So I've been window shopping for property over the past 4 months or so purely to get a feel for the market in the target locations I have in mind and it has struck me that there doesn't seem to be that much choice available within my budget. Below I have listed out my criteria in terms of what I am looking for in a house:
-150+ sqm floor area
-3+ bedrooms of reasonable size (10+sqm)
-Study (typically this would be a 4th bedroom but I just need a small room and not bothered about where it is located in the house)
-Ideally at least one ensuite on a good size room (for master)
-Rear garden (doesn't need to be massive but ideally not excessively overlooked)
-Walking distance to train station with direct line to London
-Decent sized kitchen
-Dining area (happy with kitchen-diner if it is a genuine dining area that can seat 6 people not just a small table wedged in somewhere i.e. 'breakfast room')
-Decent sized lounge (again would not rule out open plan kitchen/living area but would need to be LARGE)
-Ideally a playroom although could sacrifice this if the house has a large lounge and dining room
-Garage or off-road parking as a minimum
-Preferably not too quirky on layout i.e. bedrooms and bathrooms not on ground floor, kitchen/dining areas on ground floor, max 3 floors
-Turnkey i.e. reasonable finish with no requirement to do any significant work
-Safe/quiet area i.e. not on a main road or next to a pub/school, mostly nice houses on the street i.e. not blocks of flats etc
-Catchment area for good primary school
In terms of things I would compromise on that others might be fussy about:
-Don't care about age/style of property much i.e. not looking for character
-Garden doesn't need to be anything special
-Doesn't need potential to 'add value'
-Only need parking for one car
-Not particularly fussed about local amenities, nightlife etc
Now in a slightly unusual approach I will pre-emptively answer my own thread, if someone else had written this, my immediate reaction would be "you need to increase your budget". However what I've found by monitoring the market over a period of time is that these type of properties do sell within my budget - there just aren't enough of them! I'm prepared to pay about double the average house price for the area, and it is not as though only by paying 3x or 4x will I get what I'm looking for (although obviously that does bring a few more options in).
Other factor I suppose is the seasonal lull in the market i.e. over autumn/winter people focussing on other matters than selling their house and perhaps in spring there will be more choice.
-150+ sqm floor area
-3+ bedrooms of reasonable size (10+sqm)
-Study (typically this would be a 4th bedroom but I just need a small room and not bothered about where it is located in the house)
-Ideally at least one ensuite on a good size room (for master)
-Rear garden (doesn't need to be massive but ideally not excessively overlooked)
-Walking distance to train station with direct line to London
-Decent sized kitchen
-Dining area (happy with kitchen-diner if it is a genuine dining area that can seat 6 people not just a small table wedged in somewhere i.e. 'breakfast room')
-Decent sized lounge (again would not rule out open plan kitchen/living area but would need to be LARGE)
-Ideally a playroom although could sacrifice this if the house has a large lounge and dining room
-Garage or off-road parking as a minimum
-Preferably not too quirky on layout i.e. bedrooms and bathrooms not on ground floor, kitchen/dining areas on ground floor, max 3 floors
-Turnkey i.e. reasonable finish with no requirement to do any significant work
-Safe/quiet area i.e. not on a main road or next to a pub/school, mostly nice houses on the street i.e. not blocks of flats etc
-Catchment area for good primary school
In terms of things I would compromise on that others might be fussy about:
-Don't care about age/style of property much i.e. not looking for character
-Garden doesn't need to be anything special
-Doesn't need potential to 'add value'
-Only need parking for one car
-Not particularly fussed about local amenities, nightlife etc
Now in a slightly unusual approach I will pre-emptively answer my own thread, if someone else had written this, my immediate reaction would be "you need to increase your budget". However what I've found by monitoring the market over a period of time is that these type of properties do sell within my budget - there just aren't enough of them! I'm prepared to pay about double the average house price for the area, and it is not as though only by paying 3x or 4x will I get what I'm looking for (although obviously that does bring a few more options in).
Other factor I suppose is the seasonal lull in the market i.e. over autumn/winter people focussing on other matters than selling their house and perhaps in spring there will be more choice.
