To buy this house? Advice please

[HepLaurenceLB]

We are trying to move to our dream town. There are only 11 houses for sale. The only one that is big enough and in budget is a 3 story townhouse. Lounge is on the first floor.
It ticks most boxes e.g location, schools, number of bedrooms. The problem is I hate the layout and it feels cramped. We have 3 DC to squeeze in and DH wfh. Also it is a private, quiet gated road and I worry my children would upset the neighbours.

If we don’t buy it we will have to stay at my brothers house (which DH will hate). I am worried that if we do that a better property might not come on. Wwyd?

Is there any rentals?
Personally I wouldn't buy a townhouse especially if you're not keen

There's obviously going to be a lot more to consider than you can write here but I couldn't live in that house. Having the kitchen downstairs and the living room 1st floor would not suit me at all. Bedroom 4 looks like you could touch both walls at the same time! Looks so cramped I would hate it. And there doesn't seem to be room to re-jiggle the layout at all. But I'm not in your predicament.

The 4th bed is tiny. An office or cot room would not suit an older child. Other rooms are ok I guess. The other space seems fairly generous. But the 4th bed might be a deal breaker for me.

Would you be able to convert the garage further down the line?

You'll get lots of replies saying, "No, I'd never live in a townhouse" - because for everyone who replies to this, it's a hypothetical situation. For you, the reality is this house in your chosen town, or a better house in a worse location. So it comes down to which is more important for you.

Do you need the garage? Could you convert it to give you a more sensible downstairs layout?

My friend lives in a town house with this layout, they converted the garage into a lounge/diner, it works for them, I actually love it.
Plus you have a separate sitting room for when the children get older.
Plenty of room and 4 bedrooms are for people with children so don't worry about the neighbours

We have asked about a garage conversion and have been told that we would not get planning permission to replace the garage door with a window. So we could only make an internal conversion with no natural light.

I am currently buying a townhouse and DP lives in one so I have no issues.
I wouldn't buy that one. Mainly because whoever is on the top floor has quite cramped rooms and it will be noisy when it rains because of the pitched roof. DP bedroom is like that and it is so noisy its horrid.
I think a better option will come on. Are there any 3 beds with bigger rooms you could convert or DC could share?

I don't think it's as much that it's a townhouse as that if you've got a choice of something else, it looks fairly small to fit you all in. What the townhouse bit does do though is mean that you can't use the living room and kitchen jointly - ours re at funny angles to each other so no flow through but at least they are on the same level.

If your OH is working from home, he'll need Bedroom 4 which leaves two of the children to share one of the awkward shaped upstairs rooms - does that work?

Can't you rent rather than live with family (which I'd hate too!) or buy something you don't like.

I suppose what you could do if possible 8s a single storey extension at the back and have a lounge/kitchen/diner then turn the sitting room into a bedroom and the small room into a study.

Everyone I know who has a large kitchen dining space like the one that house has essentially uses it as their informal living space as well, particularly if it opens out onto the garden. I’ve got good friends whose living rooms I don’t think I’ve seen more than once or twice as a result! Would that work for you, so that the actual living room isn’t your only relaxation space?

How big is the town and how likely is it that your perfect home will come up for sale on a regular basis? Because if it’s unlikely, making something “good enough” that you’ll come to see as home in time work might be the better plan.

What's wrong with townhouses out of interest?

Two houses have been perfect but they both went before we were in a position to buy. I don’t know how likely it is that another will come on the market. @ComtesseDeSpair

@QuentinWinters there is no chance of any planning permission for an extension unfortunately.

I would 100% move into a rental for a year. If you’re selling, it takes away the stress of a chain. It means you’re at leisure to find the perfect house. Don’t buy a house because of a short term crunch.

I live in a similar house and love it. The sitting room is away from the kitchen so you don't get food up there and it keeps clean and tidy. We have a small sitting area in the kitchen so it's a social place to cook and relax but you can go to the sitting room away from the mess to watch tv etc. We use the garage as a utility/pantry with shelving and our washing machine which keeps the noise away from the rest of the house.
So not all bad I have teenagers though so all want our own space I'm not sure I would have been so happy with this house if I had toddlers or babies.
The only

@GU24Mum My two youngest are 1 year old twins so they can share for a good few years but it does make a 3 storey home more daunting.

Are you in a rush. Can you wait? More houses should come on the market once the weather warms up (and prices may well be a bit lower once the impact of ongoing covid restrictions hits ).

We had a townhouse years ago and like a PP said, we opened up the ground floor to become a kitchen/diner/ family space. I know you can't turn the garage door into a window but perhaps keeping the first part of the garage as storage/ utility and then opening up the rest will allow light in from the back?
You could then use the lounge as a bedroom and the fourth bedroom as a study for DH. How old are your DC?
Is there a big garden? Big enough for a garden room?

I think the key point is that it's not a complete lack of other options - it's a lack of other options in budget. No harm in waiting to seeing what else comes along - there will always be other houses - but they're all going to have some kind of compromise, or they'd command a higher price.

@Burrden children are 5, 1, 1. We have been explicitly told that no extensions or garden rooms will be allowed.

I don't object to townhouses per say, but I really don't like it when some of the living space is on the first floor, especially with children of such a young age, you're going to spend your life going up and down stairs.

Perse not per say!

@Sprig1 we need to move before the end of stamp duty holiday or our buyers will withdraw. We don’t want that to happen as it took 20 viewings and a price drop to get a buyer.

If you don’t love it, don’t buy it.
A house is too big an investment to play with.
Besides, if you settle for second best, how would you feel if the ‘perfect’ place came onto the market a week after you’ve moved into the wrong house?

Rent somewhere for the interim if you must, but don’t buy the wrong house, you’ll resent it for a long, long time.