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Looking for family house to buy! - LJ (2nd Mar 2014 - 21:02:21) My husband has recently started a new job in West Sussex. At the moment we're living a 3 hour drive away from his new workplace so we're relocating. We've looked around the area he'll be working and think that Liphook would be the perfect town for us - a reasonable commute for him, good schools and within striking distance of London. The problem is that there are VERY few houses on the market at the moment and the ones that are on the market are going very quickly (within a couple of days!) which makes it a bit difficult for us to view quickly when we're so far away. In (near) desperation I'm posting here. We're looking for a 4 bedroomed family house in or around Liphook. Ideally we're looking for a house with a little bit of character and for a maximum of £500K. Please let me know if you're thinking about selling! luce_causwell@hotmail.com

Re: Looking for family house to buy! - JJ (3rd Mar 2014 - 10:58:52) Does it have to be in Liphook? Surrounding villages have family homes on the market, I live in Headley and my next door neighbour has their 5 bed home on the market in your budget.. needs updating décor-wise but very move-in and live. My boys went to Bohunt, so is in the catchment area for that school and the Liphook Junior. I'm sure if you get in touch with local estate agents in Liphook/Grayshott etc., they will be more than happy to give you a list of properties for you to view! Good luck.

Re: Looking for family house to buy! - LJ (3rd Mar 2014 - 12:55:19) Thanks very much for your reply. Yes! We're definitely considering surrounding villages - if they're within the Bohunt catchment area. We're moving from a rural location and would prefer for our children to be closer to their schools than they have been here, and if possible in walking distance of friends as they get older. I'll definite check out Headley. Thanks again for your post.

Re: Looking for family house to buy! - Emma Das (3rd Mar 2014 - 21:32:41) This is my house we are currently trying to sell, it's less than 10 years old but for a new house the space is exceptional. www.rightmove.co.uk/property...

Re: Looking for family house to buy! - LJ (4th Mar 2014 - 12:10:43) Hello Emma, Thanks very much for posting that - funnily enough the estate agent sent your house details to me this morning, so I've just been looking at it online. It's lovely, and has lots of space. So far we haven't really been considering newer houses, but yours does look good! My husband is abroad for work at the moment, but he'll be back this weekend and I'll show him the details to see what he thinks, too. Thanks again.

Re: Looking for family house to buy! - Dawn Hoskins (4th Mar 2014 - 14:13:24) You do need to be very careful about catchment area for schools as these are being assessed. As far as I can remember the schools have said that at present they have spaces but if numbers are tight local kids take preference. I did ask for an actual map of the catchment area at the last meeting with Ferris Cowper, but nothing was forthcoming. Certainly something to keep your eye on. All the best with your house hunt! Passfield is very lovely but quite remote - no pavement in either direction to Liphook or Lindford no lampposts and lots of fields! If that's your bag come and have a look.

Re: Looking for family house to buy! - LJ (4th Mar 2014 - 17:17:43) Thanks for your advice, Dawn. Passfield sounds a little bit like where we\'re living now, which we love, but now that the children are a little bit older we\'d like them to have the chance to be a bit more independent - being able to walk to school when they\'re older would be a real bonus. Is Ferris Cowper the Bohunt Head? That\'s very good advice about catchment areas. I have spoken to the LEA and they did send a map, but it was such small scale and had been photocopied so many times that it was actually illegible. I will double and triple check, though, before we buy. Thanks again! PS - Is there anything else we should keep in mind when buying locally? Any big developments / nuclear reactors / new motorways planned? Or anything new coming up that might mean an area's about to change for the better? Can't imagine what this would be... Ferris Cowper is our County Councillor - You can contact him at ferris.cowper@hants.gov.uk or on 01428 609858. There will be a few housing developments in the Liphook area over the coming years, some sites have approval others are trying hard to get planning. There is nothing I'm aware that would blight the area, the recent A3 tunnel has greatly improved access to Guildford and beyond and helped to bolster house sales (I think). The following thread links to other ones discussing moving to Liphook - have a good read... Moving to Liphook

Re: Looking for family house to buy! - h (4th Mar 2014 - 19:36:54) There are some developments which have recently been given petmission and some more planned but they will take years to be built yet. I note that you prefer an older style, but if you do not, what about the estate near sainsbury? that is within walking distance of Bohunt school?

Re: Looking for family house to buy! - tony (6th Mar 2014 - 21:58:50) Hi LJ. Liphook is a lovely village/ town and the quality of life here is great, the surrounding countryside even better! For what it's worth, when we were looking to buy we realised that at that price range you either had a modern house on one of the developments (ie Sainsbury's- very close together, I called it toy town); Berg-over THAT bridge!, a bit snobbish looking, but otherwise very pleasant, but beware the proposed chicken farm development); the Maltings, (nice location but a bit smaller), Hazeldene/bircholt road (nice houses, a drive to the village and by the A3) or else you had a nicer older house on one of the main roads and very central but noisier, busier etc. There are a several others worth looking at if they come on at the right time (ie Childerstone Close (my favourite but the one we wanted sold just before ours went under offer!), the Grove, Hollycombe Close etc. But I'd say there are not really any established mature 'streets' with period detatched houses like in Haslemere. As for schools, like someone said, they are OK at the moment but could become oversubscribed with all the new developments planned. And remember they have a fracking well down towards Fernhurst and are planning to frack all over the South downs, some say it doesn't matter, would be great, others disagree. worth taking into account and make your own mind up. Good luck1

Re: Looking for family house to buy! - LJ (8th Mar 2014 - 11:47:52) Thank you so much Tony! That's a wealth of information and exactly the kind of detail that it's useful to have - it's very hard to get a sense of distinct areas when you're searching from so far away. You raised a good point about fracking - and one I'm keeping in mind. With my husband's work having relocated to the South Downs we've no choice but to move to this area. I'm wondering if, with the extent of fracking largely unknown at the moment, whether it makes sense to buy within an established village (Liphook) or town (Midhurst) in the hope that permisisons to frack won't be granted very close to built up areas? I've noticed that a lot more properties seem to be coming on the market around Chdingfold were they're test drilling. Thank you too to whoever posted the very useful links to other threads. We're still looking hard for a house to buy, so please do post if you have any ideas! Many thanks.

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