To think a two bedroom house is big enough if you only have one DC?

[unlucky83]

Listening to Radio 4 You and Yours today talking about the new government help to buy scheme...and how hard it is to get approved.

(Was a bit distracted - but pretty sure these fact are right)

Heard something that the more I think about it -the less it makes financial sense to me...

They had someone saying they have a 2 bedroom house and have had a baby - their DC's nursery has 'to double as a spare room'...ideally they need a bigger house so DC can have their 'own room'

• but can't get approved for the scheme...

(They bought with 100% mortgage, were in neg equity for a while but now could make a 5% deposit from the equity in their house)

So AIBU to think that 2 bedrooms should be enough - if money is tight - and if they can afford to pay a bigger mortgage they would be better off paying more into their current mortgage for a couple of years to increase their equity/reduce their interest (or even a savings account)! rather than borrowing more money and taking on a bigger mortgage/debt for something that (IMO) is not essential?
(Or am I missing something here? )

We're moving with our 2 dcs from a 1 bed and my wish list is:

• not to move to a 2 bed where we're paying £50k more than our current place is worth for the sake of one extra wall (ie more rooms, same overall square footage).

• to have enough space in the boys' room for them to play with their toys and hopefully have a desk for ds1 tonight homework

• to have room for a table in either the kitchen or the living room that our family can sit round for a meal without having to have a fold away one. Ideally I'd like to have one big enough to have friends round occasionally (eg not just a table for 4).

I don't think this is much to ask really, but from what's on the market in our price range it would appear to be

If I could afford a spare room then damn straight I'd have one.

The scheme for newbuilds is a loan, btw - it's paid back when you sell up, in proportion to the equity in the house
www.gov.uk/affordable-home-ownership-schemes/help-to-buy-equity-loans

The other schemes entitle you to buy with a 5% deposit
www.gov.uk/affordable-home-ownership-schemes/newbuy
www.gov.uk/affordable-home-ownership-schemes/help-to-buy-mortgage-guarantees

Marma, our 1 bed tenement flat was originally 2 flats, each probably housing a family of at least 4 back at the turn of the century

I try to remember that when I'm feeling squashed...

Well obviously I'd like a massive house in a nice area with a lush garden, for mega-chap £.

I would quite like a spare room. No DC and live in a one bed flat and it's a bit annoying having to put guests on a blow up in the open plan loving area. Doesn't really work if my DP is coming home from work late for example.

We have one baby in a new build 2 bed. It's tiny. I keep the pushchair in the car, we have just about enough space for a rug for baby to play on in the living room. In our kitchen/diner we have just enough space for a breakfast bar, not even a proper dining table, and only 1 person can be preparing food at a time else you're just in each others' way!

I had to laugh at Roxanne's cartwheel- I doubt the baby would have space for one in our house!

The 3 bed houses on our estate still only have 2 rooms downstairs- but obviously the rooms are a little bigger and there is a hallway that is actually big enough to use as storage.

My SIL had a victorian? 2 bed with a separate dining room and an under stairs walk in cupboard, the difference in space between our houses was amazing!

PS I dry our washing in our bedroom. It's not ideal, as I can't get out of my side of the bed (have to get out the bottom). And the condensation is awful so we have to keep a window ajar, unsurprisingly our bedroom gets freezing cold. But there's nowhere else. And that's with tumble drying first (we don't have space for a separate tumble dryer, and our combined washer/dryer doesn't get the clothes completely dry).

However, I am aware that there are many people who would give their right arm for a 2 bed, no matter how small, so I'd just like to point out I'm not complaining as such, just pointing out why a spare room might be nice!

Oh, and I was talking to someone who came to view a house on our estate. They had a 2 bed and wanted to move to a 3 bed. They declined the 3 bed as it was smaller than the house they were in!

Marmalade - some of these houses have their back bedroom converted into 2. Still bigger than some of the rooms in newbuilds!

If we swapped rooms, we could comfortably get 2 sets of bunk beds, plus storage in the front bedroom and still have room to play on the floor. it's 11'6 by 14'!

We have a long lounge diner that is still 2 rooms in some of the houses. The only problem from a privacy point of view is that you need to walk through both rooms to get to the kitchen and bathroom, from upstairs. It's a long, narrow house.

These hosues were built in the 30s and 40s by the NCB to replace slums, closer to the old mineshaft. The council houses that were subsequently built in the centre of the village share an identical footprint with generous rooms and long gardens.

At a push, we could do what a lot of others have done and build upwards, over our kitchen extension. That would bring the house to almost 1000 sqft. We don't want to stay here forever, though because we want better public transport links for the boys, which means we'll probably only be able to make a sideways move in size for more than double the price of this one.

YABU

Most people would like more space than they actually have. A family who actually has exactly what they would like is very lucky. Most have to compensate in some way or another (one less bedroom, bigger garden; smaller kitchen, second bathroom) etc. You choose what is important to you. Some prioritise their children having their own room each, others would prefer to buy a smaller house in an area with better schools.

A spare room can be very useful if you have a home business and need office space, or if you have guests to stay over frequently. It's not essential, just a nice thing to have if you can afford it.

open plan loving area

ooh errr

If the newbuild scheme is as stated by ouryve it's a great one! We actually did this with our first home. The government paid the first 1/3 of the value of the house and we paid them back 1/3 of the value of the house when we sold it. As it happened the value of the property had increased over the 5 years we there, but if it had dropped then we would still have paid back 1/3 of the lower value, ie. when we sold it. On average, nost properties will increase over time though, so the government doesn't lose out. In fact, no-one does. I hadn't realised that this is what they were reintroducing. Without that help we wouldn't have been able to afford anything at all. As it was we bought a new-build 3 bedroom semi, which we sold when we had DC4 - and couldn't even fit another cot in the house! DC4 was in a moses basket until he was 8 months old!

I do understand wanting a 'spare'...
It is the wisdom of having something that is a bit of a 'luxury' when you can't really afford it...if you could you wouldn't need help with a deposit...

Maybe if they stayed where they were a bit longer they would be able to afford it - without the help...and that surely would be better?

And even if they were planning to have 2 DCs - they can share a room when they are tiny...(and obviously with childcare/maternity leave etc their income is likely to go down -at least for a while ...so they might really struggle - even end up being repossessed etc ??? )

I think a better example would have been a couple in a one bed flat who had had a baby wanting a two bed...

It rather depends on the two bed. I had a two bed flat at uni which DP and I lived in for a period of time. The kitchen and bathroom were tiny, as was the second bedroom. Lovely big lounge and master bedroom - so fine as a couple who needed a study, but limited storage, no obvious area for eating so utterly useless for a family. We even started to outgrow it as a couple (eating your romantic Valentine steak dinner on the coffee table gets old awfully quick).

If one (or both of you) work from home, you need a spare room- and most of these new builds don't have separate dining rooms, meaning an extra bedroom in reality.

Newbuilds now can be tiny though. And no/pitiful storage. My first house was a 2 bed mid terrace, but it had massive rooms. The family next door had split the bedrooms and had 3 dc. It was when you could buy a house on an ok ish salary and a couple of grand deposit.
Sooo, yes unreasonable to expect taxpayers to pay for a spare bedroom, but I can see how a 2 bed new build could be a squash for a family of 3. And I know I was fortunate to have bought 17 years ago before it all went shite.

I think a 2-bed house might be acceptable for a family of 3-4, but not a two-bed flat. DP and I live in a small, badly laid-out first floor flat and it will be a nightmare when baby arrives next summer. There is literally nowhere to keep a pram - we'll have to leave it out on the landing and hope the management company don't object - and the baby will never be able to have its own room: the second bedroom is pretty small and is full of things that don't fit in the living room/bedroom, such as my desk (I am studying towards a degree, and obviously my books and materials need to go somewhere). There is no storage space that isn't already used: the one purpose-build cupboard contains things like hoover, ironing board, etc and is literally full to the ceiling. We don't have a proper table to eat at (just a tiny one tucked in a corner which has to pulled out to use), and we'll probably have to get rid of that to create more space when baby comes along. Baby will have to sleep in with us, and we'll have to hope we can get a mortgage and moves before s/he gets too old!

YABU. DH is studying and I work partly from home.
Should DH and I get bunk beds? Or sleep in the garden?

Exactly Rara. People tend to use number of beds as a shorthand to illustrate the size of a property, but it doesn't always follow that more beds = more space.

Sounds like you'd be better off in the short term in our place. Only 4 rooms (including bathroom) , but all quite large, plus good storage. We managed for almost 7 years with 3 of us and it was only the arrival of ds2 that broke the camel's back.

Mind you, we still stored the pram in the car but that was more about living on the 3rd floor...

Old first floor flat here, so no room for extensions. Ds has a box room - you can almost stand in the middle of it, stretch out your arms and touch both walls. Dds share a bedroom. They at adults in their twenties, still living g at home! No jobs, no money, no prospects of ever getting on the housing ladder.
I would love a spare room, an office, a utility room, a shower, some storage......

I suppose if they're planning more dc, the cost of moving can be £10K+ and it would probably be better to buy something big enough in the first place if they can afford the repayments.

Oh phooey. We are 4 people in a 2 bed house. DS2 is still in with me and DH. However, we have no mortgage, have had great holidays and both DH and I work part time (DH very part time).

What people say about general living space is right. Our neighbours (same house, same # people) have converted their loft. 3 beds, but no more living space downstairs. When we move we want another room or seven downstairs.

You fill the space you have. Of course 3 people can live in a 2 bed house.

YANBU. Of course more space is nice but it absolutely not necessary. We have a DS in our small 2 bed, and growing up our family of 7 were in a spacious but only three bedroom house, and loved sharing (though my big sisters didn't always agree).

We actually assumed that we'd need a bigger place, but we find that the limited space helps us to keep clutter and junk to a minimum.

Perhaps the issue is that they were in one of those ridiculously tiny new builds? They are practically unsuitable for humans let alone families...

Ha ha, just looked at our nearest Help to Buy locations and the nearest one has houses starting at £444,000. That's almost 10 times what we paid for our current house (we've been here a while). We'll need ALOT of help!

Four of us in a two bed flat - it's hardly the end of the world but I can't get youngest one a kitchen thingy from Santa, there is not enough space left in any of the rooms to put it up. Ditto no space for ds1 to have the pet he wants (hamster) or a desk for homework. Ds1 resents not getting stories in bed the way he did before the baby came along. Relatives have to pay to stay in hotels rather than with us. My point is just that two sharing a (small) room is not always as straightforward as it sounds.
We are so well off compared to many in the world; but yet not compared to some others - especially those couples on LLL who "need" a four bed house for the two of them, their potential dcs, and the blokes record collection.

You have to pay the money back, it's just a handful of cash towards a house.

So YABU.

I work from home though and we do have a garden office. This was the cheapest way to get more space (guest can sleep in it, it's lovely) and actually it's worked out really well, because I am truly out of the house when I'm at work.