A bit of a conundrum this one. When registering with the agents the other weekend, I inevitably asked about the state of the local market. From memory the responses were 'robust', 'strong' and 'very active', all I note, words equally applicable to describing a cockroach - but I digress.

 

The point here is that the Brighton Market is a strong market for sellers and therefore a competitive market for the likes of me, a buyer. Stock questions during registration were 'at what stage we were with our current property? How long had it been on the market? Was it under offer?' and so on. I believe the intention of such questions is to elicit the strength of our position to act if the right property came our way. Good properties in Brighton are having asking price offers on them the day they come to the market. I'm sure that the even better properties don't even reach the Estate Agents windows.

 

I have to balance this active market with the very much smaller and inevitably less active market of the village in which I am selling my house. It's probably going to take a while to sell.  Even though Sawbridgeworth is only a 40 minute train journey into Liverpool St, no-one seems to know or heard of it. It does exist I tell you! It's sandwiched between Bishop's Stortford and Harlow and is host to 'Beckingham Palace' no less. Although, frankly I'm getting rather tired of Posh and Beck's 'just popping round' for a cup of tea or to borrow my Swingball set.

 

However back to my main point which is that somehow we need to consider how to achieve a balance of being in a realisitic position to put in an offer on a place in Brighton and have our own property positioned at a similar stage. Do we hit the Brighton market guns blazing, find something we like and then worry about the sale of our house later, or do we wait until our place is under offer first ?

 

If we take the first choice we may end up in the realms of bridging loans or have to compromise on the sale price of our house. if we take the second option, we may find ourselves out of our home, everything put in storage and commiting to a short term let which will likely necessitate a 6 month contract. Both choices are therefore financially penalizing.

 

 Id been keen to know if anyone has had similar experiences and which of the two scenarios is more prefereable in their experience?

Well thank you sun...stuck in bank holiday traffic with the roof down, I now have a face of an Oompa-Loompa. A great weekend for being on the beach but not for sitting in Estate Agents registering our details over and over again! The upshot is that we are now registered with 7 agents. Most are local only to the Brighton and Hove area, although there are some of the national chains there too such as Winkworths and Strutt and Parker.

 

We took the opportunity to walk around Brighton and Hove and get a feel for the different areas. There are a lot of considerations on location alone. As mentioned before we need to be reasonably close to the town centre and a maximum 15 mins from Brighton or Hove Station. Hove, we felt was a little too far out from the action, although arguably the properties there are a little less expensive. As we need parking for one van (wife's business) we pretty much had to eliminate a lot of the properties on or near the seafront. Brighton does have some serious parking issues and you can wait for up to 28 months jst to get a permit to park outside your house!

 

After much walking and discussion we decided we like the look of the Seven Dials area. Some nice shops and bars, 10-15 mins from Brighton Station, parking not really an issue, and it's on a hill which will keep us safe from any impending global warming sea level rises for the next 500 years.

 

Our budget is around £375,000 - £380,000. We're looking for a 3 bed with a bit of outside space and not too much work needed. Those are the basic criteria.

Well, I didn't think we would be moving again after just one year. Then again you just never know what lies ahead. My wife and I had a five year plan on our current place, but having settled in, found the transformation in lifestlye from 'edgy' Hackney to small, quiet English village too much of a step change. We're just too damn unwilling to commit our souls to life in the 'sticks'....just yet. Shame, as we've spent the last year turning our house into a place of our own and just as we're enjoying the fruits of our labours, we've put it on the market!

 

So with the house up for sale, we've spent recent times considering where on earth we're going to go next. Somewhere commutable to London for me and somewhere where my wife can develop her upholstery business and be close to friends. Oh yes, and this time we need to be somewhere with a bit more 'life and soul'!

 

Putting all the critereia into our (yet to be patented) 'Location Cruncher' we finally decided on.....'London on Sea' or Brighton as others prefer to call it. We've spent a number of weekends down there previously with friends and have always had a great time. The beach, South Downs, shopping, proximity to London and arts & crafts scene all conspire to make Brighton our destination of choice.

 

So, we're off this weekend for a good old trapse around Brighton (and Hove) to see what they have to offer, and establish whether we will be able to afford 'London on Sea' prices!