Which house would you go for?

[perrinelli]

Feel we're at a bit of a crossroads & would appreciate knowing what others think;
House 1 is in London, dd1 could stay at her school which we're happy with but we'd have a short drive or long walk instead of 5mins round corner. I could keep my 2days/wk job. DH would have 45-an hr train or half hr bike commute. Big square footage but needs total renovation - heating, wiring plumbing etc & we couldn't do much straight away & would have to live there through works but hoping its big enough to 'zone off' bits. Going to sealed bids this wk.

House 2 - in Hampshire, a lovely quaint village 10 mins drive (or 1 hr walk across fields) from market town where I grew up. Well thought of village primary v close, my parents & sister in the nearby town, beautiful countryside on the doorstep. Not sure I could keep my job but its a possibility or could get something local. Half hr to the coast.
Similar square footage but detached rather than terraced. Slightly cheaper but not much but no urgent work needed that we know of. DH would have 10min drive/cycle to station then about 1hr 20 min to office. May be able to work from home occasionally but they prob wouldn't agree a day a wk or anything like that. If things go well, could maybe buy a flat in London in the future. Both options have reasonable state & private secondary options

Feel like we could be happy in either place but it would be quite a different life.
House 1 is prob better in investment terms I think.

Which appeals to you more?

[noddyholder]

Definitely 1

[Bowlersarm]

Number 2.

But then we moved out of London to a village and wild horses wouldn't drag me back.

But it depends what you want-I have friends who wouldn't be at all interested in moving out of London.

[Bunbaker]

It depends on whether you like London. I used to work in London and now live in rural South Yorkshire. Wild horses wouldn't drag me back to London so I would go for option 2.

[perrinelli]

I like where we live now in London because of the community feel (esp since dd1 started at the local primary) and all the facilities/amenities but beyond that, not sure really. I like knowing there's all the galleries, theaters etc but can't remember when I last went into central london (I work for local government nr where I live).

I love the idea of having a lovely view & countryside around but not sure if that novelty will wear off and will be enough to offset dh's commute long term plus less facilities, public transport etc.

I know no one can tell us what to do but I love hearing your perspectives!

[Snog]

House 1 for definite - better investment too by the sounds of it
Village dwelling fills me with horror
but horses for courses on this of course

[frenchfancy]

IMO it depends on how good your relationship with your parents and sister is. If it is good then house 2 for sure. If not then house 2 wouldn't be a good idea.

[perrinelli]

They're not the type to be overbearing and I think it would be a case of more frequent contact in smaller doses rather than the whole day visits we have now. I think I can see that part working and my mum is keen to help with childcare regularly but obv the distance now makes that hard. My sister is probably going to be starting a family in the next few years. I grew up in this same town with grandparents, aunts uncles & cousins right there & it was a good experience.

[Bowlersarm]

I really really loved our life in London and it took a lot of nerve for us to move out because we were absolutely unsure whether we could replace our very good life with something better!

In the end we wanted the space that living in the countryside gives, we made the move and 9 years on have never looked back and we did replace our very good life with something better.

However,as I said up-post, I have quite a few friends who didn't make the move out when a lot of their friends were, and they are living the dream in London and absolutely have no regrets about staying.

Only you can decide what would suit your family. How about putting the decision off for a few years?

[perrinelli]

Thanks bowlersarm - out of curiosity, did the move out for you mean a long commute for you or your OH? If so, did the enjoyment of the surroundings, extra space etc. at the weekends mitigate the commute?
Maybe we're not ready to make the decision just yet but we saw house 1 & thought its a rare opportunity to get the square footage we'd love for our budget, similarly houses in the village where house 2 is don't come up often at all. I also wondered if a move out would be harder on the kids (and us!) later on - dd1 is currently in reception & so far seems to be someone that takes a while to adjust to change.

[PootlePosyPerkin]

Number 2. A complete non-brainer for me. London (or any large city for that matter) is the last place you would find me living.

[Bowlersarm]

I'm SAHM perrinelli so obviously easy for me. DH went from working in an office half a mile from our home in London to then having to drive up there once we had moved-about one and a half hours, sometimes less. Although he is self employed and doesn't have rigid hours which makes it easier.

The biggest thing for me was going from walking everywhere - schools, friends, shops, library, station to having to drive absolutely everywhere. That was an exhausting adjustment. If I had my time again I would have moved somewhere with anything in walking distance!

[TooMuchRain]

I would love option 2 but three hours commuting a day seems too much

[perrinelli]

Hm - with house 2 preschool, primary school, playground, pub & (once a wk) post office all right there in the village. Station, library, supermarket etc. 2 miles away in the nearby market town.

I think as you say the commute is my biggest worry, plus the nerves of moving somewhere new, making friends etc but I guess you always get that and having family nearby would help a lot.

[perrinelli]

But financially maybe house 1 in London is better as even though needs lots of work, would be easier to sell if we needed to or get a lodger in for extra income. (Although maybe there are lodgers that want to live in Hampshire villages too???). Going round in circles!!
All academic really as house 1 is v hotly contested and we may well lose out on sealed bid!

[Bowlersarm]

I don't envy you,OP. I remember the dithering that we did and the angst it caused us for months whether or not it was the right thing to do. In fact, we whipped our house off the market because we were so unsure and stayed another year.

Our decision to move when we did was spurred on by the fact that I was also worried about making friends, and wanted to make the move while the children were young enough that I could meet mums through school pick ups initially etc. we moved as DS1 was about to start year 4.

Does your OH have a strong opinion either way?

[perrinelli]

DH doesn't really have a strong opinion on area, his approach is quite different to mine and seems to be more about the actual property & whether he can feel he's getting a good deal.
He's definitely open to doing the commute for the right house but right now is more focused on getting house 1 in London that we're putting in a bid for this week. Although I was very keen, having seen house 2 (online, not in the flesh but know the area v well) I'm almost a bit nervous we will get house 1 and will then be committed to staying in London long term because of the amount of work that's needed, when we haven't properly weighed up the options!

[Yfronts]

The commute could actually be soul destroying. An hour and a half each way.