Househunting

4 watchers

SpicedApple Feb 2017 9:57pm, 18 Feb 2017 7,582 posts	0 SpicedApple Say you were looking for a house for you and your family to live in for the next decade or longer. It'll probably end up being a compromise between the below, but which one would be your priority? A) Nice house of good size, B) Catchment area of a good school, C) Location. If option C, feel free to further choose between C1) Right bang in the middle of great running/walking/outdoor playing country, or C2) Outdoors still accessible, but further away, but nearer shops/transport/amenities.
SpicedApple Feb 2017 9:58pm, 18 Feb 2017 7,583 posts	0 SpicedApple (Also, apologies for being a bit random - haven't been on Fetch in ages, and then returning with a non-running post...)
McGoohan Feb 2017 10:50pm, 18 Feb 2017 28,081 posts	0 McGoohan Well, we bought our house - yikes! - nearly twenty years ago when we had one small child and another on the way. So it was B) then. However, they've grown up now and are off to College/Uni. A) was almost an incidental as B) drove everything! In the end we got a pretty good house of a good size. When next we move - to retire?! - it'll all be about location. Aiming for the Yorkshire Dales so it'll be probably C2: somewhere like Skipton, Ilkley, Harrogate etc where you've got good enough connections but a big running/walking area on the doorstep.
McGoohan Feb 2017 10:50pm, 18 Feb 2017 28,082 posts	0 McGoohan (And welcome back! And thanks for the thread! :-))
timaru Feb 2017 10:54pm, 18 Feb 2017 624 posts	0 timaru It used to be C1 (cumberland) now it is A, but wish there was decent running and outside thingy things to do without travelling 200km to go for a decent walk.
lammo Feb 2017 11:20pm, 18 Feb 2017 7,301 posts	0 lammo Hmmm I think we all compromise on all of those things, or whichever affect us, everybody just has slightly different preferences, so you'll find somewhere that has the right balance soon enough. Don't stop looking, good luck.
HowFar? Feb 2017 11:37pm, 18 Feb 2017 12,843 posts	0 HowFar? I am C1 at the moment, helped a little by the fact that I managed to get a job using C1 criteria and have no kids to make me think about A or B.
mrs shanksi Feb 2017 11:53pm, 18 Feb 2017 7,803 posts	0 mrs shanksi Hya! I would say location is the most important thing. For us it was important to be in a town within walking distance of shops /schools/leisure centre etc. I would hate to have to drive everywhere and drive my kids everywhere. We are lucky enough to have been able to afford a nice house in a good town with a good state high school, I hope you can get somewhere similar. We are lucky we bought 11 years ago, we couldn't afford our house now. And the running around here is great. Move to Aberdeenshire! Seriously, move somewhere with lots of young families so your can have a good support network. I made lots of good friends through toddler groups and then later the running club.
Mandymoo Feb 2017 12:11am, 19 Feb 2017 4,415 posts	0 Mandymoo When we had kids at home it was B) this time (which will be the very last time) it was mixture of a & c
SpicedApple Feb 2017 3:10am, 19 Feb 2017 7,585 posts	0 SpicedApple Thanks, all! Should have been clearer: we're set on the city/wider area (within commuting distance of Edinburgh), it's just within that area that we're pondering what the driving force within the compromise should be... Timaru, 200km to go for a good walk, yikes! (For us, it's deciding between it being right out the back door or a bus journey away. :o) Aww, McGoohan, thanks for the welcome back!