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4 floors?

51 replies

insomniac1 · 29/01/2023 12:57

We are currently deciding between 2 houses. 1 is in our ideal location, smaller than we would like (but still a decent size) and needs some work (which I really desperately wanted to avoid)

The other is in our less favourable location (lovely area but just a bit further from my daughters school and both mine and my DH's parents who we help out a lot). However it's immaculately done and significantly bigger than the first one (50% bigger!)

Price wise once we do the work on the first house I would say we will end up paying the same. In fact the second house would be a bit cheaper. Another point is that the first house is north facing and does feel a bit dark.

Just to clarify the 2 houses are about a 15 min drive from each other so not far. However the first area has a high street within walking distance with coffee shops, supermarket etc. the 2nd house you need to drive everywhere although the station is probably a 15 min walk from both houses. As previously mentioned, both are in lovely neighbourhoods.

On paper I think the second house seems to make sense but there are 2 things worrying me. Firstly it's on 4 floors and there is a flight of stairs to get to the front door. I worry that this isn't v practical and would get annoying quickly especially as we grow older and when parents visit. You can access the lower ground floor without climbing the stairs from the side of the house though which has the kitchen/diner/family area and also a wc and another 2 rooms so elderly visitors could come in that way. Has anyone ever fit a v small lift in their house?!

Secondly the drive is on quite a slope and I worry that when the weather is bad/icy it may be tricky to get out? Although my DH thinks I'm being lame 🙄

I appreciate what a great situation we are in to be picking between 2 great houses and am v grateful. But I'm going round in circles as to which house we should go for. Any thoughts? Thank you all in advance!!

OP posts:
insomniac1 · 29/01/2023 16:55

That's a good point actually. The square footage probably does include the stairs. Although the house did feel very spacious

OP posts:
RandomMess · 29/01/2023 17:42

Was that due to more windows and views?

We have a 3 storey house, wouldn't want a 4 story one.

We go down to kitchen/diner/family room. Lounge and bedrooms to ground then up to more bedrooms. They DC at the top moan about the stairs 🤣

RidingMyBike · 29/01/2023 18:00

Our 3 storey does feel spacious - high ceilings and big (actually v draughty!) windows. But the stairs and landings take up a lot of space so there is much less useful space.

insomniac1 · 29/01/2023 19:21

Interesting. Thank you all. I really appreciate all your comments. You've been much more useful than DH 😆

OP posts:
RandomMess · 29/01/2023 19:28

😂

We have a toilet on each of the 3 floors we have, bloody hate cleaning toilets!!

parietal · 29/01/2023 21:30

go with House 1 for the location. walking to good amenities is worth ££££ in terms of quality of life.

insomniac1 · 30/01/2023 08:52

Thanks all!!

OP posts:
Strictlyfanoftenyears · 30/01/2023 09:00

The rules of mumsnet is that you have to give us the link (just because we are nosy!!)

Cornelious2011 · 30/01/2023 09:09

House 1. Do you mean the garden is north facing as the whole house can't be. If one side is north, the other will be south?

We have a north facing back garden. I really like it but it's 40m long so the house doesn't shade 3/4 of it and we've areas that get lots of sun. Look at surrounding buildings/ trees which is more important than how the garden faces.

insomniac1 · 30/01/2023 09:42

😂

Sorry the garden is north facing. It backs onto a school field but there are a lot of large trees surrounding it

OP posts:
ShoesIBoughtYouAsAPresent · 30/01/2023 09:46

Can you share the floor plans?

How many square feet are they each?

insomniac1 · 30/01/2023 10:05

I am not sure I should as I haven't bought either property yet 😑 but house 1 is 2800 square foot over 2 floors and house 2 is 4500 square foot over 4 floors.

OP posts:
insomniac1 · 30/01/2023 10:06

House 1 requires a full refurbishment and moving one external wall about a foot back

OP posts:
insomniac1 · 30/01/2023 10:07

This is the wall that needs moving. Annoying as that is a big job but I feel it will add a lot to the house?

4 floors?
OP posts:
insomniac1 · 30/01/2023 10:08

Sorry when I saw add a lot to the house. I don't mean financially. I just think it would make the space more usable?

OP posts:
ShoesIBoughtYouAsAPresent · 30/01/2023 10:31

Those are both huge houses! How many bedrooms do they each have?

If you were talking about smaller amounts eg 800 Square foot or 1200 Square foot I'd go for bigger but 2800 is already massive. What would you even do with 4500 Square foot?

insomniac1 · 30/01/2023 11:17

So we plan to have parents move in with us in the next 5 years as they will need more and more help so want to give them enough space so that we aren't all living on top of each other.

But yes I do agree? 2800 is more than enough space, I'm just being greedy 🙈

I actually just went to house 1 again to see it on a sunny day and I must admit it felt quite dark. Also you could hear the kids from the school field screaming when I went out into the garden although that noise didn't really bother me. It's a prep school do you v kids - not teenagers with booming voices. Not sure if this may put off future buyers though.

OP posts:
ShoesIBoughtYouAsAPresent · 30/01/2023 11:34

If it's for a multi family household then it's not such an outrageous amount of space, especially if your parents want to have their own living room as well as a bedroom. I think they might struggle with stairs, but then maybe in such a big house they could have a floor to themselves?

I would caution against the heating costs and cleaning time of a house much bigger than you need. Would you have rooms going largely unused in the bigger house?

RandomMess · 30/01/2023 11:44

It sounds like a long term house so I wouldn't worry about resale due to the school. Also you could consider adding more windows and changes to the garden/trees to increase light?

CoffeeWithCheese · 30/01/2023 12:03

Steep drive might put me off - more cos one of our cars has a naff handbrake whatever the garage do to it to try to make it less naff.

4 floors... we're moving to a 3 floor house and the stairs worried me - my mum doesn't cope with stairs well so it would have been a deal breaker if it wasn't for the fact there's a ground floor loo and step-minimal (it's of the era where we still had doorsteps) entrance to the house. The top floor is intended for DH's office so I'm not planning on going up there much at all.

I'll be honest - school field might well put me off after living near one where they use a ridiculously loud tannoy for events such as sports day and the like. Also your kids are young now but once they hit older junior and moving into secondary age - they're likely to want to do things like walk to the shops to buy sweets/crisps/MN approved rice cakes themselves - DD1 is overjoyed we're moving into walking distance of McDonalds and big Tesco now!

CellophaneFlower · 30/01/2023 12:21

I back onto a school playground. It's really close to my house, not at the end of a long garden or anything. I don't mind the noise at all and I'm at home all day. Once a year they have a fun day where they have loud music and a fire engine and I assume the kids take turns doing the siren 🙉 That's the only day I regret my decision!

QueueEtwo · 30/01/2023 12:22

I back on to a school - word of warning!

Getting the school to maintain those trees will be a nightmare!

The ones at the back of my garden are now taller than my house, they block light & drop leaves!

They did thin out lower level foliage last year but prior to that it was a solid wall of green about 7 metres from my back doors!

Every few years we & other neighbours have to start an email campaign to get the trees cut back, but with funding issues we are less & less successful!

The noise isn't really an issue, as I'm normally at work during the week!

QueueEtwo · 30/01/2023 12:23

CellophaneFlower · 30/01/2023 12:21

I back onto a school playground. It's really close to my house, not at the end of a long garden or anything. I don't mind the noise at all and I'm at home all day. Once a year they have a fun day where they have loud music and a fire engine and I assume the kids take turns doing the siren 🙉 That's the only day I regret my decision!

We have an annual funday too but I actually quite like it! 🤣

CellophaneFlower · 30/01/2023 12:37

I do quite enjoy the music - it's just the bloody siren! Makes me shoot through the roof every time! I worked out 1 of the school dads is a fireman. Hopefully his engine will go with his kids when they leave 😂

RandomMess · 30/01/2023 13:04

Our nearby school does a marching brass band every summer after the year 5 have been learning since September 🤣

The biggest bugbear of being near any school is parking the noise just gets screened out.

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