Lovely house, but...

[mamansnet]

Interested to hear what other people would do in this situation!

I received a big inheritance recently so we've decided to buy a house. We're renting a small 2 bed at the moment (£1100pcm) an hour away from DH's job. I'm studying so don't know where I'll be working next year, but my commute will likely be a 3.5 hour round trip.

We've seen a lovely 4 bed (we're currently TTC for DC2) which is closer to town. Within budget and it's got everything we need including a train station 2 minutes' walk away. We can buy it with the inheritance and DH's salary alone. It's one stop away from a good station with lots of connections, so in theory I'll probably be able to get to a future job easily, though the journey will probably take an hour each way with 2 changes.

However, it's not in my preferred (beloved) former town. I'm an expat and spent several years in a very expensive area next to DH's work. I've got lots of friends and roots there, plus there are bilingual schools (which we can't afford yet but I'll hopefully be working by the time we need them) and great transport links.

The other problem with this house is the tiny garden. We currently have a decent size one. DS loves being outdoors and needs to run around a lot to burn off energy. He often potters about outside while we watch/cook etc from the kitchen window. The garden in this house is big enough for our patio table and his little Wendy house, but that's it. Not easy to run around, kick his ball or ride his little bike.

We've only been looking 6 weeks and not much has come up for sale. We could get the nice house, and I will continue to hanker after my old town. Or we could move to my old town and rent a flat for a year (£1600pcm) while we wait hope for something to come up. We can't afford to buy there right now as I'm not working, but a future job would increase our budget.

I know rent is wasted money but stamp duty over here is about 40k, so we don't want to buy the wrong place.

Seeing this written down, I'm starting to wonder if we should just go for the house we've seen. We could stay for 5/6 years, pay off a bit of the mortgage and I can take my time to get settled in a job. We can save up for the other town. But DS wouldn't have a garden. I know plenty of kids manage without, but he's grown up with one.

Any thoughts?

What could you afford in the town that you love?

Not o my two houses in the world are there? Maybe neither is right for you just keep looking. It’s a lot of money if you’re not sure.

*only

I’d carry on looking if I were you

I’d wait until you knew where you were working.

We could afford to buy a smallish 2 bed flat in the town I want, but we'd have to stretch ourselves to pay the monthly communal charges until I'm working. And it wouldn't be very futureproof if I do manage to conceive a DC2. We're supposed to be visiting a 4 bed ground floor flat there next weekend, it has a massive private garden but is 50k over budget.

I should mention that as of September, I'll be commuting to town at least 4 days a week for uni. My travel time will be at least 3 hours a day from where we are now, so we definitely need to move nearer by then, whether we buy or rent. I had to turn down 2 amazing internships this year because of the distance and I don't want that to happen with any job offers.

If we get this 4 bed house, we'd have room for an au pair, which would be helpful as we've got no family nearby to help with DS if ever we're stuck. He/she could take DS to school in the morning, meaning he could still attend a bilingual school, even if it's a bit further away.

This 4 bed house is absolutely lovely and I do love the inside, but the garden is holding me back. This house in the town I want would be an extra 250k minimum, but we'd be paying for a postcode and a marginally shorter commute. Ultimately the two towns are only 20mins apart by car (outside rush hour at least!) so am I letting my love for a postcode blind me to the fact that this house is almost perfect?

What space is outside your garden? Safe to play? Park nearby? Ime however big your own garden, dc want to be the other side of the fence!!

One child and planning another? From experience I would say the following:
SCHOOLS: where are they and how good are they?
COMMUTE: Try make it as small as possible. The time, effort and costs over the years are brutal. It gets harder not easier.
Stamp duty is 40,000.00 you say? Rent of 1,600.00 is a less costly mistake.

If you are planning another child, make sure you factor in more maternity leave and 2x childcare costs. It may be better not to extend yourselves mortgage wise for a few years.

I think you’ll regret not buying in your “beloved former town”.

Well, 40k stamp duty is 25 months of 1600 rent. So by the time you've trained and had another mat leave, 25 months will easily slip by, and at least your investment will have moved with the local markets. and I'd rather put 40k into public services than the combo of private profit and bank profits that renting is!

As well as factoring in mat leave and childcare costs - you need to factor in the commute time as the distance from nursery/school. I your child falls ill, can you or OH get back in a good time to pick them up.
As yes to schools - I dismissed this when we bought a house and DD was 9months, thinking it was ages away before she had to go. But in hindsight it should have been a major priority - some of the schools around here with a 90 pupil intake per year have a furthest distance acceptance of only 0.8miles!! (We were lucky that by chance, our house was in catchment, but it was by luck rather than judgement!)

Thanks for all the replies! We've decided to leave the house for now. It does make sense to wait a year, I'll hopefully be employed by then so can increase the budget down the line. Decision made!