Location or an extra bedroom?

[Pinkflowers19]

Hi all would really appreciate your wisdom,

We are looking at buying our first house for myself, dp and dd aged 15 months. I was wondering what you would prioritise as we are hoping for another dc in a few years. Ideally I would like a 3 bed semi with garden and garage. In the area we really want we could just about afford that but i worry it wouldn't leave much left over for fun stuff. Another option is to go for a 2 bed in the right area or a little further out and get the 3 bed (in a slightly questionable area) We are wanting this to be our forever house if possible so want to get it right.

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated

Personally I would always go for a nicer location, easier to re-sell in future at a better price. A house can be a palace inside but if it’s in an area you enjoy living in what’s the point.

Thankyou for your reply, that is what my gut tells me to be honest. I just really worry about not being able to have another dc one day because of space.

I'm a worrier about everything tbh haha 😄

These posts always go very black and white, but it isn't a black and white issue. You don't want to live somewhere you hate location wise of course, but equally it's short sighted to buy a house that is insufficient for your needs. You have to balance both. We went for location last time, loved the area, but the house simply couldn't live up to our needs, we had to move which expensive and disruptive for our kids, so we compromised on location second time around.

We were just as unhappy in a house that wasn't what we needed as we'd have been in a location we weren't in love with also, I'm sure.

So I think it hugely depends on what the compromise is with the location, you need to treat the location as you would a house, what are your non-negotiables? Schools? What can you compromise on, having to walk a bit further to a shop? I don't strive for the perfect location any more than I do a perfect house, the truth is lots of locations are perfectly manageable, it just depends what elements you can re-consider, not going for the "prime" location doesn't have to mean going to a crime infested cesspit.

People talk about location, location, location, but it means so much to different people and remember the programme itself usually ends up in areas the couple had never considered!

I'd stretch and get the bigger mortgage now, factor in the cost and stress of moving again in a few years.
2 beds are often really quite small downstairs as well, so with all the toddler toys everywhere it may not feel big enough, even before 2nd dc.

I'd stretch for the nice 3 bed if possible, but I guess it depends how much of a stretch it is. With small children I think it's more important to like where you live (location and enough space) than have money for fin things. I would prefer a bedroom for each child so they don't wake each other up and days out in the park.

Location is crucial. Your property is often your biggest investment so you need to buy wisely. Often you can do things to add space (loft conversion, extension etc) but you can never magically change the location.

We have bought/sold 4 times in our married life. Except for the first one (a flat in beginning 1990s) we have always made money on our house which enabled us to buy larger each time. House we are in is now more than double in price in 10 years we are here. Yet some houses we looked at back then are nowhere near the increase in price because of location.

Location for me! We decided to stay in London a the place we bought is small 2 bedroom ground floor flat with a garden - but we can both walk or cycle to work! No need for a car, still near my friends

With the bigger mortgage we would be left with around 700pcm to spare after all essential bills are paid. Out of that we would need to factor in new clothes days out, repairs, savings. We would also have to borrow some money from my parents for the deposit who have offered. However it is also really close to both our workplaces so giving up 1 car could be a possibility.

I should also add id love to be really close to my mum (which we would get with the bigger 3 bed) we are really close and she has proven invaluable with dd.

I'd really love dd to grown up in a safe quiet area. I would hate for her to be mixing with kids swearing and being naughty which would be possible anywehere I suppose but more likely if we moved into the area to get more space for less money

It's not always possible to just "add space" not every plot/house type enables it, and not everyone has the cash and equity to be able to do that at a time they need to- how many people have bought houses they haven't been able to do what they planned when buying and then got trapped? Those with small deposits will need to buy something that is more suitable more immediately. Mumsnet's obsession with location really over simplifies a complicated issue and I don't know many people like it in real life, people will say "location is crucial" without qualifying what about a location is crucial, two reception rooms might be "crucial" for some buyers but it's not for all, so we shouldn't talk about location any more generally than we do houses, but we do, because we don't know the ins and and outs of the locations considered or the needs of the buyer on here.

People here will tell the Op she MUST go for location, but what if the compromise area is actually quite suitable for many reasons and no where near the compromise you are assuming, how can you tell her to go for location without knowing more about the differences in location?

I appreciate I sound frustrated, that's because I made the mistake of listening to people obsessing about location, it wasn't right for us.

If you drop the second car you’d have more money monthly! I’d deffo do that

It depends on if you see yourselves moving again in the next few years in my opinion. We chose 3 bed semi over location for our first house. This gave us the space. We then moved for school applications five years later using the equity as our deposit for the next place. I loved our old house, had no problems, and it was easy to ignore location as I just drove to work, baby and toddler groups, to meet our friends etc. Now decent schools, shops and playgrounds in walkable distance are much more important to us.

We didn't compromise on space by moving but the amount of baby stuff taking up the loft when we moved (for us) demonstrated we didn't need as much as we thought.

The most important things child wise I think are time and attention. So I would pick the house which would enable that, so shortest commutes, less time in nursery etc. Space is great but not at the cost of family time

Location, you may be able to add an additional room later.

Although OP has obviously just given more info about locations while I was posting 🙃

My point, ask the questions and challenge the locations rather than just state location.

its times like these where we have had lockdowns, that ive appreciated having indoor space. I would never purposely choose to be overcrowded when I didnt have to. How far out are you talking?
Its nice to be in a popular area, but you can get decent streets on outskirts of less brilliant, but hopefully not terrible areas.
I wouldnt choose a terrible area, but neither would I choose a house that id be expecting to have to sell on quickly because it just wasnt big enough

We went for a bigger house with our first. Hated every minute there because the location was undesirable and the people were horrid. It looked nice on all the visits etc.

Go for location. Nothing beats driving home after a long day or journey and the last stage is a lovely estate that you're proud to live in. I remember a taxi driver that I became quite close to an journey home was amazed I lived in such an area. I was pleased as punch.

If it’s your forever house, go for the first one. A two bed won’t be practical if you intend to expand your family - you’ll only have to move again (more expense!).

budget planner

This budget planner may help you decide if you can afford the nicer house or not.

How questionable is the questionable area? Is it future proof for schools etc?

Thamkyou all so much for your responses. It really helps hearing different experiences. The house that stretches us financially would be a forever house, schools, friends, space, shops, work. The area we would be looking to move to would be about a 20 minute drive away and as branleuse suggested it would be the outskirts of an area with a reputation so would be very mixed schools.

Tricky one OP. I don’t think I’d ever choose to live in a questionable area. I’m a bit snobbish when it comes to where I want to live. I’m moving to the most desirable part of my town shortly.. but we’ve had to compromise on the house. 3 beds was a deal breaker. We had to have 3. But we’ve gone for small garden & a bit further out from the village centre. But still within the wider village. We’ll probs have to drive as the walk back is up a huge hill!

I’ve no idea how people with two kids live in 2 bed houses. I have a 3 bed & I’m a very minimalist, no clutter type person. I don’t buy toys for the sake of it either, they get a few presents for birthday & Christmas and very occasionally through the year. I hoard nothing. & my three bed feels busy. We have a playroom that’s full of toys & if we didn’t have that space, their bedrooms would be full of them instead. I cannot imagine where you’d put two children’s worth of toys in a two bed with them needing to share a room as well. I intended for my kids to share a room as our 3rd bedroom is on a different floor. It hasn’t worked out. The almost 4 year old is a light sleeper & wakes everytime our 8 month old whimpers or rolls over or still wakes up for milk. She wasn’t getting much sleep & she’d cry & wake up the 8 month old. Was hell..

Could you get a 2-bed in the nice area but sth with loft and extension potential? That way, you’d avoid over stretching yourself to start off with but the house could grow with you over time.

@JoJoSM2's idea of somewhere you can extend sounds sensible. Could you manage with one car?
The thing that I'm a puzzled about is why this has to be your forever home. You must be fairly young to have one small DD and be planning another. Couldn't you buy somewhere to suit for 5-10 years, while the children are young enough to share a room and then move? Most people can't afford a forever home as FTBs. The prices are far too high nowadays to make this possible.

I'm in my late 20's and dp in his early 30's. There is no particular reason it has to be a forever home other than convience and cost. We could potentially look at a 2 bed for now with potential for a conversion. Agreed with the amount of toys kids bring. Can barley see the carpet at dds age after an hour of playing 😄

Children can share bedrooms so a 2 bed could easily be big enough for 10 years minimum!

3 bed in the better area and stretch yourselves now. £700 left over per month is plenty imho!

I don’t think location should be the number one deciding factor tbh, I know a few people who really pushed themselves to be able to buy in the best location and they’ve quickly outgrown the property and don’t have the funds available to add an extension or to buy a bigger house in the same area. So they’re families of four stuck in tiny two bed terraces or flats in great areas, but are miserable there.

I think once you own a property in a very desirable area it’s emotionally harder to then sell that and move to a less desirable area to upsize, and if you’ve really stretched yourself you won’t have much cash spare to improve or expand the property you’ve bought (which everyone seems to take as a given when they say location, location, location).