Moving from a detached to a semi

[hellolilacs]

Hi there

I'm posting for some advice and hope someone may be able to help.

We currently live in a detached house on a new estate which is in a village (have owned the house from new). Sadly the village has been overtaken by 4 other new build developments since we moved here 7 years so it's more like a town without enough amenities!

We have extended our house over time and done lots of improvement to it and to be honest have stayed here much longer than we ever intended to but there's been some significant emotional stuff going on in our lives so we haven't been in the place to move.

We are now thinking we would like to move out of the village and closer to the city centre where we feel it will much more "us" (we love a lazy Sunday morning stroll along the river with our dog and a coffee!)

However within our price bracket by selling our 4 bed detached we will only be able to afford a 3 bed semi in the new area. We don't need the extra bedrooms but when I've mentioned it to my family they have reacted like we are mad and asked why we are taking a backwards step. It's made me feel like we might be doing the wrong thing!

I wonder if anybody has made a similar move (ie moved to a more vibrant area and sacrificed house size and could offer some input?)

Thanks!

I understand your reasons for moving but I would never move back to a semi after living in a detached, unless it had amazingly thick party walls!

I have elephants thundering next door. Most annoying. Don’t do it!

Could you even get a two bed detached in your new area, perhaps with a loft ripe for conversion into a master suite?

I also wouldn't choose a semi if i didn't have to. But if you find a neighbourhood you like that gives you the dream of stroling with your dog along the river (lovely!) And you like the property, why not?

We will be doing this in the future we also live in a detached,I haven’t lived in a semi for over 20 years, I have nothing against semis at all, but a friend says you can hear everything and it would drive us bonkers, don’t intend buy a new build though, we did live in a terraced and I do vaguely remember we could hear the next door neighbours flicking on light switches, going up the stairs, of course you will never know until you take the plunge,

It depends on the house. Many new build 4 bed detached are smaller than older 3 bed semis which will also have thicker walls and bigger rooms.

In any individual area there is a premium for detached but it sounds like you're going to a more expensive area?

I would not move from a detached to a semi if I had the option.
The risk of noisy neighbours is too great.

I think it depends on the building, the age of the property and thickness of walls. Also on who your neighbors are!
We will potentially do the same thing when ds leaves home and we downsize.

I wouldn't but then my last 3 houses were detached, before that 2 semi-detached ones. Even when we downsize from this "forever " house Dh's top of the list request is detached.

Even if you have a quiet couple now there is nothing to say they won't sell to a large family with lots of children running about, or in my sister's case, married into a large family where every few weeks they all alternate houses for Sunday brunch which sees 20+ additional adults!

Different circumstances but I'm having to look at semis and they worry me, noise mostly. Hoping prices drop so we can get a detached - I'm fine with 2 double bedrooms plus study, but will be a shock from 5 beds

I think it must depend on the property. We live in a 1940s semi and never hear the neighbours thanks to big, thick walls.

I think it depends a lot on the layout of the semi, we never hear our neighbours as the stairs and hall/landings are in the middle so our walls don't really join in any of the main rooms. I think location is more important so if you are likely to be happier moving then I would go for it.

It really depends on build quality, I think. We’ve always lived in semis (about to move to a detached house) and have never had any real noise problem. Our last 9 years our home was attached to a rental property and even with multiple sets of neighbours in that time we had no problem (maybe a noisyish party once or twice a year). However, this was an old council property with good quality construction. I know others who really have had problems with thinner walls.

I should say ours is only 8 years old, so quite new, but that doesn't seem to have made a difference.

I did it a few years ago and now looking for a detached property. We have a lovely quiet neighbour but can still hear her radio and tv

I wouldn't. I love my detachedness so much. But then I am super noise-sensitive and was made utterly miserable by noisy neighbours in a series of Georgian and Victorian flats and houses.

We're talking about downsizing and moving a bit further in to London in a few years time but if/when we do I will be looking for a tiny detached wreck!

So - I think it is possible to find a house where neighbours are nice ( especially if you are nice to them as well ) - I would not be worried about a terraced house vs detached one jot. But only one opinion - others obviously are - I have never been able to live in a detached house but neither have I had horrible neighbours - even in a flat ( terraced and upstairs and downstairs neighbours as well . ) - Ah - all best to you - possibly just a congenial area ?

Our neighbours are lovely

I would try and stay detached. Noisy neighbors are the pits.

Definitely agree that it depends on the wall quality / thickness.
The older houses usually have thicker walls so you don’t hear the neighbours. Some of the walls in new build are low quality.

Our house is a semi about 20 years old with lounge/diner along adjoining wall. Our neighbours are extremely loud people outside -they shout at each other every conversation they have and the children scream and argue all the time BUT we can’t hear them inside at all, so I wouldn’t worry depending on the house.

However, we would like to move to a detached house as I hate people would like to live as far away from them as possible. If I was a social person, the house would be fine.

I wouldn’t.

Overwhelmingly people would choose detached over semi-detached.
To the extent that people pay a massive premium for a detached house.

I don't know how old you are, but (IME) as you get older, you become less tolerant to noise. We've lived in our house nearly 20 years and I would 100% buy the same house again if I were able to travel back in time and make the same decision again but we are 100% sure that when we move, we will only look at detached houses (current is sort of semi upstairs, but like detached downstairs as there is a passageway between the living areas).
I think your family have a point.

I agree with the family too.

I wouldn’t.

Having lived in detached for several years, I moved for work and could only afford a semi-detached. I found it really difficult going back to have neighbours through the wall - and they were a lovely, very quiet couple, so I didn’t hear much at all.

Shared walls are a nightmare. I won’t go back to that unless I have no other options.

It's mainly just a bit of a gamble, and it also tends to mean you're a bit closer to them when you're in the garden too.

It's worth a good hunt though. You may well manage to find a detached house in a similar price bracket with some other compromises, Eg small garden, one of the bedrooms is tiny or downstairs, lots of work needed.