Can't decide between 2 houses...

[janeyjampot]

Many people gave me very helpful advice on a previous thread where we'd made several offers on a house but sellers were not prepared to settle for anything less than the asking price. Feeling grateful for that help, I'm back with a new dilemma...

Background - we have sold our house and want to move to a nearby city, which is very small and much more desirable than the town in which we live now. Our DDs (14 and 16) go to school in this city and one of the reasons we want to move is that we spend a great deal of time and money driving them back and forth. We would like them to live nearer to their friends and to have some independence. For our part, it would be good to have access to many more facilities and the city is a nice place to live - the kind of place we would be happy to live always.

So, we saw two houses yesterday, very different, and we like both very much.

House One is a Georgian semi-detached house on 4 floors on one of the main roads out of the city. It's about 200m from the city walls so is very central. It's in a reasonable state of repair - we'd want to do a lot to it but it's inhabitable now, just not decorated to our taste or really in keeping with its age. Advantages - it's very large, with good-sized rooms and plenty of space. It could certainly be a 'forever' house. We could enjoy decorating and restoring it over a long time period. DDs could walk/cycle to wherever they wanted to go and would be much more independent. We could sell a car. Disadvantages - the main road is a bit off-putting. We probably wouldn't get to know neighbours (but that quite suits me because I am very much an introvert). There is on-street permit parking, but no garage or parking space, which could be quite challenging. Also, I'm not quite sure how living in the house would work, which sounds silly I know, but the dining room and kitchen are on the ground floor, with a large drawing room on the first floor.

House Two is a newish house about a mile from the city centre, but still within the outer ring road. It has good-sized rooms and is in a lovely place with only a couple of other houses and separated from the rest of the area by a river. It has the feel of living in the country. You can walk along the river right into the city centre. Again, it needs decorating and new carpets etc, but it's easy to see how it would all work. Advantages - it's in a lovely place, peaceful and yet not too far from civilisation. Everything we have would work in this house - it's a similar size and style to our existing house. Disadvantages - we'd need to keep 2 cars, the DDs could not really be independent as they would be quite far from friends etc as the house is not near school (but school has no sixth form so they need to move anyway over the next couple of years), the plot is small and feels quite 'tight', although we don't need a large garden or anything.

Sorry for the mammoth post. I'd be grateful for any thoughts from anyone. TBH just writing it all out has been more helpful than I'd expected!

[123bucklemyshoe]

You sound like your heart loves no 1.....

[Lagoonablue]

As someone with no off street parking I can tell you it is a serious PITA.

[IComeFromALandDownUnder]

No.1 but then I am a sucker for period houses. Think of it at Christmas!

[Rotterwallah]

Is no 1 listed? What kind if state of repair is it in? Even basic maintenance and repairs will be much more costly on a period property. Worth factoring in to your considerations

[Rotterwallah]

And bills. Big single glazed sash windows, high ceilings, big rooms = ££

[ItLooksLikeRainDear]

The way you describe them both sounds as though your heart is set on number 1.

[WireCat]

House 1.

[snice]

parking problems could drive you mad. what about parking for visitors? are there meters? every delivery/shopping trip will be difficult

[snice]

and yes, have you had a structural survey on the Georgian house? Could be very pricey repairs

[Retroformica]

The first option as you are moving to avoid commuting and want to enable kids independence.

[CanucksoontobeinLondon]

I'd say House #1, but you're the one who has to live in it! Given that you're moving to avoid spending so much time in the car, it makes sense to be somewhere central. Plus, you can do it up to your own taste.

Re: House #2 being right by a river, have you considered the possibility of damp and/or flooding?

[Auntidote]

There isn't an option 3 is there? With parking and near No 1?

[Twighlightsparkle]

Your post is shouting number 1 to me.

[Aethelfleda]

House 1. It's where you need to be.

And I'd be very wary of no 2's flood risk. (You can search online for flood data, by the way, it's only a few quid).