I think I have decided on Ipswich - thanks to everyone who helped me get here!!

[katymac]

I offered on a house this morning - full asking price & they said no!

"maybe you could offer more" said the Estate Agent (EA)
I said "Oh that's a shame, never mind I have 4 more to see today 6 tomorrow & 2 for Saturday"
"Oh" said the EA "Umm maybe they will come round, are you sure you can't offer any more?"
"No" says me "anyway the vendors haven't got another house yet so they aren't ideal for us as cash buyers"
"I'm sure they will come round" said the EA

So I went off & fell in love with house no.three this afternoon & will be offering tomorrow first thing!

The EA has left a message on my phone asking me to ring as 'she has some news' & tbh I won't be messed around like that!

So what do I need to know about Ipswich?

Good for you! Sounds like they have tried to push their luck and they are living to regret it. I hope for the EA's sake that they passed on your offer. I'm a namechanger btw but you considered an area near me at one point.

Would they get into trouble if they didn't pass on the offer?

The newer viewing house I can move into without any work at all

So excited - I even like the carpets (I hope they leave them!)

Yes, they have to pass on all offers even if they think the vendors won't accept. You are SO lucky not to have to do any work, we are 18months into our new house and we haven't done a thing to it yet and there is so much to do!

I'm in Suffolk and agents have been talking about how slow it's been recently...seems odd for them not to take an asking price offer.

Good luck with your offer tomorrow.

We are in the process of buying a house just north of Ipswich, DH needs to be closer to Ipswich Station for access to London. I'm not too keen on Ipswich, I've always preferred Norwich for shopping and restaurants etc, maybe Ipswich will grow on me 😬

Maybe we can meet up Foot?

I've been up for an hour already waiting to ring!!

A meet up sounds good...I don't know anyone in the area. My children are mostly older so not so much opportunity to get to know people via school. The village pub is a stone's throw so I think we'll get acquainted with that 😁

How've you got on today?

Our chain has collapsed once before due to our buyer pulling out, we've managed to resell and salvage our own purchase but as a result I am quite on edge, hoping things go well.

Ipswich is lovely! The surrounding country side is beautiful:)

Christchurch park and Holywells park are great for kids. The waterfront area is lovely for an evening drink or meal and the shopping isn't too bad!
If you have any questions about Ipswich, feel free to ask, I'm from there!

No reply yet

Are you close enough yet Foot or are you miles away?

Thanks kiwi I'm sure I'll have loads!

Katy, we're not too far from exchange but one of the chain is quite slow, we need to get to exchange asap as I need to apply for schools.

Oh dear

We (finally) had our offer accepted today- I probably paid over the odds but we really love the house so.....at least it wasn't the original one!!

Congratulations, glad you've found and been accepted on something you love. We haven't moved in a very long time..we are really excited, house we're moving to is 'dream house' for us but as we've had a buyer pull out I think I'll feel really nervy up until exchange.

I understand that - I'm really nervous too

I just put this on another thread

"We saw 28 houses and only 3 could we have lived in
The one we offered on & were refused
The one that was a steel frame constructon and therefore not a great buy
& this one which we love the most

We feel very confident we can future proof it so we can stay when we are older & it will be lovely to live in now

Big lounge which will be our bedroom
Big kitchen/diner which we will have sofas/TV in
3 lovely big rooms - DD, sewing/spare (for me), Gym/laundry (for dh)
Shed for tools
Conservatory for sitting in

So, so happy"

Ipswich is nothing special and yet it will provide everything you need...
It is a great place to live; lovely countryside , easy access to coast, close to tiptop culture eg Snape Maltings, lovely villages with walks ,wilderness and pub lunches, history, airport( Stanstead), London , wildlife ... all in very easy reach... you will acclimated Marisela and then wonder why anyone lives anywhere else!

Welcome! Wow, a future west end star's family living close by, you are my new claim to fame!
Surrounding countryside and villages are fab. Woodbridge is lovely to wander around.
The waterfront is great for a meal and drinks.
Town centre not so great for shopping, so if you want a good shopping spree go to Norwich or train direct to Westfield.
Big out of town Next and a John Lewis home though.
Christchurch park is lovely. Felixstowe if you fancy a bit of sea air.
I know you'll be hot footing it off to London to see your dd but the Regent Theatre often has some good productions on.
Hope the house all goes through smoothly!

Ha-ha! DD will tell you she isn't going to be a star she will be 'ensembles'
We have been to a few bits at Jerwood House as well as the main theatre!

Oh I hope it goes well we have nearly bankrupted ourselves offering! Gulp!

Today we are off on our bikes to do a bit of shopping & find our way about

We are staying near Bramford so it shouldn't be too far

I'll speak to the agent today to get an idea of timescales involved (I hope they are buying an empty property)

We have to decide if we are off up to Scotland now or if we should hang around here & look for a job - we only have about 4 weeks so I'm a bit befuddled

DD& my mum are seeing it on Sunday so I can make a decision then I guess

Just realised Westfield is Stratford, and DD lives by Lakeside (for ikea )

I am in Ipswich

Katymac I'm from Colchester and Ipswich, and my parents live in Hadleigh. I love that part of the country. You've got easy access to amazing coastline. Plus Constable country and all those beautiful wool towns (Lavenham, Long Melford, Hadleigh). Ipswich itself is a bit meh but you will make friends, everyone is friendly.

It's exciting but scary

It may all fall through - but fingers crossed!

I do need a job....I hate job hunting!

We probably need a meet up? What do people think?

What sort of work do you do?
How was your exploring today?

I'm in Felixstowe and a Suffolk convert!

We didn't get very far; because of house moving & hunting we haven't been out on the bikes for about 3 week

So initially we had a bit of bike maintenance to do but we cycled in from Bramford and found Asda/Go Outdoors and bought a few essentials & had a picnic

Tomorrow we are discussing going to church (not sure if it's too soon the house could fall through) then meeting DD & my mum to have a second viewing

I also put a couple of new photos of Dd on my profile (she did some modelling this week) but the profile pic thing has disappearred

Umm Admin/finance/project management/education ish problem is I don't really no

Ipswich is a great place to live! Great choice.

Hi all. I will really appreciate your advice. I need to move (from London) due work relocating to Colchester. I’m thinking of moving to either Colchester or Ipswich. Although my work is in Colchester but it looks like I will get more for my money in Ipswich. I will be moving with my 15 year old son. I’m currently commuting from London to Colchester and the ticket cost is crippling.
My budget is £260,000 (for mortgage free living) or I can stretch to £325,000 (little mortgage). Advice/suggestions about location, the option you’d choose, good/better areas, secondary schools etc would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

North of town around Christchurch Park is the nicest area but not sure how far your budget will go. Or look around California, the area around Spring Road for a bit more value.