to ask what’s more important, spaciousness of house or area?

[Toomuchtooyoung01]

Just that really!
What would you say is more important when buying a house (hopefully a forever home) -
more spacious house with better potential to extend in an ok area
OR
Slightly less living space but situated an absolutely beautiful area/sleepy little village in the countryside but only about 20mins away from retail park etc?

House size for us. There's a beautiful, amazing village on a train line I used to live in, would love to have raised a family there but didn't want to live in a small 2 bed forever so we moved to a nearby town, which is still lovely but not as nice, where we can afford a house over twice the size for the same price.

I say area too, if I had a family id want a nice family area convenient to their friends, schools,clubs etc . I currently have the family area. Just not the family to go with it,yet !

depends what stage you are in life really. When the dc were tiny we moved to be near DHs parents - looked at gorgeous houses near countryside - but decided not being able to nip out to get essentials was the deal-breaker. now, with online shopping, it wouldn't be. Anyway got a lovely house only 15 mins from the centre of town and train station. Kids could easily get around, good transport etc. Thought it was the forever home.....

I'm now in a smaller house post-divorce, more rural, rarely go into the town centre. kids all adults.

Choose the house that's right for you now. Things may change, and that's fine, don't mortgage your present for a theoretical future,

100% area. First house I bought was my dream home within its boundary. 3 break ins within a year - left me scared to sleep at night. It's an extreme example, but I've learned that area is everything to me now! I would be especially cautious of buying the the 'nicest' house in an area - I'd feel like the obvious target.

Can be so different depending where you are. We went for the better house on the council/ ex-council estate, as opposed to smaller house on the non-council estate.

As time has gone on people have realised these are the solidly built houses with decent sized gardens and they now tend to go for more than the other houses we'd looked at. We are still officially a deprived postcode (despite being a comparatively long way away from the flats which make this the case), which has made a difference to some of the educational opportunities DS1 has been offered. I think it will also be a factor when applying to universities.

Things like noisy neighbours and antisocial behaviour make life so hellish I wouldn't ever chance a big house in a really awful area though. We've definitely struck the right balance of being on the edge of an area that went from pretty bad, to up and coming, which is more luck than design.

I bought the bigger house in an area that I wasn't as keen on then sold a couple of years later to buy a smaller house in the area I loved. Never regretted it and been here 10 years now