Don’t just change your house, change your lifestyle

The idea of a lifestyle change is now just as important in peoples property search criteria as it is for the number of bedrooms or size of a garden. The lifestyle change that they are looking for could take on something dramatic like retiring abroad or moving out of the area completely or it could be something equally important to them, but much smaller like giving up their car or a smaller low maintenance garden.

As I write this I am working my seventh day in a row and the idea of a lifestyle change seems quite appealing. Unfortunately I am not brave enough but I have plenty of clients who have either done it or are seriously considering it and secretly I am a little bit jealous.

The most common idea for a lot of people is rather than retire to the traditional bungalow some people would prefer to buy a large seafront apartment and spend a few months of the year travelling. The freedom that a property with minimal maintenance and the security of being able to lock it up and leave gives them ensures that they can go away on that round the world cruise they have always dreamed about or go skydiving and bungee jumping in New Zealand if they so desire.

The other idea can be moving out of the rat race and into the country. I recently had a property on the market in Ashingdon for £900,000. This is roughly the same price as a detached house in Leigh with a 40’ garden. The property I was selling was a 5 bedroom detached bungalow with 8 acres and stables for 7 horses! The idea of jacking it all in embracing the good life certainly has its appeal (lets brush over the fact that I am scared of horses). Making a small holding with animals and growing your own produce sounds pretty idyllic when you are driving around Leigh trying to find a parking space or considering paying £10 for a coffee! But I am sure that in 4 foot of snow in February it looks slightly different.

There are plenty of other people that move in to the heart of Leigh in the opposite direction for the lifestyle change. They may well be looking for the café culture, proximity to the seafront and village atmosphere that Leigh has in abundance. A client recently moved from North London where she had lived for many years and has only been here for just under a year but tells me that she knows her neighbours better now than she ever did in London. She has fully embraced the Leigh lifestyle, ditching the car and joining every club going and now spends very little time at home as she is always out doing things and enjoying herself.

It might also be people who are finished with the large gardens or even acres that they have tended and looked after for many years. The kids may have flown the nest and now this is their time. They would still like a good size house for when all of the family congregates at their house for Easter or Christmas but they are more interested in the living and socialising space than they are about having 5 bedrooms or large gardens and for the times when the family is not around they want to be close to everything for the power walks along the seafront or more likely the weekly meal in the posh restaurants nearby.

So you may not have to do anything drastic like run away to the circus or become a new age traveller roaming the countryside living off the grid to change your lifestyle, it could just be a case of thinking a little bit differently and doing something out of the norm, not doing what is expected of you. J

ust a small change could have a big impact and give you the desired impact you are looking for even if you didn’t know you were looking for it.

This article is by Rob at Scott & Stapleton 
42 Broadway | Leigh-on-sea | Essex | SS9 1AJ
Tel: 01702 471155 
Email: rob@scottandstapleton.co.uk

To read all of Rob's previous property blogs, please click the link here