Well knock me down with a feather

[Rhubarbgarden]

Mr Rhubarb liked the house we viewed today. Very much so, in fact. He liked the high ceilings and the light-filled rooms, and the presence of all the original fireplaces and some nice floorboards and parquet got him all enthusiastic. Who would have thought it? For the first time, he didn't come home saying 'nah, our house is better'.

It was all a bit chaotic because baby Rhubarb was crying the whole time and small Rhubarb was running around and making escape bids, and being all shouty and high maintenance, so we are going to go back for a second viewing on Wednesday when small Rhubarb will be farmed out.

That is all. Sorry very self indulgent thread but I am so at this turn of events I needed to share!

Rhubarb feel free to PM me if you want to chat further if that woudl help.

If it were me, I would be leaning towards the Brighton house. It has been stripped of much of it's character, but I'm sure you could add that back gradually. It's a more manageable size, long-term, and is liveable-inable while you have little ones who will take up most of your time & energy. Is a shame the owners have focused on putting spotlights all over it rather than see to the roof/windows/general fabric, but that's people for you. Likely to be further movement on price to factor in the basic structural and maintenance work that needs doing?
The Godalming house could be a fabulous transformation, but is it your next family home?
Also, to bring my children up next to the seaside would win for me hands down.
How is parking at the Brighton house? Is there space either side of the house? (no time this morning for googling - I have a thousand bathroom brochures to look through and two under-sixes squabbling!)

You can ring the local education people now and find out what spaces are available for local schools in the year(s) you want, or waiting lists?

Very exciting time, Rhubarb! Congratulations on the new little one!! (Is that right??

Brighton would win as a location, with the beach... however, the commute would be longer (right?) than from Woking. Let's face it, no one moves to Woking because it's gorgeous, it's the fact it's 28 minutes from Waterloo.

House wise, my heart would say Godalming, it's lovely. There seems something missing from the Brighton one - but it would be lovelier with a decent kitchen and no laminate. Head says Brighton house.

Hmmmmm - the sides of the Brighton house are the boundary with adjacent properties. Access for maintenance? Bins will have to go at the front of the house. Plus left hand side adjoins beer garden for The Crescent pub. With that and the lack of attention to structural maintenance and lack of internal character i.e. time and work/expense involved - I would be looking elsewhere.
I know what it is to have house-hunt fatigue and start to be too forgiving of places you see which have otherwise a good feeling about them, but I think there are too many compromises here. Truly - having some vague idea of what you started off looking for.

Time to reassess your house-hunt priorities? Sit down and re-list your criteria ruthlessly? Might help?

The Surrey property, without a doubt.

GOod points by mylovely, I didnt look at those details.
No access to teh back woudl be a deal breaker for me with a family house, esp one in that price bracket which needs lots of work in the garden....
Given this I agree I would look elsewhere.

I wouldnt get involved in a bidding war on a house which needs lots of work, you will end up spending far more than its worth probably.

I like the Godalming house for itself, brings London in easy reach for trips in/work, better resale value long-term possibly, cheaper commute, poss of the sale price getting out of hand though + the £££s it needs.

I love Brighton as a town but wouldn't want to do the commute every day. It would be ok for me if I worked from home a couple of days a week or did a def 9-5 job so was on a 5.30 train. Otherwise a drag. Mylovelymonster's eagle-eyed spots are good ones though.

If I was choosing for you I'd say Godalming. However having lived close to Woking and spent a lot of time in Brighton I would far prefer to live in the latter...

Oh and because I'm self-indulgent too...what about this cramped old house with no off street parking... www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-34398149.html?premiumA=true

Oh tricky.

I can see the potential in the Brighton house - it could look really lovely once done properly. And it is Georgian stucco and all that, and Brighton is fab.

On the other hand, an awful lot of the space is in the basement. Basement space is always "second best" to me - it's dark and often has damp ishoos which require endless ££ and time to sort.

You will spend just as much on both properties, I reckon. I see your point about being able to live in the Brighton one for a while and so delay the work, but let's face it, you and DH will really not enjoy that as you'll be itching to make it look right and will hate having to live with all the bodges in the meantime. (If you're anything like us, anyway).

Being next door to pub garden is definitely less than ideal. And the longer commute ain't great. And the school situation is a real worry. What's the school position with the Godalming house? Better I presume?

Overall - I really think the Godalming one wins. Unless you are desperate to live in Brighton.

minipie has persuaded me towards Godalming (spending your money :) )

RC At last a house I like as much as the one with the barn!! Thats very nice are you considering it?

Rhubarb, minipies points are deal breakers I think. I didn't look that far into it, but no matter how nice the pub is, a beer garden is noisey and most irritating smokey. I can forsee lovely evenings that should be spent in the garden being chased inside because its loud and there are 20 people standing smoking just over the wall. We have a pub and I can't tell you how bad we stink when we get home from being around that many people smoking all together. You wouldn't be able to hang washing out.

Have you and DH priced the work for both houses? I was thinking about the Godalming one, and of course you would have to do loads before you can even think about moving, but you would still be able to phase the works to spread the costs, making it functional and habitable to begin with, then over a period of time renovating some of the rooms that you do not need to use yet (like the other 6 bedrooms )

So I'm spending your money on Godalming too .

Thanks Pannacotta - I'll drop you a line first if we decide to make an offer on Godalming. DH is increasingly feeling put off the idea of renting for a year or so, and by the scale of work involved. I think it'll go for too much money anyway; I would be concerned that if we offered more than asking price we would run the risk of not having enough money to do it up as we'd like to. I think I shall tell the agent we could only go to £1m (or 999,999 anyway to surf below the stamp duty threshold!) and to come back to us if the higher offers fall through.

Points raised on the Brighton house:
Lack of original features - it is full of them! This is what is so appalling about the photos, and why we have fallen for the house. You wouldn't know it, but it's full of character.

Pub next door - I was aware of this and thought it would be a deal breaker initially. But research suggests it's a very small, quiet locals place, and the beer garden doesn't actually back onto the garden. It is buffered by a garage and the house wall. I've got a few friends in Brighton who are going to go there on Friday and Saturday nights anyway to check out noise levels.

Lack of off street parking - the street is residents parking, and fairly quiet, so I reckon that whilst we may not always get parked right outside, we wouldn't be that far away. And Brighton living, like London living, is not car based, so I wouldn't be using it all that much. This to me is a mild annoyance rather than a big problem.

Lack of direct access to rear - yes this is a pain and I need to decide if it's a deal breaker. I'm actually a garden designer [outs self] and I've experience of doing gardens like this where everything has to go through the house. It can be done, though it is an arse. The jury is out on this one.

RC I can't open your link on my phone - I will check it out on the Pad later!

The Godalming one is a WAY better investment than Brighton and a nicer house and i live in Brighton!

Ooh three more posts while I was writing that laboriously while trying to feed sleepy ds!

Minipie - I am desperate to live in Brighton - doesn't it show?

I am trying to be sensible. Your points are all good ones. But I still want the Brighton house!

It is a v good location busy with nice little cafes etc.

Noddy! I need the brightonians onside! Surely you're not voting for Surrey too?!

Oh, bugger.

I still want the Brighton house [lip quivering]

Ah, that one was better.

Mmm well then that is the overriding factor really! Location location as they say. And if DH is onside then go for it.

But do be realistic . I suspect you'd end up moving out and renting while doing work to the Brighton place too (since it needs pretty substantial works) ... it just might be a bit later than with the Godalming place.

And I also reckon you'd spend almost as much on the Brighton place. Ok there aren't as many walls to move around but OTOH there is damp prrof coursing, new roof, all new kitchens/bathrooms/flooring, and god knows what else if it's all been "let go" (dry rot? collapsed drains?).

Sorry to be the voice of doom but make sure you are choosing Brighton for the right reasons (ie location), not because it's easier/cheaper, because it won't be ...

Pub, parking and access to rear sound like they are things that would bother other people but not you. So I guess the question is - is this a "forever" house - if so then you don't need to worry about resale issues. If not - bear in mind these will be deal breakers for many buyers. (But also give you good reasons to negotiate hard on the price).

Schools???

I think the pub would put people off tbh but there are also those who don't mind. It wouldn't bother me but most people wouldn't like it.

Much prefer Brighton to Surrey bit think the house is over priced for the location

swoon

Godalming!

(but that's because I don't like Brighton)

And the house is stunning.

Not looked at either house but as a Brighton resident look carefully at the primary school situation there are big problems with getting into any school at all in the Seven Dials and surroundings which council being slow to sort. But given choice of Godalming or Brighton, it's a no-brainer apart from the schools.

Yes we were already assuming the Brighton house could easily cost as much as the Godalming one. However, there'd be no rental costs to offset that. We have a little flat in Brighton that we could stay in through the very worst of the work, if necessary.

I do need to consider the pub affecting re-sale, it's true. And I need to not stick my head in the sand about wafting cigarette smoke. So thank you for the stern-ness.

Schools. There's always private. Not ideal but a back up.

DH is surprising me by being strangely gung ho about the commute. I think he's focussing on Brighton restaurants versus Godalming restaurants. Or maybe it's because I was grumpy this morning and he's humouring me (we had a v bad night and sleep deprivation levels quite high here today).

Which restaurants?

That Brighton House is my dream location!

The Crescent pub has a lovely beer garden though and always used to get pretty busy in good weather. I haven't lived in Brighton for years but that used to be one of my local haunts.

I think spending that much and having a pub garden one side of the garden would put me off....the location is amazing though. If you like that area, could you look at Montpelier Crescent maybe, that's also very gorgeous and not far away, but probably a bit quieter.

I used to rent a gorgeous flat opposite Montpelier Crescent in my pre dc, pre dh days....it was lovely.

On balance being old I would go for Godalming. My days of lusting after Brighton living are long gone, parking problems and school issues are more hassle than I care for. I prefer being away from all the hustle and bustle so a larger garden and quieter location would swing it.