Four of us in a two-bed house?

[WhatsGoingOnEh]

After my £&@%ing bitch of a seller just upped their asking price and I flounced off, another house has come up. It's in my favourite road, right by the kids' schools, with a huge 100' garden (long but narrow), two bathrooms and a beautiful eat-in kitchen. Victorian terrace. Cracking.

But two beds. We could almost certainly convert the loft down the line but not immediately as we'd need to save up.

There are two adults, and two boys (6 and 11). The youngest boy would get into a wonderful Junior school and it's right by my oldest son's secondary, where he starts in September.

It's right at the top of our budget. The seller's buyer had dropped out and she has to act fast or she'll lose the house she wants to buy.

We offered £5k over the asking price, and she's said £5k more and it's ours. There were 4 more viewings tonight, so this might be too late anyway. (Although I doubt many other buyers will be in as good a position as we are to proceed quickly - we've already sold and are in our parents' homes ready to go.)

Would we kill each other in a two-bed terrace? Is it simply too small?

You're all so lovely to comment so helpfully on this -- thank you! I'm literally head-spinning with all the house stuff.

If the asking price is the asking price, I don't get why the vendor wants 5 or 10k more. In that case surely that's the asking price??? It's not like the vendor has been inundated with offers of the asking price, is it? So why does she think it's worth more?

All those viewers and no other offers?

The fact that none of the other houses on that row have had loft conversions doesn't bode well. Ask the vendor if they've ever considered it or applied for permission to do it.

And saying oh we will all hang out in the kitchen while the kids have friends over is all well and good but in reality, until you've done that, you won't know.

The house has obviously captured your heart, now it's time to put your brain in and use the second viewing to look at it practically. Do you know any good builders that you could get to take a look at it and talk you through what you'd need to do to make it work for you.

Yes, take a step back and consider what the house is worth to you, combined with what you can afford.

Why would you offer more than the asking, unless there are other offers on the table that you are competing with? Just because the seller thinks it is worth more, doesn't actually mean that it is.

Your best bet is to talk to an architect. They'll do a free consultation including visiting the house you are thinking of buying. If you can convert the loft and extend then it will be fine. My husband grew up in a house like that and growing up he never realised it was small.

You say that down the line you would be able to do a loft conversion. But how far down the line? When your kids have grown up and left home. YOur eldest is coming up to the teenage years - surely he needs his own space sooner rather than later.

And that ensuite upstairs bathroom - how will that work......

So I would say unless you can get all the work done in the next year or two to give you space, look elsewhere.

We live in a 2 bed terraced with 2 children (but tiny garden). We are in the process of moving because we need more space.

I do have a boy and a girl though so they need their own rooms, plus they are younger than yours and toys are everywhere.

My bugbear about this house though, as much as I do love it, the front door opening into the front room and stairs being in there as well. A requirement for me was a hallway. I had to have a hallway. It drives me mad having to walk straight into the front room then I am forever telling DH to hurry up and shut the door because all the heat is getting out. Plus I don't have friends over in the evenings because it would be too loud having the kids asleep in their room right at the top of the stairs in the front room.

The fact that none of the houses in that block have a loft conversion would concern me.

The garden is great for a garden room though and if you went ahead, I would have that for your eldest so he has somewhere to hang out with his friends and use the bedroom really for just sleeping in.

If you have outside space, you will have options. A cabin for older kid for starters! Location is important. A big kitchen/diner is far more useful than bedrooms ime. Don't offer more money, she's being greedy! If she wanted more why wasn't the asking price more?

Good luck!

I'm thinking of the AIBU in a few years time along the lines of "IABU to make a 17 year old share a room with a 12 year old...."

I agree people are a bit unrealistic about these things! I w
As reading an old thread from last year about people who cannot and never will be able to get on the housing ladder, it was very depressing and I felt very lucky to have what we do - we are so lucky to even own but we also chose things that weren't our first choice because compromises have to be made (eg first flat had tiny, windowless kitchen and bathroom, small bedrooms, second house was on a Peckham council estate and third house was a wreck that needed converting). Now in the third house we have a converted, lovely living space and although we have a garden we could stay here for years if we don't leave London (which we plan to but not for house reasons). So my point is, converting can transform a place and I know people doing lofts in victorian half houses which are really tricky but definitely doable. Re the loft, can you call up a local company and enquire about the street? I did this when we offered on our 30s house as at the time I hadn't seen anyone do that with our style. They knew the street and the property type and were able to reassure us that it was bread and butter type task for them. Remember there is building control and party wall to consider for lofts but NOT proper planning permission so shouldn't be a problem as long as roof pitch is high enough. Often loft companies can share plans of similar properties they've worked on.

Good luck with the decision, I say GO FOR IT!! Summer house idea and vast garden so

*sound brilliant as well and location sounds super!

Should also say we now have a very small garden

I would be sorely tempted by the location and 100' garden. So much potential in the garden and possibly your loft too. I know for me, location and outside space are key. Hope it works out for you.

We live in a two-bed flat with two DC (younger than yours).

To be honest it is wearing. The only way you can keep it from looking like a total shit-tip is to be disciplined about what comes through the door, and I feel like I am forever saying no, no, no, no, no, no whenever my DC want something that's actually quite normal, like scooters.

If you have scope to extend that might be different, but I would urge caution if you will not be able to do it fairly soon (within a year). TBH the size of our living space has had a detrimental effect on my marriage. It's stressful.

Aww, please post a link so we all know what we're talking about . We all live in different places around the UK (around the world even) and most of us won't be in the position to buy a house at the moment, so I doubt very much anyone will nab it off you .

I would think, if you love the house go for it. Lots of children across the country share a bedroom & manage just fine. That said, you know your own DCs. My DSs would struggle to share a room because DS1 has ASD/Aspergers & has more of a need for "his space". I shared a room with two sisters growing up and I don't think we fell out any more than sisters normally do .

Alternatively, would partitioning one room be an option until you can afford the loft conversion? This is what we do in our current house, as we have DS1 who can't share, DS2 (13), DD (2) and us in a three bed house.

In most cases, if you love the house you can make it work.

Could you turn the ensuite back into a third bedroom and add a room or conservatory onto the kitchen diner to create an extra reception room as DC become teens?

And just keep a loo and wash basin upstairs.

you would benefit more from third bedroom and one bathroom than what it is now

if you can extend into the garden those conversions are cheaper, you can then add a shower room and a toilet downstairs

kids being able to walk to the library or anywhere from where we are makes our life much easier!

We've just this week moved into a two bed tenement however we have two sitting rooms, a massive kitchen, a hallway with big cupboard and a pantry and utility room. With two children I wouldn't consider smaller than that if I had the choice. There's just too much stuff!

We had a second viewing this afternoon. My lovely sensible fiancé noticed a damp patch in the bathroom and a plastered-over crack in the kitchen. So we haven't raised our price. We phoned after the viewing to say "we still offer £5k over the asking price but £5k under what she wants. There's damp and a crack but we still like it and can move very quickly."

He said he'd pass on our message and call us back in 3 minutes... And hasn't! What does that mean?!

They had two offers last night of asking price, so we best them. Plus I think we're the only no-chain people so far, who aren't tied into a rental agreement etc.

But there are more viewings this weekend.

Oh well. We did the maths and it really only works for is at the price we offered, so it's up to them now. If they don't like our offer - I guess we'll keep looking.

Houses are coming every up all the time. A new one every few days, in out price range. That is a long street with over 70 houses on it, at least. Something will happen.

He couldn't get hold of his client? OR she wants to take viewings over the weekend knowing there's an offer on the table. Just stay calm and wait it out. It's nerve wracking, but the worst thing you can do is lose your head.

The house I sold last year was a Victorian terrace and we plastered over a LOT of cracks before our open house. Plus their kitchen was grottier than it looked yesterday. And someone took the fireplace away?!?! No fireplace although the chimney's still there.

We're in a 2 bed with boys 8 and 10, though our rooms are slightly bigger than yours - bedrooms are 11'x14' and 15'x8'6. The boys have the long thin room.

We appear to have more downstairs space and it is a lot more than there would be in a typical 3 bed newbuild, which is what we like about the house - we're not sitting on each other's feet, unless we want to.

There's no way we could stand to go any smaller, mind, even for a better location. We do desperately need more space for the boys, as they Don't Get On.

Regarding a loft conversion, do other houses in the street have them? Our roof space is nowhere deep enough - only 5' at the highest point. That's the sort of thing you need to check. A few people in the street have built 3rd bedrooms by building a rear extension that's kitchen on the bottom, bedroom on top. If you did that, you would have to factor in a downstairs loo, if you don't have one. Again, it would be worth checking if others in the street have done this, before you can assume that you'll be able to build outwards to a significant degree.

Hen15 -- thanks! But wouldn't he call us, if he couldn't get hold of her??

No, not necessarily, he's working for her, not you.
This is the most important thing in your life right now, but not in his - the Agent's job is to secure the highest sale price and therefore earn the highest commission - they don't worry about keeping a prospective vendor in suspense. Stay tight