Overview

Forgetting about plumbers going AWOL, water pouring through the kitchen light, or having to walk on chipboard floors for a couple of years, oh I must not forget to mention the things that go bump in the night. It is now time for some personal reflections on this design which I dedicate to Basil Fawlty, who I am sure would look at my knowledge of house buying with reverence. (If you do not know who Basil Fawlty is please go and watch Fawlty Towers on YouTube)

What went well?

The fact that I happened to think about doing this design when I did, and for doing something about it straight away. If nothing else this proves how important it is to do the things you think about when you think about them.

From the time of writing down my checklist of things to take into consideration when buying a house, to the time of viewing and buying our first house was only a few weeks. As mentioned in the re-evaluation of this design, I missed a lot of questions that should have been on the checklist, but it all turned out well in the end. I am still alive and living in the same house with my partner.

The best part of the design was spending time thinking about questions regarding the garden. I walked past the house we now live in many times even before our first viewing with the estate agent. From the questions, I already had a good idea of what I was going to do with both the front and back gardens. They were a great set of questions concerning the garden.

Going into this design I had a lifetime of experience relating to the local area, so I knew lots of the answers to the checklist questions as soon as I looked online at a house that was for sale. The questions relating to the location were a great set of questions. I knew all about how the sun would move across the gardens, where the sun would set at different times of the year, how the prevailing wind would affect the gardens.

At the time I would have said this design was priceless in helping to find our dream house, 3 years on, I would say this design cost us a fortune. 

What has been challenging?

Not knowing anything about buying a house, then creating a design around buying a house left it with a lot of gaps. At the time of writing, I would not say it was challenging coming up with the questions. I did not feel I had missed much out because I simply did not know what I needed to include.

It was only after buying the house and getting the keys when alarm bells started to ring over so many things that I never gave much thought, such simple things as costs. Thankfully, the stress I was then under after moving in helped me to never think about the questions I missed off the design. It is only now when I look back and think how much better my life could have been with a more complete design with additional questions, not to mention an action plan, which would have been marvellous.

It is also worth mentioning that things do go bump in the night. The addition of a few questions around paranormal activity (See Appendix) would be well worth adding to the checklist.   

What are my long-term vision and goals for this design?

If the day comes when I am looking to buy another house I would certainly go back to this design and add many more questions relating to the condition of the house and the amount of work that needs to be carried out both inside and outside along with time scales. I would also add a section involving costs.

I would also add an extra goal to the design other than just buying a house. This goal would be to create a plan of action from the information gathered from the checklist. This plan of action would be to help remove as much stress as possible from having to do and think about everything all at once when you get the keys to a house.

What are the next achievable steps?

Other than stepping away from this design forever, deleting all evidence that I even had created a design for buying a house by somebody who knew nothing whatsoever about houses, or all the little things that are part of houses like plumping, heating, electrics, the next achievable thing to do is to learn from my experiences and to help others if they ever find themselves in a similar position. If somebody was interested in permaculture and was wanting to buy a house I would 100% revisit this design with them and look at my own mistakes and make sure they did not do the same.  

On the positive side of things, I am your man if you want somebody to give you garden advice before buying a house.

Final words

I would have been better off naming this design “Garden Buying Design” and missing out on all the house questions. That way I could have presented a design that worked well and left me with something to pat myself on the back with. But as they say, “you learn by your mistakes”.

I will end with one more question. What have I learned from this design? I have learned it is more scary thinking about buying another house than hearing those loud thuds inside our house on a night that keep happening for no apparent reason.