Location.. is it everything?

[fannyanney]

I'm after other people's opinions on what is more important. Location or house? Would you rather live in a better location in a slightly smaller house, or in a larger house in a worse location?

If you plan on selling within the next 5 or so years, location will always sell your house.

If you plan on staying long term, I'd be more inclined to trade off a bit of location to get a better house.

Both. Right house in right location. We had to move North East coast from London to achieve both.

Location absolutely (as long as you're not talking about a house that is absolutely too small for your family).

Where you live affects so much about your lifestyle and well-being. My house isn't absolutely perfect and if I could I would add an extra bedroom, an extra bathroom and a slightly bigger garden, but its location enriches all our lives so much. I would never move to a different area to get that extra space because it just wouldn't be worth it.

But what makes a great location would definitely vary depending on what is important to you.

We are now moving for location as we have out grown our home. We have been there 18 years tho and I did buy for that location originally so I’d say that’s more important long term.

location everytime!
Though maybe more important if you have DC?
Generally better schools
less stretched GPs services
safer playgrounds
etc

Location!!
I preferred our last house and garden in so many more ways than our current one. But because of the location i felt uncomfortable in my last house and would have happily left after a year. We stuck it out another 4!!
But my house now? Although i would prefer it to be bigger, with a bigger garden and would change the general design and age of the house, I really think I might be here for the rest of my life. Because it is a beautiful (rural) location and I can't imagine living anywhere else.
We've been here 8 years and I love it more and more all the time.
I feel safe and settled but have everything i need around me.
It's not too far to get to a town or even the nearest city. It just seems perfect despite the house not being my first choice of style or size.

As someone in the process of (hopefully) moving, I ask myself this question regularly and it's always after I've viewed a lovely big house in a not so nice area.

I always come back to the same conclusion- yes, location is the most important thing to me. This usually comes after a lot of daydreaming about swanning around in a large kitchen etc, but then I always end up at square one and realise that I have really just wasted my time even considering it.

I think there are some people where location is genuinely secondary and they would much rather have a better house in a not so nice area, but I think if you were one of those people, you wouldn't be asking this question.

Depends what your definition of "better location" is.

I live in a large commuter town (population about 30,000). Some areas of it are lovely with large houses, other areas are awful. Crime is slightly higher than the national average but excellent transport links and two secondary schools with good Ofsted ratings.

I love where I live but someone else might hate it.

We had to move location to get right location AND right house. But location is everything really.

definitely location where we live is 1930s semis and five minutes down the road is row after row of victorian back to back houses no way would i live five minutes from my house

Location. You can always change the house.

Location.
I'd like a bigger garden but the stroll to the train station means I'll tolerate my postage stamp over looked garden.

Location 100%. You have a degree of control over your house and the interior but no control over the local area. You can spruce up or adapt a house in a good area but you can’t evict drug dealers and rapists or stop semi-settled travellers fighting in the street at 3am as I know at the cost of my own sanity.

Location x 1 million. Our house is far from perfect but I can see us being here for a long long time as we LOVE the location. Makes me want to invest in doing the house up and getting it how we want it because we step out the door into the centre of a vibrant community. I grew up in the sticks and hated hated hated it. Boring, isolated, hated being a teenager and not being able to get about. I can walk and cycle everywhere my quality of life has improved exponentially

Location!!!!!

My house is small and I often find myself googling houses outside of London- big houses with huge gardens that I could afford- but ultimately my friends and family are all within 30mins of where I live, my LO is close to her cousins, lots of amenities and I earn a good wage because I commute into Central London within 40mins.
If I move out I'd need a new social life and earn half what i do now- not worth it!

It depends... We couldn't buy in our "ideal" location at all. Our options were to find somewhere else or live on top of each other. The latter seemed like a nightmare long term, so I went with house.

Napqueen I've a friend who is currently eyeing up a house in the sticks. She just cannot see the issue for her kids who aren't far off high school and will be reliant on lifts everywhere.

100% location

Thank you. Lots of food for thought. Both houses are rented and we're looking to buy in 5ish years.

Location 1. Middle of nowhere. Quiet neighbours. 10 mins drive to school/shops/anything! But good sized house and garden.

Location 2. Walking distance to school. Shops etc. Regular bus service. But smaller living space.

I'd go Loc2.

My dil had the choice to swap to a better location
It would’ve meant giving up her 4 bed house for a three
Kids didn’t want to share so she’s staying put

I think location is important but it depends on what you mean by a good area and a worse area. If the worse area is safe, leafy, has what you need, a nice community feel and offers an easy commute then I would take the bigger, better house over a small, less attractive house in a fancier more expensive area. If by worse area you mean somewhere dodgy where you would be likely to be burgled, wouldn't feel safe in the streets or your children would be at risk on their way home from school then not even a mansion would swing it.

What you class as the better location may be someone else's worse location depending on where they work, where their family live, the facilities they use, whether they like urban or rural living, fresh air or smog, countryside or shops.

Didn't see your update. I think I'd go for 2 because you can walk to school and that makes life so much easier.

Location 2

Country side is awful with teens

Location. I wouldn’t want to live somewhere I couldn’t go out because it’s too unpleasant/where it takes too long to get where I need to go.