Correctly having a bit of a quandary and need to give my head a wobble. Apologies for the essay!
I'm a single parent of an almost-toddler. Currently live in a maisonette on the upper floors of a large converted house. Decent-size lounge/diner, kitchen, two substantial double bedrooms. Bathroom in the downstairs bit, but fairly accessible from the bedrooms. There's a garden/yard shared with the downstairs flat, although it's mainly concrete and I very rarely use it. Downstairs hallway which is good for buggy storage, cupboard under the stairs, wide landings that are large enough to accommodate furniture. The flat could use some TLC (no central heating, various jobs needing doing inside and out) but is perfectly liveable for us, and it was really quite cheap when I bought it so the mortgage is not particularly high. Good location in a nice part of town close to local parks, shops etc; lots of friends nearby. However, during lockdown my dad spent lots of time visiting, he'd definitely like to continue doing so, and at some point I'll manage to oust the baby from my bed into the second bedroom, at which point there will be nowhere really suitable to put him. My plan was therefore to look to find somewhere with a third bedroom so he could have a dedicated guest space and come and go as he likes.
Put the flat in the market several months back and found a buyer quite quickly. My initial idea was to move out of the small city I live in to one of the outlying cheaper towns; however the process of viewing made it clear that the logistics of this wouldn't fly around work/nursery. I did, however, find a larger house I could afford (with some assistance from my dad, a 25% bump to the mortgage, and plundering a chunk of my savings) on the very edge of the city and had an offer accepted. Things have (slowly) progressed, but simultaneously my buyer is trying to negotiate downwards on my flat price, and the house vendors have now lost the place they were intending to move to, so it's all stalled again and I'm questioning whether it's the right place for us anyway. It's a good-sized house (the bedrooms are tiny, but overall the space makes up for it) and has a nice vibe, but it's so far away from everything (I don't have a car) - there are no parks nearby and only one rather nasty convenience store. The garden is nice but impractical for a small child and I'm worried I wouldn't stay on top of it. It's not in an area I particularly like. However, it would definitely give us the kind of space I'd ideally want to have. It has parking, which would be great for my dad (he finds on-street parking stressful). And it has awesome views!
Given that both the chain and my own enthusiasm are looking a bit shaky, I thought it was reasonable to have a look and see whether I had any other options that would let me stay in the area I'm in now. Realistically, what this would come down to would be a small terraced house - something that technically has three bedrooms but is probably no larger overall (indeed, potentially a smidgeon smaller) then where I am now. When I've viewed these, they've felt really cramped and poky by comparison - I'm genuinely not sure where things like my desk or my books could possibly go (my friends keep trying to hand-wave this stuff away but... I don't see how that works). In the current best prospect, the stairs were small and steep and I didn't feel very comfortable walking down then with the baby. We'd must likely be talking downstairs bathroom, work needing doing, possibly no heating, definitely no private parking, etc etc. What I'd essentially be gaining is a private (small) garden and a tiny third bedroom, but at the cost of a mortgage increase and a big drop in savings. And I'm just not sure if it's worth it?
So basically my options are:
Option A - carry on with the planned purchase of the larger house. You're just stressed by the process but there are reasons you liked it and it can work for you.
Option B - go for a small house nearby. Yes, it'll eat a lot of money for no increase in space, but it's a worthwhile step anyway.
Option C - stay put and explore how to make the space in the flat work going forwards. It's much cheaper than the other options, you like living there, and you can always spend some if what you save on moving on it to make it work better for you.
Any thoughts welcome!