To buy a house with no parking when I have a 3 month old baby

[Surprisedmom]

So, as the title says really. I’m a single mom without a huge budget so I know I need to compromise. I’m considering buying a house that is ideal except for the fact that there is no parking in front of the house. There’s parking about 20metres away on the road then you walk up a little path (about 10 metres) to the front garden. I really just want advice from anyone who has done something similar with a little one. My feeling is that I could do it and it’s no worse than being on a busy street where you might end up parking far away from your front door anyway. So, wise people of mumsnet, do you think this is a compromise worth taking for the biggest house I can offord in a decent area?

We moved from our first house because of the parking situation. It meant we declined going back out in the evenings as we didn't want to have to park in the next street. It was back breaking carrying the baby and bags of shopping to the house. Now we have a drive for both cars. It's a God send. Could you have your front converted into a drive?

there are enough threads about neighbours parking in the street stealing precious spaces, people irate (and rightly so) to have to drive around for 30mn to find a parking space..

The rule is that the day you really need it, you won't find your parking space. If you don't mind, it's fine, but it's absolutely not for me.

I'd compromise on something else, I'd never buy a house without a driveway. We don't have one now and it's a fucking nightmare. You need a permit to park on the road, you can't park on both sides of the road, there are only 14 bays for 52 houses, it's a fucking joke. I didn't choose this house btw, its DP's house and he bought it years ago and never intended to live there (It was a HMO with sitting tenants).

Of course it's do-able. If you like the house, go for it.

20 meters is not far. my drive is 10m and if someone was parked in it i would have to park out the front of the house, walk 10m to drive and 10m to door. my first house with newborn (20 years ago) there was a car park and a 60m walk round a communal garden to the front door.

how is 20 metres equivalent to "no parking"?

A car was essential in our last house but we didn't have a driveway. Parking wasn't guaranteed and could be a minute or twos walk from the door and whilst it was ok with one kid I really struggled when I had a toddler and baby at the same time. Carrying a baby in a car seat, a sleeping toddler, a nappy bag cos you can't leave it in case someone nicks it and a bit of shopping was completely shit if I'm honest.

The house we lived in when my daughter was born had on street parking, I often had to park round the corner from the house. It wasn't a problem, you figure it out. If you like the house and it's in a good location etc. then I wouldn't worry about parking, though I know some people get really worked up about it.

20 metres is manageable.

I would suggest buying a sturdy wheeled shopping trolley to put all your shopping, nappy bag, other sundry bits into so basically you can drag all your shit along with one hand and get to the house in one trip. Hopefully you can manage baby/toddler with other hand so won’t need to stuff them in the trolley

Of course, I would have needed double my budget for parking

Well mine was about 2/3 of a mile from my house in some cases so try driving to Cambridge to visit your DM, coming home, then 15 mins to find a space, transferring two sleeping babies into a push chair, walking that distance, carrying them up the stairs, going back down once they are in cots and carrying a double buggy plus any baby bags up the stairs before someone steals it from the street 👍🏻 I couldn’t take the buggy back to the car and leave the babies alone.

Oh no, I wouldn’t. Similar situation with 2 under 2 plus an older one to do school run for. We live in London but the buses just aren’t reliable enough in our borough to go without a car. We have a drive now and I couldn’t be happier, I’d rather have a smaller house. I used to have to carry both of them to the car which was out on the main road sometimes as neither could walk till 16mo and the neighbours would park so tight that I couldn’t get the push chair out of the boot.

My mum couldn’t visit sometimes as she is disabled and couldn’t walk the distance from the nearest space!

Don't

I assume all the people for whom it's no big deal either didn't have cars or could park in the next street. We have to park four, maybe five streets away most days. A ten minute walk sometimes. We often don't go out because we won't be able to park when we get back. I go to ikea and can't unload the car. There is nowhere to stop outside of our house even temporarily to unload shopping. I don't always have the money to do a big online shop. It completely controls our life. I would live in a shed if it meant I could park outside it.

We brought a house that is on a path but our back gate leads onto the garages so I can drove my car right up to my back gate. When I do a bit food shop I initially drive to the garages and put all the food bags into the garden then park the car. We use our back door as our main access.

This works well for us. I probably wouldn't have brought the house if we didn't have this access.

We have a driveway but it's at the back of our house so we have to park, walk the length of our house, around the corner and then through the garden to get to the front door. The baby years was a bit of a pain but not horrendous (youngest used to planning stuff and easiest ways to do stuff)and it's fine now they're walking (2 DC 20 months apart) of you can guarantee a space it shouldn't be too bad.

Yes rockbird same, our street is only one car width as well which is why any deliveries or drop offs can’t be done by just stopping outside. Someone always comes along and honks you or threatens you. It can totally affect your life, the baby’s routine, naps everything.

Go for it especially if it's my house you're thinking of buying I do it with two kids and it's no problem

I live in a terrace, no designated parking so you strike lucky, or not. Survived it with DTs, but if htere was NEVER a space, that would piss me off.

How much do you drive?

How far away is the next nearest road with parking if the cul de sac is full? How reliant are you on your car? If for example you can walk to town/ nursery/ work quite easily or there is lots of parking on the next road if someone on your road has a party, then go for it. If you are 4 miles from the nearest town and there is no other parking near your house then it could be more problematic. You just have to look around though to realise that unless you live in a new town, many people manage to live without a driveway.

I have a house with no parking it is all on street so just luck of the draw. I park outside in the middle of the road, drop off shopping on the doorstep then park up take my son out of the car and walk back to the house. It fine .... not ideal but fine. I often leave my son locked in the car while I park up take the shopping to the house then come back and get him he is used to it.

To answer some of the questions I think it is pretty much guaranteed I would always get a parking spot on my own street (barring someone throwing a huge gathering or something and suddenly having 40 extra cars). Even if I couldn’t all the streets around have a lot of parking. I will need to drive every day to get to/from work but plan to walk more on the weekends when I can as the house is 20mins walk from the town centre where parking is a real nightmare.
I am certain deliveries wouldn’t be a problem as they could also park easily, though they might resent the extra walk I don’t see how it’s any worse than people who live in top floor flats.
I really like the advice someone gave about having one of the shopping trolleys in the car so you can put several bags in it to take to/from the car.