Just wanted to ask - what type of house/property do you all live in ?
The reason I ask ( apart from being a nosey so and so ;) ) is that I'm *hoping* to move early next year and the house hunting bug has already bitten hard.
Undecided at present whether to go for a newer type property or an older house . Although the new ones look pretty , they aways seem a lot smaller inside whereas the older houses tend to have bigger rooms and higher ceilings ( which I prefer). A big garden is a MUST and a drive-way as I'm sick of trying to get a parking space.
Why is it that when you see the estate agents details they always seem great and then when you get there they neary always a let down :(

Hi Lel,
I live in a 110 year old 2 bedroom house and about 5 years ago we decided we would like more space, not wishing to have to renovate again we were looking at new houses (new estate just built) and discovered we knew nothing about living in a small house , we hadn't even known what small was until we saw the new houses . They were very artfully designed and furnished, but no amount of miniature furniture could argue with measurements in feet and inches :D We stayed put and haven't regretted it (well not every day anyway) :D :D :D

Regards
Dill

All the new ones I have seen have a third bedroom that ONLY fits a single bed in !!! :(
Where do you store clothes , toys etc ???
I quite like th idea of buying a big old house that we can * do up* but in reality dont know whether I can live with all the mess involved .
Its so hard to find a decent house in a decent area with a decent price :(

lol Lel, ya git nosey bugger ;-). I live in an end link of 3 houses. Built in the 60's. It's quite largish for the money I paid. Has a small front garden which is lovely to catch the sun on an evening, (where Tess likes to sit out on the open grass in front of the house, and just watch the world pass by. Everyone knows her :) )and a largeish back garden which has the sun all day......*HEAVEN* We put decking in (for us to sit on in comfort), and the dogs have been taught not to foul on it. We have a patio area, (which the kids use to mess about on) and a grassed area, which the dogs DO foul on. (that's their space for sitting/lying in comfort :))
Don't have a drive, but have a 'carport'. Dogs have entire run of the house. I used to be quite houseproud when I just had Tess (my 12yr GSD) but after getting Rocky (our 12 month JRT) I gave in being house proud. And when our baby Basset comes in 4 weeks, well, I've got no chance of having any pride left in the house..all my time will totally be taken up with the kids and dogs :)
We thought about moving just recently, and visited loads of Estate agents, and houses, but changed our minds. Just cant find anything the size of this in our price range , so we're staying put.
Hope you get something sorted
Stephxx

Bog-standard 1930's semi. With walls thick enough for the Boy to play his music and the dogs to play at being 'muezzins', calling me when the phone rings, without disturbing next-door too much. And rooms big enough to fit human-sized furniture. And of course a garden.
:)

Well, at the moment i live in a four bed farmhouse, on the top of a hill, in the middle of nowhere, with 14 acres of land and a swimming pool. But we are moving back into the village to be closer to the schools and amenities, and are going for a four bed detatched, fairly new house. As much as I love it here, I like to be closer to people ;)

Chloe
sounds bliss :D Away from everyone with lots of land :)

Chloe - I know exactly what you mean. For a few years we lived in a large tied cottage on a landed gentry type estate - we had access to 11 acres.
Although it was a lovely place to be in the summer, it was hellish cold and lonely in the winter. I really missed civilisation - I longed to have milk and newspapers delivered and to see people walking by, things which I'd always taken for granted before :)

We now live in a medium size bungalow on a busy road, there's a bus stop at the end of our drive ,we have shops within 100 yards and people stop for a chat when we're in the garden. Suits us down to the ground !

2 year old 4 bedroom house here, but we were lucky as it was being being built by a local builder so we we're able to specify room layout and sizes, and even the oriantation on the plot of land so we were able to make best use of the space. Our next house is going to be a 3 bed slightly older house, but with magnificent views over country side and cliffs and sea, we managed to sell ours to a couple coming down from the West Midlands who don't want to move untill next year, and the lady were buying off isn't bothered about when she moves either, I can't believe how stress free this house sale has been, so much time to plan things, I suppose it all could still get very stressful nearer the time to move. We always had older house until this last new one, but we got fed up of constantly working on them, new houses do seem to lack character though

Robert

4 bed Edwardian end of terrace with London sized garden near the Thames [multi walks required]. The only probs we have had in this house have related to some 1970's extension works i.e. previous owner's efforts to make a Boogie Nights-esque sauna. New houses do inexplicably seem to be smaller but my main concern would be to check out whether it is built on brown land and whether all the structural items like walls, windows etc are made from solid/quality materials. When you look at a show home the building companies only have limited legal responsibility to provide what is "on show" ie the nice paint rather than the cavity or double brick wall on which it is attached.
Also, a north-south aspect is one of my essentials. Ignore estate agents who will tart up the details even if you are looking out over a landfill site; and generally if a house has good vibes you know it immediately.

Cissy, dont they have building regualtions in london then?

sure thing sam but I am surrounded by miserable friends at the moment who are engaged in furious arguments with building co.s about their expectations. These incl. basic matters like thickness of walls not being the same as in the show home, lower standards of workmanship than in the show home etc. If I was buying a new house I would really check the spec and agree a list of everything I expected to find including its basic structural composition, fixtures, fittings, window composition and plumbing system and require the building company to rectify any probs arising post sale over a reasonable period of time. :)

I wrote a post on this not long ago as we too are looking for a new house, my partner wants an older house but i like the new ones, the only problem is with new houses is you get smaller rooms and smaller gardens. I have got my own way and we are getting a new house, but we have been looking for over a year now as there is always one room to small or the garden is too small. Forgot to add we live in 2 bed semi, very boring i'm afraid.

we bought a 1900's 2 bed semi with a 200ft garden that bacsk onto open fields

It was in a terrible state of repair and we have been doing it up.
We extended it into a 3 bed and put a big double garage at the end of the garden
(it has a private access road round the back)

Could never imagine going to a new build now,
it would be too claustrophobic

and I know my dog wouldnt like to lose her garden :D

We just bought our house about a year ago, and only the third owners. Built in 1929 and has plaster walls. The kitchen is small and the dinning room isn't to bad for size, I want to rip out the wall to make it one big room. Our living room is huge. We also have a fireplace which is real neat. 3 bedrooms upstairs, guess it just seems big because the bedrooms are upstairs. The bedrooms are pretty big. Our walls are all plaster, and our floor is all hardwood, so we are planning on ripping out our carpet to redue the hard wood underneath. We have a one car garage which we may make bigger, and a fair size yard. There usta be a garden till the dogs got a hold of it...lol. Hope fully soon we want to renovate our house but a little at a time, I just love how the sunlight comes through the windows and brightens the place up. We also want to put a bathroom in our basement as well and make a rec room down there.

We looked a newer houses but they too seemed way to small, I could never of fit my house into them, they were nice but to small. Fine for maybe people with know children and a real small dog.

ttfn :)

hi Lel

I live in a 140 year old villa with 5 bedrooms. Dont like modern houses.

Mick

hi,
me and the hubby recently brought a new house as we needed more space for all the animals we own.we previously lived in a 4 bed detached house in a busy town.
we now live in a 6 bed house in the middle of nowhere, i love the house, but i miss people and the hussle and bussle of everyday life.
the land at the back of the house has 24 individual custom built kennels and a seperate cattery area, and at the moment we are considering using the kennels for rescue work, as all our own dogs and cats live in the house.
and at least with a bigger house our little one has the space to move around more freely, and shes quite taken to hiding from us:D
Jane.

Hi Bulldog owner,

How did you get on with your next door neighbour and the bitch who had pups??????Have I must of missed the update.

Karen.

Oh yes getting a tatoo next week as well.

Oh sorry Lel,

Live in a 3 bed bog standard semi ex council house. Thought about moving myself earlier this year but when I made a "wish list" I saw I gad what I wanted where I live now with the benefit of Neighbours who are fantastic and a road/negihbourhood second to none. So unless I win the lottery and can move to old farmhouse with land for more dogs ;) I'll be staying put. There again I think I'd miss the people/neighbours even the kids.

Karen

i live in a two bedroom cottage style house in a private estate on the edge of a village which is 6 months old .The village also has 9 pubs

We live in a stone built ( 2 foot thick walls1) bungalow in the Preseli mountains near the Cardiganshire coast (loads of lovely beaches) in Wales. Its about 100 years old and very soundly built, we had a full grant job done 10 years ago - the only thing original are the outside walls, EVERYTHING else was renewed- roof, electrics, plumbing ,floors, DPC, etc etc. So its the best of both worlds - old looking but everything works!! 3 bedrooms, 2 which we have made in the loft - one is huge about 20x12 and the other is 20x10. They are in the eaves so not all the space is stand uppable in, but great for lots of storage.We have a smallish kitchen (10x12) with an oil fired rayburn that heats all the water you could ever need and does the CH. The dogs are always hogging it in the winter. 2 living rooms, one with a multi fuel stove plus 3rd bedroom downstairs which is the pc room/office. We have about 1/4 acre of south facing gently sloping garden with stunning views with a kennel for 4 large or 8 small dogs and 4, 6 foot high weldmesh panel runs each 12x10. We have a long bumpy track ( good excuse for a 4x4) and parking for 3/4 cars. Our neighbour ( who lives out of sight) is a but grumpy but ok as long as you dont let the dogs stray and keep the gate shut. We aim to sell next year - anyone intersted??? Its very quiet here, paradise really. We even have a well full of spring water - no mains water in the area. There is a primary school and corner shop 1 mile away. We are only thinking of moving because of my poor health - I am more or less giving up keeping numbers of dogs as I just cant get to shows, and I dont want to breed unless I can show, so we may move nearer to civilisation and just keep a couple.
Hope this doesn't break terms of service. :-)

Hi,

I feel I have finally for me got best of all worlds. ( After 7 house in 14 years)

I have had both old and new, over the last 5 years I have built 3 new houses , all with big rooms I have to say and then sold on, the last house I built although I loved the house the land was not big enough for a run etc and to have a good garden also. So that was our last build as land plots are too small now if you want a big house and garden. We sold up before Xmas when the property market went mad..

We bought this bungalow about 5 months ago, it is smaller than our last house but has 3 good size bedrooms, a study ,a big kitchen , a very big dining room and a good sized lounge 5 x5 , 1 en suite , 1 bathroom. We have gutted the house, replacing nearly everything even though it is only 12 years old. We love older styles so we always put proper plaster cornice , plaster roses , cream painted walls etc throughout, I have a roll top bathroom suite, wooden floors and tiles throughout , so although a modern looking bungalow we have brought tradition styles within... the best part is the garden and whay we bought it we do not have an acreage but we have a huge garden, run and kennel in a corner that is not visible to anyone ourside, we have just built a huge 4 car sized garage 6-10 metres, with the last 4-10 metres being a utility grooming room for me.. heated, with a doggy bath etc

So you can get the 2 together if you can find it and prepared to work at it..

A lot of new house have 5 beds if bungalows you can know rooms together.

Hi! sometimes I wish I had never moved when my hubby was seriously ill!!!! I then had my own 2 bed semi with over 100ft garden, great neighbours who loved the dogs. I moved to a 2 bed bungalow (council), only in house 4 weeks, neighbour reported dogs for barking so was told to rehome most of them, which I did, kept 1, later discovered all other neighbours round about had barking dogs, so decided what the hell! and bought in 2 others and have since bred a litter and kept one, got 6ft high fence round garden, still got the nasty neighbour, but they havent a clue how many dogs are here as they cant see them, only walk 1 at a time and they cannot tell the difference.(must think I walk the dogs all day) I've trained the dogs ive got not to bark if they are in their garden. Would like a kennel/run outside for when im in the house, but don't want to "tempt fate". LOL.

We live in a beautiful house in a little hamlet in the countryside. With a fantastic view. It's quite unusual in that it is only 3 years old, but is really big, 5 bedrooms, all double rooms, with over an acre of garden. Plots like ours just don't happen very often. We had a fantastic builder who was a perfectionist. Not many of those around either:D We were just soooo lucky to find it and be in a position to buy it. We have great neighbours and amazingly there are loads of kids for our 2 to play with. Loads of dogs here too, only 25 houses here but there are 20 dogs, so no shortage of playmates for Taz either. We love it here it is peaceful, beautiful and serene. We have foxes, badgers, herons, squirrels (rats with fluffy tails really) and countless other little seen birds and insects. We will never, ever move from here, even when the kids have left home and we rattle around in the house.

I live in a 2 yr old house. We looked everywhere for somewhere nice and reasonably sized but couldnt find anything that didnt need LOTS of work on it. The one we have isnt huge, but its bigger than the average sized new house and we are on the edge of a town so have lots of local amenities and also lots of fields for dog walking. Best of both worlds :)

Sam x