Larger house vs location

[istheresomethingwrongwithme]

We (DH and I, DS1 2.5 and DS2 9 months) live in a large 3 bed semi on the periphery of the small town DH works in. We are mortgage free and looking to buy our 'forever home' but nothing has come up.

The town we live in is pretty dire and the primary schools are terrible. There is not a lot to do in the town, it's run down and has some crime issues and there is no way on earth the boys will go to either of the primary schools here. We might stand a chance of getting them in to one of the local village schools which isn't oversubscribed.

A house has come up in a lovely village ten minutes away where DS1 goes to pre school. It's the village we'd most like to live in and the primary school is great. We've got quite a few friends there already and we could afford to buy this house mortgage free without selling the other house (been saving like mad, plus a bit of help from parents). We'd then rent the other house out.

We have to make DS1's primary school application by January 2020. This particular village school is always oversubscribed so not much hope of getting in unless we live there. We were thinking of buying the house in the village as a stop gap until we find the 'forever home'. We'd have to sell one of the houses at that point, so will pay legal fees and the higher rate of stamp duty twice (about £10k on the village house). We'd also pay tax on the rental income of this house, but we accept that.

Trouble is the village house is quite a lot smaller than what we're in now. There's no room for a table in the kitchen so we would be eating in the lounge and that room is all carpeted so worried about mess with baby and toddler eating in there. No place to store toys, dry washing, things like that:

What would you do? Moving there would take the pressure off buying the 'forever home' and reduce the risk of us jumping at the wrong thing. It would also give the boys the opportunity to go to school where they live, so good for making friends etc. I really dislike the town we live in but love this village.

Or would we be mad, with two small children and all the stuff that comes with them, to be downsizing? I'm usually quite good at making the most of space with storage etc but I'm struggling a bit with this one. It's tricky because we could be there for 12 months (manageable) or 5 years (potentially hard work), it just depends when the mythical forever home turns up.

Would love some perspective and thoughts from others!

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-77086864.html

This is the village house.

It looks like there could be room for a breakfast bar by the radiator.

I assume you mean January 2021 for applying for the school?

Yes sorry, January 2021

Give your head a wobble, buy the village house and pay the extra taxes and stamp duty when a ‘forever house’ comes up.
You do realise that that linked house is beyond the dreams of 99.99% of the world?

You could change the carpet in the living room/diner if that’s the main concern- the other option would be to see if you could rent in the village but no way of knowing if the cost would be more or less then stamp duty etc or if anything suitable is available?
I think you could make it work in that house but maybe after a set amount of time agree to reconsider priorities for dream house if nothing had come up in 2 or 3 years?

@Etinox yes, I realise we are very lucky to be able to consider doing any of this. It's just useful to get other people's opinions on loosing the space we've already got against gaining the location we want.

Appreciate though that it's difficult to make a straight comparison as I haven't been able to provide a floor plan of our current house.

If you can afford 2 houses outright, why not get a mortgage and buy a bigger house in the village you want to live in?

Can you fit a bed in the 3rd bedroom?

I would move. Location always wins out.

When our DC were small we lived in a small terraced house and the table was in the living room. With a cream carpet. It was fine, we just put a piece of wipe clean floor mat under the table.

Location location location. You can change most other things. The village house looks big enough to start with, although I would look at selling your current house once you've got the new house. There's a grace period for claiming back the stamp duty surcharge and letting out the old house is a faff most people could do without. Buy new house, move, sell old house and put yourself in a strong position when forever home comes up

That house looks lovely. If the location is perfect too, go for it. Would there be a possibility of adding an extension to the ground floor in the future?

@babybrain77 did not know about stamp duty reclaim. DH is meeting with his accountant so will ask him to discuss this with him so we are clued up, thank you.

DH is a chartered surveyor so he may we'll be aware of that already. He owns his own business which incorporates an estate/letting agency, so renting our current house out wouldn't be a massive deal and we'd make a lot more in rent than we would in interest if that cash was sat in the bank. Granted, means we are not in the procedable position we are in now when something does come up, but I think both houses could be sold fairly quickly if necessary (or remortgaged).

Sorry, that should say either house could've sold quickly.

There's masses of storage space in the lounge under the stairs and in front of the lounge window. Buy a washer/dryer for the kitchen. Can the children share a room so there's a spare room upstairs for other purposes? I can't see what your problem is tbh.

It is quite small downstairs, I think you should hold on and see what else comes on the market.

Is that the only place you'll consider? You may have more options if you expand your search

If you can afford 2 houses outright, why not get a mortgage and buy a bigger house in the village you want to live in?

Yeah just sell & buy bigger in a better location surely?

That's the size of house my 3 brothers and I grew up in. Stick solid wood flooring in the lounge and you've got a 25 year wipe clean surface. Get it now.

Location wins every time for me. X

Too small for me. The no area for a dining table would completely put me off. It is too small downstairs. Keep loooking OP

I’d definitely prefer a place with somewhere to eat in the kitchen as I’d want to keep carpet in the lounge.
But other than that even with 2 children I wouldn’t rule o it 2 beds.

It’s not about size all the time, the house just has to work.

I’d rather have a large 2 bed with driveway and eat in kitchen, than a 3 bed with no space to eat I kitchen or driveway and small bedrooms.

There are a couple of lovely houses with more space, if you spend a little bit more. What about them? I don't know your forever home budget, but there are some gorgeous houses for a bigger budget too.

I wouldn't base any descion on moving or not moving on worry over a carpet

Is this what carpet mania has come too 😂

Put a massive rug down, accept the carpet will get trashed and be OK with it, replace as they get older, put rubber under where they eat...
I think it's a lovely lovely house, looks gorgeous and not much less space than we have.

Empty out some of the huge wardrobes etc... Go for it!!

Sell the current house, take a mortgage and buy this:

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-71574622.html

misses point of the thread whilst dreaming of life not needing to commute to London

@babybrain77 what Rightmove doesn't show you is the massive industrial building literally next door to that house! Have a look on the map, I've literally just driven past that place on m my way to do the pre-school drop off!

Nope. I would not buy a house I wasn't sure was big enough. Day to day life is too important.