Something's got to give, but what

[TerrysNo2]

DH and I are looking to move. We can be very flexible but generally we want:

• 4 double bedrooms
• 3 reception rooms (to use one as a study / potential 5th bedroom)
• 1600/1700 sq feet
• good size garden (50ft square min)
• close to a good primary school
• nice road - quiet, preferably a village location
• within 1 hour door-to-door from a London terminal (eg 20 min walk and 30 min train or 5 min walk and 50 min train)

I haven't found anything perfect yet, I keep finding ones that tick most of the boxes.

So, if this was your list - what would you sacrifice first?

Does everyone need a double bedroom?
Do you prefer large garden or quiet rd? We live on a busy(for our area) road but we got a garden this way.

What do all bedrooms need to be double? We have three doubles and a good size single which does us fine with three kids. Or do you have children sharing. Often four bed houses will have a slightly smaller fourth bedroom.

Also expanding your search about further from London (our commute is about 1hour 15min) will give you more options and reduce prices.

Why... doh

In the future we might have 1 or 2 more children (we have 2 already) and so I want enough room for that. We also have family to stay a lot so I would like enough space to sleep guests as well.

Where are you happy? I am not averse to a slightly longer commute

What's your price range? How about this:

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-37296181.html?premiumA=true

Maybe 2 reception rooms and a kitchen/diner would be easier to find?

Sunset that is a price tag!
I live in a lovely village to the west of Bedford.
Good train links to London St Pancras. But can't really walk to Bedford station but 5 mins in car.
Lots of lovely large plotted sixties housing.
Good schools.
Library, drs, shops, close to Bedford and 25 mins from MK
My four bed house is no where near the price tag of Sunsets house!
I have three kids, they all have their won room, we have pull out underbeds for guests! It works fine for us..

My suggestion isn't even perfect though as it's not a village location - Cambridge is pretty quiet though...

You should buy my house...not a village Furzedown in Tooting! Ticks all boxes and is 1991 sq feet!

Um sunset that is a leetle bit out of our budget. We can spend £500k but I want to max at £480k.

There are lots of houses out there that fit some of the bill but none so far that fits it all.

We sacrifice the quiet road. Though safety wise we are on a service road parallel to a busier one. Fantastic forever house, much better commute for DH and amazing garden.

Having lived in quiet place (village) which needed a drive to the station - although only 5 minutes was a tiny country road which was lethal to walk in the dark (utter PITA) or town with a walk to the station (albeit 15 mins) would do the walk to the station every single time.

If you give us your price range and if you have a north/south/east/west preference you may get some suggestions...

If you show me a house I haven't seen I will be impressed, not done much work recently

I am looking at Sussex, Surrey, Berkshire, Hampshire, Bucks, Oxfordshire. Told you we were flexible!

This is the house we're going to see on Saturday, looks lovely and impressive floor space for Guildford but look at where the A3 is on the map!

cross-post!

we chose a town instead of a village. that was our compromise. we met our criteria - same as yours.

(half the price and in the Midlands, so no actual use to you!)

Buy my parents house! One of the rooms is techincally a single but you could squeeze a double in. Needs to be redecorated though.

I can link if you like ;)

http://m.rightmove.co.uk/quickPage.html?page=8&cc=html5%2Fhomepage.html%3Flocation%3DSanderstead%26goto%3DRESALE_SEARCH_DISAMBIGUATION

3 fab primaries nearby and 30 mins to London.

m.rightmove.co.uk/quickPage.html?page=8&cc=html5%2Fhomepage.html%3Flocation%3DSanderstead%26goto%3DRESALE_SEARCH_DISAMBIGUATION

Argh 5 bed semi in sanderstead 499950

That house will be horrendously noisy, used to live in Guildford not that close to the a3 but we could still hear it. I think the road noise would put me off using the garden. Also A3 jams there quite a bit so pollution will be high. From your list I think you need to re-think the village location given the areas you are looking in for that budget. Crazy prices! Also you may have to compromise on 4 double beds. You can probably get something close to the size of house you want in Redhill, it's not my favourite place, but London Bridge/Victoria 35 mins. schools aren't brilliant and it's certainly not a village location.

Is it this one Angry.
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-25825857.html?premiumA=true I like it a lot

This? you can drive to Redhill in 10 mins. www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-26392023.html?premiumA=true

Thats the one. Its my childhood home and have been living there for the last 5 years with my own family. We are about to buy our first house and my parents are selling up.

Thanks for the suggestion guys, we are currently living in Epsom. I don't really want to move to Croydon or Redhill, I don't know so much about them but I think I would prefer somewhere a bit quieter.

Although Angry the house does look lovely!

Ok, so is location more of a priority for you over size of the property? Out of the areas that you have listed I only know Surrey and bits of Hampshire and Sussex. To be honest with your budget, I think you will need to look at smaller properties if a quiet location is what you are after.

Jeepers, OP, that Guildford house is sandwiched between the A3 and the A31. Hope it has decent double-glazing.....

But seriously, you usually have to sacrifice something from tour ideal house list (unless you just won the lottery), and you just need to work out what that is. Friends of mine live in a massive house on a busy road, but space was their absolute priority so it worked for them.

We needed a big house, so live in an ugly one! Nice area, though.