It's like buses - 2 came along at once. WWYD?

[LtEveDallas]

House hunting is going better. But this week has put the cat amongst the pigeons.

House 1. Newish build (5-10 years). Detached. On an estate. Large rooms, flows very well. 3 good doubles and a single. Large kitchen diner. Downstairs loo. Small walled garden. On the edge of town, DD could walk to primary and secondary (half mile or so). Great house but no character£200k.

House 2. 1930s Semi. In a village 3 miles from town. Smaller rooms but again flows well, separate dining room and a conservatory. 3 small doubles. No downstairs loo. Larger very private garden. Village has a pub and a primary school just in walking distance, there is a school bus for secondary. Lots of green fields and potential to expand for utility/loo. Bags of character and quirks. £240k

We saw house 1 first and it blew all the others out of the water - until we got to house 2. Now we just don't know what we want. DH thinks house 2 could be the 'forever' home, so is worth the extra. I agree that I can't see myself on a new build estate in my 60's, but loved the space in house 1, and the price is excellent.

We can afford house 2, but I'm not convinced its worth 40k more than house 1. Maybe 20? Or I'm possibly just a miser!

It really is a location vs house dilemma. WWYD?

The thing is with house number 2 it isn't just the extra cost to buy it but also how much it will cost you to get it to how you want it.

I live in a newish build house, it has 4 double bedrooms, utility and downstairs toilet. It is also detached. And it is our forever home hopefully.

We have recently extended the kitchen because it was weirdly out of proportion with the rest of the house, for a measly 2.5m wide x 3m long single storey extension the build part cost £11.5k.

Then I added a £9k kitchen into it (total new kitchen length is 6m) the electrician & kitchen fitter added another £3k. But we were well aware of this before we bought the house and I had costed it up.

I now have to drive the children to their outstanding primary, (we used to walk) so my petrol costs have gone right up but we live right near to an outstanding secondary which ds1 should attend next year and he can walk to it. Ds should follow on a few years later. As it stands Ds1 is far from his mates but when he goes to secondary there will be children around here that attend the same school.

The head and heart thing is always difficult, but make a list of what you would need to change to house number 2 and cost it up. Plus to cost of taxi/bus to mate's houses.

Ohhh, thats more expensive than I thought for a small extension. Although the dry lining / plastering DH could do.

I think we need to go back up and spend some proper time there. Actually do the walks to schools etc. Go in the village pub and see if its friendly. Check out the parks for other kids and so on.

I can't really see any other way to do it. They both have so many plusses and minuses.

I think the plastering part cost me about £700 for lining new extension, ceiling with insulated plasterboard (who knew you could get that) and then skim coating the entire kitchen. So not that much in the grand scheme of things.

Build costs range from £1000 - £1750 pmsq. Mine was about £1500, we had tricky foundations that required an extra 9 tonne of hardcore!

We are in a 14 year old house due to location to motorway networks and train stations. My sister has a beautiful 1950's semi with bay windows and although I love it, I love my newish build for room sizes, parking, cheapness of heating it, en-suite, utility etc etc

Good luck.

Thanks BeCool, we are still no further forward. Have told both estate agents the quandary so that the home owners know we are considering and not messing them about. I can't see us getting back up there before Xmas now, so I think a weekend visit in the NY is in order.

I'd go for 2. Hands down.

If you both feel it could be your forever home think about the moving costs you'd save. Tax, agents fees, removals etc etc. Perhaps not 40k's worth but still a sizeable chunk.

If you feel you'll be there a good while, you can take your time doing it the way you like it.

You don't sound like you are 40k convinced house 2 is worth it! Nor am I tbh as I think you would want to extend and it's already more expensive. Also the ease of teenage social life is not to be sniffed at

I would go for house 1, simply because it gives your kids more freedom to do teenagery things as they get older. It's a great bet for your whole family right now. Your priorities and ideas about what you want to do once the kids leave home may look completely different in 10 years' time.

I think the freedom perceeved for dd as she gets older is over-rated, even in a town/estate you will still want to give lifts, for safety reasons. UNless the village is tiny, there will be friends there for them, Even in new builds there is no guarantee that they will make local friends.

Go for house two every time. I hate looking at walls and half the year you can be in the garden = we spent a day with dcs and dgcs in the garden last week.
If there is potential to extend you will have a wonderful house.
Is the price fixed or is there room to negotiate?

Noddy, I'm not! Maybe 20k more for the bigger garden and village location, but for me even those are cancelled out by the fact it is a semi with 3 beds rather than a detached with 4.

Struggling, yes if we buy first house we will undoubtedly move again in 10 years, if we buy house 2 we probably won't.

CJel the village is quite big with 2 HA/affordable estates being built currently, so wi be getting bigger. 2 pubs/restaurants, a post office and a castle!

The first house is in walking distance of town shops/schools and is less than 3 miles from a big retail park.

Ohhh but, we love our gardens. In all our homes we have been blessed with bigger ones and DH has always spent too much money on doing 'stuff' - From DDs playhouse and tree den, to the worlds biggest BBQ and the free range rabbit pad. We couldn't have any of that in the first house.

We definately have to go up again. We've discovered that there is a travelodge just outside the village so we will go for the weekend and spend some 'proper' time in the areas around both houses.

I have been busy though, found out that both primary's have space for DD, what the council tax and water rates are and (more worryingly) that both areas have had recent 'violent and/or sexual assaults' in the postcodes (wish I hadn't looked)

Youmwillmchange in 10 years though. I always go for period but in your case wouldn't. we have only 1 dc and he is at uni now and our priorities while still v much inc him have changed

House 1. Sure you won't regret it. If nothing else,school buses can be a bit of a nightmare, I remember them well! And when you ARE in your sixties,you will be very glad you live in a detached!

still voting for house 2!!! I think unless you live next door to schools there is always travel, and living next to a school doesn't mean you don't travel to other things and who's to say dd will make friends with another girl who lives right near you?, And as for being 60 and in detached, if H loves his garden so much I don't think you will last 2 years in estate house and when you are 60 you will definitely want garden (I'm 54 and love mine)!!

Just thought of something else as well!! Having got to this great age I realise how short schooldays actually are, My grandaughter is now at the same senior school me and her mum and dad went to, I would never buy a house because of the school closeness, within 5 years you won't need it any more and then living by it will drive you mad!!

I am so tempted to ignore these two and look for another one!

Well, not really, I've actually been looking at ways in which we could 'cope' in the village house with less space indoors etc....and I think I am slowly realising that I could cope with less space indoors more than less space outdoors. So maybe I am edging towards the second house.

wouldn't ant to influence you

How did you find out about the violent/sexual assaults?

I think House 1 sounds better, personally. Except the garden. :( The way you write about House 1 sounds to me like you prefer it, but your DH prefers House 2.

Dilemma! Poor thing. Indecision is REALLY exhausting, I bet you feel drained.

If you are seriously thinking no 2 is affordable at that price and you even have enough to extend then have you been looking at other houses with that budget? These 2 houses are not in the same budget imo. I think I'd carry on looking.

Otherwise house 1 edges it for me for the detached aspect and the ability to walk to schools, shops etc.

Detached vs semi? Oh god, no question. Detached house every time.

Anuvvamuvva, If you go to www.police.co.uk you can put in your postcode and it brings up stats for that area. It wasn't great reading tbh.

If I could have house 1 with the garden of house 2 it would be my dream home and I'd never leave it!

Nemno, we have a self imposed budget of £240K but could go over if needed - but it would have to be a very good reason. We want to spend as little as possible. We are moving to a completely new area without any family or jobs etc. the less we spend the better, but £240k is do-able within our pensions.

I'm not actually sure if there are shops in walking distance from the new build. Can't remember.

With the detached aspect, it's weird but the semi actually feels more private than the detached.

We are no further forward. I have arranged to see both houses again in the NY and take DD with us this time. Meanwhile I am still surfing Rightmove in case there is anything else out there

"we are in a semi now and have very inconsiderate neighbours. We hear every bloody arguement - and they have a lot. But with it being a 30s house I'd hope the walls were thicker. Nightmare if not."

Our last house in the UK was a 1930's semi. The noisy, inconsiderate, loud-mouthed neighbours were the reason I vowed to never live in an attached property again if I had any choice in the matter...so I wouldn't count on the walls being all that soundproof!

Why are you moving to this area if you don't know it, have no friends or family there? How did you select the area? Why not rent for 6 months to see how it feels....would be a good investment of money as moving is sooo expensive. There is no way that house prices are going to rocket. How big are the HA estates being built...do you think that they will urbanise or change the character of the village?

I would go for what YOU want long term. I don't think that you would have any quality of life if you didn't have a a good enough garden - would be like living in a big flat. Sounds like you OH loves the outdoors.

Avoiding being a taxi driver for teens is a red herring - EVERYONE drops and collects their teens all the time (rota with other parents)....so would go for somewhere even more remote if this is what you want long term and would work out cheaper ie getting more for your money.

Why do you need 4 beds with only one child?

This is tricky but as someone who bought house with potential in quiet village near lovely walk etc with no bus service and no schools in walking distance I would say house no 1. I regret deeply our decision to move here. All except DH hates it. Have to drive everywhere, kids need lifts to see friends or after school clubs. Total bloody nightmare. I whinge every day and would love it if we could afford to move.

Truly, the impact on your life of having to give lifts everywhere is major. I had to reduce my hours when working cos of lack of bus service for kids, eg for revision sessions

If buying a semi -- go for "halls a-joining" to reduce noise...

I think No. 1 but from your posts I can see that you really want to go for No.2, so I'd say go for No.2!!

I would go for house 1. We chose our house based on what we thought our children would like when they are teenagers. Big, close to town, excellent public transport nearby. It just so happened to be close to the sea which makes me happy too.

When I was a teenager my best friend spent every weekend staying over at my house. She stayed in a village a few miles from town whereas my parents' house was a 25 minute walk from the town centre.

That is us though.