Guest Posted November 8, 2013 Share Posted November 8, 2013 We had a clear objective when we moved back to the UK of moving to a rural location - this is what we had first planned when we moved to Scotland in 2002 and due to circumstances and bad decisions ended up on modern housing estate. We had a house to move back to so that's where we are now. We have been welcomed back with open arms and I am much happier here then I ever imagined I would be, nonetheless this house is way too small for us (it was never our home before - log story!) so househunting is definitely on the agenda. Having been mortgaged to the hilt in Perth the plan was to buy a modest house - £180k maybe and keep the place we're living now as a rental for a longer term investment (we couldn't sell for what we paid for it anyway) - we could cover the mortgage for both but with the rent more than covering the mortgage on the house we're in we'd be very comfortable financially. Between friends and commuting convenience (for work and school) we had decided to stay in this area until we could afford our 'forever' house. Friends were delighted and I was beginning to regret opting for a private school in Edinburgh since if we knew we were staying here he could have gone to the local school! He has slotted straight back in with the friends he left behind - off to Megazone tomorrow - but being at the different school makes it harder. So far so good and then yesterday I got a notification of this.... http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/31042385?search_identifier=2aca4943eb8dbfa65927645b53ccea6d This pretty much ticks all the boxes for our forever home - not quite as pretty as I'd like on the outside and I'd want to re-do a lot of the inside but the space, the out-buildings, the location...everything we want. Now we knew what we wanted was around £350k which is why we had decided to stay put for now but this is actually two houses....so if we rented one out it's really be just the same (okay we could never sell one as they won't have separate deeds but there is so much future potential here - my OH immediately suggested my parents moving - now right now they don't want to and fair enough but a future point may come....or indeed as my son grows up there are endless options) I just don't know though - it's what we say we want - I even have it written down as a 'mission statement' because we are good at having daft ideas and forgetting the big picture (moving to Oz was one of those!) but life is so easy here - I am 6 mins from the train station to Glasgow or Edinburgh, the job I have at the moment I can drive to in 30 mins, I'm 20 mins from the airport. We're about 45 mins from my sons school but he gets a school bus locally. If we want to go away friends feed the cat and check the house, if we want to go out we have babysitters (& Edinburgh and Glasgow are nearby for a night out) Rural means reliance on a car - I'd have to drive to work (& although it'd only add 20 mins to my current journey - if I had a client in the city centre that'd harder and I'd probably have to 'park and ride'), we'd have to take and collect our son from school (50 mins each way twice a day) But these were the 'little' reasons we ended up living in suburbia before and in Perth and we promised ourselves we weren't going to settle this time. My words exactly were we move to Scotland and f*cked it up, moved to Australia and f*cked it up, we're not going to f*ck it up again (hence the mission statement to keep us on track!) I think mainly after all the financial hardship in Australia I'm just scared to over-commit and looking for excuses. So do we at least go and look??? Or take baby steps and wait until we have a 50% deposit and no need for a rental income. (we could 'afford' the full mortgage but it would leave much for luxuries) I know no-one can answer for me, but it's useful to hear other people thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 8, 2013 Share Posted November 8, 2013 Just to clarify when I said 'we weren't going to settle' what I meant was 'settle for second best' - we feel this is what we did in Scotland before we accepted something that wasn't our dream and think that was why we ended up leaving thinking we could find it in Australia - in fact it was there in Scotland all along we had just 'settled' for a life more ordinary. (If we were to buy this house, we would sell the one we're living in - we'd make a loss on the purchase price but wouldn't want the risk of not being able to afford the mortgage - a position we found ourselves in in Australia) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonnaBB Posted November 8, 2013 Share Posted November 8, 2013 Oh, LRC, that is a dilemma. What lovely views this place has. The distance is definitely a downside. I think the hardest is whether your son will mind not living closer to his friends. Especially as he gets older but not yet old enough to drive (don't know how old he is). Is the area one that you have been looking at already? x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 8, 2013 Share Posted November 8, 2013 Oh, LRC, that is a dilemma. What lovely views this place has. The distance is definitely a downside. I think the hardest is whether your son will mind not living closer to his friends. Especially as he gets older but not yet old enough to drive (don't know how old he is). Is the area one that you have been looking at already? x My son is 10, he was born in the area we live now and like most toddlers his friends were the children of my friends. In the five years we were in Australia he had little contact but we visited 3 times and I think because as adults we stayed friends it's been easy for him to slot back in. I don't think it would be a biggie because he is at school most of the time with completely different friends who come from all over. At the moment we can't really do sleepovers but that'd be a great place to have his friends to stay The area is one we were thinking of buying a holiday cottage in before we moved to Australia (my OH and I both worked full time then so it wouldn't have been viable to live there permanently) - my OH would be down there most weekends. It's our 'dream' area but I guess I am now just facing up to the reality of that dream - as we all know here very well dreams and reality don't always stack up! Of course it's only a house and probably quite a bargain in the current market - no big deal if in a couple of years we decide country living is not for us! Not quite as drastic as moving to the other side of the world Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonnaBB Posted November 8, 2013 Share Posted November 8, 2013 If finances permit (including amounts for the reno), then the distances aren't that bad if your son's friends come from all over anyway - is there a dedicated school bus or will it be a public bus? If the former, then he will have fun on it 50 minutes to work with city traffic is a small price to pay I guess - a pain but I find that it's a great time (I will be going back to a 30/40 minutes drive) to gather my thoughts and have some 'me' time. How about hubby's work? Is that going to be very far as well? Good luck with your thinking x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonnaBB Posted November 8, 2013 Share Posted November 8, 2013 - as we all know here very well dreams and reality don't always stack up! No, but we should not stop dreaming; otherwise, life would be far too boring Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 8, 2013 Share Posted November 8, 2013 If finances permit (including amounts for the reno), then the distances aren't that bad if your son's friends come from all over anyway - is there a dedicated school bus or will it be a public bus? If the former, then he will have fun on it 50 minutes to work with city traffic is a small price to pay I guess - a pain but I find that it's a great time (I will be going back to a 30/40 minutes drive) to gather my thoughts and have some 'me' time. How about hubby's work? Is that going to be very far as well? Good luck with your thinking x 'Reno' very Aussie :laugh: We wouldn't have funds for that at first but it's cosmetic - i'm just not a big fan of wood panelling :biggrin: But white paint would make a world of difference. My OH isn't employed (& we have no plans for him to be - if he had to commute to it probably wouldn't work but I'd be coming home to dinner on the table ) He had set up a photography business in Perth and had quite a bit of success with awards etc. but hadn't actually got to the point of being profitable, the longer term plan is for him to do the same here and that's part of the attraction of this property as it has potential to have a studio. Thanks for helping me articulate my thoughts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted November 9, 2013 Share Posted November 9, 2013 What do you lose by looking? It might yell at you loud and clear "Buy me!" Or when you walk in you might think - this isn't what the brochure described! You'll see the actual distances, the neighbours and any other pitfalls or bonuses - and have a nice trip out into the bargain! I did a search for other properties within a 10 mile radius of that - gee there are some nice places and (compared with S Cambs) dead cheap! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 9, 2013 Share Posted November 9, 2013 Had a long chat this morning - it was useful to have sounded my thoughts out here first and we have decided it's too far from school. Although not much further than he travels now the school bus means it's a one way trip for him, and he is happy doing it - it's a small minibus and has friends that travel on it too. From Peebles there is no bus so my OH would spend 3-4 hours a day driving. So this one's struck off but it's got me thinking again about what we want and what is the best thing to do - I thought I was sure I wanted to stay where we are and now I'm not so sure so it may have saved us making a mistake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonnaBB Posted November 9, 2013 Share Posted November 9, 2013 Hi LRC, I'm glad you had a good weighing up session. I'm sure the next place you find will be even more perfect than this one. Perhaps there is another location which has the all the tick boxes but slightly closer? Guess having more time to get a bigger deposit together is a good thing too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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