I need help. We are house hunting and I'm losing the will to live. Our situation: currently in rented (but need to be out in 3 months!), 2 little ones who need good schools, big deposit and no wiggle room on mortgage as I'm self employed and they will only take DH's income into consideration. This needs to be our almost forever home as I can't imagine that we are ever going to be able or willing to pay more!
At the moment there are two real contenders.
House 1: 1930's semi on a main road in a 'good' area, but set back with lovely front garden. Very good schools - primary and secondary. Back garden a bit smallish, a bit blah, horrid garage with asbestos roof (which I would need to use for child related business - so need to re-roof), no views except of main road from front and alleyway and back of other houses from back. DH would have a level commute to work on bike. We would want to do a loft conversion eventually to add bedrooms, but know that current owners have applied and been denied. We could probably get around it by building the dormer on the back and running stairs up through the bathroom (making it smaller, obviously). Unlikely to get permission for an extension on the back, which would be difficult (expensive) anyway so no more living space. We would want to knock through kitchen and lounge to create more open plan - so needs building work, new floors, re-jig kitchen, etc. We can afford the purchase and the downstairs building work from the start. Would need to save to get the loft done. All well and good, but owners have lost the house they want and there is nothing on currently that they want - they don't have to move, just want to upsize (so chance that they will pull out if they can't find anything and we would have to go into another rental). I'm not going to link to it as we have had an offer already accepted and don't want to rock the boat until we have firmly decided.
House 2: 60's detached with integral garage - horridly ugly from the front, but 3 story and lovely greenbelt behind the house - deer running by at our viewing. Garden isn't massive, but nice and manageable for us. Area isn't as prestigious, but still nice. Right between an outstanding and a satisfactory primary school (but has decent local reputation), so school will be a lottery. Not thrilled about the secondary school nearby (nothing horrid, but not great), but my eldest is just 3. House is much bigger, space to grow into and I could expand my childcare business there without it impacting directly on my family space. Would need to do an extension over the garage to add a bedroom eventually. I think DH can bike to work, but there are serious hills to contend with. However, the current owners have made a wreck of the layout and the house generally with their 'improvements'. At a very minimum the spiral stairs need to be removed, the lounge floor put back together, new stairs re-instated where they should be, and a supporting wall removed. We would need to get a structural engineer in to ensure the house is actually still sound. They have DIYd the kitchen and family bathroom so badly they need to be at least partially redone. I don't know that we can live with the kitchen for a while as I think half of it is going to have to be torn out to put the stairs back where they should be - leaving no hob and no space for a hob. The house is really overpriced IMO considering the state of it (it looks much nicer in the photos, but literally everything is done badly and needs replacing). It could be an absolute money pit, and we don't have a lot spare (but could save more if I have enough space to expand my business). We know they need to move quickly, so if we were able to agree a price I think it unlikely they would pull out. Link here: www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-34682890.html
Which would you go for? What else should I be considering? I just need opinions and rational thinking from others outside my own personal house hunting hell.