Sloping gardens

Martin, we can't even put up a chicken shed without permission - and they are all a bunch of ........!

Love my house and I would prefer to be cold than put in double glazing/spoil the look. But the listing people are picky, sniping horrible lording it up pathetic power snobs!

Love that house ^^^

Grey walls, with grey carpets and grey furniture seem to be a thing at the moment. All too often with a splash or two of bright yellow dotted about (e.g. yellow cushions on the settee, or a yellow alcove). I'm not a fan. The houses I've viewed that have been renovated for sale have all had horrible new grey carpets. I'd have far preferred they'd left whatever nasty carpets were already there. I could maybe see going for pale grey walls in a bedroom, with complementary curtains and bedding (dark plum?), but so many people seem to be doing their entire houses in grey (or, even worse, black)!

I love colour, when I lived in a Victorian flat with high ceilings everything went. I got to this house and tried colour and it just never worked. Everything is dirty white now....there's lots of white. I painted the landing and hallway white and at night it turned green. I had to repaint in lime white.

I went to see another house today. I think house viewings are going to have to continue to be a rare thing because I really struggled. Not quite as bad as last month, but it still really took it out of me and made me feel breathless even though I'm managing to do full days in work now (though I'm still building back up to on-calls). I came home with a very tight chest and went to sleep for most of the afternoon.

The house was actually lovely and nicely done-up/maintained but without the show-home feel of the last one. A four-bed, but I would knock the two small attic rooms together to make it a three-bed. Lovely big kitchen and nice bright rooms. The garden is SW facing and a decent size. They had built a stone/gravelled seating area over the top third which looked difficult to remove, but the remaining lawned area was a reasonable size for a house I would expect to be in for five or so years. However, it had been raining a bit in the morning - nothing particularly heavy - and there was some standing water all the way down the left half of the garden, despite it being on a gentle slope. Definitely gave me pause regarding the drainage, and I dread to think what it would look like if it rained heavily. The vendors were also very clear that they were expecting an offer way, way over asking price and that the listing price was just there to get as many people through the door as possible. Given most places are already going for £30 - 50k over asking here, I dread to think what they are anticipating. They also whisked me round the house, supervising me in every room. It's hard to get a proper feel for a place with someone breathing down your neck. I also got an odd vibe from them - they seemed very friendly, but something was just a bit off about them. I think it's wise to trust my gut instinct and not buy from vendors who give me a bad vibe!

It's probably the best garden I've seen so far, but I don't think it's one I'll be offering on.

You just reminded me! When we (me & grandparents) went to view the house they ended up buying. The vendors were in the middle of there father’s wake! We didn’t just rock up, it was an arranged appointment through the estate agent’s.   . Also remember the vendor practically stripping off to show off all his scars from his triple heat bypass. Including the removal of a vain from his leg    .  Don’t remember if that was the same day or a second visit to the house.

 It's hard to get a proper feel for a place with someone breathing down your neck. I also got an odd vibe from them - they seemed very friendly, but something was just a bit off about them. I think it's wise to trust my gut instinct and not buy from vendors who give me a bad vibe!

It's probably the best garden I've seen so far, but I don't think it's one I'll be offering on.

Some houses just don't 'feel' right you'll know when you find the right one.

You just reminded me! When we (me & grandparents) went to view the house they ended up buying. The vendors were in the middle of there father’s wake! We didn’t just rock up, it was an arranged appointment through the estate agent’s.   . Also remember the vendor practically stripping off to show off all his scars from his triple heat bypass. Including the removal of a vain from his leg    .  Don’t remember if that was the same day or a second visit to the house.

I've nearly bought some, "with hindsight" highly unsuitable houses because of little things that the owners said they'd leave for me.............
1. the big earthenware storage jars that were half buried in an outhouse
2. the 4 poster bed with a date carved on the canopy
3. the chickens and giving me fresh eggs during the viewing

I'm sure there are more because I'm easily swayed by "freebies".

We looked at a very quaint cottage in Devon once, ticked all the boxes until the nieghbours to the left started rutting! Now there is loud and there is loud and the house was 25mtrs away.

Another had looked lovely from the outside and was decoracted very tastefully but smelt, well stunk of wet dogs

Needless to say we declined to put an offer on either

Our house, we had to make complaint as wasn't being properly advertised by estate agent branch, but was being mentioned to a builder... We had an indoor waterfall on back wall of living room due to leak in roof, mushrooms growing in carpet, mildew collapsing kitchen, horrendous bathroom built in half the kitchen, ceiling collapsing in dining room... Upstairs... oh my days upstairs... I have never seen so much spider web and collapsing lathe ceilings.

WE LOVED IT.... the estate agent was in shock, it was literally the potential and the size of the hidden madly overgrown back garden. They didn't even know what was included. Luckily I did as had called there back in 1980s & 90s to drop off catalogue bits they had ordered. We renovated on a shoestring, and took a year as my husband and family did as much as they could themselves. There was no gas, so had coal central heating first winter.

Its our forever home, unrecognizable now and amazing x

The house hunt is not going well. The market is ridiculous right now. I'm hearing of houses going £80 - 100k over asking in my area. One of my colleagues has offered more than £30k over four times and not even been in with a chance. And I haven't even found a house I want to offer on, and fully expect that when I do, it will be grabbed by a cash buyer in a position to throw an extra £50k more than I can stretch to.

I don't even feel I can move into normal rented accommodation because the competition is also fierce there (literally having to hand over cash holding deposits at the viewing before anyone else can, so no luck if you aren't the first viewer to try that on the day) and landlords are demanding 12-month tenancy agreements, which is no good when you are trying to buy a house.

I can only hope that things become a bit less frantic if the stamp duty holiday finally ends in June, but I'm really concerned they may extend it again. Even if it does end, it's going to take a long time for the market to settle down again, and there's every chance that prices could still continue to rise throughout 2021. I'm so disheartened.

My heartfelt sympathies to you Proserpina, I had no idea the housing market was so manic. Don't lose heart, your ideal home will come eventually.