windsong

That's a very useful little tool. Thanks so much for sharing it.

Sally Redux

It's very difficult to tell unless you know the area, isn't it?

Are you planning to move back for good or split your time?

happyglow

I don't know Keighley but on the general subject of stone terraces, check the construction of walls dividing houses - if they are single skin brick it can be surprisingly noisy.

robin1234

Good point. I've never lived in a terraced house but I like the idea of them, but it REALLY must depend on who your neighbours are, in terms of noise & general quality of life.

robin1234

Reading the tea-leaves, I somehow think my wife is a bit reluctant to make the move. So we are potentially looking at buying ANOTHER house on Cape Cod (since our daughter is living in the first one!) and a place in England, take a few years to work out how much time to spend in each..

holly_1948

Years ago I had an uncle who lived in the city of North Bay, Ontario.
He owned a house in town and another house some miles away on the lake. His son and son's family were relatively poor. So he used to live in town in the winter and on the lake in the summer, seasonally every year. He made his son live in the "other" house year round. The price of living rent free.

dunroving

I look at terraces and flats the same - the more borders you have with other properties, the increased possibility you will have the neighbuors from hell.

I always liked the fact that as small as it was (1400 sq ft), my US house allowed me to have the telly on as loud as I wanted, and I was never bothered by noise from the neighbours.

One advantage of terraces and flats, though, is that your heating bills are low.

happyglow

Having tried both, I'd say terraces in general are way better than flats. Noise from above is the worst, and unless you're in a concrete multibox (shudder) wooden floors transmit way more than dividing walls.

Of course in the worst case Wayne and Waynetta Slob scenario, nothing will protect you. That's when a hut up a mountain starts to look really attractive...

Sally Redux

Sounds good.
When I lived in the flat, the man above used to scrape his furniture around on the floor as if constantly rearranging the room

Harvester523

I started off married life in a terrace - one side were lovely and the others were...well... Though even the nice side were noisy when one of them had a plaster cast on their leg on wooden stairs.
It really makes no difference though, many many years down the track we had a detached, with an alcoholic living in a mobile home behind the next door house. He used to come home drunk at 3am and fall asleep with the stereo on full blast.
Best is no neighbours, but then you're a burglar target.
Yes, terraces are warmer, especially middle terraces!

Sally Redux

I have noticed that a lot of people are incorporating the 'side return' into the house, so that you're even more on top of eachother.

I really liked our terraced house in Barnet, but there were a huge number of cats in the neighbourhood who all crapped in our garden - many fruitless hours spent trying to figure out a way to keep them out - and the house on one side was in multiple occupation and pretty noisy.

Harvester523

Multiple occupation - there's one to avoid! My ex in-laws lived in a large semi, the adjoining semi was split up for students - it was hell!
Get a house on the main road - then you won't hear the neighbours!

dunroving

I watched Michael Portillo's new series on British railway trips, he visited Port Sunlight on Monday. It looked like a very interesting place, and I was surprised to find the houses can be had for < £180k.

robin1234

I just looked too, beautiful grade II listed houses for £140k, several of them. Looks nice around there, too. I think it is one of the places featured in Bill Bryson's book Notes from a Small Island.

TheCreature

...and you never want too. God awful place.