Which house should we go for?

[EL8888]

House A
Semi detached
3 beds all doubles
1 bathroom
But only 1 open plan room for kitchen / lounge diner. It’s 19 x 17.5 with bi-FOLS doors to garden
HUGE garden and tiny garage (perfect for bikes, mower, extra freezer etc).
£365k (has been on market since October, recently dropped to this. Not sure of original price?)
Driveway for 1 car
Kitchen and bathroom are brand new
Not in a chain as being sold by a developer. We are selling our property to a 1st time buyer who lives 3 doors down -they’re in rented at the moment

House B
Mid terrace
£300k
4 bedrooms over 2 floors (3 double and 1 single). Top floor is a loft conversion of 1 bedroom and bathroom. Agent sketchy about if it passes regs
2 bathrooms but none on bedroom floor 🤨 (so a double bedroom would be dropped to a single, if we wanted to install a cloakroom)
Smallish garden
No parking
Needs a re-wire and new roof. Instinct tells me the survey will throw up other stuff. Maybe structural -subsidence is rife here

Kitchen and bathrooms are tired
Glacial progress of seller -waited 10 days for a viewing
In a chain

I’m not putting the links on out of respect for the sellers. I have strong views but don’t want to influence (but my commentary gives it away lm sure!).

I'd go for the first one.

Other then the better structure and layout, location is a big deal to me. I'd jump at the long term advantages of a quiet one way road and large garden.

A. Both the houses you describe have things that I hate about our current house (and have prompted us to sell recently). I really don't like just having one big living space - in covid times being here all the time in the same room has made me feel like a hamster! And bedrooms across 2 floors is my other real dislike of here as now we have children I really don't like being on a different floor to them.

Having said that neither of these things may bother you at all but my thought would be that with house A there's a big garden and as it's a semi you've got good opportunity to extend back and side over the long term if you did want more living space, which you won't have with option B.

[quote EL8888]@ShirleyPhallus but by the time we have had a new roof and re-wire. Then that could easily be over £15k. That’s just the stuff we know about. If we were to pretend they were both £330k then it would be A for me[/quote]
we had a 4 bed house which we had rewired and reroofed . Total Rewire was 7K in 2002 and completely retiling the roof cost 15 K in 2010. Both costs were after competitive tenders.

I think you might have underestimated the costs of renovating B.

A for sure

First one

If I had to pick then A, as B sounds like too much work and a bad area. But the single open plan room downstairs would put me off, no where separate to escape to or some quiet, and kitchen smells in the living area. It also doesn’t sound that big a room spot would be crowded.

A. Huge garden offers potential now with the new outhouses. Could create a great office or den space.

A if I had to choose, though both have shortcomings I couldn't live with.

A. With huge garden you can improve downstairs space with single storey extension.

A

BUT unless it is a newish house it must have had walls years ago,

Or is it a newish house that was built open plan at the beginning?

If the developer has taken out the walls did they follow planning & building regs about supporting the ceiling etc?

Agree with others no bathroom and parking are a no from me on the other one

You can extend A into garden so another plus point

@7catsandcounting

I'd go for B but only because I really hate semi-detached houses.

Really wondering why you would hate semi detached but find terraced acceptable.

Op a sounds better but who will be living in the house? Do you need the extra room?

A then build whatever you need for more space

A

A unless you don’t want a large garden. Room for cats and kids? Room to park, good sized bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs which is a must for me. If walls are thin you only have noise on one side rather than two. Semi is easier to sell holds price better which is partly why it is more expensive.
Check out planning regs and history.
Get quotes for re wire and roof. Both expensive jobs and re wire means re plaster, re paint.
Sounds like there maybe hidden costs to B.
Position of A sounds better less road noise.
View at different times of day. Always do second and possibly third viewing. You see so much more second time/ third time.

We have just moved from B to A and I have no regrets. A all the way!

I would continue to look if I was you, as neither properties sound completely right.

If I had to make a choice for you I would opt for A, property is always about location for me. But I would be concerned about the lack of opportunities to add value. New kitchen & bathroom sound great, but only if they are to your personal taste.

Moving costs £££ unless you are 100% sure, don’t do it.

We have recently relocated and are very happy in our new home but if we hadn’t have found the ideal property, I would have rather have pulled out than make a very expensive mistake.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

I much prefer the sound of A, especially if the area is better too

A, but as others have said, your descriptions make it hard to say B!

Renovation always costs more than you expect.

If you can use a bedroom as a study if you are working from home, you could extend in a few years if downstairs is feeling too small.

Agree that it is a pain not to have bathroom near bedrooms and don't like main bathroom to be on ground floor.

Location is the biggest thing you can't change.

Regardless of anything else B has no parking? That alone would make me discount it.

I would go for A as it sounds like you would have sufficient space in the garden to extend...plus I would not want to live in a mid-terrace house!

@whenwillthemadnessend yeah the garden could easily accommodate an office / summerhouse type thing

@Roselilly36 the problem is at what we can afford in our area, we will always have to compromise. The bathroom and kitchens are completely to our taste and good specs

@squarespecs there’s parking on the road but it’s not permit parking and all terrace so it will always be tricky. We went to the viewing of a different house last week and had to go round the block twice to get parked. Before we even got to that house then we were put off!

UPDATE: we put an offer in on A yesterday. No answer as yet. I’m assuming the seller is seeing what the viewings this weekend do

How big is your family? Do you need the fourth bedroom? ( but I’d say A anyway)