Old house with smaller mortgage or new one with bigger mortgage

[KylaF]

Hi everyone,

I am new to mumsnet and I am a new mum. I have a 7 month old daughter. I am single mother which is fine as I am so happy with my dd and I have great support from my parents and some friends.

i earn a decent enough salary and won’t qualify for any benefits. I am looking at buying a house for me and dd. The area we are after is a small village with very few houses . There is a house at the minute for sale which has most things I need, is about 40 years old and needs updated extensively. In the field behind the house there is a new development being built ( there are no houses going directly behind this house just a road) and there are houses there I am considering. However, new builds are so expensive and with a new house vs the older house renovated I am going to have additional mortgage costs of £60 per week! Anyone any views of what I should do? Is a newer more energy efficient house worth the extra £60, the plot will likely be smaller but the new house has high B energy rating vs low D of older house. Any advice woukd he much welcome! I suppose my thinking is I would love the extra money as a single parent but at the same time I don’t want to be small minded and buy a house that will need more effort long term

Depends on what updating is needed now, what can wait. How comparable are the room sizes in each property and access to garden area. Proximity to neighbours would be another consideration.

Literally the kitchen, all flooring, new bathrooms, paint- roof is fine and windows and doors but windows and doors are an awful colour and woukd need sprayed. Size wise older house probably slightly bigger and has a fair enough garden and it’s a bungalow so there is greater distance to the neighbours

Things like painting a room are very cheap and you can do things like that when you have time.

After 5 years here I've painted 2 rooms! I will get to the rest eventually.

Do these things actually need changing though or is it just your personal preference. The colour of the walls and doors in just cosmetic. Is the kitchen and bathroom dated or does it genuinely need replacing?

The house is only 40 years old so thats still pretty new in terms of houses, it sounds like it has a lot more potential and is a better fit than the new build if you can overlook it's poor cosmetics.

Older house. That's a lot extra and you can easily do the fixes bit by bit, especially with a good support network. There are so many awful new builds being rushed with so many problems, I wouldn't risk it.

Old House which is only 40 years old so not really old. Agree with pp that does it actually need work or based on your preference you need all this done?
Paint etc can wait. As your DD grows n might scribble on wall, perhaps waiting for 2-3 years won't be too bad.

If the size is bigger I would go with that. At the windows double glazed? If not then that might be the reason for energy rating D. Is the boiler old and need replacing?

Thank you everyone ! I am going to view it again , the older house! There are more offers on it and it’s getting closer to my price limit but I think it would be the best long term as I woukd have room for a conservatory and I have looked on gumtree and there are once’s available at a good price! The 60 a week will no doubt be required for all the extras my dd is going to need! Yes needs new boiler but double glazing is good! Wouldn’t be liveable as such in terms of needing a really really deep clean but we could stay with family until we get sorted !

Unless the new builds are tremendously good quality, and most on large estates are not, you will have to do everything you've described for the old house within 5-10 years of being in the new one. New houses are mostly shockingly bad builds - go for the older one.

I'd go for the older bungalow, 100%.

New builds have so, so many problems these days. Plus smaller rooms, smaller plots.

Bungalows are very rarely built anymore and will always sell as they are getting increasingly rare.