House envy

I love my house, it's been a happy family home( despite bereavement and poverty at times) and I've felt safe here.
We bought it outright when we moved from the London area in the 80s.
It's an ex local authority house so quite spacious with a decent sized garden. The neighbours have generally been great. It's got plenty of green space,in fact the countryside is a few minutes away. The children could walk to school and we are near shops,the doctor, most things that you need.At 77 I walk 10 minutes to my cleaning job at 5am.
I only wish I have the energy and money to keep the house looking good. I wouldn't downsize, unless I came into some money when I would get an apartment in Canary Wharf with a balcony which I would make safe for my beloved cat!
I still miss London ! Luckily I am there frequently as my partner of 17 years lives there. I don't really envy anyone anything, except if they have better health as mine isn't as great as it was.
Hopefully I will retire properly soon and tackle some of the house jobs.

If I were to be envious it would have to be a house on Midsomer Murders or the Marlow Murder Club.

Location envy perhaps for me. We live in a small friendly town so every time we go out we see familiar faces but if we want to go to a professional theatre production or a concert we have a journey of at least 45 minutes. Likewise big shops must be travelled to. However, we have family living very close by and the house we bought 30 years ago has been altered over the years to suit us. We’re not planning to go anywhere or move house!

monami

oh please, give us a break

Ooh , could this be a bit of house envy , I wonder !
cc your flat opposite the river sounds divine. Kew is a gorgeous area and Chiswick.We love a walk along the river there . It's a lovely part of London to live in .

Slimswim. House envy is a wierd feeling. Only get occasional twinges, in perfect locations, (riverside, with swans) or, modern minimalistic Le Corbusier style architect designed gorgeous houses. I also love Arts &Crafts. We all get it, but I am lucky not to experience it as a full blown attack. Having had more than 40 + years of house and garden visiting (due to my profession), I have never allowed it in, in the professional world. Also, in my personal world, I have always been very happy to be me, so that helps. Unfortunately, I have been on the receiving end of other peoples' house envy (and other life aspects in general), and it always really saddens me, so I do try to make a real effort to kick it into touch if it ever dares to rear its ugly head.

Love our midsized end of terrace . We have friends who moved out of London to buy sprawling houses with acres of land but now can't sell them and their far too big and expensive to manage . When the children grow up and leave home that's what's left . Empty rooms .
I've ladmired other people's houses but never been envious . Like others have said I'm very grateful to own my own home and be warm and comfortable with a manageable garden to enjoy and good transport links .

Home is where the heart lies, a kind of sanctuary. It's more than bricks and mortar, or acres of land.

Yes, this is a gentle thread, posters expressing what a property can mean to us, or not.

...and most of us love our homes (irrespective of what we say here) as most of us know it is a place of some comfort - or at least familiarity. I have lived in dozens of homes - over the years - most of them were rented - but they were still home and a place to come back to.

In America I wanted a staircase, in one house I wanted to not have the water in by bedside glass freeze overnight, in another not to have to cling film the windows in the winter time...
They were all home.

If it is "raining in" and cold and damp it is a challenge and we shouldn't be having this sort of issue. If we own it but can't fix it, maybe we should be thinking about a move. It really shouldn't be happening in a rented home.
😕

I think this is a pretty lightheaded thread Sarnia.

Most of us look around the country/ the world and know how lucky we are.

When you look at what is going on in the world right at this moment the words 'An Englishman's home is his castle' spring to mind. I am grateful for what I have worked for personally, enjoy my garden and enjoy cleaning my own home while I have the health to do it. I have many items from my late mother's house which bring back happy memories of a happy life lived.

In Melbourne it is about £1700 a month for a basic 2 bedroom townhouse with no garden. Horrific. That is what one of my daughters has to pay. Not just horrific, ridiculous. Even out in the sticks it is two thirds of that. God help those who haven’t got a house when they are retiring age.

A lot of the houses around me are large, expensive and even flashy, but I don’t envy them as I’m not keen on this area and remain here as a widow as I have made a life in the town (which is very convenient).

I have a split level bungalow overlooked by an enormous house and I certainly wouldn’t want that responsibility.
I do however, have area envy as ideally I’d like to be either in London or outside Oxford, but feel it’s too late for the upheaval and change of life.

I don't envy anyone or anything certainly not houses, being comfortable and convenient as we get older is priority, a 3 bed 70s bungalow updated 10 yrs ago. We do have a large garden, while we are fit enough to maintain its lovely, we are gradually changing it to be less work.

I have been house sitting for the past two years and have stayed in some beautiful homes with many bathrooms and toilets, large kitchens with agas, cinema rooms, jacuzzis and beautiful large gardens.

We live in a tiny two bedroom maisonette which we were able to buy outright 13 years ago and I can honestly say I love coming back to my little home!

It is lovely to see how the other half live, but having a large house and garden doesn't necessarily make you happy. As you get older that home still has to be maintained, cleaned and the garden becomes hard work to keep on top of.

Our home is just what we need at this time in our life and we may even downsize further in the future. I think it's a matter of appreciating what you have really and not yearning for more. 🙂

Pinkrinse

Shinamae

With the way it is with the rental market at the moment I am just grateful that I do own my own house it’s only a three bedroom terrace but I love it..
In my area to rent a three bedroom house of Any description is about £1200 a month….

£2,200 a month round here!

I’m in North Devon…

petra

monami

oh please, give us a break

You can have a break if you want to. Others obviously don’t.

What a mean spirited and unnecessary comment.

Shinamae

With the way it is with the rental market at the moment I am just grateful that I do own my own house it’s only a three bedroom terrace but I love it..
In my area to rent a three bedroom house of Any description is about £1200 a month….

£2,200 a month round here!

There's nothing wrong with rather liking the idea of a home that has a view other than the five wheely bins I currently gaze out on, with lights that work, plumbing that is reliable, and a kitchen that's not falling apart.

All the nice throws and cushions don't make up for those things.

@Slimswim while it’s a nice problem to have, I do know how you mean. My mother left her house to me and my brother and now my husbands snd I own it outright which is a great blessing as it’s in a really beautiful area but for that very reason - it has gradually dawned on us - nearly all our neighbours are seriously well-off and their homes are magnificent, with fine art and of course those HUGE kitchens! Our house is basically a three bedroom bungalow…our neighbours are very kind and friendly - but I am rather aware that we are clearly the poorest people on the street!

@Petra. Oh yes. That library!

There is only one house that I always joke it should have been mine
Chatsworth 🥰

Former SIL had a nice house, good sized rooms and garden, but it didn’t match her social aspirations. So they now live in a “good” area. Lounge - perfect (scarcely used). Likewise dining room. Top of the range galley kitchen, but all relaxing takes place in a tiny “den” off the kitchen. Garden is so small that their outdoor times are spent on a (nice) balcony which can only be reached via a bedroom then bathroom. And of course she drives an expensive German coupé. This, presumably, is her idea of the dream home. My place is far less showy, in a less upmarket area, with a large, private garden & if you don’t want to take your shoes off you’re welcome just the same. I never want to move from here. What I do envy, however, is other people’s style. Each to their own, I guess.

Not so much house envy, but area envy. We live in a good part of a run-down Northern town. I never go shopping in the town centre (it’s all vapes and charity shops). I do most of my shopping online. I’d love to move to the Lakes or Shropshire, but we have family ties here and the property prices would be higher anyway.

I have a two bedroomed EOT house in Greater London. Larger downstairs.
No envy from me. It'd clean, tidy, slightly quirky. Not to everyone's taste. I love it.

To be honest I don't get why there is envy? You lije tge area; have nice friends; presumably an interesting life. Assuming you have made your smaller house into a nice place to call home and as you would like it to be, with things around you that you like, then why worry about others who gave something different?