What do you place more value on? A good location or a bigger house?

[BeckySharp]

We live in a potentially lovely house though it's a bloody mess atm, have another thread running about that now.

But have 4 young DC and worry that it's going to be too small for them as they grow up. We are in a great location, with loads and loads of mates near by, can walk to amenities and school and there's a bus to secondaries. We could afford something bigger but only by moving a fair way away from this support network...(25 miles 45 m drive, maybe more)

Am just wondering whether that's something to consider.

Of course, realise we would still have to tidy up to sell the house so need to get off MN and on with the sort-out

For me it's location every time. There are ways and means of increasing space - loft conversion / extension / even shed or garden house type thing. I expect most children would want to be able to meet up with their school friends / have an independent social life than a big house.

Location. A small house in a great location means you can do stuff out of the house!

Active travel, independence in childhood, not being a taxi, time saved in travel, old friends, things to do...

I'd like a nice house, but I definitely want to leave it too!

My parents moved out of the city to a place that was completely car-locked when I was a teenager. Hated it. I was indifferent to the size of my room.

I thought we'd value house size more but after a long search we found a house very close to where we live now with excellent public transport links and feel we made the right decision. Unfortunately we get less house for our money than in less well connected areas but it is still a decent size and we plan to extend when we need it in a few more years.

Location, every time. It is surprising how quickly DCs grow and leave! A small house in a good location means you don't have to downsize!

Location location location! As children get older you don't want to be in the car all the time. Makes them independent finding their own way to things. Sounds lovely where you live. I wouldn't move.

It depends, we compromised to an extent on location for a bigger house, so we are a bit further from the kids school and transport links aren't great but we have a good sized house beautiful country on our doorsteps and the area is still a good area in terms of crime etc.

Location for me too, every time.

Location. No point having an amazing house in the wrong place.

Location!

Last time we moved we considered the schools first, then the commute, the local area and then the house itself. There's no way I would have gone out of the catchment area, even for a house twice the size. Realistically, the price reflected the location, and it was a huge compromise size wise. I have absolutely no regret at all.

You do need to be very creative and think carefully about every piece of furniture, but that's all. That said, each kid has his own bedroom, we wouldn't have considered a studio flat!

On the plus side, you declutter to sell your house, and you declutter again when you are packing, so your new house can be kept neat and tidy from the very first day.

I have a big house in a terrible location (miles from anywhere we want to be) so I would say bitterly location without hesitation. We live so far from everything that our children will have no option but to leave home at 18, leaving us rattling around in this huge space.

Location. Access to amenities and public transport with young kids can not be underestimated.

Location.

Wish I'd asked the same question six years ago. We moved away from lots of good friends and decent schools. I would downsize without hesitation to move back - if that even came close to making it affordable.

Location for me

Location.

In the circumstances you describe, location every time.
We bought a larger house in a slightly worse postcode than where we were, BUT it was half a mile away. Most of the amenities/benefits still existed and DS still attends the same school/sees friends etc, so we weren't losing the bits that I found important. We could have a far bigger house half an hours drive away, but we'd lose so many benefits that it would be a deal breaker.

Definitely location! We have a bigger house because we compromised on location and we're already looking to sell and buy somewhere smaller but in our ideal place.

Access to amenities and public transport with young kids can not be underestimated.
Ditto with teenagers. We are right near a train station, and they can get into London, go shopping, cinema, airport, school, everywhere, without lifts. We did look at moving to larger, cheaper houses away from the station when the children were small. Thank goodness we didn't!
Looking at your other thread, if you had a bigger house, I think you'd just end up with more mess!

Location. As stated by previous posters, there are often ways you can find extra room like garden sheds for a teenagers den. Or go minimalist, or a lively lived in clutter! If your kids can get out and about by themselves, to friends houses apetc, it's worth it.

Same here: location. We are currently on the lookout for a house back in the village we moved out of 3 years ago. We moved to a specious bungalow in an anonymous area and now we drive back to the village to meet friends, walk the dog, go the the pub.
Friends, schools and infrastructure are important. I miss the village all the time. You can add to the house and what's the point of sitting marooned in your "ideal"house knowing no one and feeling unhappy?

Location but with a caveat.

We have just moved into a suburb that isn't as sexy and posh as its across the bridge neighbour. our suburb has good shops, a good school (but not as good as the sexy neighbour), bigger houses... It just lacks the name and smart coffee shops of the sexy neighbour. I would rather live in our house and our suburb.

So location, but check suburbs surrounding the "best" suburbs.

I was in the House camp for a long but I've changed my mind now.

We moved 18 months ago from a city where we were fairly settled with lots of mates to a little town 20 miles away. We moved because the said city is very pricey and we could afford a beautiful 5 bed Victorian house in the little town.

In the spring we're putting it on the market and will start house hunting in the city where we're likely to end up in a 3 bed 30s semi.

You can always change the look of a house and potentially extend it but you can't change the location. Going back to the city will mean not driving the kids to school, DH can cycle to work and I'll walk to work - tons of cash and time saved on not going up and down the motorway for work.

Being close together will work better for us as a family and I won't constantly hurry the children because "we're going to be late!". When they're older, everything will be on our door step and they'll be able to be more independent, which means more time for me.

Location, location, location

Location for sure

Location, definitely. We could probably survive without a car at all - everything we need is within walking distance.