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

If you stretched to the three bed in the right location now, could you give your baby the smallest room and find a lodger for the spare room for a year or two if things are a bit tight?

Depending on area you might potentially be able to find a Mon-Fri lodger which would mean the house was fully yours at the weekends too.

I don’t think location should be the number one deciding factor tbh

It’s hard to tell without knowing more about the areas and what the ‘less desirable’ area is like. It could just be somewhere with less fancy shops or could be somewhere that’s actually really rough...

I think your priorities may change as your child grows, we bought our second property when DD was 16 months old, went for a big renovation thinking it was our "forever home".

Now DD is 6, in school with a younger brother, we are moving to a better location, detached house as we've progressed at work and earn more, wasn't possible a few years ago. We wish we'd bought the smaller, more manageable property first, overpaid our mortgage, then moved again as we have a better idea what is needed as our family grows now than when DD was a toddler.