Victorian home to modern?

[WentworthMillerMad]

Nice problem: We have just sold our victorian home, assuming we would buy a similar style but slightly bigger in an up and coming area.
Today I visited a new Cala development as they are currently paying stamp duty blah blah.
I have never lived in a modern home and am unsure if the dazzling show home has sucked me in but I feel tempted by the modern estate. Less maintainance, parking, garden of our own etc.AIBU? Has anyone left the 'charm' of the original featured vicorian and moved to a modern estate and liked it! Opinions and advantages please!

I wouldn't! And I wouldn't be able to drag DH near one anyway.

Sorry!

Look at how finances pan out though I guess.

Have owned both. Couldn't give a toss about 'charm'. As far as I'm concerned a Victorian house = 100 years of someone else's bodges.

More importantly, do you like the location? It is most important. We like our house but couldn't say we like the new development we live on. Will give it a year to mature and see how we feel then.

I'd struggle, having owned both, but as Quenelle says, the location's the crucial bit.

Plus the bills will be lower. Probably

Oh, so YANBU, by the way

oooo I have often wondered this...I love Victorian houses and we had ours on the market last year for a while (didn't sell in the end) We looked at some new builds but I just didn't think I could do it!!! I almost got seduced by the lovely cream carpets (not so much by the horrible feature wallpaper though!) and fancy kitchens....and parking would be v helpful (currently we have to park about 200 m and out of sight from the house) BUT the gardens were all tiny and really over-looked....and am not sure I want to live somewhere where EVERY SINGLE HOUSE looks the same, both inside and out! I told my neighbour we had looked at some and she was horrified and said 'only boring people live in boring houses'!!!!!

Also, would your furniture go? I'd end up having to buy loads of new stuff as our things would look really odd in a new build! You'd have to factor that into it too!

mickeyjohn, fraid your neighbour is right

OP, YADBU!

Most new developments these days have a variety of house style, they don't all look the same any more.

I think the worst thing about new houses is the narrowness of the roads. It's quite claustrophobic.

But that is offset by being able to let your children play out the front because the road is so quiet, and being able to fit 3 cars on our drive.

I have lived in everything from modern to Elizabethan. Location absolutely top priority too.

Totally agree with Quenelle about 100 years of bodging on Victorian houses. Curently live in Georgian and love the space but not the rubbish repairs my landlord did.

Old houses cost a fortune to maintain so that is a downside but you get more space and better locations. I also agree on the identikit housing on estates. I know people who bought houses on estates, quite nice ones but they never intend to stay in them. Its just a step on the ladder to a period house.

In reality I would like one of these. Its just a dream though so as a compromise if could find a nice Victorian one that someone has done up well in a good area then I would go for that and be happy.

Its just a place to live in the end.

I bought a good quality new build once. It was fine, the neighbours gelled as we all moved in at the same time, and lots of joking about 'estate life'. House was fine, plenty of storage, which can be a problem in new builds. I don't miss driving through an estate to get home though.

Thanks! We currently live in a flat without a garden and on street parking. We can't aford more space in this part of Glasgow.
The new estate is in a pretty village 15 mins from the city, south facing big garden. It's double the size of our place now - it's just living on an estate........................maybe I can do it for the space, washing on a line, BBQ in the sun or is it too Stepford!!!

A new build is all good if it is some quirky eco-home.

In your instance OP I would go for it.

We've moved from beautiful big victorian villa in a city to a smaller 30s house with a big garden in a nice village. I don't like the house nearly as much, but our life is much nicer, the kids have more freedom, and lots of friends.

For all that I'd agree with your sentiment about an estate,they can be friendly, lots of kids for DCs to play with etc.

I do miss the nice architectural stuff though!

Embrace your inner Stepford Wife LOL.

Is it a small village 'development' or a huge 'estate'?

Ooh, you're in Glasgow, I'm from Glasgow

West end (maryhill really) to Lenzie! About 56 houses, surrounded by cycle tracks, nature walks etc. I picture the kids cycling while I sip wine on the deck, ha ha!

We're facing the same dilemma at the moment- have outgrown our 3 bed downstairs bathroom victorian terrace that opens directly onto the street and is a rat run with a tiny garden. If we want to stay in this area though, the only houses are other 3 bed downstairs [etc] where someone's done the loft conversion, otherwise they're massive semis but 50% higher than our budget allows :(

DH has an obsession with floorboards rather than carpets so feels that modern houses are out, but they have the benefits Quenelle mentions - I'm probably willing to live with the lack of personality for 10 years or so til the girls are at big school, then we move somewhere within a decent bike ride of school and back to the older houses. Plus every time we try to put a picture hook up in this house the walls crumble...

Ah, I grew up in Hyndland. Yeah, you'd get a lot more house/garden in Lenzie!

Ok , I have had a peep [stalker]. They look lovely houses.

My mates live in a cala home and it is very nice, but for the £££ their garden is very small.

I liked it, and envied their clean, non wobbly/rickety matching skirting boards that were fluch to the wall/floor in every room.

OP I know of a similar development near me, all landscaping and woodland walks etc. It is very Stepford Wives, they even have rules against doing car maintenance in front of your home, or having children's toys in your front garden. As a consequence you never see a living soul, not even on a Saturday afternoon. Where I live isn't that bad, there are always children playing out and signs of life.

I won't ever go back to a period house though, unless money becomes no object - which is not likely.

Will more likely look for a 60s-70s detached. I know they are boxlike and characterless but you get the large garden, wide roads and established amenities that are missing from new developments, and the offroad parking and right angles you don't get in period houses.