After having rented a 50 square meter apartment for several years, Emmanuelle and David decided to take the plunge in 2013 and buy their first house. “We were tired of paying rent for nothing… Every month, 880 euros were lost… Since our professional situations were stabilizing, we took steps to buy a house to the west of Toulouse“, explain the forty-year-olds. Through a real estate agency based in Blagnac, the couple visited several properties in Léguevin, Plaisance-du-Touch and Pibrac. “After living in the city center of Toulouse, in a relatively noisy apartment, we wanted to live in quiet, more isolated accommodation.“, says Emmanuelle, legal manager in an SME.
When the two young workers visit a detached house in Pibrac, on the edge of the Bouconne forest, they have stars in their eyes. “The house needed some repair work, but nothing insurmountable. Its positive point was that it was isolated, surrounded by trees. There was nothing overlooked since the nearest neighbors were more than 400 meters away…“, she specifies. An ideal location, but which implied a paradigm shift. “Until now, we were used to doing everything on foot or by public transport. We knew that by buying this house we were going to be more dependent on the car“, remembers David, a construction salesman.
Despite everything, the young couple bought this detached house of 110 square meters, at the price of 295,000 euros. And, at the same time, a second car, so that everyone is independent on a daily basis. The first years, life “far from everything“suits them perfectly. But when Emmanuelle and David welcome their first and then their second child, the trips by car to the pediatrician, to the nursery, to the supermarket, etc. become more painful. “Our gas budget then exploded“, recalls Emmanuelle. The cup is full when their children start to go to school at Pibrac school, which is 15 minutes by car from their house, but above all at the exact opposite of their workplace at all both. “It was from that moment that we understood that the location of the house was not strategic. At the time, we didn’t pay attention to the proximity of schools because we didn’t have children. But, today, these trips to and from school are burdensome on a daily basis… Between the moment I leave home to drop our children off at school and the moment I arrive at work, 45 minutes pass …, she explains. Before adding: “when I see parents arriving on foot to school, I admit to being envious“.
For this reason – and because their two children are starting to have activities in the center of the town, requiring even more round trips by car – the couple is considering selling the house in the countryside to be closer to the public facilities of Pibrac. However, this requires moving a little further away from their workplace… “Or negotiate a few additional days of teleworking“, indicate Emmanuelle and David. By the end of 2024, the original Toulouse residents wish to have their renovated house valued by a real estate agent. “We have no idea of its price, but we hope that our renovation work will allow us to make a little added value…“, says David. “In any case, before putting our house up for sale, we would first like to find another property“, he confides. This time closest to the school group, which also includes a middle school.
