Smaller or bigger home? Which to choose!

[Louise0923]

We’ve seen two houses we like on the same estate. One is larger and the other smaller, they are the exact same layout, same number of bed rooms (4) and same bathrooms (3). The larger one is my preference, it has the wow factor kitchen and master bedroom. The smaller one is still nice but everything is just smaller! There’s a £35k difference in price, and a £200 a month mortgage difference.

The larger one is definitely top end of our budget, but doable, the smaller is more comfortable. My partner and I are in total disagreement on which to go for.

My argument is if we are paying stamp duty and solicitor fees anyway, why not stretch to another £200 a month, and hopefully, our pay will increase as we go (which it should do).

My partners argument is, we are starting a family and an extra £200 a month would be useful, especially when I go on maternity, and as our pay goes up, spend more on the children and experiences.

However, the large home is also in a nicer position, tucked into a cul-de-sac, with a larger garden and it would mean we don’t have to move again if we outgrew the smaller one.

My partners argument on this, is if we outgrow the smaller one we would probably need more bedrooms, so a larger 4 bed probably won’t be of much use anyway!

Anybody have any ideas around stretching the budget for dream house or keeping it sensible with what partner says is already a dream house (just slightly smaller ha!).

If it helps, I’ve raked out the floor plan for our old house…

We know the new build thing is also a risk but there’s limited options where we are moving and we don’t want to put money into doing up a house.

That’s lovely and seems pretty similar in dimensions to the one we are considering!

No way I would stretch myself and it be only doable. Id rather be comfortable and less stress than worrying about a mortgage payment each month. Spend your money on life not your house

Years ago we had a similar choice and went for the 3 bed semi not the 4 bed detached.

20plus years later we’re still here. Mainly because I can’t face the upheaval of moving but ultimately I guess that means we’re happy here.

as it turns out we both did get good promotions and would have been ok with the bigger mortgage. On the other hand the 2nd kid never happened.

it’s been nice not having money worries. Having the extra money for nice holidays or a meal out or replacing the car, etc. things would have been tighter with a bigger mortgage.

Can you offer slightly less on the larger house and bring it down slightly?

I would also echo other posters, those downstairs floor plans are not great for family living unless you convert the garage.

From those floorplans there's very little to choose between them really and they're both 4 bed, 3 bath, so the bigger/smaller thing isn't that much of a deal here. You like the position etc of the bigger one, but I wouldn't stretch myself for that at this point in your life. The 'smaller' one is still big enough for all your scenarios and with both houses you'd want the spare cash to convert the garage anyway and have more living space for (getting away from) the kids. It's easy to argue for the bigger house because of course it's more desirable which is why it costs more. But £200 extra a month will be very helpful.

What’s important to you? Is it holidays and days out or being home? We are the latter so went bigger with land. If you would rather holiday then go for smaller and enjoy the extra cash

Don't underestimate how much children will cost you, its not just the childcare fees which can be crippling. You need to factor this into your financial planning too. Yesterday I spent the following on my children in one day:

Donation for school raffle: £10
School raffle tickets: £5
Teachers collection: £25
School trip: £30
School leavers party: £15
Dress for leavers party (ok this one wasn't an essential) £29

This might not seem like a huge amount as a one off but this is on top of DDs birthday this month, dance exam fees for both, summer school payments due, activities booked and paid for holiday next month and generally feeding and clothing them. Honestly its endless. £200 will feel like a big difference when you reach this point.

I would stretch the budget, buy the bigger one, and delay the family for a year. If you have to move, you have the hassle, the removal costs/solicitors/surveys/stamp duty to pay a second time.

If you look at your spends. can you honestly and truthfully say you cannot trim most of that from your spends? It could only be of the equivalent of a bought lunch vs packed lunch each per day - when I was in a similar position I cut a daily newspaper, and I've not regretted it. If you shop about on mobile phones (Lebara are fab for us massively cheaper than Vodafone yet same network), trim out things like TV contracts, then it's easily affordable.

Is it also discussing with your visiting family - some will want to contribute for a better stay when they visit?

Big one every time. When you have a young family, plenty is space is paramount. 35k extra seems worth it.

I agree with this! We also are not maxed out, the biggest house is about £40k under what we’ve been told by our FA we can borrow, and the smaller £75k. We did factor in what we could get if one of us went part time, and that’s what we can afford the smaller one on (eg for more time with children or to take care of family), however it’s not my intention or his to go part time!

If you buy the bigger house you will not need to move. One room can be an office and guest room, or when guests come they can have one of the chikdren’s room and a child can go into the office or they share.

if DH wants a room already for guests then you will pay more to move. And if he wants a cheaper house now, how can he think you can afford a larger 5 bed??

Buy bigger house, you will appreciate extra space when baby arrives. Babies need a lot of room to play too. You will definitely regret not buying your dream home in the future. X

What you could do with the bigger house is rent out a couple of the bedrooms until you have DC and overpay the mortgage. And/or save the money paid in rent for extra maternity money.

You could even rent out one of the bedrooms once you have eg one DC so you have extra income see above para.

Having looked at the floor plan, I standby the smaller house. The larger one doesn't give you much more to justify £200.
Where will the pushchair go when you come in?
Where will toys live?
Where will you hang washing (utilities are small).

It's a generic layout and not bad at all but you will probably move again either way

I started to lean towards the smaller house but it’s the positioning of them as well! The bigger one has a bigger garden and is in a cul de sac, compared to the smaller one which is on a through road.

Inside isn't enough of a difference to pay more for imo. Are there any on the estate without an internal garage?

If so I'd pick one of those.

We stayed in a home much smaller than we could afford, it’s a 3 bed. It means that we have had apart from the pandemic year many wonderful holidays, never ever worried about money and am retiring before 60 to go travelling extensively around Europe and the UK, with the odd trip further afield overseas. I mean this is going to be months away every years for a few years. This may seem a long way off but honestly in any game plan of life look far further ahead than you think you need to,

Unless your parents are staying for months a good quality sofa bed in your office will suffice or a regular bed.

I've been thinking about this since you uploaded the plans (the insomnia helped 😂) and I think both don't give enough downstairs space/wiggle room considering they are 4 beds (very top heavy) so it all depends on if you are going to convert the garages.

No conversion (need a garage for that ferrari) - get the bigger house.
Willing to do conversion within one year - fine to go for the smaller.

But it has to be based on getting it done pre pregnancy. Nothing seems to get done for years after due to less money, less energy, no sleep. Not sure if you need planning permission for converting it though.

Not sure if you need planning permission for converting it though.

With the caveat that my experience is not everyone’s😉 we only needed a building warrant to convert ours

For the cul de sac alone, buy the bigger one. People move so fast through these estates and being on a through road will mean they move even faster!

No and my partner insists on an integral garage.

sorry you couldn’t sleep and I’ve also been thinking about it all night 😂 we worked out with the smaller house we’d have about £800 left over a month (after food, bills, petrol, insurance etc) and £600 with the larger one, but we are quite low on our salary scales in term of progression so we’d be hoping we are thinking long term and that disposable income grows each year. I get a bonus this year and that means I’ll have an extra £5k after tax so it’s not this year we are worried about. I think the floor plans are a bit deceptive but the bigger one has a very large kitchen diner, to the point where the diner part can fit both a dining room table and a sofa, so we were thinking that area can be a child area with double doors opening onto the garden! We wouldn’t convert the garage because my partner wants it as a garage for bikes, and garden stuff (he’s very green fingered). I think it’s purely down to location. The smaller is on a through road but also three doors down from affordable rent- and although that doesn’t guarantee bad neighbors there is the increase risk of people who may not be as cautious about their property. The one on the cul de sac is surrounded by other large privately owned properties.

With what you’ve said about your numbers (I was imagining things might have been a bit tighter, although if you have a child, even the £800 won’t cover childcare), dh wanting to retain the garage, and the close proximity of the rental property -although owner occupiers can still be nightmare neighbours!-I think the cul de sac house is starting to look like a no brainer