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Original poster

Is a detached house worth the extra money?

69 replies

Blup · 19/08/2016 14:20

DH and I are currently house-hunting. We'd like a house with 4 bedrooms - so the DCs can have a room each, and then a spare room which can also be used as an office (I work from home). DH really wants a detached house because he says he "likes to feel he owns the whole place". Problem is, that's pushing out of our budget, unless we compromise on the fourth bedroom or go for a house where the fourth bedroom is a converted roofspace, but then we'd have no storage space for all DH's rubbish and would fill the garage with boxes instead of having it for the car.

I just don't think it's worth the extra for a detached house, but then I've always lived in semis and had no issues. DH has always lived in detached houses until our current one. I know you can get nightmare neighbours if you're in a semi, but really unless you're very unlucky, I don't think it's a big deal - and any case, you can have nightmare neighbours in a detached house too.

Any opinions? Should I be taking the "detached" thing more seriously? Or trying to talk DH round?

OP posts:

cece · 19/08/2016 18:58

I would lose a bedroom in order to get a detached. I really really would not want to live in a semi/terrace again.

I love the fact we can't hear neighbours through the walls and vice versa.

oldlaundbooth · 19/08/2016 18:58

Resale value is always better on a detached too.

paddlenorapaddle · 19/08/2016 19:05

Detached all the way and what's lovely is we use the garage as storage and will go up into the loft to create bedroom playroom for the children

Worth the stretch if you can

gluenotsoup · 19/08/2016 19:19

Depends on the size, and style and quality of both. We have a large, solidly built, unusual semi. We don't hear a peep from the neighbour, and have loads of space, and not overlooked, detached garage, off road parking for 3cars. I could be very tempted by a proper detached house with grounds to all sides, but often they are quite close to a neighbour anyway. If the compromise was to lose any of the things I value, then the semi all the way. I think you should think about the other aspects of the houses and think what they offer as a whole rather than purely basing it on if it is detached or not. It's not always the best option. Hth.

LadyPenelope68 · 19/08/2016 19:22

Definitely go for detached, makes a huge difference IMO, absolute bliss!

Donatellalymanmoss · 19/08/2016 19:28

Detached is fine, but i haven't lived in one since I left my parents home and can't say it's something I've missed. I wouldn't compromise on inside space just to not have attached neighbours.

CPtart · 19/08/2016 19:35

We moved from detached to semi for extra bedroom, bigger rooms, more land and a massively superior location. We live in a semi rural location though so it's quite nice having the neighbours for company!

LyndaNotLinda · 19/08/2016 19:39

Absolutely think it's worth it. But I was looking for a 4 bedroom for exactly the same reasons as you but couldn't find anything in the right location at the right price. So I started looking at 3 beds and found a house (which I bought 5 years' ago) which is 3 bed but has a big extension on the ground floor so that the room that was the dining room in the original house is my office.

So don't discount 3 beds - have a look at the layout (or it might be cheaper to buy a 3 bed and put an extension on?). Either way, I'd go for detached. Much more potential to extend too

iwouldgoouttonight · 19/08/2016 19:40

I'm with you, an extra bedroom would be far higher on my list of priorities than whether it's detached.

I guess it depends on the house, I've always lived in victorian terrace or 30s semi and I've not heard anything from any neighbours (apart from occasionally hearing the man next door sneeze, which he must be bloody loud at!). A newer build might have thinner walls so being joined could be more of a problem.

My parent's house is detached and they can hear the kids next door running up and down their alley next to their house.

I'm probably in a minority because I like to know there are people around, I like hearing the little sounds of other people going about their business, I find out comforting. I'd hate to live in the middle of nowhere.

Tubbyinthehottub · 19/08/2016 19:48

My husband thinks like yours. We both have memories of growing up in semis and having to be quiet. I wouldn't choose to be attached now given the choice as in a detached we can make as much noise as we want and not worry about it. Maybe you could get rid of all the junk or put it in a shed and convert the garage for an office?

Gazelda · 19/08/2016 19:49

Another consideration is that with a detached, you probably have the option to extend at some point, adding another bedroom. But you can never turn a semi into a detached.

PikachuSayBoo · 19/08/2016 19:54

I think a spare room/office is a luxury. If you needed 4 rooms as you had three kids then fair enough.

But in your position I would go for a 3 bed detached and either try to find somewhere with maybe a big landing with space for a desk or look at spending 10k on a garden office with heating and electricty.

Or if you can find a 4 bed detached where the 4th room is an attic conversion you can always get a massive shed for storage. Or use the garage. People I know with a garage often don't have their car in it, it's full of rubbish.

Titsywoo · 19/08/2016 19:54

We must be lucky that the 2 semis we have lived in we can't hear a thing from the neighbours. But I don't see a spare room as a necessity nor an office so I would buy detached.

PikachuSayBoo · 19/08/2016 19:57

For instance my brothers house is three bed. But they extended upstairs a lot. Which made their main bedroom massive, the bathroom was massive and where the old bathroom was is now a big space on the landing. Yes you have to walk through it to get to the bathroom but their old bathroom was approx 10ftx8ft, so even with a walkway through its big enough for a desk and shelves.

allthecarbs · 19/08/2016 20:01

Detached is great if you can get it but some semis are fine depending on layout. I was dubious about buying a semi but it's designed so that the hallways and staircases are next to each other on each house, so tbh I never hear next door as it's cushioned.

How much do you need your garage? aany chance you could convert half the garage in to an office?

SimplyNigella · 19/08/2016 20:05

Would you have the budget to put up a garden building to use as a home office in a three bed detached?

I must admit I prefer a detached, especially as you never know who your neighbours could be in the future.

PikachuSayBoo · 19/08/2016 20:07

Or find a 4 bed detached without a garage which would be cheaper?

I remember Kirsty and Phil saying a garage added I think 10% to a house price. But they felt that for a lot of people it was a waste of money as they never used it as a garage.

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 19/08/2016 20:09

Detached detached detached.

Would be hard pushed to live in anything else now we've the experience of living in our detached house.

Nodowntime · 19/08/2016 20:14

When we lived in a semi and my husband(paramedic at the time) was working shifts and needed to sleep in the daytime, he had to contend with the new neighbours drilling and hammering what felt like every waking hour for 2.5 years (it happened after a year of us living there, when the quiet/invisible old lady next door had to move into a home). Then the neighbour's wife trained to be a nurse and started working shifts, and they started knocking on our door throughout the day about any noise, including my son gently strumming on his acoustic guitar (he was in the master bedroom which he shared with his siblings, but they as a couple had three bedrooms to themselves and wouldn't consider going to sleep in another, further bedroom in the daytime). Son also learnt to play the drums at school and eventually saved up and bought a drum kit which needless to say was played on maybe twice, neighbours immediately had a fit(why were they always at home in the daytime??!) and had to be put away until we moved.

We vowed never to touch a non detached house with a bargepole. You can't walk all round ours, but the amount of privacy is incomparable.

Also friends' parents who lived in a semi found their house massively subsiding one day, turned out it was built over an old quarry. Insurers couldn't fix just one half of the building but turned out the neighbour didn't have a house insurance and wouldn't pay to fix subsidence. He's being sued by their insurers for 6 years now, while they go in and out of rentals and back into the wrecked house every two years(insurance wouldn't cover rentals for more than two years at a time). Needless to say their life is stressful and uncertain and their premiums are now astronomical.
I'd never have the main "core" of the house attached to any strangers' properties.

Tippytoes13 · 19/08/2016 20:16

Both me and my husband really wanted a detached house, but DD came along, i am a SAHM, we couldn't stretch our mortgage to go as far as a detached, they're in the region of 350,000k where we are, ek! We have always had noisy neighbours in our past properties, so that was the main reason, however, we live next to a couple in their late 60's and their older son, so don't hear a great deal of noise, but in the future we hope to have a detached house.

Nodowntime · 19/08/2016 20:22

I know only one person, who is 80, who keeps his car in the garage(half of the time). Even a friend who doesn't have a driveway, only a garage, keeps their cars just outside on the street.
Our garage(and everyone s I know with a garage) is our storage, and the end of it my DH converted into a tiny office(less than 2by 2 meters, but it's cosy and easy to heat in the winter with just an electric radiator)

Ntinyn · 19/08/2016 20:33

Moved from a terraced to semi last year and really wish we had the money to buy detached now. Really can't stand hearing the neighbours.

Believeitornot · 19/08/2016 21:01

We have moved from a flat to a semi.

Our neighbours are noisy bastards. I really want a detached house but the premium is at least £50k around here. So our next move will be a detached but it'll be a compromise.

In the meantime I'm researching decent soundproofing.

Tinklypoo · 19/08/2016 21:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 19/08/2016 21:26

I grew up in a detached. It was still noisy and the neighbours still nosed about any bit of noise.

Since leaving home I have lived in flats or really old houses. I haven't heard any noise due to thick walls and neither have my neighbours - and I gave birth twice in one house!

Our new house is a semi detached and we have the same square footage as the detached houses we viewed but the garden is bigger, there is significantly more storage (an extra room and an out building) and it's 25% cheaper. It's got thick walls because it's Victorian and the layout means the shared wall has stairs or the hall on both sides which stops the noise carrying and bedrooms are away from the party wall.

No way would I give that up to be able to walk down all the sides of my house. I love we all have a room and I have my office. We also have potential to extend, convert the loft and renovate the outbuilding so it becomes an giant master bedroom suite with bathroom.

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