he sits on the sofa with with cotton gloves on and fingers the collection occasionally. I genuinely can't remember the last time I spent any time in it :)

My real irritation with new builds is how they seem to think we all want multiple toilets. We have a downstairs cloakroom, and then an en suite upstairs as well as a bathroom. In a relatively small house. I'd much rather lose the en suite - the bathroom is right next door to the bedroom anyway - it's not even along the landing, and then have that floor space to make the main bedroom bigger or that second room more functional. We're two people in a relatively small house - we don't need three toilets. I suppose three beds are designed as 'family' homes, but practically everyone who has a family around here moves away as soon as they have a second child anyway - the houses just aren't big enough to raise a family in.
 
My spare room is used to sort my WASHING. I haven’t even bought any bedding for the single bed yet and I’ve been here nearly two months.
 
Star said:
The ones I've seen always have tiny gardens which are built on unsuitable land and just flood constantly!
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Tiny isn't necessarily bad - plenty of people don't want large gardens for a variety of reasons. But you can see when you look at the plans for any new housing estates now that gardens are very much an afterthought squeezed in around boxy little houses rather than an integral part of a design. And in terms of unsuitable land and flooding, that just goes back to funky's point earlier.
 
And they’re all ASTRO TURF of course!
 
lolly said:
We've got a decent sized second bedroom in terms of floor area, but it's long and thin, so you couldn't get a double bed in it and walk around it easily regardless how you did it. So we've got a sofa bed in it because that's the only way we can practically use the room.

Well, I say 'we' - it's actually only used as an Abba room, where he sits on the sofa with with cotton gloves on and fingers the collection occasionally. I genuinely can't remember the last time I spent any time in it :)

My real irritation with new builds is how they seem to think we all want multiple toilets. We have a downstairs cloakroom, and then an en suite upstairs as well as a bathroom. In a relatively small house. I'd much rather lose the en suite - the bathroom is right next door to the bedroom anyway - it's not even along the landing, and then have that floor space to make the main bedroom bigger or that second room more functional. We're two people in a relatively small house - we don't need three toilets. I suppose three beds are designed as 'family' homes, but practically everyone who has a family around here moves away as soon as they have a second child anyway - the houses just aren't big enough to raise a family in.
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We saw a house recently with only a slightly bigger footprint than ours, but claimed to be 8 bedroom 5 bathroom. The 'bedrooms' in the loft were ridiculous, yes you could get a single bed in, but you'd need to watch your head every time you got up. And the toilets again you could barely squeeze in! I couldn't understand it, why not have less rooms but make them bigger and more functional. This family didn't need 8 rooms for 4 people.
 
When I retire I'm going to have like a 2 bed bungalow with a 300ft garden :disco:
 
Star said:
We saw a house recently with only a slightly bigger footprint than ours, but claimed to be 8 bedroom 5 bathroom. The 'bedrooms' in the loft were ridiculous, yes you could get a single bed in, but you'd need to watch your head every time you got up. And the toilets again you could barely squeeze in! I couldn't understand it, why not have less rooms but make them bigger and more functional. This family didn't need 8 rooms for 4 people.
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Are they hoping to sell it effectively as an HMO but get around the legalities of it?
 
lolly said:
Are they hoping to sell it effectively as an HMO but get around the legalities of it?
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No that's what got me, the mother of the family kept saying how they've built their dream forever home :confused:
 
Star said:
Nah. When you retire you don't want to be so close to other people surely? Think of all the small talk you'll have to make.
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Oh I've no qualms about actively ignoring people I share a wall with. I'd quite like to be in a terrace again, as much as Mr L wouldn't consider it.
 
Star said:
When I retire I'm going to have like a 2 bed bungalow with a 300ft garden :disco:
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I've no desire for anything other than a small garden, as I don't enjoy the upkeep enough. A small terrace with a few pots would suit me. As long as I can get my washing out, that'll do.

What I'd really like is small garden but which opens out onto a lovely view. So I'm only responsible for the upkeep of a tiny part but have the advantage of a much larger view.
 
I don't want a big garden tho. Just enough space for a chair so I can drink wine in the sun, a hot tub, and somewhere for Waffle the dog to pee.
 
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