so ive kind of parked the whole buying idea for now. been looking at spare room listings instead and theres rooms going for 350-400 a month in places like rotherham and doncaster which would mean i could keep saving and not commit to somewhere ive never even visited. i guess the sensible thing would be to rent a room for six months, get to know an area, and then decide whether to buy. the thought of putting 85k into a house in a town ive only seen on google maps is starting to feel a bit mad when i say it out loud.