BF, dog and I live in a sort of semi-detached house. I say sort of, because it is actually part of a farm, converted to rental. Semi-detached sounds too posh as adequate description.
It has two bedrooms, a roomy and light livingroom, one bathroom. Turning the 2BR into a 3BR in the future is a possibility.
We ended up here, because BF really wanted to move closer to work, hating his commute. We had to leave our student flat anyways, but were hesitant to buy a house in a new-to-us area and in the middle of a rather turbulent time in our lives (and in the economy).
We really, really like our house, because:
- location is absolutely fabulous. We live on 35 resp. 20 minutes biking distance from both our jobs. Semi-rural, so lots of greenery, but also within biking distance of the city, 5 min. from supermarket/shops.
- space that suites us. Maybe even a little roomy now (127 m2 living surface, attic included). Space left for eventual new family member(s). Nice garden to hang in and let dog blow off some steam once in a while. Shed offers lots of storage space for bikes, trailers, camping gear etc.
- reasonable rent, at least for non-social housing.
- landlord is a decent man, and always tackles any occuring problems asap.
- new roof, great isolation upstairs, new double glazed windows and our central heating just got replaced this year for a more efficient type. We hope to see our utilities go down this year.
We would eventually want to move, because:
- moist issues (incl. mold, ugh) downstairs due to construction issues. Not much to do about it, I'm afraid. We are not hanging any laundry inside anymore, to stop contributing to the problem, which seems to help. Ventillation is key.
- bathroom is old and musty and impractical, but replacing this in a house we rent seems silly.
- with more than one kid, this house could get a little crowded. There's one very steep stairway that's not exactly kidproof.
- we'd like to own rather than rent. We'd rather have a bit more land to ourselves eventually, and we'd like to be able to isolate and/or put solar on the roof. Not very feasible in a rental.