Help me choose between these properties

[SwedeInLeeds]

Hi,

We're viewing two properties in Leeds that we're very interested in. In the areas we're looking viewings disappear within the day of appearing on rightmove and listings tend to sell within a week. We are looking for 1) Good primary school; 2) Large house (>120m2). We are happy to do work on the place.

No 1:
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-74049807.html
Positives:
Large semi-detached in a cul-de-sac. Close to good primary
Negatives:
We would probably extend the rear to get a nice kitchen/diner.
No shops/restaurants/bar within 10 min walk.

No 2:
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-74170755.html
Positives:
Detached (never thought we could getting something big and detached). Enormous. Central location with shops. Close to good primary
Negatives:
Garden is overlooked. It is on a fairly busy street. No building regs for 'loft conversion'.

Ideally I would like nr 2 as it's detached, but the road is probably the biggest issue for me. Meanwhile, with an extension I think 1 could be amazing. Is this unreasonable, what are your thoughts?

Thanks!

1 requires alot of work but has far more potential. 2 feels more ready to move into, dont think the pics do it justice. Would doing the work on property 1 add value to it?

Don't like two at all. One is much nicer.

I like the first one, agree that the kitchen is tiny though. How many of you are there?
Second is okay, but a busy road would put me off, I'd worry about the cat/children.

How much garden would you lose if you extended the first one? If you have young kids that might make a difference - however the garden of no 2 isn't very big and what is that strip of land at the back - is it a footpath where you might get ASB?

One definitely. Being overlooked to that extent is a no-no

First one is much more attractive for sure, however I’m not particularly keen on that loft conversion. It makes the house top heavy. I appreciate you could balance it out with a downstairs extension, however your house then becomes very “bitty” with different aged extensions.

But I don’t like property two at all!

One is a nicer house, but you could make two nicer and you’ll never be able to make one detached. I wouldn’t want to live further than ten minutes from shops etc. So I’d go for two.

Does it make a difference that 1 is nearer Moortown and 2 is Meanwood? Back in the day (25yrs ago) Moortown was a "better" area than Meanwood.

Also, I'd be concerned about the road and lack of building regs for Number 2.

One is a way nicer house, with oodles of charm, with an extension would be stunning.

Two does have more (interior) space but it’s at the sacrifice of charm, room proportion, location/quietness and any sort of garden.

Personally I would go for 1 if I had the capacity to do the necessary work, and would not consider 2.

I think house 2 is a lovely house, but the garden looks tiny and it's overlooked. Those two things would put me off.
House 1 is really nice with all the character features in it, and the extension would be amazing. Do you know if it has a downstairs loo?

The semi definitely, I don't think I could get past how ugly the other one is from the outside!

I prefer the first one

I prefer the first one but have you been in the evening/weekend, any parking issues?

House is nicer.

How important is detached, if you got rid of the diarrhoea colour paintwork on the external and painted it white it would look so much more appealing!

Not keen on either number one is better than two but don’t like how it looks from back garden really too heavy.

House number 2 is nice inside but the garden is tiny and the houses overlooking would make me so uncomfortable. Plus if they’ve done a loft conversion without bothering with regulations, what else have they done to the house that you wouldn’t know about!

House 1 all the way.

1 every time

House number 1 is much nicer and it has curb appeal which the second house doesn't. I wouldn't bother extending it though. You have essentially two fairly equal size living rooms/dining rooms, turn one of them into a large kitchen instead and turn the current kitchen in to a utility room and downstairs loo.

Those types of big dormers on loft conversions ruin the look of houses , I know they make sense for interior space , but I would buy a house with one of them stuck on top 😐. I would pick detached and right location ,

I wouldn't go for any of those. Avoid loft conversation if possible.

Look for extended house with very large footprint with big rooms

Wow what a response, looks like no 1 for us then.
Any suggestions on the price? To me it looks quite fair the asking price. If you agree with it, do you offer asking or always 5% ish below? Houses get sold very quickly here I wouldn't be surprised if this went to closed bids...

I don't understand the points about being top heavy, the dormer's only really seen from the back and only me and DH would be using the top bedroom so I really don't mind it.

There's no path behind the garden so should be safe.
We would lose a bit of garden but we're ok with that and would prefer to extend to fix the kitchen. There's no loo at the bottom but we could add that and utility when extending.

Detached is not crucial for us, just something we never considered due to our requirements and budget.

Thanks everyone, you've really helped!

One definitely. Much nicer!

Just be aware if you go for 2 your solicitor will be all over the sellers regarding the building regulations. I would imagine it would be a huge issue though

*wouldn't imagine

Also were chain free maybe that affects what we should offer?

I don't like 2 at all. Photos are a bit weird - wide angle.

House 1 has a poky kitchen but generally nice.