Remind me what the benefits of buying a house with a garden are please?

[pavlovthecat]

I will regret it, wont i, if i buy a family home with a courtyrard instead of a garden?

Its only that the estate agents have just sent me some fab houses which we already ruled out as garden was a courtyard, they are now hugely reduced .

Expat - we are not buying at all right now

Its too risky, and we are feeling a bit out of our depth

The last place we looked at today had a small garden, but it was a garden, not a yard, it was unusual, small but had been cultivated well. It would have worked fine.

But we are having cold feet about it all.

My tiny little flat it looking much bigger today.

My Dd has a park at the end of the road, and our best friend has a huge garden and is going to buy her some garden toys.

She doesnt know any different. Right?

She doesn't, no, Eton, she knows when you and her dad feel happy, secure and safe.

So if that's in a flat, that's what she'll feel.

You have to go with what is best for your family, Eton, and if your thought process is telling you now's not the right time, then it's not.

EMC, try not to be sad.

Try to get some peace from things.

Everything happens for a reason, even if we may never know what that reason is.

You know, I was feeling a bit down about how we'll have to move out of this house when our landlords get back - a deal's a deal, though, and it's not our house - and about how we were going to stay here and stuff.

Then we found out the teacher and head at the catchment school are cows.

See, there was the reason why we need to move on right there!

I think you have made the right decision EMC.

How much do houses in Peverell go for now? When I worked as an Estate Agent in Plymouth many many moons ago the average was £45,000 to £50,000. Don't let this upset you, it was in the depths of the last property slump!

Expat - thanks I feel very sad about it right now. I also feel really selfish and quite snobby.

We can afford to buy. But we cant afford to buy what we want. If we buy in a house that is going to plummet in value, we would prefer it to be in an area that is not a 'buying cos its cheap' area.

If we stay where we are, we will have enough money for holidays, where she can run in the sun and country as much as she likes, weekends away, and time in USA with her family.

If we buy, we will be renovating/building/spending money/reducing our expenditure to far and we will not have much time/money for any of the above. In which case, lack of space is not a problem now.

Apart from the garden issue. DD is an outdoor girl.

Two months ago, it might have been different.

What timing eh?!!

Then let yourself feel selfish and snobby because you know it will pass. It's not a permanent thing and it's a normal reaction.

Have a good cry over it! It's all rainy and stormy here, good crying weather.

You'll cherish all the weekends away and holidays because you know when the time is right, and you take the plunge, those things won't be possible, so best to enjoy them now.

eekamoose you dont want to know the value!!!

A house in Peverell, the ones we are looking at, done up, all spangly, proper like. £220.00 on a park road. On the road we were looking at, about £180-200k, but that was two months ago.The one we were looking at was on the market for £170,000 and been reduced to £149,000 in the last 3 weeks. It needs, we think, about £20,000 of work on it, minimum.

My little apartment, 10 years ago, sold for £15,000

Goodness me.

eekamoos - there are a few, on Glendower Road and some other similar roads, going for upwards of £250k.

£220k seems average for us when we have been looking. Which was why £149k was a bargain.

We did not plan on peverell. It was not like, we had to live there. In fact we looked mainly in Plymstock area, and also in Beacon park, just does not seem to matter where we look. At the places we like are to work intense.

We did look at St Annes Chaple, Calstock area too. But I work long hours on the days i do work, and dont really want to travel for that long each way esp with fuel prices rising.

The traffic isn't too bad over the bridge if you hit it right. I used to do Harrowbarrow to Tavistock (ds's school) to Launceston (my school) and reverse the journey in the evening. It was roughly 45 mins to an hour depending on traffic and tractors. DH used to get home from the dockyard in 20-25 mins leaving at about 1800, so it wasn't bad.