dilemma, stay in period small property with v limited potential to extend or buy house on v busy rd with huge potential

[neenienana]

Thats it really. Can't afford anything else on market and my boys need more room. The other bonus is that therw is a river at the back and lovelywalks although tthere are plans to build houses and cafes etc along river whicj may end up restricting light at the back of the garden. No plans yet for this. New house chesper than current house and has been on market for ages. Keep going in circles as this is supposed to be our forever house and it really feels like massive compromise. Any thoughts...

we are in your position. Well, nearly. Our current home is also on a noisy road. Anyway, we are moving to the bigger house. We need the space and for what it would cost to extend our current house we can move to somewhere bigger with a bigger garden. In an slightly less favourable location.

It all depends on your feelings about noise and traffic. I've lived on a B road before and found it unbearable. Therefore living on a quiet road was towards the top of our list when we were house hunting. Other people are not so bothered.

How old are your children? How long until they move out?

I would find a too small house really difficult but equally I love period properties and don't think I could settle in a modern one. Sorry, this is no help at all

No chance at all to extend current property?

I would be very worried about the river and potential for flooding.

We just sold a period house that was both on a fairly busy (rural) A road and had a river at the end of the garden.

Having lived there three years - during which time we fully restored it from total unmortgageable wreck to dream home - we found the road noise was getting progressively worse and despite fitting DG with acoustic glass and spending way too much on a high-end spec we couldn't tolerate it any longer!

One of our main priorities when buying this house was no A roads!

The price was low when we purchased, but that was to compensate for the condition as well as location in proximity to the road. When selling we knew our target market would be smaller and the price we could achieve would be considerably less than if it was in a quieter village. That's something to consider if you don't intend to stay forever - or if, like us, you have a change of heart and need/want to sell quickly.

We found a buyer within five weeks, but had priced realistically and got asking price.

As for the river, it's all relative - ours was a very long way from the house (150'?) and the house was on much higher ground. There was no historic flooding and certainly nothing during our ownership and this caused no issues for our buyer/their lender. Obviously if the river was adjacent to the property this might be a different story!

It's really hard when you're looking for the forever home and yet what you've found has certain drawbacks - I know, we've made a compromise too far ourselves in the past - but imho, if you're that uncertain it may not be the one for you......

I wonder why the alternative house has been up for sale for so long? can you find out?

Must admit a busy road would be a deal breaker for me, as would proposed but unknown development which might be to the detriment of the property.

From the sound of it, if it were me, I'd be exploring every possibility for extending where I am now - loft conversion, garden studio etc. but then you don't say how old DCs are or mention schooling?

My SIL moving to a house on a busy road was saying, It is going to be OK... they had to move out 5 years later as their sone had to have permanently locked window because noise kept him awake at night. It was a B road 40m/ph speed where people were always speeding up to 60

I would buy the house, extend it and add value to it. Then you can move somewhere more suitable that you will then be able to afford.

I understand you dilemma, as moving myself from a period house to 1960's the same size but one so needed extra bedroom. The house on the busy road does not sound like a good option. How about a garden house in your current property? Or moving to something similar to yours but more extendable?

Kids are 10 8 and 2. Dont want to move schools. Its a lovely community there because of the school and river path. Its a 30 mph but people do more, however there is lots of coomunity action involved in slowing rd down. Lollopop lady etc. Flooding not an issue.
We cant afford to extend current property other than the loft and have a 40ft garden as opposed to a 150 ft garden. Thanks for all your comments. Period houses in this area are astronomical and very sought after.

How many bedrooms do you have? 3?
Is the smallest one too small to be a bedroom for you and your DH?
The 2 kids get the biggest bedroom.
I know some families even split biggest bedroom into 2 single one's.

Can you wait for a few weeks and see what comes onto the market in the Spring?

I'd go for space every time with 3 dc, tbh.
As long as you are sure flooding isn't an issue.
As others have said though, everyone has their own "thing" that is a deal breaker. Our house is between a busy road and a railway line, and I can honestly say neither bother us in the slightest, but I LOVE the space we'v had as the dc have grown and needs have changed but space was still key.

Going against the grain but I don't know if being beside a busy 30mph road is that much of an issue? I always said no to living on such a road bit finances dictated we had to in the end but there is much less noise inside and in the garden than you would expect. We are well set back from the road though. Sounds like the house has a lot of other things going for it?

Mmmm, as Foolishlady says, the road can be more or less of an issue depending on the house's proximity to it. Ours fronted straight onto the pavement - typical Georgian vil?age house - and as (again typical of its period) the house was single room depth apart from where recently extended, eight rooms faced onto the road.

Despite being an A road, the speed limit was 30 mph but few drivers adhered to this and 50-60 was more the norm.

I agree that the garden was quieter than you'd expect - but it was in excess of 150' and we tended to sit at the lower end, nearest the river.

You also need to bear in mind that heavy traffic can cause nearby buildings to shake - we suffered terribly from this, although essentially as a result of having no foundations which of course wouldn't be the case with a newer build!

Our first house was on a busy main road and at the time it didn't really bother us at all. It didn't have a garden and we just used it as a base really because we were usually either working or out.
Our second was on a busy road and it didn't bother us noise wise because we were used to that. It did have a good sized front garden and driveway though. The worst was trying to get in and out of that drive.

Since then the only time we've been on a road with constant traffic was on the edge of a village and that was very intrusive. Traffic was either speeding up out of the village or breaking fairly hard to slow into it.

To be honest it's down to the individuals, no one else can dictate if it'll matter to you. If it doesn't bother you the time when it'll be most relevant is when you come to sell. We did once find the house of our dreams but after several visits, some just sitting outside, we decided that the road was a deal breaker.

Actually that's a good tip, just go and loiter for a little while at various times of day. We did that when buying this house too and the factor that we had thought might be too annoying actually wasn't.

Small quiet period, no contest!