Which house? FTB

[Kamma89]

Hi all,

New poster to mumsnet but have found this forum really useful while browsing so hoping for some good advice.

I'm 20 weeks pregnant. Father passed away recently & I received small inheritance which means DP and I can now buy a house. Have been renting for 7 years post uni. We think we're buying into a falling market (SW london) but with little one on way & planning to fix for 5 years think it's the best move.

It's a choice between a 2 bed end of terrace with garage, downstairs WC & small/medium garden in need of complete refurb. We're talking 30k costs to include damp work, rewire, new boiler, kitchen, bathroom, floors & redecoration. The whole works. This would make it a 405k house. There is potential to go into loft for extra bedroom & shower room as neighbours have done. All the rooms are a decent size.

Second house is 3 bed semi detached (but on the wrong side if that makes sense) So all main living & sleeping rooms attached to neighbour. It has a huge garden, but all the rooms up stairs are small. Bathroom & 3rd bedroom box size. Master & 2nd bedroom OK but not spacious like EOT) probably not able to extend into loft due to roof pitch. It's done up to a very good standard (although not to my tastes) we could get this for 431k

They are about a min away from each other so no difference in area. Don't know what to do, I'm very noise sensitive so like the idea of EOT but it's an awful lot of work, although brother is a builder who could hand hold.

Mortgage repayments would be similar on both as we'd have to get a loan to cover building costs on EOT.

Sorry for long post. Wanted to give detailed info as no links to houses.

Thanks

I would go for EOT cos all the work would be to your choice and the room sizes are all there and you can extend into and presumably above garage and upwards into loft

The only thing is do you mean downstairs wc and bathroom not upstairs cos IMHO you will regret not putting one upstairs as well

Is the garden big enough to sit in and have a play area for DC?

Why pay extra for somebody else's taste in decor etc? Then have to pay again for you to change to your choice

End of terrace is effectively semi detached. I would always go for the one that you can add more value to so it would be the terrace for me. A huge garden sounds nice but they are a lot of work to maintain.

What are the areas/roads like? Also, what about schools etc. (it may seem a long way off, but it goes quickly).

Definitely end of terrace with the ability to add value.

First one. Definitely

It has a big upstairs bathroom but additional down stairs WC which I thought might be useful especially as I get bigger, save the trip upstairs

Ok downstairs WC (potty training too) and huge upstairs bathroom ---- amazing!!!!

that means it is the EOT 100%

Eot definitely

Another one saying EOT. Get the work done before you move in! If you're renting you can stay another couple of months whilst the builders do te work.

Thanks for all the replies. So impressed with this forum, hope I can help out others in future! Hadn't even though about potty training for example...

Clearly EOT is the winner here (my first thoughts) will have to convince DP now. I think the price difference is important too, if the market does continue to slide I'd prefer to be holding less debt. All very exciting either way. Thanks again

EOT. We’re doing upstairs internal alterations to move absolutely all living space off the party wall, as even living next door to our neighbour of dreams, our one year old is quite frequently woken. All living space attached to next door is the stuff of nightmares IMO!

End of terrace; not only can you add value, but you can renovate to your own tastes.

End of terrace

With the semi having a big garden can you extend it at a later date?