which house? Help us decide

[janeybops]

sort version of story is, we have our house under offer and all chain wants to move before schools start back in Sept. DH and I have found 3 houses we like. All have pros and cons. Which shall we go for??? I will describe in my order of prefernce, which of course isn't dh's!

1. located on very 'nice' estate (leafy, large detached houses that look expensive) , we can only afford as this one has the railway line parallel to the road. Busy line but I didn't think too noisy. it is to front of house and screened by trees and bushes. 3 beds upstairs with another potential bedroom downstairs - so 3 doubles and 1 single. a bathroom up and down stairs. study/bed 5 downstairs too. Only 1 large L shaped reception room. smallish kitchen, which needs replacing in the next year. Needs a fair bit of work, some rotten wood on cladding and new double glazing, oh and parquet floor needs repairing. lovely private garden - corner plot. garage and car port and off street parking for 1 more car. no onward chain.

2. this one is the most expensive by £30 grand so we would really stretch ourselves. nicely decorated, new conservatory and windows, 5 bedrooms, upstairs bathroom and shower room. through lounge/diner with doors that can be shut. newish kitchen - tiles not to my taste though! downstairs loo. reasonable garden a bit overlooked by upstairs windows. round the corner from the shops and opposite the school. off street parking for 2 cars. they need to find somewhere to buy

3. This is DH's fav. 30's character house lots of original features. 2 receptions - separate which we like. 2nd rec is extended and VERY nice. new shaker style kitchen just as I would do it. 1st floor has 1 double and 2 single bedrooms. loft room is double but low head height apart from in middle of room. new bathroom with perfect tiles, but very small. 2 separate loos. garden 100 feet long, a bit ovelooked by neighbours on either side. off street parking for 2 cars. quiet culdesac, but I think it and surrounding streets looks a bit rundown...

should we go for location or the ready to move into house?

Location, location, location - always been our motto

If I could stretch to it, I would go for number 2.

no2 sounds fab - just what we want!

based on that information no. 2

I wouldn't do the first as I would never live next to a railway line .. bad idea .. they are noisy and can be all day and all night and will make it more difficult to sell on

as for number 3 do you think that the area might get better?

P.S. Avoid the train line, I sweared it was not "that" noisy before taking a flat and didn't realise what a problem it was until I moved in (waking up at 5:30 everyday when the first train passed by, having said that... after a few months I didn't hear them anymore, however if you plan to sell in the future prospective buyers may be put off by it, specially if they have children.

Location Location. You can do work on the house but you can't change the location. I am very jealous they all sound lovely . 5 bedrooms very posh!

Would attempt to stretch and go for no 2, or look at very new houses and then buy and move again within 2/3 years, to get the upgrade you want.

My vote for number2 as well!

i would probably say no3 is it an up and coming area?
i prefer older houses and seperate rec rooms, not sure if i would really want to stretch myself in this finacial climate at the moment as you never know whats going to happen, but that is just my opinion.

having said all that though, if number 1 was the one that i wanted then i would prob push dh into it especially as they are ready to move and you want to move in a short period of time!

Make silly offer on no2?

thanks - that has certainly given us soemthing to think about.

dh thinks 2 hasn't got enough downstairs space. he thinks 1 is smaller than the others and is too near to the trains. he prefers 3 and doesn't seem to think it looked 'run down' at all....

think I will make very silly offer on 2 and 1 and see what happens!
leave 3 to simmer for a day or two maybe...

Deffo not near a train line. We had a flat in London that backed onto one adn they often did works on it on a Sunday morning adn late at night - never mind the trains. It was pure hell.

Location does it every time - gotta be.

Number 2 gets my vote. Can't you put links on so we can be really nosey?!

No 3 as I personally would go for a period property over a bigger new property.

i can honestly tell you from past and current experience..
LOCATION..LOCATION..LOCATION!!
but that means everything...how quiet it is/locality to good schools/transport/shops etc

hufff...am going though EXACTLY same thing at minute..we are stretching our selves to get something better!!!just hope it works out!

thanks -

the trouble is with no. 1 is the location is great, nice schools, near shops, 'nice' area etc except it has the train line across the road....

ummm tricky

are you planning on staying or moving again???would prospective buyers feel the same as you???

if we like I would like to stay.

then if it doesnt bother you..then go for it..but look into it first. go on homecheck dot co dot uk..they will ask you for address and list the level of any potential problems on the road.hth..good luck

thanks that website is really useful

oh and heres another so you can base your offer upon these findings..nethouseprices.com..but in road and area and it will tell you how much others on same road/area are actually selling for

p.s....we got the one we wanted..paid a little more, but what we expected and got most of the furniture and electrical stuff in with it too after much haggling

very impressive Evesmamma

If you plan to stay then I think a run downish area is the best investment. there is every possibitly tha it will change and improve with gentrification over time and so you will make a huge profit to reflect this. areas that are already nice don't have as much potential in this case..
just look at places like islington, forest hill, the whole of central manchester!! to see how much they have changed over the last decade or so.