Is it worth paying a lot more for a bigger house?

[RomyMadison]

Right now we're in a situation where we can buy this £850k house and pay it off within a few years but it would mean all my savings would be gone just on the house alone - it's 6 bedroom, with a pool and balcony - is there any point in going for a larger house other than space?

No.

Do you need 6 bedrooms, with pool and balcony? Can you afford the upkeep? The heating in winter. The cooling in summer.

the constantly scrounging rellies looking for a cheap holiday

And the endless sodding housework; the more bogs you have (and I assume, a lot, with 6 bedrooms) the more cleaning is involved.

You probably think that OldLadyKnowsNothing is joking about the housework and the cost of heating and upkeep, but she isn't. Oh no.

It's the sodding housework that gets to me, actually. More house than you need is actually just more housework than you need, and more carrying a vacuum from one end of the house to the other and up and down staircases.

Some people quite like pools, though.

Thanks ladies, I definitely have to have a think about this one. Obviously a lot more going on than just bigger bedrooms!

I agree with GrendelsMum - I have a big house and it is difficult to keep up with housework if you don't have help. Expect COMEDY fuel bills too - we spend around £4k per annum on gas and electricity in a double glazed and insulated house. And no pool to heat - I can't tell you how many friends seriously regret the pool or don't heat it as it is so expensive. We actually don't neeed this size of house - but don't get me wrong when it is clean and tidy it is lovely and you don't hear the children when they are very far away!

Do you have DC - and if so, how old are they?

We pushed ourselve to buy our home when the DC were around 3 and 4, and we've really grown into it. I suppose if you're a housework nut it's probably lots more work, but that didn't really bother us too much.

Take account of the running though - our gas/electricity bill is extortionate.

I don't regret it for a minute - even in the recession! - but you need to both want to do it.

I have a pool. It is a total pain. Have you had one before? If not, listen and learn. The pump must run at least 12 hours per day, every day, whether you plan to use it or not. This is noisy and uses electricity at a quite frightening rate. Then there are the chemicals and the backwash. Every week you have to go out there (I assume it is out, not indoors), redo the chemicals and faff about with the pump and the valves to backwash the dam thing. You can guarantee that the previous people will have lost torn up with frustration the instructions, so you will be working blind, and may very well -like us spend the first summer pumping grunge back INTO the pool, rather than backwashing it out. All of this you have to do without fail regardless of the number of times you have actually gone in there, which given the British weather works out at an average of 50hrs cleaning per 10 min dip. You can of course just not bother, but then the pool will go green, and fill up with worms (I have no idea where the worms come from, but they bleach white in the chlorine, and look like spaghetti... yum), and you will be left looking embarrassed and stupid when your boss turns up in his Aston with his child, for a dip.

But, that said I LOVE my pool.

What I don't love however is the cleaning, of my house, which takes an entire day and encompasses 10 loos. Yes, you did read that right - 10! I have one for each day of the week with a few extra for guests. My toilet duck bill is verging on ridiculous and the Ocado man thinks I have some kind of problem.

So in summary, yes ladies size does matter, but big is not necessarily better.

If it were me, I'd go for it. But then I'm a sucker for punishment, love to swim, and my DH requires a lot of space to fill with junk

We bought a house that is twice the size we were looking for, just because we fell in love with it. It seemed a bit silly at the time, and our friends seriously took the piss about us getting above our station and how we better start breeding in order to fill the bedrooms. The renovation was traumatic and there were many times we felt we'd bitten off more than we could chew, but we got there in the end. We then got a couple of lodgers to fill the space for a few years (nice way to get a bit of extra income actually) and it was a great party house for a while because we could accommodate loads of overnight guests, and fun at Christmas when family could descend. Now the breeding programme has started, and it's a luxury not to feel cramped. I love having space; everything has its home and there is no clutter even with a toddler around.

On the downside, yes the maintenance bills are eye watering. We are good at putting on extra jumpers and lighting the fire (free wood from the garden) rather than cranking up the heating which doesn't do much anyway frankly. Oh and we bought in a crap area, which is why we could afford it, and that has come back to bite us on the bum. But that's a whole thread by itself...

I'd love a pool, mind.

gomowthekawn I love you. Your posts are hillarious . You just cheered up a miserable woman!

Have to say, I loved living in a big house when I was growing up, untill I inherited it and couldn't look after it, I couldn't afford the cleaners and gardeners my DF had employed didn't have a pool though. Also yy to the bills. They could give me palpatations!

I have come to the conclusion that I want a nice size house, with more land than house. (I can use land or let it, but a house just needs work). I would only really want a bedroom for each of us and one spare. I would rather have a smaller house in a slightly better location or with more land.

I have to say as much as I quite like the idea of my own pool, I always thought they would be more hassle then they are worth, and gomow has confirmed that!

oreo you want land? Are you mad? My name is a story in itself.... which I could start, if I had time, which I don't, as I to get out there, right now.... and mow the dam lawn

. Thanks gomow!

My ideal as far as size/rooms goes:

Lounge
Sitting Room
Playroom
Kitchen (fitting a large table)
Downstairs WC
Study
Bedrooms + 2 for guests (for when friends come with kids)
2 bathrooms (both with showers, at least one with bath)

So, we have a large house (5 bathrooms will give you an idea) and 13 acres. It's hard work, expensive and never ending. But I wouldn't change it for the world.
Other thing to consider is, when prices finally do start increasing, you will earn more from a large house than you would a smaller one, obviously. Just don't choke when you receive the stamp duty bill :/

Oh, and get a cleaner and a gardener!!! Even if they are not great they can keep up with the basics.

We grew up with an outdoor pool, and in this climate it was rarely used. DH has would love an indoor pool - in his dreams!

We bought a bigger house than we intended too. We have a cleaner but she isn't here for long enough to do everything by any means.

The other thing that takes a long time (especially when you have kids) is that things end up a long way away from where they are meant to be. Tidying up takes a lot longer. And you have to be really disciplined about getting together a basket of things to move to another room etc - if you took each thing back individually you'd never get finished.