Are we mad? Large house for 3 people

[Cluckycluck]

At the moment we live in a large 3 bedroom house. There is only myself, my husband and our 3 year old and we don't want to have anymore children.

Although I love our current house, it's layout is no longer working for us. It's a bungalow with 3 acres. Previously owners just randomly added extensions around the house so its not conventional at all. The longer we live here the less it is working for us.

We are in a really good position financially and can comfortably afford a very, very nice house. We want something old with features and the majority of places that fill our list of wants in the right areas have 6 bedrooms with 5+ acres.

We have found two places I love one with 9 bedrooms and one with 6 bedrooms.

Honestly are we absolutely mad to be considering such large houses for the three of us?

There's just me and my DH, and we live in a beautiful, old 6 bed / 4 bathroom house (including an annexe). As much as we love it, I'd reluctantly say we wouldn't buy it again. We went into this with our eyes open but even we have been shocked by how much a house this size and age costs to run and maintain.

Will the annexe have a separate council tax bill?? Ours does.

We're very sociable, but it's very rarely that we will fill all six bedrooms.

If I had my time again I'd go for a similar square footage but have more reception rooms, or rather, more reception space. That's what really makes a difference to your life - you use reception space all the time but probably not 4 or 5 guest bedrooms.

I also would be very wary of 5+ acres, unless it's largely paddocks/ drive and you have a horse or pony! We have a big garden and to keep the garden, hedges etc looking mint we have a gardener every week (that's just for the lawns and hedges - I do the borders).

The annual cost of the gardener and council tax is £10k per year.

Nine bedrooms may be pushing it. It I could justify six: We have three bedrooms (one of which is also my hobby room) in a four bed house; the fourth bedroom is an office and a spare reception room is play room. We could do with a proper spare visitor room.

Our house is never very clean and tidy though!

Not mad but do consider what you're going to use the rooms for tho and how you'll maintain the house and land - it takes more than you think! We have 8 bedrooms.... except we don't because two are adjoined and so smaller one has become a dressing room. One is a store room, one my study (dh doesn't have a study - no room!) and we do have 4 kids and an au pair but two kids share and we don't have a guest room at the moment. It's really amazing how you use the space up. Don't look at it in terms of bedrooms - think in terms of room uses.
Having said that, in your situation is probably be building my own to get exactly what you want

9 bedrooms for 3 people is madness, sorry it just is. Think of all the fuel you'll waste keeping it lit and heated - that's fine for a big family but is essentially a huge waste of resources for just 3 people. And if you're not going to heat each room and have them usable, what's the point of having them?

I'd also be wary of setting up a situation where you never see your teenage child! I know that seems like eons away but I have a 14 year old only and we're like ships that pass in the night in our normal four bed semi. Think about how your circulation and shared space will work as a small family - that's more important than numbers of bedrooms. For example, we have an open plan downstairs which means he has to talk to me if he wants to get a snack!

Having a housekeeper, groundskeeper etc isn't an issue and we wouldn't be buying the house at the expense of our child's education, family holidays etc.

We can build up where we are now or knock down and start again but we wouldn't get the Georgian house with a lovely tree lined drive we were after.

It seems consensus is that its not too big but to keep in mind additional costs.

Like other posters have said, I think it depends on how you use the space. If you have family and friends who you like to have for weekends, then you will probably use the extra bedrooms. Also, you could turn them into a study, a hobby room, a dressing room, etc.

Also, what is your plan with the outside space? What type of land is it, ie flat, hilly, prone to getting wet? Is it paddock land, woodland, garden or mixed? Do you have or are planning to get animals such as horses or sheep? You will need to consider the land's suitability for what you want to use it for.

My in laws bought a seven bedroom house for two of them (my bil moved out before they bought and dh lived there less than a year).

They had the finances at last and had always wanted to it. If you can afford it without it impacting on your quality of life then why not?

@Cluckycluck

We think we prefer the property which has: 6 bedrooms 3 bathrooms 1 bed self contained annexe 2 reception rooms Dining room Kitchen breakfast room Study Cellar Boot room Utility room

@CbatothinkofausernameCbatothinkofausername
I love the idea of his and hers bedrooms!

Yes!!!!

I would banish all his crap and clothes and make myself a gorgeous bedroom/dressing room. He could sleep with me and have cuddles and sex, but no Xbox or hundreds of Identical shirts.

Think about how it will feel to have all that unfilled space. We live in a large 6 bedroom house, but there are five of us and it feels like a busy, full, family house. I think I'd struggle to find a mind bedroom house homely personally.

YANBU to want to have more space but are you at all cluttery? That would be the thing that would swing it for me - lots of tidy space is one thing but lots of filled space is not easy to manage at all, and like handbags, the more space you have, the more fluff-covered toffees you’ll end up finding in the corners...

Also, if you are buying a large, prominent house, you might need to check out if there are any expectations that go with it, ie Open Garden, Village Fete, carol singers at Christmas, not that you have to participate at all, but if you're new to a village (assuming you're looking at a house in the countryside), then sometimes it eases the wheels and is something to bear in mind.

I'd love to do this in some ways, but whenever I think about moving out of London and buying a great big place in the country I'm always put off by the presumably colossal maintenance and heating costs. If you can actually get the place warm in the first place, no matter how much money you throw at it. There's a reason all those aristocrats gave their freezing, falling down piles to the National Trust (or ended up living in Nanny's old quarters just off the kitchen..!)

Get a housekeeper, it’s life changing - apparently

I'm always put off by the presumably colossal maintenance and heating costs. If you can actually get the place warm in the first place, no matter how much money you throw at it.

This reminds me of when friends sold their beautiful but bloody freezing Georgian pile (think high ceilings, rattly windows, and no central heating). My god I've never been as cold as when we stayed for the weekend, and I grew up in a house with no c/h.

Just as they were about to exchange their buyers asked them how much they spent on oil . About £4,000 a year, they answered, which ran the AGA and all the hot water. What they didn't say, was that they would have liked to have spent three times that, if they could have afforded it, to make the place bearable.

The sale went ahead.

I would say go for it! You will always make good use of more space. You can hire a cleaner!

There are five of us in a three bed under 1000 sq ft. 3rd bed is a box room, one bathroom, all beds pushed against wall to maximise space. I dream of a downstairs wc, utility room, two reception rooms.

I can just imagine Daisydoesnt!

I also grew up (rurally) without central heating and I think it's frightened me off for life.

There are three of us and we have just purchased the large house with annex. The annex is separately rated for council tax, so our initial solution is the 16 year will live there ( it is attached by glass corridor to main house) she is a student so exempt from council tax, plus she is in professional musical theatre training so will use a separate 'dining room' as a dance studio. Long term we will apply to have the annex incorporated into the main house as we plan to extend to a second floor over it with master bedroom suite and the current network of rooms downstairs made in a large office suite for DP when he moves into his semi-retirement freelance phase and will need CAD computers for technical parts and space for models.

@thriftyhen

Also, if you are buying a large, prominent house, you might need to check out if there are any expectations that go with it, ie Open Garden, Village Fete, carol singers at Christmas, not that you have to participate at all, but if you're new to a village (assuming you're looking at a house in the countryside), then sometimes it eases the wheels and is something to bear in mind.

Love this comment!!

We are in that house and no one has asked us to open the village fete 😂 no carol singers either. I did have to ask the Jehovah’s witnesses to stop calling as they were here all the time and loved to tell me tales of the houses previous occupants (it’s Georgian, there have been many!).

We also have a tree lined drive, viewed the house in spring when it was in blossom and it sold the house for me!

@byvirtue Posted this because my DH was brought up in a house like this. When his parents died, the house was left to his elder brother. BIL sold the house (it was costing about £70,000 a year just to maintain it, without doing any improvements). The new owners had no interest in involving themselves in village activities which, of course, is their prerogative, but I do think that the locals have missed out on a lot of things they used to enjoy. But then times have changed and sometimes people who have the money to buy these sorts of houses now have very different lifestyles.

“We can build up where we are now or knock down and start again but we wouldn't get the Georgian house with a lovely tree lined drive we were after.”

I remember Grand Design episode where a woman did build a magnificent new build in Georgian style. It was epic in character, vast entryway, that drive you speak of... and it would be much more efficient to run.

Actually, just google “new builds Georgian” and you’ll get a lot of hits
selfbuild.ie/project/georgian-house-built-from-scratch/

ooh that's nice Nekoness! All those beautifully proportioned rooms but with modern insulation and heating....I could go for that if done to that sort of standard. And worth remembering that the Georgian originals were the new-builds of their day.

thriftyhen - £70k!!

Would you have a cleaner? That would be my only reservation! 😂

I'm not a build your own kind of person either. I definitely think it would end with me and my husband divorced or worse killing each other 😂
We also can't get permission to build on the back area of our land so if we did knock down and start again the house would be in the same position so no lovely long drive.

I'd LOVE this. Wow. Never mind DH and DC, just for me I'd love some sort of walk in storage for all my stuff which I want to look at but only rarely so it's currently bundled away in the loft. And a cosy reading room/ sitting room with a view.

As per your conclusion, as long as you can afford cleaning, extra costs and maintenance, then go for it!!