To move house for a drive way?

I have two small children and no driveway, and it's okay - as PPs have said, once they get very slightly bigger it doesn't really matter so much. My elder child is 3 and he loves it when we have to park round the corner (no idea why). They can get themselves in and out of the car by 2.5ish. I still have to carry all the sodding bags though. Anyway, I'm another who thinks by the time you have sold your house, bought another one, and moved, with all the upheaval and expense that involves, the problem will already be less acute.

Also OP are you home with the children, e.g. on maternity leave or a SAHM? If you are, perhaps the work vans are more of a problem because you want to be popping out and back during the day. But if you are planning to go back to work full time, you may find you don't notice them at all, as they tend to finish for the day earlyish and have left before people start getting home.

I lived for 6months with on-street parking and never again!! It's bad enough for one adult, I can't imagine what it would be like with 2 kids and shopping, buggy, changing bag etc.

I find this thread really interesting. Many people will say that they have a car because it gives them the freedom to go where they want, when they want. And yet it appears that in some cases, people are concerned about using the car in case there's nowhere to park it when they get home. Others choose their home and location based on where they can park the car. It seems to me that in many ways having a car is a hinderance rather than an asset, especially since on average a car is only in use 4% of the time. We're getting more and more "carbrained" as a society.

If everything else about the house works, I would stay put.

Moving carries so many risks - especially to a less nice area. I wouldn't do it just to get a driveway.

It depends on how much land was available when the houses were built surely. I live on a small development of 20 houses built 40 years ago, only about 5 of them have room for more than one car. There is a new development being built in my village at the moment, a few of them are occupied. Even the detached houses don't have garages and driveways, they have parking spaces near by.

Most houses I know have a 2 to 4 car driveway, some even more. Very few homes that I see have a one car driveway. Maybe newbuilds - post 2010, but everyone I know has a driveway that takes multiple cars. Ours takes 4. My 2 DC's homes have a 4 car drive and a 6 car one. Most homes in my street have 2 car or 4 car driveways.

Parking is still a problem even if you have a driveway. Driveways usually only take one car anyway, most families have two and sometimes more if you have a teenager who has passed their test.

I have to say I would never consider a property without a driveway. Each to their own. I know several people who have homes without one. (All Victorian houses with postage stamp sized front garden, so no way of making a driveway.) They all seem OK with that, and park wherever they can. It wouldn't do for me.

Sometimes they have to park 3-4 minutes walk away from their house, which I would find difficult as I wouldn't want to be lugging heavy shopping 3-4 minutes up the road! I also feel my car is protected more on the driveway. The people I know who have their car on the road all the time, have had it clipped/crashed into a few times. Always hit and run too. So they are responsible for the repairs.

In 50-odd years I have never lived in an house without a drive. Even my parents house had one. DH and I lived in a flat for 3 years when we first met, (only 2 storey flats and we were upstairs,) but each flat had 2 designated parking spaces, and some flats only had one car, (or none,) so there was always a parking space. And we could see our car from the lounge window - and the kitchen window, and our 2 designated parking spaces were only about 40 feet from the doorway into the flats. It was a car park that was only for the use of the people in the 16 flats.

I would be looking for a new place if it bothers you that much @MissHoneyPenny

I'd start looking to gauge whether you can actually afford one that's suitable. Only then say I think this house would be a great home and it has a drive.

that is such an odd and pointless thing to obsess over.

take the kids out to things that don't need a car
remember it is good for them to walk the block from car to home and get some exercise
enjoy the lovely house you have

Personally I wouldn't live in a house without a drive. I lived in an amazing historic cottage without one and never again. I moved to my current house 10 years ago. There were nice houses with no drives at that time where on street was plentiful. It isn't now. I also wouldn't live on a new estate where there are small drives but little on street parking. You get a few houses with 2/3 cars and the roads are rammed. I'd happily go for a less 'desirable' area to avoid all the passive aggressive stress around parking.

I felt like this when my kids were young, but now I'm really glad I didn't move. I absolutely love my house and the parking being a very short walk away isn't an issue any more. In fact I find it a benefit - I chat to neighbours far more because we are always passing each other.

Well it’s probably not bothering your DH as I bet you’re the one who’s in and out of the house with the kids, and not him.

This. They won't be little for long. We've never had a driveway and it is a bit annoying at times when we have to park a short walk from our house or on the next road, especially when vans park inconsiderately etc, but I'd much rather live in a nice house, desirable area etc without a driveway, then I would a less-desirable area with a driveway. Is the cheaper area less desirable?Once you're out of the toddler phase it won't matter so much, I assure you. x

Plenty of people bring up kids without a car, and they'll be bigger soon anyway

When you are forced to have an electric vehicle from 2030, a driveway will be a necessity (unless you don’t want to own a car).
Once the petrol and diesel ban is in place, it won’t be long until the Government says ‘let’s ban them all, including any existing ones’

It would be ridiculous to move to a worse area just to get a driveway in my opinion. I've never had a driveway or a garage, never bothered me in the slightest and I have young children as well.

Your kids will benefit a lot more from living in a nice area with good schools than they will from having a driveway.

That being said it's your right to move for whatever reason you want of course.

I wouldn’t live anywhere I didn’t have my own driveway. I enjoy the convenience it offers.

I’d never buy a house without a garage let alone without a driveway. I totally understand your anxieties around the parking!

Look at the stamp duty you'd pay, then decide. I'm 62 and never lived in a house with a driveway as an adult. It's slightly irritating occasionally but in the bottom 0.1% of issues that worry me. And of course this applied when my two children were very young.

I’m with him. You seem to be obsessing over it. Your area sounds lovely. Why would you want to ruin it? I think there is nothing trashier than a small house where the front garden has been paved over to make a driveway

I understand how you feel - we live on a terrace which gets very busy on weekends and holidays and there are certain annual events in the town that mean on those days I would avoid moving our car if at all possible. We live in what's become a very popular seaside destination and our road is one of the key streets to access the beach. But I don't worry to the extent you do and wouldn't move solely because of it. It sounds like having very young kids is a factor - in not too long they'll be older and having to park down the street won't matter at all. You could leave what otherwise sounds like a great house and location to solve a temporary problem.

I feel your pain. My ex used to live on a street with no driveways. Fine during the day but if you got back later than about 6pm there were never any spaces. Sometimes we had to park several streets away. I think it's definitely worth moving for.

We used to live in a house without a driveway and sometimes had to park on a different road....was totally hit and miss as to whether we could park outside our house. Was a nightmare when the DC were little and I was bringing home shopping.

We moved as we needed a bigger place anyway but we got somewhere with a driveway and it's honestly life changing.