Moving to Melton - where are the houses?

[Chiltern]

Having a hard time finding anything suitable in Melton Mowbray, we have sold and are reluctant to rent but nothing's coming up. Our search covers a wide range from 350k to 500k and only 6 properties come up 4 of which are in a neighbouring village. I have my heart set on living in the actual town, is there a reason the market is so quiet there?

[Chiltern]

Sorry that wasn't clear, I'm looking to buy - the rent part is something I'd consider as a last resort. Don't want to lose our buyer obviously.

[Idefix]

Maybe a silly question but can you get what you want at less/more than your price bracket?

Or is this a Brexit ripple impacting on the number of houses for sale?

[Chiltern]

Lower no as we're looking for a decent size garden and it's a big premium, higher isn't really feasible, it's the top of our budget.

We bid the asking price on one at the top of our budget and didn't get it so maybe the market isn't quiet but hot?

I thought it would be easier than this tbh, kind of like "we'd like to buy who would like to Sell?" 😂

[Idefix]

Haha I feel your pain op!

A bigger garden in village is always going command a premium I guess.

Have you thought about letter dropping? We came very close to doing this, we also had a narrow search area and very few houses coming up.

[Chiltern]

I thought about letter dropping but figured if it was me who was on the receiving end I'd think it was a scam 🤔 Haven't worked out how to word it to sound like a proper real person.

[mateysmum]

We lived in Melton some years ago and of course things may have changed, but actually, the town itself is quite small. someone may correct me, but I'm not sure there have been a lot of new houses built recently - compared to lots of other towns. If you look on google earth, the town is still pretty compact. Villages like Burton Lazars/Scalford etc are very close to town - though admittedly not walking distance. Also, I'm guessing that the population is quite stable in Melton. It's a rural town, with a couple of big employers and I think people settle there for years. We were very sorry to leave.

I think you may have to change/broaden your parameters a bit.
Why do you especially want to be in town itself? Could you live in Oakham/Loughbrough/Nottingham etc instead if being in town is important to you?

[Idefix]

Iirc Kirsty and phill (channel 4 website) did have pointers on how to structure and what to include.

Not quite the same thing but apparently the vendors of our cottage really liked that we were a family and we're going to give back to the community (hcp) and this heavily factored in accepting a much reduced all we could afford offer.

I think a personal touch does work with some people. But my gut feeling is you may have to compromise on that garden for central location.

[Chiltern]

We picked it because we have family there. Thanks for your help, I agree it's not moving very fast. There is a plan for loads more houses but the new-build doesn't appeal because of the garden size.

[TheWildRumpyPumpus]

What size house are you looking for?

[Chiltern]

Idefix - yes, I think a compromise is necessary but there isn't anything available even with a small garden. Thanks for the letter tips.

[Chiltern]

THeWild - We're looking for a minimum three bedroom detached, big kitchen and garden, garage . Rest isn't such a big deal.

[Chiltern]

The thing is we already live in a lovely house in a village, we specifically wanted the town but I can see we will have to compromise on something. Burton Lazars has more scope I guess.

[TheWildRumpyPumpus]

Are you looking under your price range too? My in laws sold their 1930s 3 bed detached with big garden end of last year for 320.

[Chiltern]

Yep, thanks, we're covering 275k upwards. People clearly like living there and don't move very often!

[Idefix]

A good sign for when you find your house!

[Chiltern]

Yes indeed! 😁