We have been searching for a while now, but very very little has come up in our ideal location. However, in the last two days, two houses have come on the market. They are both 60s style, 3 bedrooms and around the same price.
House 1 is on a more attractive street (eg. there are some period houses on this street and more foliage), is about 800 sq feet so quite small but decent layout inside. Downstairs cloakroom. It's nice and light inside and has a lovely garden which is quite big. It also has quite a big shed/office at the bottom of the garden which is insulated and has electricity. Has a garage. House needs decorating and new bathroom, possibly new kitchen and carpet.
House 2 is on a decent street but all the houses are 60s style. It is about 1200 sq feet, fairly bright inside. Downstairs shower room. However, the back garden is very small (kind of a triangular patch as the garden goes to a point) and the view is of the other houses behind the fence. No garage. House is in good decorative order.
House 1 has extension potential, but I probably wouldn't want to do that as I'm hoping that we would only stay here for 5-7 years until we can afford to move to something bigger in the same area. I wouldn't say I love either house, but having seen a lot in the wider area in the last month or so, they seem practical and reasonably priced.
So the question is, is the extra space in house 2 worth the smaller garden and less attractive outlook? We are TTC, so will hopefully have one or two toddlers running around in a few years time. DH also works from home and needs space for that, but house 1 does have the garden office.
The other option is to keep looking. We need to find somewhere by spring though (for various reasons), and like I say, not much comes up in this location. We have seen a lot of houses in nearby locations too, but of the couple we liked and put offers in for, we have been outbid.