Please help me choose a house. It's driving me insane..

[arghdecisions12345]

Please give me some advice… I've never been in this position before…

My partner and I have separated, and I have a two year old child. I'm trying to find a house to buy. I did consider renting for a couple of years while I save up more money to buy a house that I truly want but a lot of advice I've received is just buy anyway for now because it will be more efficient than renting.

I'm really struggling to decide… I have seen a cute very little cottage. It is very very small. It's on a row of cottages in a very tiny quiet country road.
Apparently it is very sought-after and those cottages do not lose money so when I sell it, I could potentially make a little bit of money on it. It's certainly affordable. It's within my budget. But like I say it's small. A little dated. I'd definitely need to update it a bit.

I viewed another house that is £45,000 more than the cottage. It is big and beautiful and I loved the decor throughout the whole house. The only problem is the bedroom for my DC is very tiny. I didn't want her to have a tiny room.
But to be honest, the small bedroom in the cottage is probably the same size. That is also very small.

It might be that neither of these houses are the ones for me, but does anyone have any advice at all?

I'd say neither. Almost an hour round trip to nursery is a lot. No parking and a busy road is a pain. I think you're being swayed by the idea of maybe making money on the cottage and it being desirable. You need to make practical choices. As PP have said, you ideally want as close to school as possible, preferably walking distance. Unless you want to move again in 8 years, think about secondary schools and bus routes for when you have a teenager.

We're relocating in August and buying our first home. I've spent 18 months on Rightmove working out what we can afford in different towns, which things about a house are important to us and visiting areas and looking at street view, checking out bus routes online etc. We've got teenagers, so slightly different priorities but the principles are the same.

Work out what you need and what you want and where you'd compromise before you start thinking about making offers on houses

I thought boilers in bedrooms were illegal?

Ive lived in a main road. With parking. It was still a bloody nightmare. I’d never live on a main road again.

I’d say neither too, though I do love the look of those little country cottages so I’d be tempted but practically maybe not suitable. No off street parking is a pain. I’d wait and see what money you have to spent before buying.

Your child can't sleep in a room which holds a boiler 🙄😳

I would buy something within walking or cycling distance to the primary school that your daughter will attend. 25 minutes drive to the nursery sounds far too far to me. That will be 2 hours of your day written off just like that.

Here would be my top things:
Walking distance to school and a shop of some kind
Not on a main road
Parking outside the house
2 reasonable bedrooms
Not in need of rewiring or major work e.g. radiators, double glazing, bathroom, kitchen
Garden big enough

But I would prioritize location above anything else

Pretty much any house will hold its value anyway surely? I don't really understand the thinking regarding the cottage v the other or why one would increase in value more ?

At that age and for quite a while kids rooms just need to be a bed and clothes. They want to be playing downstairs so if you’re planning on moving before they hit secondary school then it’s not an issue

Personally, I would go with the cottage. It sounds to me like you were put off by the current state of it and the knowledge that the previous owner died - these things are superficial and it will feel completely different with your own things in it. But then, I like cottages! If you don't, that changes things.
I wouldn't go with the bigger house; it doesn't sound like it's practically correct and for an extra 45k I think you should have something perfect for your needs.
I agree though that there must be something else. If the cottage is so desirable, there will be a bit of a premium on the price so there must be something at the same price that is a bit bigger/more practical.

The cottage, 1000 times over.

There isn't a lot to go on in terms of details or context about the properties and the finances. A couple of thoughts occur to me, though.

There is no point in a large house if it hasn't got a decent sized bedroom for your child. A bedroom with a boiler in it and not much else wouldn't be acceptable to me. (I live in a small house which however has two spacious double bedrooms.) That house is also probably overpriced.

Buying and selling and moving house is an expensive business. (It's why so many people avoid moving and build extensions instead.) For that reason alone buying a house in order to make money and sell in a couple of years is a questionable plan. You'd have to work out the figures very carefully to get a clear picture.

There's a row of cottages near me - small, and the front door opens straight into the living room. However some of them have extensions at the back so they are more spacious than they appear. Don't know about bedrooms. They have a small front garden, no drives or parking but there are parking spaces opposite on the public road. They do come up for sale not infrequently and they do sell.

I would look more widely and not allow those two to dominate your thinking. Write down a list of things to consider when looking so that you do focus on practicality, location and amenities and not just the first impression of appearance or appeal.

Primary school catchment would be a decider I think, all else considered. That time will come before you know it and you don’t want to be stuck near a worse school if one of the houses is near a better one.

Sorry if you’ve already discussed that, I didn’t see.

The cottage for me. It’s £45,000 cheaper.

you can paint it how u want

your car insurance will be cheaper having off street oarking

ehen you meet some one new it will be easy to rent out if you don’t want/need to sell.

if it’s not flat roofed, you can make a loft room even if it’s for storage

its quieter Road so you’re not worrying about the door opening and little one going under a vehicle on the main road

Whrn someone passes, a place always feels cold until tgeir spirit is free. The previous owner is just keeping an eye out til the new owner takes possession xx

“I'm really struggling to decide. I'm still looking at other houses. And ones that are a bit more expensive, but I'm not sure what money I will have because we haven't sorted out the finances yet in the divorce. We are still having Mediation which is why I'm looking at houses that are more affordable, just in case.”

You said these cottages come up very rarely and get snapped up quickly. As a seller, I wouldn’t touch you with a barge pole! Not just an incompleted divorce but one where you’re still in mediation? I’d have words with estate agent about even having let you view.

Actually dh’s car insurance is £20 cheaper on road than on our driveway. Not a huge difference but due to all those keyless thefts and the fact if you steal keys in a house the car on drive is going to be the right car it can actually be more expensive.

Neither - but if forced to pick then the house

To be frank neither. You’re trying to make unsuitable houses work for purchase. Renting is one thing but buying somewhere with lots of caveats is another

I bought quite a big house post-divorce and it has served me well. However, I am still single many years later. It is too big for me to manage into a single old age and it has been expensive overall to maintain. If I could do it again, I would think longest term, terminally single, old age and choose accordingly. The first one would therefore be my choice.

Something worth knowing about school places. When a child has two addresses and splits their time between them, they look at which parent has the child benefit paid to them to determine which is their ‘main’ residence.
So XH living near the school isn’t necessarily a done deal, unless he also claims CB, has her registered at the doctors at his address etc

Why not?
My child does. We service it and have CO alarms.

I'd go for the cottage. No parking and something flagged up on the survey would put me off the house.

I'm on my own with one DC, and we have a 2 up 2 down terraced cottage - honestly, there is plenty of room, and there still will be when I've got a teenager instead of someone at primary school. If it's a classic Victorian cottage the rooms are surely 10 x 10 at least, maybe more?

This idea that we need more and more space is something we've been sold over the years but actually, you need somewhere to sleep, somewhere to relax, a kitchen and bathroom...and if it's like the place I have, then the last two are in addition to the two reception rooms? Or even if one of the two down is the kitchen, that's still plenty surely? And to my mind, sharing the living space makes for a closer and happier family life, your child wants to be with you now, and when she's older she will have a bedroom to retreat to if she wants to, leaving you with the sitting room and the rest of the downstairs.

Also, smaller house = smaller costs for doing it up to your taste (you can run to posh paint or wallpaper or carpets because you don't need so much), and smaller running costs because not so much space to heat or light.

Add in the parking, and the fact that the bigger place is £45k more - imagine what else you could do with that £45k - and that you're buying it on your own...absolute no brainer from where I'm sitting, make the easy choice after what has surely been a difficult time.

For those asking about size. Here is the floor plan for the cottage.

Also I have since viewed another house which feels .. perfect.
Perfect size. I felt like I was walking into my dream house that we could live in for many years to come. And plenty of space for me to work from home etc.
it's more expensive. But I definitely had a much better feeling than I did with the other two houses.

I want to make an offer but waiting for my accountant to submit my tax return so I can get an up to date mortgage in principle as proof of funds that I need to provide.

It is more expensive but I can't imagine it would be on the market long. If I'm going for this one - would you offer full asking price or still try to offer a bit less? I'm new to this really!