To ask you to help me choose a house

[Quaggainexcelsius]

House 1
Thirty minutes by bus out of town (work)
Ex council so large rooms (3 doubles) but needs a lot of work (new kitchen, stairs)
Backs onto a large building trade centre (noisy but only 7am- 5pm weekdays)
Unknown neighbours but seem ok
Roughish area, lots of people leaving sofas mattresses etc outside, dog poo, litter
Close (walking distance) to nice inner city parts
Thirty minute cycle in opposite direction to traffic from kids school which I hope to keep them in
Similar diversity to where we live now which is good
On busy-ish main road (we have cats also air pollution? Noise?)
Choice of two great secondary schools
Further from family (elderly parents)

House 2
One hour plus from town on bus (work)
Cute cottage with no work needed, done to high spec
Smaller rooms, less storage
Quiet road, mostly old people and families
Forty minute drive to school but in same direction as work
Majority white British, very suburban
One secondary (not great)
Closer to family

If you have to move for personal reasons, possibly current nightmare neighbours for example then I'd seriously consider renting, then buy that better house when prices fall.

We would consider renting but have animals and so I don't think it will work for us.

Definitely house 2, but can you ask to WFH for a couple of days a week? That would make a huge difference.

@havetochangethis healthcare so no unfortunately

Neither!

Sounds a tricky situation. Dont rule out renting contact some agents to enquire some may accept pets along with certain terms. But to answer your original post dont buy the house in the bad area, If it is actually that bad.

house 2 sounds great but that’s 10 hours a week extra commute , which is a whole week of extra work in a month and not great secondary school.

I think I'm a bit reluctant to move out of town as I grew up in the suburbs and swore I would never go back. I don't want to spend my life driving both kids around due to shit buses and I don't want them to grow up feeling that everything good is happening somewhere else, which is how I felt.
I love and hate the area of house 1. It's a bit rough, there's blatant drugs but then it's so nice to feel that you can just walk to an area with a completely different vibe. For example the other day we were in the park and someone just got out a guitar and there was a bit of a sing song, that just wouldn't happen in the suburbs. I'm loathe to go back but the houses are beautiful and spacious and I suppose I have some hesitation about having more antisocial behaviour on my doorstep which is more annoying than anything else.

Is that just because you’ve sold your house, or for other reasons?

I suppose when I see myself in house 2 I'm sort of seeing a different person having a different life. Like a person who cooks and listens to jazz and makes creative bento boxes for their kids lunch, and that by living in that house I will somehow become that person and that life and house will be enough for me and make me calmer!

I don’t think you’ll be calmer with those commutes!

Why do you have to move? I wouldn't move to dog shit alley for all the money on earth

@WaddleAway true!

How close are the kids to secondary age? Is the school likely to turn around?
The school would be my blocker on house 2, the area on house 1.
Keep looking.

neither.
the street & immediate locality and distance from the station are immediate deal
breakers.
however the fact that you went to see house 2 and are asking about it says it is a possibility for you.

Neither. Why are these the only options?

"majority white British"..?!?!?

WTF, this sounds exceptionally racist to me. I would rather not help you and would like to make sure others have noticed your bigoted comment

Keep looking you don’t sound thrilled with either and you should be thrilled with an enormous purchase like that

I don’t think it’s racist, she’s just mentioning the different demographics. I read it more that she would prefer the multicultural aspect of the location of house 1, but I may be wrong.

It really depends what your rough is, where I live the 'rough' is propper rough, the suburbs are not really suburbs they are outskirts of the city. To get 1 hour away from the city centre you'd be in the arse end of nowhere. There are ex local authority houses that are more than normal houses as the estates they are on are mostly privately owned and nice. Although there may be the odd sofa knocking around!

@WaddleAway that's definitely right, I grew up as the only one with a dad who lived in a different country and spoke a different language in my school. I love that my kids have friends who speak other languages, celebrate different holidays, have family abroad and understand the positive and negative aspects of that.

unlike most people, I think house 1 might be a good option. is the area in the process of gentrifying? so it might improve in the next few years? if so, it could be a good investment. especially if it is well located for secondary schools.

are there other things in the same area that might work?

If you bother reading, she says that house 1 is diverse like where she is now which is good. I’m guessing that majority white British is a downside (not because there is anything wrong with white British but because it lacks diversity) . Read stuff properly before you dive in

Honestly if the area of house 1 has blatant drug issues dont live there. We live in a 'rough' area. The police do a raid on a house in our street roughly once a month. People shouting and screaming outside at all hours. Cant let the kids play out because used needles etc have been found in our back lane. We have had to call the police because a knife that may or may not have been used in a crime was thrown into our back yard. The neighbours car was targeted by men in balaclavas every single window was smashed and panel dented, looked like it had been rescued from the crusher by the time they finished. They got the wrong car came back the next night to do the right one. Had to phone an ambulance for various people wandering around off their head on spice. The kids have seen it all. You may think it's nice for them to be near stuff but I'm sure my kids would rather get the bus into town than witness the things they have.

I think if I absolutely had to buy one of these I would hope for the best and go for house 1, assuming that it sold in a reasonable time frame this time round. I hate, hate, hate long commutes and am totally with you about being close to stuff - I saw the most perfect house a little while ago but it was the far end of a loooong strung out village and I couldn't stand the idea of that in the end. It sounds like you will add value to it.