Bungalows - a good or bad choice for a family?

[AngryFeet]

We have been looking for a while and there is a major lack of properties coming on the market. There have been a few we have liked but have missed out as they go fast in this area or we have found ones in the wrong location which aren't ideal. A nice bungalow has come up in the perfect location - quiet road, 2 mins walk to shops and transport and near our first choice of secondary school. But I am unsure about the whole bungalow thing. It is 3 bedrooms, semi detached and has a garage all of which we wanted. The garden is nice and a fairly good size plus it is south facing. The square footage is about the same as we would get in a house in the area and the loft is big enough to do a conversion for two bedrooms and a small bathroom.

I am a bit concerned about the following:-

There are mainly bungalows on the road so mostly elderly people mainly. Would the noise of the children in the garden mean that the neighbours would end up getting annoyed?

If we did a conversion we would be in a room on the ground floor and the kids would be upstairs (they would be about 10 and 8 by the time we could afford to do this in a couple of years). Is this an issue with regards to fire etc?

More security worries in a bungalow

Are they harder to sell? We plan to stay for at least 12 years so the kids would have finished secondary school.

The living space is made up of a good sized kitchen with a lean to type utility room, nice living room then a long conservatory on the back which would be dining area and play room. But would the space be usable all year round? Worried it would be cold in winter and too hot in summer.

Any thoughts? Thanks :)

We moved into a bungalow when the DC's were little, there were a couple of other families already living in the street. All the elderly neighbours loved it. They said it brought the area to life, with the children playing out and all the comings and goings of a family.
We converted the loft and gained 2 more bedrooms and a bathroom. So the DC's have the first floor to themselves, which they like. If you get a good architect there's no reason why it would look odd converted.

I have to be careful to keep the bedroom door shut when cooking though, or food smells drift into the room.

We bought a 2 bed roomed bungalow and added an upper floor which includes four bedrooms and a shower room/toilet. They are very versatile.

The only downside for us is that all our neighbours are retired and the kids have grown up unable to just pop round to their friends houses (although with hindsight this may have been a good thing).

I love our bungalow, but we are the only one in the road, so we don't have the "elderly neighbour" issue.

But the layout is very important. The reason this house works so well for us is because the DCs' bedrooms are on a corridor away from the living room, so we don't disturb them in the evening.

If the elderly neighbour issue is the only thing stopping you, don't let it!
We moved into our bungalow 2 years ago, it had one careful owner since the 1950s so needed a lot of upgrading. The garden is huge, we've converted upwards so have 2 doubles and a lovely big modern shower room upstairs now. Still a long way to go but they can be forever houses if you treat them right. Elderly neighbours either side are just lovely, one moving to sheltered housing next week and another younger couple have bought it to convert so I think that will happen more in the next few years with the others.

I think if you buy a bungalow you will find the demographic around you changes more so than a new estate. Sad fact but we sold PIL dormer bungalow recently and estate agent said first on that side of road in 40 years because they were all bought new and then everyone stayed. Now a few have gone on the market as the oldies make the move to sheltered housing/care homes.

On a happier note a lot of older bungalows have very large living rooms when compared with modern houses.

I currently live in a ground-floor maisonette, so would love to have stairs in a "proper" house so have been overlooking bungalows, but all the positives on here is making me think again.

Elderly people can be just as nice or not-so-nice as people in any other age group, so I wouldn't let the potential for having elderly neighbours put you off. There are quite a few retired people where I currently live and they are mostly lovely and don't have a problem with DD.

Well we put in an offer this afternoon as DH viewed it in the morning and loved it and I liked it even more on the 2nd viewing which is the first time that has happened (I usually start to go off them then!). The only downside is the vendor had a chain fall apart last year so was more wary so hasn't started looking yet but is already signed up with estate agents so if she accepts our offer she will start looking. Hopefully this won't hold things up too much although my parents haven't accepted an offer yet on this house so there is no massive rush.

Great news. Fingers xd all goes smoothly.

Offer accepted and vendor is moving in with her daughter so no chain after all! With any luck we will be in before the summer is out

Congratulations!

Congratulations!

I was all excited because I was about to wax lyrical about my bungalow, but I see it isn't needed now

Thank you! I am very pleased. The location is perfect - just around the corner is the village green with lots of shops, a branch of my bank and most importantly 2 pubs! The village I live in now isnt allowed a pub - rubbish! We will have to add an extension and loft conversion over time but that means will have a 1600sq ft house at the end of it which is way more than we could normally afford :)