Townhouse with Kids - what's the verdict on function and holding value?

[united4ever]

Looking at one seriously and may make an offer on this one but got a couple of doubts:

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-30537957.html

2 questions:

1, Do you think that this type of property would hold it's value compared to a traditional 3 bed semi? My guess is maybe not and this concerns me.....it's got more of a feel of living in a flat to me than a house and indeed a lot of the others in the area seem to be rental properties. Again, it's a modern building 15 years old I believe so not sure how well built they are compared to a 1930s semi.

2, Do you think this floor layout would work well with a young family (2 and 5 year old). Thinking of turning the downstairs 4th bedroom into a playroom. Lots of stairs but to be honest we haven't seen anywhere else in our budget that offers this much space.

We may move abroad in the future so would prefer to hold onto it as a rental property. I gather it would be quite well suited to a rental.

Any thoughts on this welcome.

A friend has bought a beautiful townhouse on a new development and it has really changed my opinion of new builds. However, their kids have all flown the nest and the layout works for their lifestyle - lovely balcony/terrace and no garden to maintain.

There's no way I'd touch it with young kids - I want to be able to turf them out into the garden and keep an eye on them.

There is a real over-saturation of town houses in my area too and they don't seem to be selling. I think they were more in fashion a few years ago. Some of the layouts are ridiculous although atleast your kitchen is on the same floor as your lounge. The stairs in a town house can be quite pokey too but of course that's a generalisation.

What would you use bedroom 4 for? I could see it becoming a bit of a dumping ground for odds and ends really as it's too far away from the children for it to be your/their bedroom and I wouldn't put a guest bedroom next to the garage. I suppose it could be a study?

The first floor has no space for a playroom so are you prepared to have your children's toys in the lounge? I can't see them getting put away in their rooms if you have to go up and down the stairs all the time as there is no space for the playroom.

Also, I'd not be keen on one of the children's bedrooms having access to the bathroom - for the safety aspect when they are younger and for the arguments when they are older about one appearing to have an en-suite even though it's only a door to the family bathroom.

We moved to a town house last year and I love it! My kids are 13 and 15 so it's perfect as DS uses room on ground floor for PS4 with his mates , DD heads up to her bedroom on the 2nd floor with her friends and me and DH sit relaxing in peace on the 1st floor!
I wouldn't have fancied living here with younger children though, lots of stairs ,no direct access to garden etc. but it works really well with a teenage family.
( we do spend time together as a family BTW just on separate floors when their friends are round!,)

Haven't read all the replies but I do know the area very well. I would say on that side of Altrincham you would get a safer buy for that price. A friend recently sold a lovely house around the corner from there for around £230.

I agree things are flying off the books as soon as they're signed up. My sister is buying around the woodlands parkway Alt/Timp border and it has been so competitive. So I think you just have to get yourself in as strong a position as possible and keep trying to get an older semi/terraced place. I don't think town houses like that hold their value that well. But it is nice and you could possibly swop the layout to suit you.

Don't buy a townhouse with young children. We did it and regretted it. You want to have all your living space and kitchen on one floor with access to the garden. However, three storey houses with bedrooms split over two floors are not so much an issue I don't think.

I also think that our new townhouse was not as good an investment as a similar sized Victorian terrace would have been. It's demand and supply. They keep building new townhouses - they can't build more Victorian terraces.

To be fair, the townhouses round here do sell very quickly. They don't go up in value as much as older properties, but that has been the same for all the new builds - takes a longer time to make money on them, though they do go up a bit. They hold their value, and haven't gone down in price, and here they sell very quickly.

And yes, the rental market here for townhouses is good too.

As said before - have lived for nearly 9 years in a townhouse, from DD being 3y and it certainly hasn't been a concern in any way.

But I prefer modern houses anyway - idea of an old Victorian house does nothing for me at all.

We have just moved from one. Tbh I hated it. No storage space, not optimum use of space because kids want to be near you, and we lost 20k on it over 8 years ( it was two years old when we bought it). Think very hard before you buy.

I grew up in a house with a very similar layout OP. The ground floor room always felt cold, we tried using it as a gym but it never real,y felt loved and part of the house. The biggest downside I think is not being able to get to the garden from the living room or kitchen/diner.

I've lived in one and it was ok but I don't like the layout of that one. Access to the garden only through a bedroom? Weird. Even if you don't use it as a bedroom, still a pain.

I think they can work well with older children but not little ones. The house I lived in had two bedrooms on ground floor, then the other 'master' bedroom was up on 2nd floor. Wouldn't have wanted that much space between us for young children. Would worry about them going out the house without us knowing, fire etc.

Was great with older ones though, they basically have their own floor.;

Yes, leggings, it ended this month. We did buy at the top of the market in 2006, which has definitely had an impact, but they don't hold their value as well as a traditional house.

My new house is 90s-tastic and has Austrian blinds everywhere, but it has actual cupboards and we all sleep on the same floor, and I love it before we've even started decorating.