5 bed house or 4 bed with study...

[waterhouse]

Which would you rather buy? We are looking at new build properties and there is one that is a 4 bed house with a living room, kitchen/diner and large study/playroom downstairs. It has a detached double garage. There is another property which is slightly bigger with 5 bedrooms, but downstairs there is only a kitchen/diner and a living room. It has an integral double garage.
We are really stuck as to which would be better in the long run!
We can afford both, but the 5 bed one is a little bit more expensive.
We are 2 adults and 2 children, but we will be having guests a lot so we do need at least one spare bedroom...... Any advice greatly appreciated!

Again I’d go with the 4 bed. In a 5 bed you tend to get 3 good sized bedrooms, and 2 smaller than true doubles.

Yes there's definitely a bedroom that you could only fit either a single bed or a desk into. Whereas the downstairs room in the 4 bed is big enough for a sofabed.

We have always had 4 bedrooms upstaais and an extra room downstairs. They re-sell just fine. Lots of people want a play room/den/study downstairs leaving the upstairs just for bedrooms.

Is it possible to put a guest room / teenage den above the double garage?

Four bed, you can alway put a sofa bed in the playroom for extra guests

I really like my integral garage. Our last one was detached and I used to hate going outside in all weathers every time I wanted something out of it. Now I don't have to put my shoes and coat on and get soaked every time I want logs for the fire, pet food, something from the chest freezer, to use the washing machine.
We have a similar four bed and we use the downstairs room as a playroom. It is much more useful than an extra bedroom sitting empty. But you could turn one of the bedrooms in the 5 bed into a playroom just as easily. I would go with whichever house you like better even if you don't have any practical reasons for preferring it.

5 bed with older children as they’d spend time upstairs but with small children and their masses of toys and crap I’d go for anywhere with an extra playroom (that could them be a TV/study room for them as well when older if they want one). You’ll still have a spare room with a 4 bed. I am looking for a 4 bed although I have one child and one on the way, but mainly I want 3 reception rooms or at least a big kitchen diner so I can use the dining room for a kids/family living room and have a nice room for adult time!

I would look at whether you could have the garage of the 5bed built as a room or converted.

Downstairs space. I think top heavy houses are really common on new builds. Before deciding to extend we looked at local housing developments and the living space was too small unless you have teenagers and they are in their rooms all day. Our house once extended will be bottom heavy, but that's perfect for us as we spend no time in the bedrooms other than to sleep!