Big house that needs work or smaller house all done?

[NotMostPeople]

We've started to look at houses to buy now ours in under offer. As is often the way we are at the lower end of the scale in terms of budget so in order to afford a four bed house (three dc's) these are our options. Lovely big four bed with lots of potential but in need of a new kitchen, new bathroom all rooms need to be painted and all carpet needs to be replace. Or, smaller house not the period we like but no work needed other than 'making it ours'. We will only have a very limited budget to do up the big house as we need as much cash as possible for the deposit. We could do the painting and carpets and possibly the kitchen on a shoestring but the bathroom would have to wait and I we'd have to do most of the decorating ourselves (DH works very long hours).

This is to be the house we stay in until the DC's all leave home, the youngest is 10.

[Goodwordguide]

Big house - space is more important than decor andyou can do it up gradually over time but it's difficult and expensive to add extra room.

[rockinhippy]

Big house, you vp can do it gradually to suit your own needs & taste & won't regret having the extra space - even if the work takes years, as ours did/is

[HarrietSchulenberg]

Big house. Speaking as someone who opted for the small house I can tell you that over time I've had to do more or less the same amount of work as the big house would have required, and am now left with no space and no chance of moving due to increased house prices and reduced wages (extra children so working PT now).

Big house, big house, big house (chants feverishly).

[throckenholt]

Big house - assuming it can be/is insulated - other wise it is likely to be a money pit trying to keep it warm.

Kids can help with decorating their own rooms. Bathroom can wait.

[flatbread]

Along with size, I would also look at the area, orientation of the house and garden (very important!), views, street etc.

[MelanieWiggles]

Big house, but be very careful you don't fall into the trap of thinking it is just decor you need to do - we did just this and ended up having to rewire, replumb and insulate - as well as the new bathroom, floors etc. Cost much more than we thought and if I could do it all over again I would have dropped our offer by the cost of the extra work we had to do.

But definitely - go with the bigger house over the smaller. Every time.

[NotMostPeople]

I knew I could rely on you Vipers to say the right thing. The area is great and in the catchment for both amazing high school and great grammars, nice big garden (with sun) for humans and dogs. Also there's a house a few doors along that has been done up on the market for £100k more, it just feels a bit overwhelming.

[howcomes]

Another vote for the big house, renovating bathrooms and kitchens can really boost the valuation so excellent for later down the line if it's not your forever home.

[notnagging]

I choice a big house that needed work. The work never got done because life always got in the way. I think it's a bit of an unrealistic dream with young kids. We are now in a brand new house of the same size that we would probably spend a bit on to extend but I think I'll wait until the ds' are older & can help out to work on that dream project.