three houses. which would you choose?

[Nemesissies]

Top of budget, huge, detached, needs some work (mainly kitchen knock through) to be perfect, which would have to wait a couple of years.

Cheaper, less big (no spare bedroom) again needs work but could do this straight away. Semi but linked by garage.

Or,the wild card, a new build, bigger bedrooms and a bizarre amount of bathrooms, smaller living space but all done and beautiful. Cheaper again so would have a better lifestyle, really.

Help me choose, please.

I would go for either 1 or 3. 1 if I was planning on living there forever or 3 if it had the potential to extend the living space.

House 1. Reasons: top of budget and detached and not a new build. (We've just done this, the planning stage is tedious though).

But it really depends if any of the others have space to grow into - which had the biggest garden?

3

How does location compare? Business of road?

1 has everything, huge garden, five bedrooms, loads of living space, exact location.

It's just a terrifying amount of money.

The only downside is a small kitchen, but it could be knocked through into the dining room and the second living room/family room could become the dining space. But we wouldn't have any savings left to do this so it would have to wait. It also needs completely redecorating and recarpeting.

House 2 is still perfect location and needs redecorating etc but only four bedrooms. It would mean we could move in and do all the work straight away though .

Or sacrifice a downstairs room for a 4 bed New build and have no work to do at all. It's slightly out of our ideal location but not deal breakingly so.

Go for 1, or 2 if 1 is just too terrifyingly expensive.

I'd avoid 3 because you'll need the extra living space.

House 2 especially if you can add an extra bedroom above the garage or in the loft.

An old house that looks like it only needs minor cosmetic work can hold hidden costs and if its already top of your budget it could get difficult.

in ten years 1 will be worth more than the other two so your equity will have grown more too !
2 will still be a semi

3 won't be new anymore !

so I would suggest 1 as will make the most of your money

I'd go for 2. Honestly, top of budget is scary - what if you have a financial hit and you're floundering. Makes more sense to go with what you can easily afford, not push yourself to your upper financial limit IMO.

My thoughts:

House 1 sounds good and will give you the space you need if you have a growing family. My daughter is now 12 and we need more room for when a gang of friends come back, so think about this. We have an old house and haven't had much in the way of extra costs over the years, but if that's something you'd be worried out you can get a homebuyers survey or full survey. Carpets might be old/not your choice for a clean will brighten them up for a while.

House 2 - how often would you need an extra bedroom? If just occasionally, kids can have friends sleep on their bedroom floor and a couple can easily sleep in the lounge.

House 3 - can you live with the smaller space it provides? Also, the sound proofing generally isn't very good and you can hear everything - a lady wanted to look at our older house as she's fed up with noise from nextdoor neighbours inside and out. Also, if 1 and 2 are in a location you love, don't sacrifice that for number 3 unless your 100% sure - you may regret it. We moved to our first choice location and know it was right for us.

If you have a family, how far are they all from the local comprehensive/grammar. You can pamper them carrying their stuff when younger, but as they get older a 30 min walk in heavy rain carrying 3 items (bag, pe kit, musical instrument, cookery items, projects) isn't much fun.

Think which house you'd love to be in in five years time when your settled and things have been changed to your taste.

Ok ignore 2 especially as garage linked and as bad as semi if being detached is high on want list and go with 1 if you do not get stressed easily.

The other option is to take advantage of the Help to Buy scheme and buy a five bedroom detached new build: top of budget but few onward costs....

Aaaargh.

I always worry about the value of new builds. Do they depreciate at first like new cars do? Because people buy them for their newness, that isn't there when you sell it on.

1. If you can afford it.

1 all the way.

1 unless you actually can't afford it

1 you have room to grow into it. Also you have a chance to live in it before you can make changes. You will know what needs to change to make it the best house for your family.

I wouldn't go for 3 as new houses rooms tend to be quite small. I live in a new build (10yrs old) and all the room need to be a foot bigger then they are. Once you have furniture in it the rooms looked quite big.

1

I'd go for 2. Definitely not 3.

I'd go for 1 if I could afford it...