Another what type of house/area thread

[JulieAnderton]

This is all fairly hypothetical as we haven't started viewing yet, but our visits to the seaside town we want to move to and our Rightmove research has come up with two types of houses in two areas which are broadly typified as follows:

House type/area 1 -
4 bed mid-terrace Victorian
Tiny courtyard garden
On-road parking only (residents' permit needed)
0.2 miles to nearest primary school
A couple of minutes' walk to town and its amenities (swimming pool, cinema, cafes, shops, library etc)
A couple of minutes' walk to the beach
About £195k

House type/area 2 -
3 bed detached or semi (1930's onwards build)
Garage/off-road parking
Large-ish garden
About 0.5 miles to nearest primary school
About 20 minutes' walk to town and beach
About £220k+

We've got a toddler and hope to have another baby in the next couple of years. We ideally need 4 bedrooms or 3 bedrooms plus a study/garden office so I can continue my freelance career. I don't drive, but my DH does and will probably need a car to get to work.

I know we actually need to go and view properties, but until then my head keeps swinging from the cheaper, closer to town and beach, but no garden or parking option or the further out of town with parking and bigger garden option!

[Misty9]

I agree our dilemmas are similar! Personally, I think I'd go for the bigger garden and parking option - except for the number of bedrooms...in which case I'd get as many as I could afford. Dh runs his own business from home too and unless we can get an office garage type set up, I don't think three beds is enough (also have toddler and plan to have another soon ish)

Could you not afford a 4 bed further from the seaside? Although with the garage in the option 2 properties you could convert to an office.

It's so hard isn't it?!

[Misty9]

To add, we currently live 20mins walk to the main city centre and about 10mins to a few cafes/local shops and I think it's really close. I'd also definitely want a garden with children - even in close proximity to the beach.

[JulieAnderton]

Thanks Misty. I think having more land around a property is a good thing - less concern about potential noisy neighbours and as you say a garden is a real bonus when you have kids. I have to agree that even a 20 min walk to town is still pretty close, but DH is quite keen to be in the thick of things. I should say that this is not a bad dilemma to have... we're moving from an area where 3 bed terraces cost at least £300k

[Meddlinkids]

Many years ago we went for option one.

Three years later we moved to option 2.

[NaturalBlondeYeahRight]

Option 2. I know what sort of property option 1 is. The stairs/children/yard combo will be an issue, definitely.

[georgedawes]

option 2 for me

[greenformica]

You need to work out which primary/secondary schools you want your DC to attend and then look at houses in the catchment area.

Where are you wanting to move to?