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House A or house B

37 replies

Isit2021yetplease · 13/07/2020 13:38

What would you do?

House A - very spacious, circa 3000 square foot, 4 v good sized bedrooms with also a room over the garage which would be office / 5th bedroom. Very odd layout and needs circa £125k spent on it to make it work. Once we had done everything internally would be great as everything new, but plot very compromised. V close to road and a sloping up north facing garden in a very odd impractical shape. No plants Or trees at all so starting from scratch.
House has v little character. We would be mortgage free. Once The work was done there is nothing more you could ever do to the house as has been fully extended.

House B - set back from road, wonderful south facing garden, v practical for the 3 kids we have! Only 4 bedrooms and they are much smaller. Bags of character, though maybe not to everyone’s taste! Totally liveable in but kitchen, bathrooms not to our taste. We would neee to convert the garage to give a kids playroom / spare room. It’s more expensive To start with plus we’d need to allow money for some work and conversion so final mortgage would be about £100k. Potential in future to make even better if we ever had money such as new kitchen etc.

House A is Sensible practical option for family life internally and financially.

House B is better investment longer term, and potential is much greater we think, albeit in short term it’s not as spacious and extra debt will mean other sacrifices. Far far better garden.

Help!

OP posts:
MarshaBradyo · 13/07/2020 13:39

B

ShyTown · 13/07/2020 13:40

B

plinkyplanky · 13/07/2020 13:41

B, 100%

mustangcanwait · 13/07/2020 13:42

Personally, neither. Why not wait it out to find a happy medium or the perfect house may come along that would leave you debt free with potential to add to in the future should you want to.

Isit2021yetplease · 13/07/2020 13:43

Yay 😀

OP posts:
Isit2021yetplease · 13/07/2020 13:44

@mustangcanwait also a sensible approach to factor in!

OP posts:
babbaganoush · 13/07/2020 13:44

B

CrystalMaisie · 13/07/2020 13:45

B

yourestandingonmyneck · 13/07/2020 13:46

Neither sound right to be honest.

How busy is the road that house A is on? Because remember that a north facing garden that slopes up could potentially get a lot of sun.

Although tbh I would keep looking if I were you.

SoupDragon · 13/07/2020 13:49

B

You can't fix the location.

SoupDragon · 13/07/2020 13:49

I do agree that the answer is more likely "neither" though.

Loveinatimeofcovid · 13/07/2020 13:50

Now isn’t a good time to be taking in debt (unless you’re both insolvency practitioners) so on that basis I’d either opt for A or wait it out.

CassandraCross · 13/07/2020 13:54

Hmm that's tricky. With an eye on what could possibly be round the corner regarding recession, economic slowdown, etc., head says mortgage free is the way to go which would mean House A. Would you need to do any more work or extend further when you have done everything?

Heart says House B sounds nicer and has more future potential, however, that costs money and we're back to potential risk re economy. Could you live long term with the kitchen and bathrooms, if not, could you figure the cost of replacement of those into the work? Do you feel financially secure enough for the extra expense of this property and are you comfortable with making the sacrifices required?

One thought on the garden with House A, if there is nothing growing could it be that nothing will grow as it is north facing and if it slopes downward towards the house could this be an issue when it rains, i.e., washing soil and plants away and mud and water into the house? Also, how busy is the road? Is it easy to park for you and visitors, is it easy to get out onto the road from the driveway or garage?

hazelnutlatte · 13/07/2020 13:55

How much smaller is house B?
I wouldn't choose house A - you could improve all you like but it won't change the position it's in.
House B sounds better, you say its smaller but is it still a decent size family house? 3000 sq ft is massive, even for a family of 5, so a smaller house in a better location sounds like a better option

Isit2021yetplease · 13/07/2020 13:57

The area we’re looking is quite specific for several reasons and fairly small, and houses Of 4 bed plus come on very rarely (most people Tend to live there for 30 plus years). We’re shortly moving out of our house as we had a great offer. So we have to factor in potential time we could be in rental and disruption to kids life etc so 100% it’s not all about timing, but it does have to be taken into account

OP posts:
CassandraCross · 13/07/2020 13:57

On balance I think neither, both require too many compromises.

Isit2021yetplease · 13/07/2020 14:02

@hazelnutlatte I don’t actually know the square footage of B as it’s not on the market properly so no floor plan. I agree 3000 square foot is huge, and much more than we need. I’d gamble (extremely unscientifically ) at 2300 square foot for B But can’t say I am very good at type of thing!)

The road isn’t very busy - you get traffic passing down but it is by no means “busy”. Parking is fine. The issue with being so close to the road on house A is that so many windows on that side to make the most of the sun so you do feel even more exposed.

My heart definitely says B - it’s more of a gamble, but I feel like it’s somewhere we could stay for 20 years plus. House A I worry id never learn to love it and the issues it has can’t ever be fixed. Where as house B I can dream of winning the lottery and making it even better!

OP posts:
CassandraCross · 13/07/2020 14:21

House A I worry id never learn to love it and the issues it has can’t ever be fixed.

Don't even think about buying it then as you will never feel it is truly home and will probably end up hating it.

If you are planning on staying in House B for 20 years plus then it is probably worth it, although if you need a lottery win to make it perfect it suggests it is very much a gamble!

hazelnutlatte · 13/07/2020 14:26

If those are the only two options then house B sounds much better - its still a pretty big house, your kids could have a bedroom each and there is potential space for a playroom too. Since spending more time at home due to covid recently I am so grateful to have a nice garden to relax in (although ours isn't particularly big) so a better garden would be a big bonus if I was house hunting now.
The chance to be mortgage free is obviously great but a 100k mortgage is pretty small and I would assume the LTV would allow you to get a mortgage at a very low rate.

greenestolives · 13/07/2020 14:29

B

Mistymonday · 13/07/2020 14:31

The way you descrIbed each suggests B - your description of A was lacklustre in tone and B was much brighter. You spund like you want B. 100k is not that much if you love the place. What does your gut say? Trust your instincts!

AdoptedBumpkin · 13/07/2020 14:38

Probably B. May be worth further searching however.

averythinline · 13/07/2020 14:46

B or something else... the downsides of garden /road would really outweigh... the bigger the house the more cleaning in my mind... think of the one you want to walk up to for 20 yrs.., your hearts not in A so wouldn't go for it as this is a long term move ...

WhatKatyDidNxt · 13/07/2020 14:50

B

A sounds like it has too many issues and compromises

Zarara · 13/07/2020 14:57

I would go for B