Should we stay or should we go? Or just wait...?

[qwertypie]

Just looking for some fresh opinions on what our options might be regarding whether or not to offer on a property or stay where we are (for now at least).

Currently we (family of 3) live in a 2 bed, ex-council, ground floor flat.

Pros of our current property:

• Walking distance to town/school
• All rooms renovated to our taste (bar the kitchen)
• Large bedrooms & relatively big lounge compared to properties of similar value
• Sunny private garden (these types of properties usually have communal gardens)
• Small mortgage that we could pay off in less than 10yrs

Cons:

• No dining area/space... This drives me nuts. Thought we could fit a table in when we moved here but turns out we can't. We use a small folding one.
• Rooms (to me) feel very closed in and not sociable. Would prefer some open plan areas.
• Upstairs neighbours change relatively frequently, as it's a rental flat. We've had some very disrespectful ones in the past. Seems more intrusive when they're upstairs rather than next door.
• Fairly busy road out front meaning I will maybe never feel comfortable sending our child out to play on his own
• Almost no other families on the street

We went to view a house the other day and we can't quite decide whether to put in an offer or not.

The main positives about it were:

• open plan dining & conservatory area
• perfect neighborhood (lots of families, quiet roads)
• still walking distance to town/school
• most rooms newly decorated

Cons:

• 2 tiny bedrooms only big enough for beds & drawers, & weird-shaped box room that would barely fit a desk (we need space to work from home - currently have our desk in our bedroom)
• would have to take out extra £100k+ on mortgage with 25yr term, meaning we'd probably still be paying at age 65 unless one of us got a significant pay rise (unlikely)

Do we...

1. put in an offer? I would love to live in that neighborhood and properties don't often come up there. Are the cons worth putting up with?

1. Stay put & build more savings/equity to maybe afford somewhere more spacious?

1. Stay put & renovate our relatively small kitchen to create a dining area within it? We'd probably have to borrow to do this as it would mean knocking through a wall and redoing the fabric of the other walls and stuff as well. It'd work but would be "cosy".

Any thoughts welcome... I keep flitting back and forth! Thanks!

Oh, another con of the property we viewed is that it has no hallway & the stairs are in the living room... You can see where the developers saved money

I would definitely move, but not to that property. Doesn't seem like it's right for you. Keep looking.

I agree with previous poster. Moving seems like a good idea, but it sounds like the house you’ve seen isn’t what you need.
I would keep looking, It took us 2 years to fine somewhere that we actually liked (not just thought we can make do with).
Good luck

Thanks both - it is useful to hear someone else say that, as I think that's what my gut is telling me. I suppose I am scared that we won't find or be able to afford anything better!

Yes I think keep looking - you don't mention your financial position and how much taking out the extra mortgage will impact you/how long it will take you to save up enough to be able to afford to move?

Are there any in between areas - not as expensive/in demand as the area you were looking at but nicer than where you are now? I think on the one hand neighbours are much less of an issue in a house than a flat (in a terrace house so long as the neighbours either side of you are OK then you are alright, obviously in a semi or detached that reduces further, whereas in a flat there are loads of households in close proximity and sharing communal areas/bins etc) and on the other hand you can find nightmare people in any neighbourhood, the worst neighbours I've ever had were in a 'naice' family-centric upmarket area and some of the best have been in 'rough' areas. So in general I'd focus more on the house/space than fixating on wanting to be in the 'perfect' area...

I wouldn't spend a lot of money doing up/changing your current place as it doesn't sound as though it would really solve your problem nor add much value, but do consider more alternative options, I know they are few and far between but a 3 bed flat with a larger living area or open plan kitchen/diner for instance might suit you and be much cheaper than the same floor space in a house. Or if you are up for doing some work a fixer-upper?

Thanks @maxelly, good point about neighbours and the lure of areas that otherwise sound perfect. Yes, we'd consider a house that needs a bit of work, but even those are often at the top end of our budget mortgage-wise. We need to stay in this area to be near family. We're not really here because we can afford to be . Our joint income is around £45k with me working part-time and average price for a 3-bed home around here is something like £170-200k. Not great for us.