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?

I would choose C.
Schools are important to us as we value education quite highly and have young DS.

Especially if it is still only middle range of your budget.

Not sure why A is even on the shortlist?

I would say C or possibly B, if the area of B makes life significantly better.

C or d you can buy time to me the commute I’d the Main Thing
decor is such a personal thing can be refurb to a high standard if it not your taste waste of money

C

C

C or D

C

C, I can't even see a reason to consider the others. All are a short commute unless you're on a very low wage, you can change the decor (and even wonderful decor will need redoing within a few years) but you can't change the schools nearby. Low end of budget also means you're in a good position for a recession, and all being well you can save to make it exactly as you'd like it, or overpay the mortgage.

C

I would choose B. Smaller house = less housework and everything else is good.

If you'd prefer a bigger house, C.

C for me on paper. Which do you like best and can see your family living in though?

At the current time I'd also be prioritising how well insulated it is and how much energy it is likely to take to run/heat

C even though I hate decorating.

C absolutely,
D/B pretty even as you are just trading perceived/past school quality vs house size,
definitely not A,

Decor doesn't matter one bit as you'll want to decorate to your own tastes/freshen up/hide the marks where previous owners furniture/pictures were. And worst case, a few coats of cheap magnolia can hide a lot of sins till you get round to doing a proper job. Also as C is at the bottom end of your budget you'll have a bit of money spare to decorate.

All of these are a short commute in the grand scheme of thigs. To some 10 mins is too close to work. Anything under an hour i'd consider a reasonable commute.

C - Bigger house and better schools