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

I've gone from wow house to smaller but now looking for a wow house again
It comes down to what you like in life and what your own priorities are

House, probably. 5 beds would mean the dc could each have a bedroom and there'd be a spare for visitors. I'm not mad into holidays and the days out I like best are not the kind you need loads of money for. I'd love a decent house.

I'd go for the smaller house and more disposable income.

I grew up in a 'wow' house and it wasn't a lot of fun.

I think there a couple of other points to consider when it comes to the finances- the future of the economy is currently precarious and what's affordable or secure now might not be down the line, and does the smaller house have potential to be made better, or not?

We had a small ex-council 3 bed (3rd barely more than a box) and did every improvement possible but there were things that we didn't like and couldn't change. It would've been doable to stay there but it didn't make us happy. Not quite in a position to get a "wow" house but chose to upgrade to a larger three bed which has more reception rooms and a substantial garden and lovely character features. The house also has huge potential to be made "wow" should we want / be able to afford to down the line. For me, even though we have less money due to the move, the benefits are huge. We are at home a lot and the nicer environment, lovely views and space make it a pleasure. We have tonnes of storage, so it feels calm and organised without much effort (despite two under 5s!), it's nice having people over and having room to host. Even if we don't ever extend, the children have good bedrooms and a spare reception room which is currently a play room but can be a snug/tv room for them when older. Holidays are wonderful but it's a week or two of your life vs the every day. Our house is dated and need lots of work, but after nearly two years of living here, I still wander through it, soaking it in and thinking "I really love my home" and it's such a wonderful feeling. However, it doesn't have to be a wow house to make you happy, just the "right" one for you and your family.

Smaller house for me. It's just bricks and mortar, I much prefer having extra money to do things. I don't want to live life chained to the house.

Saying that though I'm a single parent of one so a 2 bed place is all we need.

We went for the wow house. We obviously love living here, and I do still walk into my living room and think 'wow' most days. But mostly we did it as an investment. We're not very good at getting around to saving - in our last house we had paid off the mortgage and so our outgoings were minimal. We didn't do anything with our salaries, it just sat there in the bank, going up! This way, the money goes into the house, hopefully prices will increase and we'll sell and have the money when we give up work.

Something similar here. We had moved from a 2 bed terraced house to a 3 bed new build semi in a nice area, and the idea was to move again to a wow/detached house when we had children as the bedrooms are small.

Children didn’t come along so we stayed here in the semi. People thought we were mad not to move to a wow/detached even without children, as we could have afforded it both working full time then, but it would have cost us an extra 30 grand just for an extra gable end.

As we only had a small mortgage, we have paid it off. We don’t regret not moving and as there are only two of us, we knocked into the bedroom next to ours, so we have a bigger bedroom, plus a spare if anybody stays over. We go away twice a year, and have reduced our working hours. We don’t regret it ever.

Smaller house and more money - this gives you freedom to work less hours, retire earlier etc etc.

I was a single parent and still mortgage free by 43 - I never worked full time again after clearing my mortgage.

Why can a three bed house not be a wow house...we built a 3 bed house and it is definitely a wow house...infact if I had chosen to build bigger it would have been less “wow” to be honest... we spend a lot of money on higher spec design and features rather than on size!! The bigger the house the more you have to clean anyway!! I say whatever house works better for you and your family OP. I appreciate that not everyone can design and build their own home but think of efficiency and ergonomics when you are buying a house...not about which looks like the most impressive to others.

Smaller house

I'd go for the wow house but I'm a homebody and don't like going on holiday so that honestly wouldn't be much of a sacrifice for me.

The 5 bed house would soon wear thin if lack of funds meant being stuck at home more. Plus I'd rather have the relative security of a house that I could comfortably afford than one that was a stretch.

Lifestyle over wow house

(Looks around at child mess) I'd choose a tidy house over both...

My bar is set quite low

Smaller house, with a bigger house you just end up buying more stuff to fill it and end up with unused rooms.

I'd actively save the difference every year and spend it on holidays/days out so it doesn't just get absorbed by life stuff.

Smaller house, with a bigger house you just end up buying more stuff to fill it and end up with unused rooms.

I'd actively save the difference every year and spend it on holidays/days out so it doesn't just get absorbed by life stuff.

I went for smaller, sensible house choice and more disposable income. I have more in savings, 2 holidays a year and 4 cars (2 daily drives and 2 toys). I'd have been more anxious having money committed to a house than just being able to sell cars, stop holidays plus have savings to fall back on.
I do curse sometimes that my house is too small but it's a first world problem really.

Definitely a smaller house and cash for regular worldwide travel. My parents have the most fabulous wow house but I get no joy from being there. My mind is in on the next country. I want to travel with my son as much as I can whilst we are in each other’s lives.

I'd opt for more disposable income personally. Experiences and holidays are high on my priorities!

What age are the children, do you feel the 3 bed meets your requirements?

Which one has a bigger garden?

I dunno, there's a difference between a 'wow' house and a 'bigger' house.

If it was between 'wow' and 'space', then obviously space.

Between lifestyle and space I'm less sure. When we bought current place, my mum's advice was to get as much space as we could afford, which is what we did and I'm glad of it. It's not the most 'wow' house but I wouldn't have considered getting a smaller one to have more spending money.

In our case, part of reason for a larger house was to have space for an au pair and save money on childcare tho!

Neither. I don't want a 'wow' house because I can't be arsed to maintain that sort of lifestyle and eventually it would depress me and begin to feel like a millstone round my neck. I'm not very good with stuff, my natural environment is secondhand crap where it doesn't matter if I break it.

I don't need a big house as my family is small. It would just end up being more crap for me to clean and would depress me in a different way.

Smaller house and more exciting life experiences. Houses will only end up funding your care home in the end.

Smaller house. No question.