Help me with my house buying drama!

[Figureitout1]

Hi all - bear with my long post please as I don’t want to drip feed!
Have had an offer accepted on very small semi detached 1880s stone cottage that needs everything renovated but it has a long 100m south facing garden in a pretty, popular rural area 15min drive from the sea (30 min to work, easy to sell on, normally very buoyant market, even during the recession) - survey showed that 70% of ground floor joists need replacing due to rotting and damp so basically the whole ground floor needs replacing and damp proofing, Windows are single glazed so need replaced, kitchen and bathroom are over 40 years old and in a state so need immediate replacing. Roof needs replacing in the next couple of years too. Price sort of reflects all this and we can’t get it knocked down anymore as developers have already offered more than us but the old lady that owns it preferred a family moving in - basically we’re lucky to get it.
We could only afford to do the flooring and damp proofing then borrow a bit to do the bathroom and kitchen as they are dire!
We were tentatively going ahead with the sale when a property we offered on in August came back on the market as the chain fell through - ea called me and asked if still interested. Now I’m confused because this other property is a light and airy 30s Art Deco house with partial sea views, large bedrooms, good size living room and dining room but in a not so great area 50min from work and kids would have to move school (school is very good though), the smallest kitchen known to mankind and North facing 60m long garden.
Which house would you pick?
Small cottage in great area, needs masses of money that you don’t quite have but has huge potential.
Or the largish, airy Art Deco house with the sea views and tiny kitchen that can’t quite afford to extend for at least a couple of years and need to move the kids school?

Which one makes your heart sing?

The cottage, definitely. The large south facing garden, the location & not needing to move schools sells it to me.

Tough decision. Both have plus points. I'd prefer the second Art Deco house. More space and renovations are almost always more costly than expected, and would you outgrow the cottage? But then it depends on the school choices and how well the children are settled in and if they could adapt well to a move of areas. You must be so torn as I am just thinking about your dilemma!

Are you not able to wait it out a bit longer to see if anything else comes on the market in your preferred area?

It depends on your financial situation, do you have the money to pay for all the work to the cottage?, no point in buying a house that makes your ‘heart sing’ if you are financially crippled.

Why did the deco house sale fall through? Is there a risk you could end up with neither house?
How much time do you spend in the kitchen and garden?

Thanks for replying both make my heart sing so I’m completely torn.
OH loves the fact that we can move into the Art Deco house and not have the pressure of renovations immediately but the kitchen is 2m x 2m with 2 doors and not much work/cupboard space so as far as I’m concerned that needs reasonably immediate changing and that can only be done with an extension but because the house is in fairly livable condition we could afford to do this within a year ish.
The cottage makes sense with the school and the potential huge increase in value due to the area it’s in but it is just about big enough at the moment with 2 compact attic bedrooms (not converted so sloping roofs) so would need an extension in the future as the children get older.

With all the other things that need doing we wouldn’t have the money for that extension and we would have to finance via remortgaging or something along those lines but we’ve never had to do that so not sure how easy/difficult that would be and we moved to this country about 10years ago so no family members here to advise how it all works - it would be in a couple of years hopefully and if the property didn’t increase in value in that time (highly unlikely) we’d have about 50k equity.
We love the cottage but we’re worried it’ll turn into a misery inducing money pit and throw up surprises we can’t afford - anyone with any experience of slowly doing up a house have an opinion on that?
The cottage would need us to get the kitchen and bathroom done on credit as it needs doing before we move in. We generally avoid credit so wary of doing things with money we technically don’t have if you know what I mean.
No chance of holding either of the sellers off as they can both be sold to other buyers within the next couple of weeks if we don’t buy 😕
Please post any and all opinions/questions so we can hopefully make an informed decision 😇

Art Deco fell through as the family is moving into a new build with incentives if they move in by end of January and their chain had problems whereas we’ve sold and are in rented so no chain which is why seller is keen on us. They have 2 other buyers that are interested- one in a chain and another who can only move in February.

Do you have all the money in the bank to do the essential works that are needed?, if you do, you will need a contingency fund on top of that as things always cost more than you think and once you start, more problems will be unearthed. If you have to get kitchens and bathrooms on credit will you still be paying that credit off in 2 years when you need to replace the roof? You need to do a financial plan and then decide what option is best.

For me I'd take the Art Deco one. The sea views would swing it for me. However this would depend on the age of your kids and how they felt about changing schools! I think the other one will be amazing once complete, but it'll take years and be a misery to live in during the meantime...

Neither sound great. Extensions are bloody expensive.

Cottage damp - what caused it? What is the solution for the root cause? Damp issues in old houses can be pretty impossible to fully resolve. Money pit is the phrase for sure.

Art Deco house sounds so much easier to live in. Less stress. Put up with the kitchen until you can afford what you want.

Neither! The Art Deco isn't as nice an area plus moving dc school would be a no no for me. The cottage will be a vast money pit. I did a Reno last year, 3 bed 1930s semi, no extension and I still spent over £50k with a lot of help from family.

Unless you have a hefty disposable income each month that you won't begrudge ploughing into it. I'd wait and hold out for something bigger in the first area.

Realistically you'd need to do the roof as soon as possible, no point doing up the interior with a roof that's dodgy.

Also stone cottage- you can't put a modern damp proof course into stone masonry and anyone who sells you one is a crook. Older buildings need more care and attention in terms of upgrades to them or you could make problems worse in the long run.

It sounds like a huge project for you op. I think the other one sounds better for your needs.

We need links!!

Thanks all!
Wish I could post links but it’s hugely revealing 🙈
Hadn’t even thought about the root cause of the damp! Valid question that I probably don’t want to know because I bet it’ll be expensive 😂
Had a damp specialist quote for the redoing the floor and doing specific damp proofing for stone walls And it was eye watering!
I think you’re all right about me regretting the renovations - I’m also currently enrolled in a master’s programme so full time work and studying plus kids has been pretty tough and I just feel this would tip things over the edge.
I think the Art Deco is looking like a clear winner.
We could wait to move but we’ve been in rented for a while and we’re fed up and just want to have a family home of our own again and where we are properties, in Scotland, tend to come on the market and sell within days to savvy developers or go to closing dates which are ridiculously hard to judge (that’s why we’ve ended up in rented for so long) so we’re just happy and amazed to actually have the chance to pick from 2 and don’t want to end up spending months searching for anything that we vaguely even care about 😕

I'd go with Art Deco. Living in a renovation is going to be hell. They always cost more than you think.
Large airy rooms win for me, and if you save you can get a bigger kitchen in a couple of years. Friend had pokey kitchen room to hall and room to dining room. She closed the hall door, put a small cupboard against it on the hall side and hung coats above, then used that spot in the kitchen for a bin, and veg rack. So take another look.
If the kids are still in primary school, moving isn't so bad. GCSE years not reccomended to move.

room should say Door.

What are the secondary school options like in each location?
50min commute to work wouldnt be attractive to me.
But living through a renovation is hard could you afford to keep renting until the dirty work is finished? It's a nightmare coming home to clean each night before you can make dinner or find a spot on the sofa...