AIBU to ask you which house you'd buy?

[Algor1thm]

A - small house, fairly recently refurbished, average to poor schools, 25 min commute to work, high end of budget

B - small house, recently refurbished to a high standard, good schools, 30 min commute to work, middle of budget

C - medium sized house, liveable but decor a little tired, good schools, 25 min commute to work, low end of budget

D - medium sized house, liveable but decor a little tired, average schools, 10 min commute to work, middle of budget

Which of these factors is most important to you and your family?

C or d.

How old are your kids? For teenagers another factor is public transport and whether they can get to school and activities independently. If you work, this will be even more important than your commute for several years.

B or D.

Small houses will save you money this winter. However, a short commute time is not to be underestimated.

C or D

C

C but I like decorating and DIY so would prefer to do something up a bit anyway

C

Which one has the best garden? Or view?

Schools and location are number 1 in my book.

There is a reason the programme is called location, location, location.

Good school = easy to resell as well

Kids are start of primary and preschool aged. All houses are within one bus ride of their nearest secondary school and local towns for activities etc.

C, good schools and size important to me

Decoration can be put up with and changed over time, I’d be more focused on things like school, amenities locally, insulation/energy efficiency, commute and public transport as being deciders.

I’d say C as even in a house with recent decor chances are even If the decor is nice, is it 100% to your taste? You would probably paint it anyway over the next few years to match your taste.

C

C medium size with budget left to improve the decor. Good schools a must, commute very reasonable.

I would however also consider garden size and if I like the local area. Also access to greenspaces/ sea plus activities myself and family would enjoy.

1 Buy the worst house on the best street
2 Schools
3 Work

in my opinion 😊

B if the refurbishment was to my taste. If not C.

Don't know why you've even put A on your list. Small, expensive, long commute. Score that one off straight away.

Do any of them have school and work in different directions? Will you be driving 10 mins in one direction to drop kids and school then 10 mins in opposite direction for work?

Are the schools you're rating primary or secondary? Or both? Schools can change a lot in a few years.

I'd go for D. I think average school can be overcome with decent support from home. Poor or underperformed schools not so much.

Location and logistics of childcare, school and work journeys matter more to me than quality of school (unless its really dire). I'd also want a bigger house near a less good school. You're going to be spending a lot of time there, you need to be able to spread out.

Based on the info given then I'd say C, but it would be useful to know more them. What are the areas like? Gardens? What's the layout of the houses/ living space downstairs/ how many bathrooms, etc? Parking? Which one did you like the feel of best when you looked round?

C by a mile. Good schools mean a lot. Low budget but decent size is great. Commute is fine. Decor can be sorted. Why not??

C

B

C I think - could add value.

Or B if not wanting to do work.

Too little information really.

kids-buying a small house doesn't seem workable ling term (moving costs are expensive)

costs of energy etc won't be much different between small/Ned houses. If you're worried about energy expenses I'd tend to look at if they have rooms or open plan. I LOVE huge open plan houses, but with energy costs, separate rooms are going to be more affordable to heat. (Or should I say less unaffordable?!?!).

for me the Garden is a huge HUGE consideration, so how do they compare, which way do they face?

Im not bothered what state it's in, at the right price, as I'd much rather pay to have MY choice of bathroom/kitchen/decor.

Do a bloody good affordability check before you go anything!

Oh & no way I'd go for D if the only advantage is a 15m shorter commute to work. It would have to offer a lot more over C to go to top of budget. In this climate im
not even sure I would if it was absolute perfect.

C.