To buy a house that's not right?!

[showmethegin]

Weird question I know but going round the bend! We fell in love with a house on Saturday which we are having a second look at tonight. It's in the perfect area (v up and coming and incredibly competitive). We were hoping for a 3 bed house with spacious garden and this has two bedrooms and a reasonably small garden (although big enough for a BBQ party).

However I just cannot discount it, as soon as I stepped foot in it I just loved it, I can't put my finger on why, it's an end terrace and a different layout from most Victorian terraces and the living space is excellent and spacious. I feel really comfortable in in straight away. We are TTC and could only have one DC in it, so a 5 year house really, tops.

Would we be mad to go for it anyway?! I'm getting really nervous that we will be priced out of the area if we don't move quickly (have lost 3 houses already). Has anyone else bought a house for the 'feel'?

Hope you get it, it sounds lovely!

Aww that's great OP! Fingers crossed for you now 😃

Thanks All, this is the nervy bit!

Good luck! It sounds lovely 😊

Ps - jealous of all the storage

Don’t base house purchases on accommodating guests as said previously. If you love it, go for it. Our house isn’t perfect but it’s all we could afford to get on the property ladder. Hoping to move in 2 years when we remortgage so change always happens.

I think in years gone by you could consider selling on but now you really have to be wary and think that this possibly is it. Tbh if you don't intend on having more than two and don't have guests and have such a strong gut feeling on it (whispers) I think I'd do it (but my gut says don't! I'm sorry!!!) But your gut feeling is so strong on it I'm as torn as you, plus is sounds fab!!!

Ah you decided! Sorry OP and yay!!! Best of luck!!!!

Our first house was a two bed (big two bed though). After two years we remortgaged, house was now said to be worth almost double what it had been and as we had no children by that point we took a fixed term mortgage out for 5 years and about £20,000 out of the equity. This was 2005 - housing market crashed, house no longer worth what it had been, we were stuck in fixed term so didn't benefit from rock bottom interest rates. By the time we could sell it wasn't worth enough to give us enough equity to move. We finally part exchanged for a new build in 2016. They gave us £68 for it but only sold it for £54. We had owed £43,000 on the mortgage (we originally bought it for 46,000).

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but personally i wish we had moved to a suitable home for children when we could. That said, our Ds and dd shared a room until they were 8 and 9 quite happily.

If you love it, I’d say go for it. It sounds as if it’s quite a big two bed. Would there be any scope for splitting bedrooms, converting the loft, extending, if you did end up having to stay longer term?

Also, you could have two DC living there, my dds shared quite a small bedroom until they’re were 9 and 6. It did them no harm.

I was going to say go for it, but it looks as though you already have - congratulations OP.

Pictures!

I'm a huge believer that a house must give you that feeling of "oh yes, this is the one!"

When you get that feeling you can always make it work. Go for it, you'll always think wistfully of it if you don't.

Sigh, sorry, page refreshed and I now see your update!

100% do it OP.

And don’t listen to the negative posts saying prices could collapse. I was told that when I bought my first place - people said it was a risky time to buy, that the market had peaked and I’d be in negative equity. I went ahead anyway, sold five years later and made a significant amount of money on it!

If it feels right then it is right in my experience.

If you are buying something you love I am area that's in the up you definitely won't lose when reselling ( I deal on property for a living). Plus it has some potential to extend into roof.

Go for it.

I would say you are comprising a lot. I wouldn't rush into it, we did something similar and now 3 years later we're in much stronger position to upsize financially, but have the head ache of selling. Only buy if you could see yourself living there comfortably for 5 years minimum. Remember babies and toddlers have a lot of stuff, so that would steer me from a 2 bed if a 3 bed is possible. It sounds like you could make a lot of money from this house, but remember the houses you want long term will go up too, and moving house is expensive stuff.

I'd go for it. As long as it's a nice version of the type of house it should sell OK even if things take a down turn. I remember years ago when the market was slow there were 3 2 bed terraces for sale on my street. 2 of them laguished on the market forever. Mine sold because it was an end terrace, the kitchen was a couple of feet bigger than the others, the garden sunnier...

We bought a house that would do ‘for now’. The. The market crashed. It has only just reached the value of what we laid for it. And ive been unhappy with it for years and years.

I wish we had bought a smaller house. Our children are 2 & 5 and share and probably will want to do so for another 5 years (they are boy/girl), the big garden is costing £££ and lots of time to maintain. I think you could get 5-10 years out of this house and also don't forget the cost of childcare or one of you staying at home will all come when kids are small, our childcare bill is more than our mortgage.

I know you’ve decided to go for it- so ignore me if you want to. I’d just examine if you

A) like this house and think it’s balance of good/bad points works as well for you as what you thought you wanted

Or

B) you’re worried that you will miss out on what you want and are panicking and compromising

I only had two dealbreakers which were an upstairs bathroom and off-street parking. This house which we've had for nearly 20 years and where we will end our days has neither

(Also we imagined we would fill it with children which didn't happen so I might not base such a decision on an unknown future...)