Small house in nice area or bigger house in decent area?

[Marghe87]

DH and I are considering options for our first house. We work in London and need good
commute and good schools as we have a toddler DD.
Budget is limited considering the costs of SE so we ca either afford a small 2 bed in a very nice area (very small and with maximum budget) or a slighthly bigger property in a not so nice area.
We recently went to see a couple of “not so nice areas” and realised we don’t feel particularly excited about living in a place like that, even though we’d be able to get a slightly better house.
I do worry though that DD might not enjoy growing up in a small house (I did and always wanted more space) despite the more “premium” location. Equally, I think the area you live in makes a huge difference in the overall quality of life.

DH and I are late 30s and although we earn a hood wage, we are not on high paying careers so our earning potential is relatively limited (what I mean is that we wouldn’t be able to magically upgrade to a bigger house within a few years unless we manage to gain a huge amount of equity because of house prices increases).

What would you do/what did you do if you were in a similar situation? I’d like to hear what is it you compromised on if you had a relatively limited budget.

For reference, budget is £480K max and nice areas I am referring to are Weybridge, Hersham, Esher and surroundings.
Less nice areas are some parts of Redhill and Sutton.

@Mummyme87 :( sorry to hear, I hope you manage to move away soon. Where will you look?

I get a bus to Sutton station, and the train from there. Normally takes an hour. Lots of primary schools around here so you’ll always be able to walk and schools are on bus routes. Sutton town centre isn’t great to live, but some of suburban areas are. Sutton borough also brilliant for secondary schools.

We don’t really know. I work in Tooting, SW London so want no more than an hour drive (at 6am and 8pm) and my OH works at Victoria so needs up to an hour commute on trains. My kids are 5 and 8, want good schools, a nice high street with a decent town not too far away. Literally we are looking warlingham, whyteleafe, caterham, Windsor, ascot, and even potentially around Orpington, Bromley. We are looking for 3, preferably 4 bed, decent kitchen diner, living room and another room for a playroom, budget we aren’t sure as obviously mortgage interest rates are high. We will have probably a £300k deposit depends what we sell for obviously. So maybe up to £700k, but more likely £650k. We don’t know enough about the areas so we’d to spend this year mooching around.

it’s a shame as the boys have good friends in Sutton and the schools are good. But the high street is awful, the antisocial behaviour is hideous and I’m anxious about the boys being brought up in this environment.

@Mummyme87 Have you looked at Morden? Northern line to Tooting. Good primaries and Rutlish for boys secondary. Wimbledon town centre 10 minutes away on the bus.

@southoftheriver yes! Used to live there. Wouldn’t move back 😬 Morden tube station is one of the reasons I don’t use public transport for work. I would be happy with Worcester park/cheam if we were staying locally. Just budget isn’t it. All so expensive

^^This really nails it for me.

If you're choosing between an area where there's needles on the streets, gangs hanging round on corners and boy racers roaring up and down the road at all hours, then it's a no-brainer. But that's not usually the case.

We're about to move into a really lovely house which is on the corner, and has an incredible amount of space. It's not in the worst area, but not the best either. But it's safe, and it's quiet. We went round on a weekend afternoon and evenings and it was still lovely and quiet.

We spend most of our time at home, and this house gives us everything we need to enjoy that time the most. We have decent local amenities, it feels safe, and it's well connected. I'm moving from an area which would be considered posher, but a much smaller house.

People talking about Location, Location, Location....but Kirsty and Phil regularly try and persuade house-buyers to look at cheaper areas because they'll get more house for their money. So I think it's a bit misleading to suggest that experts always say to put location first.

I don't think it's black and white, unless you are comparing a wonderful area with somewhere dreadful.

I would say with young DC, then the quality of the schools should be one of the first priorities. Figure that out and then go from there.

Could you extend the smaller house if you wanted to?

I really agree with these two posts.

Originally I wanted to live right in the centre so I'd have restaurants on the doorstep and live in a beautiful Victorian house.

However, that would have meant a house the same size as the one we were moving from which was just stressful as it was so cramped, so being at home wasn't enjoyable.

Instead, I went for a not particularly attractive house in a suburb, 30 mins walk into the centre but a few amenities 5 mins walk away and some more 10 mins into the walk into town. I'm SOOO happy with my decision. Rather than a tiny 3 bed, WFH in our bedroom and DCs having to share, we've got 4 beds so DCs can have one each, space for family to stay, a playroom, an office each and a kitchen big enough for DCs to help out and eat in.

I can't describe how much easier the extra space really makes our lives. I wouldn't give it up for anything.

The posters above say is more nuanced than gated mansions v gangs- but in this situation it really is like that knowing these two areas well.

esher is gated mansion territory with hedge fund managers and horses tied to lampposts - it’s the epitome of a really naiice, expensive posh Surrey town where everyone has a Range Rover.

Sutton is a fairly run down suburb in south london - there are some nicer parts to it but on the whole I don’t think it’s nice, the high street doesn’t feel safe to me especially at night and I wouldn’t live there

so in this situation I would choose either Esher - or indeed many many other nice towns even if they are not naiiicce - eg surbiton, Woking, new Malden, berrylands, Hinckley wood . Could get more for your money in those areas, and they are safe and family friendly - and tbh nice enough to have 1m houses everywhere

im not sure why op is focusing on two areas that are so different in nature - when there are many happy mediums in between

I went for the bigger house in a not as nice area and have no regrets.

It's nice having more space and the area really isn't that bad at all.

DS loves it here. The house and the area.

@Namechanger355 I have ‘t yet seen Woking but have been reading and researching and it doesn’t seem to be a nice area at all? I know it has good train connections though.
surbiton is beautiful but very expensive, we can only afford a flat there and we’d like a house (even if small). There aren’t any 2 bed houses within our budget unless you go towards Tolworth, which we really don’t like.
New Malden is also very expensive…

Hi @Marghe87
how about Epsom, Banstead, Coulsdon, dorking, Reigate?

@Nearlyamumoftwo will check out Epsom. Not sure about the rest, I need frequent and fairly fast trains into central London

Coulsdon has 2 stations less than 30 mins to London. Very good for commuting.

@Nearlyamumoftwo i added coulsdon to my list today

Great stuff - I’m from the local area so do feel free to get in touch if you’d like tips on the housing market and other areas. Commuting, schools, what the towns are like, I know it well! (Not an estate agent!)

@Nearlyamumoftwo ah thank you. I may do that. Have never been so need to do a drive and walk around that area, warlingham/caterham are also on my list. I’m in Sutton now, look forward to getting out!

Buy the house in the nice area, but with the potential to extend and extend when you can afford.

Horsell and St John's in Woking would both come under the Mumsnet 'naice' category. There are some less desirable parts of Woking but it's definitely not the case that it's 'not a nice area at all'.
Traffic in Esher can be very bad at peak times.

I think you need to go back to researching. If you think Surbiton and New Malden are expensive why are you even dreaming of Esher or Weybridge.

Have you considered commuting costs - Sutton is zone 6 so oyster - that will make a massive difference compared to somewhere like esher / weybridge.

Smaller house nice area

I don’t know the areas your speaking of OP as I live in the north.

We have an extended 1930’s semi (so medium sized house) in a nice area with access to the better schools. We have thought about moving several times over the years and whilst the extra space would be lovely we didn’t like the other areas and wouldn’t want ourselves or DC living there. Being able to walk to Primary and Secondary school if at all possible is lovely and not to be underestimated if its possible (but aware London is different).

A work colleague bought an older bigger characterful sprawling end terrace with big rooms and space for a small garden in an awful scruffy area. Yes, she has lots of indoor space and bigger rooms but the house is always needing work and its in an awful deprived area with a high crime rate. She had the worry, stress and fight to get her kids into a slightly better school than her catchment schools for primary and secondary (but both were driving distance away rather than close and in easy walking distance and she hasn’t let either of her children get the school bus as she didn’t want them waiting at the bus stop, which I can understand). Her children have never been able to walk to school even at Secondary School and never had friends living within close walking distance. So she is still arranging playdates and sleepovers and for kids to come to round to visit her kids even in years 8 and 9!! So her kids have less independence (her elder son left school now is very socially awkward). Whereas, where we live ours couldn’t wait to walk to school with their friends and played out with school friends (at sensible hours) from the middle of year 5 (which is what all the kids do).

I would go for a medium house closer to the nicer area and access to the better schools if at all possible. If not the smaller house (toys get smaller as the kids get older).

@journeyofinsanity you are right that overall Weybridge and Esher are more expensive, as they are full of multi million manaions whereas Surbiton has a bigger mix of flats and houses. But, there are more 2 bed houses on the market around Walton/Hersham etc that there are in Surbiton and those on sale in Surbiton are usually in Tolworth, which is ugly and also usually in very bad condition.
We don’t want to buy a flat and around Surbiton it’s all we could get with our budget, whereas I have seen several 2 bed cottages on sale in the other areas (mostly Walton and Hersham) on less than half million.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/131295461#/?channel=RES_BU

This is in New Haw. Its walking distance to West Byfleet Station and cafes & waitrose. Schools are good. 5 min on train to Woking.