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Property/DIY

Location or house - which to compromise on?!

20 replies

threeleftfeet · 13/08/2012 10:12

What we want ideally is a 3 bed house in our current town, near the good schools. Can't really afford it however!

Our choices are:

  1. Compromise on finish, for a few years:

We could get a doer-upper in the nice part of town, (seeing one for the second time today). This seems to be the only way to afford a small 3 bed here. We'd be near a wonderful, Ofsted-outstanding primary. However we wouldn't be able to afford to do the work for another 3 years so would need to make it as good as we could on a shoe string, and put up in living in somewhere which is quite shabby round the edges till then.

  1. Compromise on space. We could afford a lovely 2 bed near the good schools. It will most likely have a tiny garden. We will need to get rid of a lot of stuff to fit in it! We would need to move again much sooner, as our family grows. We wouldn't have room for friends to stay, beyond the sofa. But we would be living in a nice environment.


  1. Compromise on location. We could easily afford a spacious 3 or 4 bed with decent garden, garage, extra reception(s) etc in a neighbouring town, near a good primary. However it would make my commute 1hour 30 instead of 40 minutes, and I feel that's too much. I like that town, however as well as nice bits it has large pockets of social deprivation, crime and violence are higher in that town than other areas round here. Our current town simply doesn't have large areas of social deprivation, it's a much safer place.


Which would you choose?

TIA :)
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crochetcircle · 13/08/2012 10:19

Definitely compromise on finish. You won't notice the cracks/stains/whatever after the first few days, but you would definitely notice the commute everyday, and the lack of space would eat away at me. Also, it takes bloody ages to sell houses/find another one. I definitely wouldn't want to do that more than I had to.

You are lucky to have good school options wherever you live - I don't think there's much difference between a good and an outstanding school tbh. You just want to avoid failing schools.

HTH

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soverylucky · 13/08/2012 10:24

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

crazyhead · 13/08/2012 10:25

Totally agree with crochetcircle. You might be able to save small amounts to do dribs and drabs yourself, plaster a room and paint it here, sort out the garden there. If it isn't falling down, its amazing what you can achieve. In the end, you'll have a place that works best for you that way.

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iseenodust · 13/08/2012 10:26

Option 1.

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Spammertime · 13/08/2012 10:27

Option 1 without question. You can do finish gradually, and add value.

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newpup · 13/08/2012 10:28

I would always buy in the best area. Better to have the least nice house in the best area then the best house in the worst area!

You can do a house up over time and are then likely to make money on it. If it is in the catchment for the best schools it will be easier to sell on in the future. I definately would not buy the smaller house I would need to move out of in a few years.

Go for Option 1.

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newpup · 13/08/2012 10:29

Cross post severlylucky Smile

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threeleftfeet · 13/08/2012 10:34

Thanks everyone. I was just starting to wonder if it really was a good idea. The house has potential, for sure. But I was getting slightly cold feet a bit as we'll have to live in it in a pretty run down state for the next 3 years - till DS is 7 and bump is 2.5.

I was wondering if that might get us down after a while. It's not that bad though!

But we'll be really near the great school, and in a lovely area, that counts for a lot doesn't it!

We're seeing it again this afternoon. Apparently a developer is interested in it too, so fingers crossed they decide against it for some reason!

If we go for it we'll put in an offer today or tomorrow, I'll let you know!!

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noddyholder · 13/08/2012 10:53

Definitely the do-er upper. It is amazing what you can do fairly cheaply to make it home and if the rest of your life is easy (ie commutes schools etc) and you are happy in your house you won't notice the scruff after a few weeks!

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fussychica · 13/08/2012 14:37

1,2,3 in that order. Good luck with your 2nd viewing/offer.

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EyesDoMoreThanSee · 13/08/2012 15:02

Option 1

Option 1

Option 1

We just moved back to a suburb where I lived for six years, I love it. The house is a bit shabby, needs a great deal of work which we will do over several years, and it has one less bedroom than we would have liked but today I walked to the shops, bought things for a picnic, walked to the park and had picnic and DD is sleeping in the buggy while I MN and relax in the garden.

The location is everything Grin

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ksrwr · 13/08/2012 15:06

option 1

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oscarwilde · 13/08/2012 15:06

Definitely option 1 provided that the house isn't actually falling down and it won't cost you a fortune to keep it habitable. If so, find a similar house in the same area.
You will find the money for refurb projects much faster if it bugs you enough too :)
An hour extra at work a day will bring either more money/faster promotion/more time with DC's. Seems like a no brainer.

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mathanxiety · 13/08/2012 22:30

Compromise on finish. Good school is extremely important and will be a selling point if you ever decide to move on -- any work you do on it will pay off more near good schools than elsewhere.

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threeleftfeet · 13/08/2012 22:51

Thanks everyone for listening to my little wobble!

Went to see it again today and it's definitely nearest to what we want that we've seen so far.

So put in an offer this afternoon, keeping fingers and toes crossed!

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ChocolateMama · 14/08/2012 23:00

Option 1 definitely. We did this and it was the right thing to do. Great schools and area - although still peruse Rightmove and see beautiful big houses that we could afford - but not in the great location that we have..

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MrsApplepants · 14/08/2012 23:14

Option 1, definitely

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FlatCapAndAWhippet · 15/08/2012 06:58

Location is king!

Option 1.

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IfElephantsWoreTrousers · 15/08/2012 07:18

I'd go for option 1 if it were me, so long as you're not talking about horrendous repair needs like big holes in the floor or mouldy walls.

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Mandy21 · 15/08/2012 10:28

We were in a similar position and bought the Option 1 house in March 2010. Intention is to make do until 2013 when we stop paying nursery fees - will then be able to afford to extend and do up. I think as long as you know there is a definite date in the future when you will be able to afford to improve it then thats fine, if I had to live with my peach bathroom suite and anaglypta / woodchip wallpaper indefinitely, it would definitely get me down.

We'd lived in an area for 7 years that we both wanted to move away from, so location was key for us - and this is what this house offered us. It doesn't suit us at the moment but it has potential and its a great location - close to outstanding school which children go to, walking distance to village with library, cafes, restaurants, park, all children's activities. Its a house that I can see us being in for the next 20 years - and emotionally I've put down roots.

We've done little things along the way - we did put new flooring down throughout when we moved in (think 40yr old carpets and crawling baby!) and we partially decorated the children's rooms. We did things like paint the kitchen units and replaced the worktop, we've given various rooms a lick of paint. I did (and still do) feel the need to explain when we have visitors that the decor is not my choice and we will renovate at some point, and I occasionally feel embarrassed when we have people to dinner and they stare at the brown velvet curtains that we've never replaced. But I know we made the right decision.

Good luck

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