Mazda MX-3 V6

[OllieNZ]

Bought a house. 4 bed detached for a smidge short of quarter of a million. The MX-3 has to go.

Investment? or is the family getting a new addition? ;)

[Captain Jack]

Bargain

[steve_earwig]

Doesn't that depend where it is? You could buy a castle for that in Croatia...

[OllieNZ]

Doesn't that depend where it is? You could buy a castle for that in Croatia...

It might get you a flat here in Oxfordshire

[Bailes1992]

It's a new build house, actually quite cheap for around here but generally houses on new estates around here go up in value after they've been bought which I always find a little odd.

We had been looking for a 3 bed detached for a long time but when we seen this house we decided to totally ruin the budget.


Oh, and no plans for any kids. EVER!

[OllieNZ]

Oh, and no plans for any kids. EVER!

Ha, that's what I said. 4 kids later.....

[Captain Jack]

You might get a 3-bed semi for that around where I am.

I despise new builds. They are built to the same standard as new cars - i.e. out of spit and snot rather than bricks and mortar. This is speaking from experience, having lived in several. On my previous brand new flat, the door to the balcony wouldn't open and, 3 months later, the developer finally came around to replace the whole door with frame.

That's not to say older builds are any better. My current 4-bed detached built in the 70's had a foot of snot above ground level between the walls from the time it was built, leading to damp corners alongside of the house. Had to get a bricky out to remove bricks on the outer skin, get rid of snot and re-brick. At least they are all built out of bricks and not out of timber with hollow walls.

What were we talking about? Oh yeah, cars. Erm... I'd say it was a good decision to stick on eBay, especially with your new acquisition.

[trufflehunt]

I bought new in 1981. A John Bloor mock Georgian 3 bed semi. Watched it go from a patch of grass in a field, to completion.

Wouldn't buy a new house again, or an estate house.
There was so much damp, as the plastering dried out. And the cheap paint,
and low quality woodwork revealed themselves.

MInd you, John Bloor did put his housebuilding fortune to good use.
Bought up the name, rights, and remains of a bankrupt motorcycle company.

65,000 Triumph motorcycles a year now. Can't be bad.

[Welly]

I've bought 2 new builds including our current house. The are normally cheaper than the 'market' value of similar houses as your're paying what it cost for the land + house + healthy profit rather than the prices Estate Agents dream up in their Coffee Break.....

House prices are a curious science in the UK that's for sure and obsessed over to an unhealthy level.

Sam it looks a nice gaff that, hope there's some driveway space for fixing motors

[Bailes1992]

Ha, that's what I said. 4 kids later.....

My partner doesn't want kids either so I suspect there's a high chance we won't ever have them. However if she did change her mind I would have no issues having kids. However, between us we have 3 brothers/sisters who all want kids so there will be plenty of neices/nephews about.

I've bought 2 new builds including our current house. The are normally cheaper than the 'market' value of similar houses as your're paying what it cost for the land + house + healthy profit rather than the prices Estate Agents dream up in their Coffee Break.....

House prices are a curious science in the UK that's for sure and obsessed over to an unhealthy level.

Sam it looks a nice gaff that, hope there's some driveway space for fixing motors

House prices do seem a bit of a black art. I have an end terrace 2 bedroom house with a decent extension on the kitchen which is valued and currently marketed at £115k. Next door has just gone up for sale which is a mid terrace, not as nice inside as our house and nor does it have the extension for just £5k less at £110k.
We've had issues selling ours, it's been up for 4 months now. I can only assume it's because of the amount of new housing estates around here (there's 4 in a 2 mile radius of my current house) coupled with the governments help to buy scheme. Why would anyone buy my 30 year old 2 bedroom end of terrace when they could buy a brand new 2 bedroom semi detached house in a new housing estate for £120k with just a £6k deposit and the government will give them a 5 year interest free loan for 40% of the purchase price? I don't blame them and if I was in their position I would have done the same.

The builder has taken our house in part exchange, has given us a very decent price for it and has offered to pay our stamp duty and give us £500 towards legal fees. They've also put flooring throughout and upgraded our kitchen to the 'premium' pack which includes all integrated appliances free of change.

Drive is big enough to park a car and open both doors nearly fully. I'd rather have had a double width drive but it was a compromise between the plot and general outside space and the drive. Unfortunately most of the plots are quite overlooked by other houses. This was an exception, although ~£40k over budget.
It has a single garage which I'm planning on turning into a little workshop, I'll have a bench with under counter cabinets and a vice on one side and shelving/cupboards on the other. A freezer and a tumble drier also needs to go in the garage. There's enough room behind the garage then for a shed to put bikes, lawnmowers and other garden nonsense in. I also need to get a water butt put somewhere to run my pressure washer off. Rain water is fantastically soft which is bliss for washing cars with, I will need to look into filters though.

Oh and the completion date.... 16th December. Busy month ahead!

[Captain Jack]

Hm, must say that's a good deal with part exchange - so much less hassle trying to sell one while buying another all completing at the same time. A logistical nightmare.

I would still hate to live on these new build estates. Outdoor space is next to nothing and there is usually (at least around here) NO provisioning for parking at all. So everyone parks on the road - try getting out of there at rush hour with cars parked on both sides.

[Bailes1992]

The garden is actually about the same size my current house is although the space is more usable. New houses do seem to have disappointingly small plots but I can also see the benefit in having a low maintenance garden.

[Welly]

Warning:

When we were young and bought a brand new house in a little cul-de-sac everything was rosy, chatting to the nice* neighbores, going out for meals/pubs.....going in each others houses for meals....THIS is where it should've stopped, well no, it should have stopped before the 'chatting to neighbores' bit.

I'm a grumpy git and I like to keep private, but the level of nosiness, jealousy, and eventual fall-outs was unreal in that little street

A mate* over the road stopped talking to me when I bought a newer car than his

Neighbors should be kept at arms-length, a bit like a Dog Poo bag; once the outer layer is broken all kinds of sh*t happens.

[Bailes1992]

Luckily it's not a 'cul-de-sac' as such, more of a long dead end street. Just been up to measure the windows and back doors ready for some blinds! Still can't get over how big it is.
Only neighbors I have to be friendly to are the ones behind. The grass down the side of our hose is actually theirs according to the boundry drawings and I would like to bury a cable up the side at some point and accross my back garden as the current supply into the garage is an utterly pathetic 16A!

Solicitor has been instructed and just waiting to hear back from out mortgage advisor. Ideally we'd like a 95% mortgage which will leave us a decent lump to buy things we need to buy and keep a bit of 'just in case' money but banks aren't as happy to give approval on them as we are tight up against the x4.5 rule. A 90% mortgage is doable and we already have a mortgage in principle but it's going to decimate the bank balance.

[Bailes1992]

So the house is now off too. Other half nitpicked some ridiculous reasons why she couldn't buy that house. Lost a deposit plus already paid some money to the solicitors.

What gets me is the house exceeded what either of us wanted yet she found issues with it. She hates the house we are in but is totally incapable of picking a new house.

So angry at the situation it's unreal.