Help me decide ...

[southernharp]

So I am looking for a house in a smallish seaside town. I want to be town based and not in the sticks. So far I have three possibles.

1. Four bed period place, nicely renovated right in town on an old residential street. Little garden, garage, good storage. Only work I can see is a fire putting into the old fireplace. $820000 or so. Can walk everywhere. Close to the river and shops and swimming pool and cinema. Kids can walk to bus stop for school. 10 mins
2. Three bed period place. Also small garden. Reasonable storage. Also in town in a very leafy posh area. Bit further to town. Close to the cathedral so lovely chimes. Maybe 20 mins walk to town center and 15 mins to bus stop. Smaller rooms. Old wooden wall linings in some rooms. Characterful but a bit closed in. Probably will want $900000
3. Newish eco build on top of a hill. Build for passive solar heating. Solar hot water. Pellet fire. Quite cool and Scandinavian in style. Lovely ensuite to master bed. Good storage. Nice garden and small vegetable garden and fruit trees. Incredible views of the sea. Kids can bike to school but ride home is hellish. Might need to get them electric bikes. Can't walk anywhere. 5 mins drive to town. Probably 700000 or so.

Any thoughts?

1 or 2 if you can afford them, but then I like period houses.

1 or 3. 2 is more money and smaller.

The usual rule of thumb is location location location so if you want it to be in town, no 1.

1 sounds like a winner for me.

If affordability isn't an issue, 1. If sums are tight, 3. You can get plenty of electric bikes for 120k, and the bill will be far lower.