Would you chose a wow house or a more luxurious lifestyle

[Lardlizard]

Say a three bed house in the same really nice area, or day a 5 bed in the same area but you would have less for days out ok holidays and weekends away
Although you would still be able to afford at least one holiday a year if you went off the bigger house

All other things being equal, I'd go for smaller house and more disposable income.

Kind of depends how many DCs you have though - I'd try very hard to avoid siblings sharing a bedroom...

I'd go for the wow house with less luxuries. As long as it's not putting you on the breadline you'll get a lot of joy from the house.
Over time your salary will go up and you'll manage the fancier holidays and treats.

Siblings have their own room in 3 bed

I'd go for the smaller house but use the extra disposable income to turn it in to my wow house.

I'd go for the wow house...the feeling of space just can't be beaten in my eyes.

We went for the wow house. Still affordable but we wouldn’t now just go and splash money on a holiday or trips away. They could still happen but we’d save over the year for it.

Plus I think adults miss not having holidays and days out more than children do. As long as the children are getting some leisure time out of the home, larger house wins it for me!

the house!! I just bought my dream house, as it’s soo worth the loss of luxury’s.. I had to go from a very nice BMW to a Corsa.

Less wow house for me. Our house is still beautiful and we've been able to make it perfect for us but our mortgage is only 100k. Plus we would have never planned for my H becoming really ill which we can afford to weather with a smaller mortgage. Anything bigger and we would be up shit creek.

Depends what you value more. It's a personal choice.

I'd go for lifestyle over bricks and mortar. When I'm old and look back on my life, I want my kids & I to remember all the experiences I can possibly give them so we made this very conscious decision when we bought our house. We could afford a much bigger house but I don't place any value in it. As such, we are out and about so much, we don't spend massive amounts of time in the house so the size of it is never as issue. It's still perfectly comfortable (3 dbl bedrooms, garden etc) but I don't feel any burning need to have a bigger house just to have a bigger house iyswim.

Do you have DC? How old are they?

id go for the 3 bed and more holidays but holidays are what i like to do the most. a 3 bed house can still be made to be lovely so i would be happy with that!

Over time your salary will go up

Why do posters always presume this? Interest rates may go up though.

Is there a house in the middle?

I'd go for the wow house. It's really nice if you can have an office (so you can work at home without being disturbed) and a spare bedroom so that you can have people over. The larger house would also have a bigger living space and possibly garden which is nice too.

Assuming the smaller house is comfortable and meets your needs would much rather have money for other things, including long term things like pension.

We have a big pricey house and I regret it.

We went for the wow house. 10 years later and with pay rises etc we are back to having more disposable income, definitely worth it.

Smaller house providing it had 2 reception rooms and the children's bedrooms were fairly equal in size. And I'd be saving not spending the difference.

We went for a pretty wow house in a less affluent area than originally wanted 27 years ago. To be honest, we thought we would buy as a stopgap as we finally had a good offer on ours and loved the house - just wasn't sure about the area - so thought we would stay for 5 years and then put up for sale.

27 years later we are still here! Mortgage free for years and travel extensively. Our area gradually became much more desirable and our previously desired area not quite so appealing to us these days.

We shall be leaving here in our respective boxes. 😹

Any chance of something in between so you can have the best of both worlds?

I'd prize lifestyle over house.

My house is relatively cheap compared to what we could afford in truth but I value my multi trips and what it gives my mental health more than a few extra rooms to clean

Smaller house better lifestyle. I’m here for a good time, not a long time.

Cheaper house for me too.

I hate the thought of a 'wow' house becoming a prison when I couldn't afford to go out

We have a 5 bed but we have 4 DC so it is worth the extra money. But it wouldn't be worth it to me if we didn't need all the bedrooms.

Luxury lifestyle.

I'd go for space. But that's because I work from home and so does DH so we'd go bonkers if we had to work together form the sitting room.

But I think space really is a luxury you enjoy every day. A guest room fro visiting relatives and friends - that improves lifestyle if DC get to see favourite relatives more often because there's a welcoming place for them. A room to be turned into a playroom when they are young and a teenage den or music room when they are older. That also keeps the clutter down in the living areas which makes for a more harmonious life day to day.

Usually I love experiences over material things. But we live in a big house and we use all the space in it almost every day, with the exception of the guest bedroom, (though even there, the cat sleeps on the bed daily, DS2 practises guitar most nights and Dh keeps his vast wardrobe overflow in there.)

You can always find good deals on holidays and weekends away. As longer as the bigger house won't cause you financial stress, I'd go for it.

We're just making that decision and have gone for the house - it really is our dream house with everything we could ever want.