Help me choose a house please

[squeezysparklyballs]

House 1: three bed, ex council. Separate dining room, living room and kitchen. Needs new bathroom and garden needs a lot of work- rotten decking etc. Very Small kitchen. Wooden Garage. can buy this outright, no mortgage. Would have lots of cash to do up.

House 2: 30's three bed semi. Lots of original features. Bigger rooms. Dining, living room and again separate. Needs new bathroom (tho useable) kitchen is old but useable and huge. Lovely garden with shed and greenhouse. Built in garage, conservatory. Would require small mortgage (payments would be 15% of our income). Little cash to do up.

They're on the same street.

We have one toddler and planning DC2.

House 2. Resale speed and value will be worthwhile later on.

It will be prettier and more spacious to live in while you are there.Big kitchens are the heart of family life.

You could spend £££ on the ex-council property but not recoup the money when you sell.

Try putting in a low offer for house 2.

House 2 sounds far more suitable and the mortgage sounds manageable. I couldn’t live in a house with a small kitchen - the kids eat all their meals, do their homework, do craft and help me cook at the kitchen table. Room for a table is my one non-negotiable in a house.
Also, if you buy house one and then have to move in a few years you will have two lots of moving costs which I would bet will be more than the interest on a small mortgage.

Might not be an 80k price difference if you negotiate well. Housing market not great most places. Put in a cheeky offer unless you know anyone else is about to offer?

House 2. The huge kitchen would swing it for me. Plus original features.

House 2 no question. You will hate the tiny kitchen in house 1.

We're going for house two. For context, it's part of chain that collapsed. Hoping this will make the vendors more likely to accept a low offer. We're looking at around 10% of the asking price. Anymore than that would be unaffordable.

Glad you’ve made a decision. Hopefully they will except your offer.