Do we throw everything at this house

[sweetiepie1979]

We are in Scotland so it will go to closing with blind bids though estate agent gave us a steer said if we were looking at around the 550 mark then we would be in with a chance.
This house could go up much much higher so maybe we have no chance! However!
We need to consider our offer we love the house we have been looking for 4 years and renting in that time after selling our old home covid hit and we have been in limbo. This property is valued at 525 which means the bank will only give us a mortgage up to that point
so my question is if you found your dream (ish)house that you think you would stay in for ever and it’s the kids catchment and it has a beautiful garden would you forgo things like family holidays maybe only having one every 2/3 years? And continue to work full time as teacher in a state school where you are paid pretty well for 35 hours but realistically you do about 50 most weeks and the stress is awful some weeks and I was really hoping to go part time in the next few years but I wouldn’t be able to do that ….. so that we can offer above 554? Sorry that was a stream of consciousness message. Any advice welcome .
also I am sick of renting but we live in a beautiful house. Also I don’t think the owners are in a rush so being a cash buyer is not a big advantage here really …. Well it might help a bit if we also give the right number ….
okay mumsnet help me x

13 miles from St Andrews in a beautiful little village I won’t link it’s too small a world.
we wanted good sized garden detached something with character and this defo has , it’s 3 old cottages put together one end of the house will be a lot cooler, the bedrooms, but it is absolutely charming 2 living rooms dine in kitchen looking in to mature flower gardens there is a roof snug /office with huge window looking over the garden and to the sea I could have chickens the cat and 2 dogs would love it.
but it is further from St Andrews than we wanted
we don’t know anyone who lives there though we know it’s a friendly community
it’s a 20 minute walk to the bus stop if the kids want to go in to St Andrews when they older alone.
we did want country though
we definitely can’t afford 10% over and that is what someone may offer @Persipan only 3 offers because yes we have been particular but also we hadn’t realised the school catchment was going to be this expensive my husband was so desperate to get to the country and there was a lack of due diligence on his part at looking realistically at the house prices I tried to tell him but he was convinced the market was going to drop after covid and we would pick up a bargain! He sees now though and has really beaten himself up about it we shouldn’t have sold in Edinburgh we should have rented out to we found our property. Anyway the 3 years here have been filled with me missing our old house him feeling bad all the while living in a very comfortable warm views to the sea mates rates rented accommodation so that’s why it’s taking 3 years.

I love a charming and characterful cottage as much as the next person - and, indeed, I live in one, of sorts, and from that perspective I would say don't underestimate how much of a money pit they usually are. Something will always need fixing. And something made of three cottages bolted together may well have peculiarities - mine has a bit of this going on and has rather a lot of different sections of roof to contend with, not to mention quite an awkward layout (needing to go through rooms to get to other rooms).

I can live with all that partly because I just love old houses and that's the deal, and also because my house was cheap! What you are looking at is not. Which is not to say don't buy it, but be really sure your budget can absorb the likely costs in terms of maintenance - and heating; you mentioned part of the house being colder? Where you are now is warm, how are you with a cooler house?

I asked the things I asked because I was wondering whether you might be after an aspirational 'forever home' type thing that's perhaps slightly beyond your reach right now in the area you're in. From your response it does sound a bit like that might be the case, plus there's a combo of everyone feeling a bit stuck and mopey for different reasons, plus-plus you're actually pretty comfortable where you are so there's no great impetus to move on. But in your initial post, even in that quite comfy mates rates situation, you sound quite burned out by work and overwhelmed by the idea of having to keep going at the same pace. So I guess my advice would be maybe listen to yourself about that.

If I were you, I would probably be looking for something more affordable. And maybe it wouldn't be detached and have a roof snug and all that jazz, but it would be less pressure on yourself. I bet if you compromised a bit, you'd find something that ticks many, many boxes - and would move you on from your current status quo. It might not be your forever home, but to be honest I don't really think those exist anyway. I think maybe you've been looking for so long, all the while feeling a bit despondent about things that have played out in a way you perceived as negative, that nothing really feels perfect - so embrace that, and look for something nice.

Once your dc are in high school you can move out of catchment but the dc stay at the school so losds of flexibility if they can still get to and from school.

20 min walk to the bus stop feels like you are going to be a taxi for all the time they are high school once dc are teens being able to go out independently is so handy. I know a few families that moved from the country when dc hit teens years as they spent so much time driving about.

Just flagging a few points incase you need some!

Thank you I feel a lot of emotions around houses which is so bloody annoying when we sold our last house I felt like I left the children’s childhood behind and that entire part of our lives so the thought of moving out when children move away from high school that feels a bit empty to me but that’s ridiculous I know that!
if I was happy to live in a semi d in St Andrews new build we could do that for 520 still 520…. More affordable but postage stamp garden and feels soulless to me.
there’s a new roof if that helps and a new kitchen an architect has been living in it for a few years new windows but there will be maintenance of course.
Busing the children -school bus would take 30 minutes but just found out there is no bus anymore in to town there is a flexi bus you phone and they pick you up
oh goodness me the decisions …

In my view, people have souls and therefore no home is soulless. Disclaimer - big fan of new builds. Mine doesn’t have a postage stamp garden and my kids appreciate being able to easily get into town / to school / to meet up with friends.

Probably wouldn’t stretch ourselves.

You can’t really trust what an EA says re price.

I think St Andrews environs would hold value safely.

In comparing new build vs old house I’d also think about energy efficiency. Fuel costs are high. But I’d also think about things like ability to put in heat pump or solar panels etc in future. And bear in mind it might be difficult to do something like that if you stretch.

If I was you I would offer what you can afford but round it up a little to weird figure. So if valued at £525k and you can afford c£535k then offer something like £537, 277.

Great post.

New roof is good but I also meant if there are lots of 'joins' where it used to be several different cottages - if it's one straight run of roof that's ideal but often where multiple buildings have been bolted together into one, there are odd changes of level and places where one roof joins another that are potential points of failure and maintenance can become more complex (hello, gully on my roof that literally has a chimney in the middle of it, definitely no issues there 😂).

The architect thing - is there any possibility that some of what's charming about this house is to do with the fact that an architect will be able to stage everything in a particularly appealing way? I mean, yes, they have probably chosen a nice kitchen and bathroom, but I imagine they also have a natty line in tasteful rugs and lovely houseplants and beautifully organised bookshelves and whatnot. Once all that is gone, is the space as inspiring to you?

No.
You'll end up hating the house and feeling like its a millstone and you're a prisoner to mortgage payments.
Your dds may both be off to uni within 6-8 years?
How will you fund university for 2?
How will you save for emergencies?
Working 50+ hours per week in a stressful job and not being able to afford 1 week away per year sounds grim.
My dh and I had this dilemma some years ago, and I'm SO glad we didn't max out
Teens are expensive...possibly tutors for exams? Driving lessons, university...
I think you'd regret it massively
Sorry x

I can imagine that the house, garden and location from the attractiveness point of view are absolutely gorgeous and for that I would happily live with fewer holidays. The job is another matter. I sympathise and think it might be horribly stressful to have the possibility of part-time taken away.

The worst thing though is that your children are reaching teenage years when they need to gradually have more freedom to go out and meet up with pals. They won't be living near school friends and if it's a twenty minute walk for a flexi bus, how can they do that on a presumably unlit narrow country road?

Persipan has it right.

We have put in the budget a foreign holiday every other year and a uk cottage every other year I think we’ve come to a number that allows us to live similarly as we have done but a lot less food bill we seem to spend 250 a week so that needs to change at the end of each month we would have 200 for savings and emergencies after we have paid for everything and put mo Ed away for cars taxes and insurance etc so it’s gone to closing and we will know by the end of the week !

Well everyone thanks for your help with that we gave it our best offer but we were outbid gutted and devastated I feel like a house like that will never come up again so deflated !

Sorry to hear that @sweetiepie1979. I’m sure when you do get something, you’ll think it’s all worked out for the best.

I wouldn’t - we’ve got all those things - huge house and garden in brilliant location and we don’t have enough money and it’s not worth the swap. I have to do far too much menial work all the time because we can’t afford to pay anyone to do anything. We only holiday by staying with family.

I would make a different decision now

I'm really sorry to hear that @sweetiepie1979 because I know you loved it. I think perhaps I know what house it was and if it helps at all for someone to gently badmouth it, it would have been SO COLD. (Very, very pretty and absolutely the sort of thing I would fall for, but I always love the weird ones. And thus I am always cold.)

I won't go on (unless you would like me to, in which case I am absolutely available to offer a number of other critiques) but I really hope you find somewhere you love and feel comfortable affording, really soon. And you can totally make a different house be that pretty.

Thanks all @Persipan yes the bedrooms would be cold the parking was bad I don’t think there was a linen cupboard the small bedroom which was originally o porch is such a beautiful room for my little girl but it definitely would have been cold! Anthing else?

Remember the interest rates are only going up atm so I wouldn't stretch myself to secure the house. There will be a ceiling price for the house/area that you might not be able to recoup if you resell later on.

Always buy the cheapest house in an expensive area rather than the reverse so the house gains in value.

The whole place would have been cold! Every room has external walls on at least two sides. Many of them three. One of them four! Your heating bills would have been a lot, and if you were having to push to afford the house anyway that's the last thing you need.

The layout would have driven you mad having to go through rooms to get to other rooms.

More significantly, actually, I'd say from the photos that the ground level externally was noticeably very high against the walls in several places and that's a recipe for weird damp problems (ask me how I know that), and not always an easy fix. I meant it about the money pit thing, there would always have been something needing doing - and the dull sort of something like 'we need to dig a french drain', not the fun sort.

Let this one go to the universe. There will be a great house along for your sometime soon.

I'm sorry. I can feel your disappointment.

If it's the house I think (I live not so far away) it's absolutely gorgeous but there are impracticalities, especially for your children as they get older.

Good luck in your hunt.

Ooh, OP, how about the similarly-shaped house that just came on the market yesterday and is a bit cheaper? No sea view but lots of garden and it has character? (I really want you to find a nice house now!)

@Persipan send me a private message with a link …. ? I’ve not seen it ? Is it the same area??

Do you ? It’s a lovely area xx

Oh yes hang on is it in Brunton ? yes lovely house but not in school catchment

@Persipan sorry above message was for you
was the house you saw in Brunton? Not school catchment sadly x thank you though x