Next door neighbours are selling up

[Bear Necessities]

The other half of our semi-detatched is going up for sale. Photos being taken today. (we know the neighbours well enough that they let us know first so we weren't caught by surprise, and well enough that I can ask them occasionally how it's going)

Reason given for sale: "Fancy a change of scene" but then they aren't going to say "because we hate you and your annoying kids"

Obviously, I have close personal interest in this because I'm hoping they don't sell it to a chainsaw-juggling motorcycle gang with a penchant for playing metal at full blast all night.

But I guess it will be interesting to see:

a) what they put it on for (it's a non-extended mirror image of our place)

b) how many viewings it gets

c) how long it takes to sell

d) how many times they have to reduce it

There is a lot for sale around here right now. The bungalow at the end of the garden is for sale, plus another 3 or 4 round the corner, and two other houses on the road.  Plus a massive new development half a mile away which is supposed to be over 1200 houses I think, and I imagine will soon be seeing reductions to the ones already built and maybe a pause in building the next phases.  But lots of choice for buyers.

I suggested to my wife that if it gets discounted enough, we buy it and knock through, but she's not keen!

Edited September 21, 2023 by Bear Necessities

[bomberbrown]

I hope, obviously, you also get nice new neighbours, but your post is a pertinent reminder of the considerations when making that purchase of a home.  

I'm 55 and not quite sure at this stage if I'm ever going to buy (I might just spunk my rather large deposit on travel when I retire and continue renting) but if I was, I've always been of the mindset I'd go for a 1 bed detached practically anywhere than a 2 or 3 bed for this very reason.  

[msi]

Hope your new neighbours are good.

 

How long have your current neighbours been there.  Any indication they are coming off a fixed term mortgage or are they true owners?

[yodigo]

13 minutes ago, bomberbrown said:

, I've always been of the mindset I'd go for a 1 bed detached practically anywhere than a 2 or 3 bed for this very reason.  

Totally agree with this. Still may need to protect yourself if the neighbours like to party in the garden (horrid I know), best double glazing and a conservatory on the lounge.... need to protect ourselves as no one else will... 

Edited September 21, 2023 by yodigo

[Bear Necessities]

10 minutes ago, bomberbrown said:

I hope, obviously, you also get nice new neighbours, but your post is a pertinent reminder of the considerations when making that purchase of a home.  

I'm 55 and not quite sure at this stage if I'm ever going to buy (I might just spunk my rather large deposit on travel when I retire and continue renting) but if I was, I've always been of the mindset I'd go for a 1 bed detached practically anywhere than a 2 or 3 bed for this very reason.  

At the time we bought (Spring 2016), a detached wasn't an option for us, so we bought a semi-detached doer-upper and I did it up.  Although we could move to a detached now, but I don't want to because I've finally got this place how I want it! 

I've noticed a lot of the detached houses around here, mainly the new builds but also some of the older houses, are yes, *technically* detached but are still only about a metre or two apart, which in terms of problem neighbours playing loud music or late night motorbikes etc isn't much of an improvement on a semi, not like what I think of in my head as a detached, where its surrounded by gardens and a good 10+ metres from it's nearest neighbour.  

Thankfully we are now in a position where we could "upgrade" to a detached somewhere if we had to, but I'd rather not because I'm quite fond of this place.

[Bear Necessities]

14 minutes ago, msi said:

Hope your new neighbours are good.

 

How long have your current neighbours been there.  Any indication they are coming off a fixed term mortgage or are they true owners?

When we moved in 7 years ago there was a nice enough guy next door, never really heard him, occasionally the dog yapping, but always friendly.  A few times a year though we would hear him having a blazing row with girlfriend (who lived elsewhere) who seemed to be a drunk driver from what we could gather through the wall.  He'd be shouting at her saying "you can't keep driving home like this". She was going out for work drinks, getting plastered and driving over to his.  

The current neighbours moved in maybe 5 years ago I think. A different yappy dog but a nice couple and various kids from previous marrages, but all older and not there half the time (I guess the eldest ones off at uni and the younger ones mainly round for the weekends when they aren't with other parent.) No drink driving which is nice (!)

Because they were both been married before and split up, think they both had money to put in from selling their own places when they moved in together, so I imagine they either own it outright or have a small mortgage on it, I don't know them well enough to be that nosy!  I guess that 5 years would be the end of a mortgage term, but I feel it's more likely that they don't have a big mortgage. Not sure.  I guess they aren't likely to tell me if they are moving for financial reasons!  

They bought it a couple of years after we moved in and paid about 25% more for it than we did for the identical one next door, so I assumed at the time that they had enough funds to overpay a bit.  Who knows!

 

Edited September 21, 2023 by Bear Necessities

[Armus]

42 minutes ago, bomberbrown said:

I've always been of the mindset I'd go for a 1 bed detached practically anywhere than a 2 or 3 bed for this very reason.  

Same here, I’m a little younger than you (early 40s). Don’t want to marry or co-habitate or have kids, so 1 bed or 2 (use one as an office) would be enough for me. Also don’t want to have to do the chores/maintenance in a bigger place.

Shame there aren’t that many places that fit the description (especially in my area of the NE).

 

[yodigo]

33 minutes ago, Bear Necessities said:

I've noticed a lot of the detached houses around here, mainly the new builds but also some of the older houses, are yes, *technically* detached but are still only about a metre or two apart, which in terms of problem neighbours playing loud music or late night motorbikes etc isn't much of an improvement on a semi, not like what I think of in my head as a detached, where its surrounded by gardens and a good 10+ metres from it's nearest neighbour.  

Maybe only 1m, but it makes a massive difference, no hearing all those internal 'sounds' that you do hear. Bliss. As for the external noise, you'd need to live in a mansion surrounded by acres of fields to get rid of those.

Anyway, hope the new neighbours are decent, it's a bit of a worry I know.

[Bear Necessities]

1 hour ago, yodigo said:

Maybe only 1m, but it makes a massive difference, no hearing all those internal 'sounds' that you do hear. Bliss. As for the external noise, you'd need to live in a mansion surrounded by acres of fields to get rid of those.

Anyway, hope the new neighbours are decent, it's a bit of a worry I know.

Don't really hear much in this semi (1940s). Nor in the probate place we just sold which was a massive semi-detached but 1920s, so I guess it depends on the build quality.

The neighbours went away for a week recently and we didn't even notice they were gone, or know when they'd come back we hear so little of them usually!

I did hear those screaming matches from the drink driving girlfriend but I imagine people three streets away would have heard those!

Occasionally dog yapping, but then that's when it's let out in the garden via the patio doors of a morning, which would be the same deal with a detached.  But yeah there is the occasional sort of murmuring noise if we are in the sitting room when they are in theirs, not enough to hear words, and no creaking or thumping up and down the stairs, but I've never heard their TV or music which I'm thankful for!  I don't know if it's just things were built better in those days? Maybe just lucky.

With the extension, our bedroom is the other side of the house now and so is my office so it works out pretty well. Can be as loud as we like (oooh err missus) in both locations.  I guess if the new people are noticeably louder I could get some sound proofing on the party wall, we shall see! Fingers crossed we don't need to

 

But yeah, all things being equal we would have gone for a detached, but wasn't in our budget at the time! And although we could move to one, you get attached to a place, and I think I've done it up quite well, so would be a shame to move.  Hoping for the best!

Edited September 21, 2023 by Bear Necessities

[Bear Necessities]

1 hour ago, Armus said:

Same here, I’m a little younger than you (early 40s). Don’t want to marry or co-habitate or have kids, so 1 bed or 2 (use one as an office) would be enough for me. Also don’t want to have to do the chores/maintenance in a bigger place.

Shame there aren’t that many places that fit the description (especially in my area of the NE).

 

Yeah all the places they are building near us seem to be three bed minimum for the detached ones, although most don't have much garden maintenance, as they only have a small bit of outdoor space so they can cram more houses on the plot. 

Sounds like if you are sure of what you want then you should look into self building or one of those sort of cabin type homes that are deliberately designed to be compact and easy to look after.  Used to see some lovely ones on the property porn programmes like that one with the mini homes (can't remember the name of the show but its on youtube somewhere)  problem is finding the land (at a good price) I guess 

 

Just looked it up and its George Clarke's Amazing Spaces on Channel 4.   Some of them are a bit w*nky but some of them are properly nice, compact, low maintenance dream houses.

Edited September 21, 2023 by Bear Necessities

[yodigo]

33 minutes ago, Bear Necessities said:

I guess if the new people are noticeably louder I could get some sound proofing on the party wall, we shall see! Fingers crossed we don't need to

Hope you don't need it, it's expensive and may not work 100% (ours didn't, although it vastly improved things - the sound came form a small spot rather than the whole wall). If you need it, look into concrete bricks, I wish we had used those.

[Bear Necessities]

2 minutes ago, yodigo said:

Hope you don't need it, it's expensive and may not work 100% (ours didn't, although it vastly improved things - the sound came form a small spot rather than the whole wall). If you need it, look into concrete bricks, I wish we had used those.

thanks for the tips. I was looking at mass-loaded vinyl and that kind of thing if we did need it one day. Will cross that bridge if we come to it.

But like I say it's not thumping sounds and full conversations and music, just a low murmur occasionally and a very muffled cheering sound if England score, so I think it's fairly ok as it is.   Look out for a thread in a year's time when I'm crying about how terrible and noisy the new people are!

[petetong]

10 minutes ago, Bear Necessities said:

thanks for the tips. I was looking at mass-loaded vinyl and that kind of thing if we did need it one day. Will cross that bridge if we come to it.

But like I say it's not thumping sounds and full conversations and music, just a low murmur occasionally and a very muffled cheering sound if England score, so I think it's fairly ok as it is.   Look out for a thread in a year's time when I'm crying about how terrible and noisy the new people are!

I read the best thing for sound proofing a wall is "soundproof" plasterboard attached to a frame so you have an air gap between the wall and plasterboard for separation too. That should stop that sort of noise. Nothing will stop impact noise much though apart from moving somewhere else but that shouldn't be an issue for you. 

[Bear Necessities]

10 minutes ago, petetong said:

I read the best thing for sound proofing a wall is "soundproof" plasterboard attached to a frame so you have an air gap between the wall and plasterboard for separation too. That should stop that sort of noise. Nothing will stop impact noise much though apart from moving somewhere else but that shouldn't be an issue for you. 

Yeah, no impact noise, which is good.
I agree, I think an airgap, a frame, then a layer of soundproof plasterboard, a layer of mass loaded vinyl and then another layer of the plasterboard. Would only lose about 20cm from the room at the most and can afford to lose that without it being noticed. I did look into it a bit when we first moved here (but didnt have the budget to fit it at the time and it turned out not to be very noisy so I didn't bother.

If we do that then I'll also build some sort of media wall thing in front of it so I don't have to plaster it, with some places for the old mega drive and other retro stuff and the TV.   Then the other party wall room has a fireplace and built in (by me) book cases, so any soundproofing could go behind those and wouldnt even be noticed.

Bit daft to be planning this out when the neighbours house hasn't even hit rightmove yet, but its good to know my options!

Edited September 21, 2023 by Bear Necessities

[Locke]

3 hours ago, Bear Necessities said:

There is a lot for sale around here right now. The bungalow at the end of the garden is for sale, plus another 3 or 4 round the corner, and two other houses on the road.  Plus a massive new development half a mile away which is supposed to be over 1200 houses I think

Wow your kids must be incredibly noisy

[Bear Necessities]

1 minute ago, Locke said:

Wow your kids must be incredibly noisy

Haha, yeah one plays thrash metal on his electric guitar and the other is a really shit drummer.

Nah, not really, they are both lovely and good kids, but yeah it makes me slightly paranoid seeing all the For Sale signs going up!

We did piss everyone off for months during the pandemic when the builders decided to press on with the extension anyway, but that was ages ago now and I think next door have nearly forgiven us. Maybe.  No point in them moving now it's finished!

Edited September 21, 2023 by Bear Necessities

[dirtysteve]

So they bought 5 years ago and you think they overpaid. Have they had any nice new cars or a new kitchen since then to increase their mortgage? Maybe that 1% five year fix has ended and now they’re screwed!

[Bear Necessities]

13 minutes ago, dirtysteve said:

So they bought 5 years ago and you think they overpaid. Have they had any nice new cars or a new kitchen since then to increase their mortgage? Maybe that 1% five year fix has ended and now they’re screwed!

The guy always has a decent car but I think it's a company one.
A few bits of carpentry at various times but I dont think a whole kitchen. certainly nothing on the scale of the work we've had done (which caused friction at times because I'd underestimated how long and how loud the work would be)

So I'm not sure.

They only had the soffits/facias and the double glazing replaced in the last 12 months (and she said they were saving up for a few other bits they wanted/needed doing) so it seems surprising if it's just a "change of scene" and not a financial or relationship decision. 

The double glazed windows and doors were fine, just brown and maybe a few years old, so they arent something  I would spend a few grand on, unless I'd been planning to stay.

Guess I'll never know and it's none of my business (but I'm nosey)

Edited September 21, 2023 by Bear Necessities

[sta100]

You should post what you expect them to put it on for. Then let us know how close you were.

[Bear Necessities]

39 minutes ago, sta100 said:

You should post what you expect them to put it on for. Then let us know how close you were.

Good idea.

My money is on them putting it on for £285k

(bought it for about 225k I think, ours was £170k but was a couple of years prior and needed a little more work, we actually looked at theirs before we bought ours) mainly because a couple of identical layout houses on the street are on for £280k/£290k (one is SSTC but that means nothing these days!)

Then again if they need to sell for financial reasons, and putting it on lower doesn't leave them underwater, they might be sensible enough to put it on for £260k or less, to undercut the competition (of which there seems to be a lot these days), otherwise I feel they might be chasing the market down for a long time. Guess it depends if they really just want a "change of scene" in which case they aren't that pressured to sell it.

I'll let you know as soon as it hits Rightmove, my wife has an alert set up! 
(but I won't share the link!)

 

Edited September 21, 2023 by Bear Necessities

[sta100]

Nice one

[Fishfinger]

4 hours ago, Bear Necessities said:

Yeah, no impact noise, which is good.
I agree, I think an airgap, a frame, then a layer of soundproof plasterboard, a layer of mass loaded vinyl and then another layer of the plasterboard. Would only lose about 20cm from the room at the most and can afford to lose that without it being noticed. I did look into it a bit when we first moved here (but didnt have the budget to fit it at the time and it turned out not to be very noisy so I didn't bother.

If we do that then I'll also build some sort of media wall thing in front of it so I don't have to plaster it, with some places for the old mega drive and other retro stuff and the TV.   Then the other party wall room has a fireplace and built in (by me) book cases, so any soundproofing could go behind those and wouldnt even be noticed.

Bit daft to be planning this out when the neighbours house hasn't even hit rightmove yet, but its good to know my options!

Wow somebody else doing this!

We're prepping the house to have the chimney breasts removed and then soundproof all the party walls. This is not only to keep the neighbour's noise out but also to keep my noise in😁

[MARTINX9]

6 hours ago, yodigo said:

Maybe only 1m, but it makes a massive difference, no hearing all those internal 'sounds' that you do hear. Bliss. As for the external noise, you'd need to live in a mansion surrounded by acres of fields to get rid of those.

Anyway, hope the new neighbours are decent, it's a bit of a worry I know.

Agreed - impact noise is the worst.

Anyone who has ever lived in a poor noise insulated block/conversion with endlessly stampeding toddlers/kids above or even below your flat will appreciate this!  Then you really know how much the sort of neighbours you have matter!

 

[The Angry Capitalist]

9 hours ago, Bear Necessities said:

The other half of our semi-detatched is going up for sale. Photos being taken today. (we know the neighbours well enough that they let us know first so we weren't caught by surprise, and well enough that I can ask them occasionally how it's going)

Reason given for sale: "Fancy a change of scene" but then they aren't going to say "because we hate you and your annoying kids"

Obviously, I have close personal interest in this because I'm hoping they don't sell it to a chainsaw-juggling motorcycle gang with a penchant for playing metal at full blast all night.

But I guess it will be interesting to see:

a) what they put it on for (it's a non-extended mirror image of our place)

b) how many viewings it gets

c) how long it takes to sell

d) how many times they have to reduce it

There is a lot for sale around here right now. The bungalow at the end of the garden is for sale, plus another 3 or 4 round the corner, and two other houses on the road.  Plus a massive new development half a mile away which is supposed to be over 1200 houses I think, and I imagine will soon be seeing reductions to the ones already built and maybe a pause in building the next phases.  But lots of choice for buyers.

I suggested to my wife that if it gets discounted enough, we buy it and knock through, but she's not keen!

Will be interesting.

Many factors to consider.

Is there a minimum price they need?

What agents they choose etc.

Keep us posted.

[Bear Necessities]

1 hour ago, Fishfinger said:

Wow somebody else doing this!

We're prepping the house to have the chimney breasts removed and then soundproof all the party walls. This is not only to keep the neighbour's noise out but also to keep my noise in😁

I'd be keen to know how it goes. I'd dread the idea of going to all that effort on the soundproofing and it not being as good as they say!  And like I said above, it's only if the new neighbours are worse than the nice ones we have right now.  It seems quite a lot of work to do otherwise (especially without knowing how much difference it would make.)

Edited September 21, 2023 by Bear Necessities