To ask 2 adults 2 teens - what size house?

[ftb1]

Ok.
I'm early 40's and live in the South East. I've never been able to afford to buy but have recently inherited a sum of money which will enable us to buy (not out right). It is sad that we've had to suffer a bereavement for this to happen.

We currently rent a small three bed semi, the smallest room is a box room.
We are pretty minimalist so resist the urge to buy too much stuff. Even so, we struggle with space. We are looking forward to buying.
We've started looking at properties and the lowest end of our budget would enable a detached three bedroom house each with double bedrooms. The top end of our budget would enable us to have a four bed detached with a study ( I work from home) which is very tempting. Our eldest is 17 so will leave home in the coming years. Youngest is 12.

I keep thinking to go forna property at the lower end of our budget as it would mean we have more cash available to enjoy life and help out two boys get in the property ladder when the time comes. We're not big earners and happy to drive old cars but we buy them with cash. We don't have any debt.

So, for those of you with a similar size family to mine what sort of size property do you manage with? I am so looking forward to having more space than we currently have but likewise I want to try and moderate ourselves and think about how our family will change over the next few years if that makes sense.

It depends on how big the 3 double bedrooms actually are in reality.
Ours is 3 double but the smaller one would definitely be a squash with a double bed and desk in it.
Is there any scope to do a loft conversion in the future on the 3 bed?

Is the garden of the 3 bed large enough to install a garden office? If so, I'd go for this option.
With soon-to-be 4 adults, space is worth every penny but if most of the extra square meterage is a largely unused bedroom rather than living space, I'm not sure it is worth the extra expense.

Thanks everyone your comments have really given me food for thought. Location wise they are 1/2 a mile apart and also a short walking distance from my Dad who my boys love spending time with. The 3 bedroom house doesn't have a garden but enough to build a garden office.

3 double bedrooms
Conservatory
2 reception rooms (we use 1 as a study)
Downstairs wc
Large drive for extra cars!

Our teens are now you g adults (though not likely to leave home any time soon and we looked for at least 3 doubles and preferably 2 reception rooms (ie lounge and dining room)

By buying on a main-ish road, we managed to get the 3 doubles (though not large ones) a kitchen diner plus two other decent sized reception rooms, all in about 1250 square feet (not including the garage, which so many listings seem to count). It works well for us as we are not under each other's feet all the time.

We do that with our second reception room.

If the doubles are big enough for a decent size desk I'd consider the smaller.

Will you have a cleaner? A larger house will also take more time to clean. Which would be a big factor in my decision.

I think that separate working space (that doesn't clash with your 17yo) is the driver. If you can make that work in the dining space then a 4th bedroom might not be worth it.

However if you have teens who will bring friends round and take over the main living space, rather than hanging in their bedrooms, you might prefer to be tucked further away than in the dining room.

But if you buy a bigger house for an office, it's not a million miles from spending £50k (or whatever) on your job. Which is a lot. Plenty of people would rather just go into the office more and make do the rest of the time rather than spending tens of thousands to make their house function better as their office.

We have 3 double bedrooms, a kitchen/diner, a living room, one bathroom and a downstairs loo. It's a little bit too small, but in a cozy rather than uncomfortable way, but if I worked from home, I would want a dedicated workspace free of interruptions which wasn't my bedroom.

The 3 bedroom house doesn't have a garden but enough to build a garden office.

Do you mean it's got a backyard like, say, a Victorian house might?

My kids are younger, still at primary school. We have a 3 bed with 3rd bedroom a box room. I work from home in the living room. I have space for my desk in a place it's not too imposing. Even so -

I would definitely say go bigger. Either another room downstairs or another bedroom, for a separate office. I don't think it's right working in the living room when people are at home trying to live. And I can only imagine that's more the case when they are big teenagers.

@junesoon Sorry my post was muddled. There is a garden with the 3 bed property but not enough room to build a garden office as suggested by a pp.

Ahh I see.

Unless you're loaded I wouldn't bother with a garden office - even if you had the space - as they'll just lose value.

Go for the 3 bed - sounds like there's plenty of room downstairs and look forward to being mortgage free sooner 😀

I have a 17yo and a 13yo. We have a four bed terrace. We both work from home so one of the bedrooms is a study and doubles up as a spare room. It’s plenty of space.

I think the 3 bed sounds fine- we found an additional room really useful- the kids watched films in there with friends/played console games etc. if you have a good sofa bed in there you can use it as a guest room occasionally.

Go for the 3 bed and consider a cabin in the garden for a home office,

2 x Adult 2 x Older teens + 50% bf of older teen. Detached 3 beds - all decent size. I only have a bathroom + downstairs loo. That 2nd bathroom would make me say the three bed for you. More than fine when the house is busy, and when kids at uni too