Based on floorplans, which house would you buy? 2/3-storey?

[StrawberryCreamCake]

With a family of four (2 young children), working from home situation, and a budget for either of these two small 4-bed houses, which one would you go for?

The two-storey or the three-storey house?

@MattyGroves Oh good idea about bedroom floor in the second house being a playroom - I hadn't thought of that

Are you using shared ownership or something?

New builds rarely offer you the best value for money

I honestly don't think either are the best option with small children, do they have any other layouts? Have you looked at their 3 beds??

I would go for the 3 storey and use the ground floor bedroom as either an office or a playroom.

I've just bought a three story with master on the top floor so the idea of sleeping on different levels doesn't bother me at all. Our kids are young but we will use monitors.

They are both new builds so the rooms are tiny. Yes, bedroom 4 in the two-storey is literally a cupboard.

Neither house is ideal but we're reliant on a help to buy equity loan to be able to afford it and with 2DC and working from home we need a 4 bedroom. I haven't seen any other 4-bedrooms that we can afford and that fit under the help to buy threshold.

I was thinking about putting a small dining table and small sofa downstairs in the 3-storey so that the younger DC can be down there when I'm in the kitchen. Then when they're older getting rid of the sofa and extending the kitchen units along the whole wall because the work surface space in the kitchen is currently tiny.

No real possibility of extending either until we pay off the help to buy loan as they don't let you. I was thinking the carport could be turned into an office.

I had my heart set on the 3-storey as the best we're going to get for our money, but the mortgage offer just came back at £18,000 lower than the AIP :(

So now if we buy that house all our savings will be wiped out. The 2-storey house is £10,000 cheaper and it comes with flooring and appliances included which the other house doesn't.

2 storey without a doubt. Having an upstairs living room sounds like a huge pain and no one believes that bedroom 4 is a bedroom so it would affect resale value. I also prefer having the living room opening onto the garden than the kitchen. Also the fewer stairs to hoover the better! And in the 3 storey if you have guests in the living room presumably they’d want to use your en suite for the loo which I wouldn’t want.

Bedroom 4 in the 3 storey, I meant to say ^

The 3 story one. Much more living space.

Whilst I prefer the townhouse, they are notoriously harder to sell on. Fine if you will be there for the rest of your life....

What about the gardens for both? Size/direction etc?

If the townhouse kitchen diner is big enough for table/sofa/TV etc then I can see that being your main living space- better if a sunroom can be added on the back. Then the first floor lounge becomes somewhere for you and dh to relax on an evening.

I'd be looking for another house. I wouldn't like the children on a different floor to us at night, and bedroom 4 doesn't look big enough to be usable, even just for office space, in the two storey. You could maybe extend into the car port space for more downstairs space though, but I guess that depends on parking availability.

I'd keep looking.

@CovidCorvid

I'd keep looking.

I agree with this

The gardens are almost identical in size.

3-storey has south-east facing garden and 2-storey has south-west facing garden that is a teeny bit bigger but no good views from either side of the house.

3-storey garden is split level sloping downwards which might be very annoying but that house does have nice views out the back of the house.

Having lived in a 3 story - definitely go with that. Way more room for the kids.

Office on ground floor next to kitchen is also good

Also don't worry about kids sleeping on a different floor, never we caused an issue for me.
Also now my spare room is ground floor and when my 4 year old DGS stays he just comes up to Grabs room when he gets up.

@Siblingquandary I had thought about the top floor being hotter in the summer but interesting to hear from someone that it really is that bad.

We currently live on the fourth floor of an apartment building and before that we lived on the sixth floor and I don't find it too bad but is there something different about how heat travels up through a house compared to an apartment building?

Grans room obviously not grabs

@CovidCorvid and @PurBal I see what you are saying, and neither would be our ideal house, but we can't find any other 4 bedrooms that we can afford.

We're desperate to move out of our 2-bedroom flat in London with a teeny open plan kitchen/living room which both of the bedrooms and the (only) bathroom open onto! We're paying £1,650 in rent per month whereas the mortgage on the house will be £600 per month.

We're worried about being totally priced out of the market soon.

Am I reading right that on the three storey house, none of you think a 12x13 bedroom 4 is big enough? I fit a kingsize bed and 2 wardrobes in our 12x9 bedroom!

I’d go for the three storey house, much more flexible space,

I would opt for 3 story as bedrooms look a bit bigger and a loo on all 3 levels. I'd use down stairs bedroom as a home office/snug where kids could do homework or if very young playroom.

2 story bedrooms look smaller especially 4th bedroom only like old a single do not ideal as spare room. Also a lot of space is given over to the carport.

[quote StrawberryCreamCake]@Siblingquandary I had thought about the top floor being hotter in the summer but interesting to hear from someone that it really is that bad.

We currently live on the fourth floor of an apartment building and before that we lived on the sixth floor and I don't find it too bad but is there something different about how heat travels up through a house compared to an apartment building?[/quote]
We have an air con unit in the front bedroom as it's insufferable in high summer.

Not sure about apartments, that's a good question. Maybe there aren't so many open channels for heat like staircase and landings within a dwelling?

It is nice having the bigger, sunnier rooms though as they're are aged around a central staircase. It's pros and cons.
I wouldn't choose it again but it's been ok on the whole.

*arranged not aged

Our house is similar to first plan but looks larger. We don't have carport but integral garage changed into an additional reception room and we have 2 bedroom and shower room loft extension. Would any of the house offer potential for we expansion?

We have a 3 storey townhouse with almost exactly the same layout. We bought it before having children and we now have two (5&2).
Put the children's beds in the living room until they are old enough to move upstairs to their own bedrooms, use the ground floor bedroom as a snug/living room, and and use the top floor for workspace/additional play space/storage until the children are old enough to be moved upstairs.

We had a similar dilemma before moving to our current house - we had viewed a few 2 storey houses and initially ruled out a 3 storey because the kids would be on a different floor from us. What swung it was how much airier and spacious the 3 storey felt compared to the others and we’ve never regretted it. Kids were 4 and 9 when we moved (now 6 and 11) and they love having a floor to themselves. Having the lounge in the first floor doesn’t bother us either and we have loads of smoke alarms for peace of mind. I do think it might have been more of an issue if they had been younger - my 2 yr old has a room on the same floor as us and there is no way she could be upstairs at night as she is a nocturnal wanderer!