We are one of those neo-modern semi-extended families that populate Britain as it is today. We are suffering from cabin fever and need a bigger house. We have three tiddlers aged 3, 4 and 6, a teenager from a previous marriage who still lives with us, and three older children also from the previous marriage in their 20’s who are all now living independently. Myself and my husband are both nurses. The older….

….children like to visit us from time to time and need a place to rest their heads when they come to see their poor old mum (me). We live in a Midlands town, in a 4 bed plus boxroom 1930’s extended semi, but long for a 5 bed + study detached house, in order to fulfil our dreams and be able to house our various peripatetic relatives who like to descend upon us with very little notice. We already have a sofa-bed in the lounge, but that room has to double as a playroom/musicroom which is not very conducive to inviting Granny and Grandpa for the weekend.

So we have been trawling the local housing stock to see if we can find our dream house. Here it is! We’ve found it! 5 bedrooms, study, conservatory, detached house, garage, close to schools, near the post office and shops, but off the main road tucked away at the bottom of a small cul-de-sac. Perfect! Off we go to try to raise enough money, and to our surprise and delight we find that we can just about manage it financially, so down goes our reservation fee and the house is reserved in our names. (This was Monday 27th June 2005). We have decided to part-ex our existing house with our builders, Espirit Homes, to prevent build-up of a chain and enable us to get on with the move without hindrance. We have never lived in a modern house before, I have only ever lived in Victorian, Georgian, or pre-war houses previously, so this is a whole new ball game for me.

We are worried that a large tree in the garden of the new house could cause potential subsidence problems in the future, so we will need to get advice about that. A million other niggly things lurk around in the depths of our minds causing us worry. My mother has sent me a newspaper cutting today about New Build Inspections Ltd, -this could be just what we need to enable us to hang on to our sanity while we go through this very scary process……
……watch this space….