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Original poster

Which house?

55 replies

Hunkyd0ry · 06/04/2023 22:09

we are a family of 4 with young kids. Which has would you buy?

House A
in a cul-de-sac
Ultilty room, kitchen, lounge/dining room and conservatory
4 bedrooms, 2 doubles, 2 singles
garden is on a slope.

house B
up a quiet road
large kitchen diner, lounge
3 double bedrooms
flat green lawn but possibly not quite as big as house A.

house B is £50,000 cheaper.
Both in the same village.

OP posts:
RobinRobinMouse · 06/04/2023 22:18

Personally I'd prefer 3 doubles to 2 doubles and 2 singles so that would sway it for me.

TwitTwooTooYou · 06/04/2023 22:19

It would depend on the feel of the houses on viewing but probably B.
I don’t like living room /diner & bigger kids like bigger bedrooms. A single is fine when they are small but teens like bigger rooms.
Flat lawn is also much better.

We never used our conservatory when we had one. Too hot in summer, too cold in winter even with a radiator in it.

OhSnakesandBastards · 06/04/2023 22:19

If you weren't planning on more kids- house 2.

If you were intending on having more then it would be house 1 - teenagers like their own rooms

Floralnomad · 06/04/2023 22:20

Can you link to them as it’s really hard to say without seeing bedroom sizes , angle of slope etc . For example are the 2 singles both usable bedrooms or are they basically a bed a cupboard and that’s it .

coodawoodashooda · 06/04/2023 22:21

50000 less in overheads. Definitely this one.

catherinewales · 06/04/2023 22:21

I would do house A just for the utility

Teapleasemilknosugar · 06/04/2023 22:24

I'm so fed up of our living/dining room that I'd go for house 2 with the kitchen/diner instead. Although DH needs a WFH room so he'd vote house 1, plus if it's not near family it would be nice to have a spare room for guests. We'd fall out about it several times then probably miss out on both as a result.

Depends on your needs and priorities, now and likely in the future.

Teapleasemilknosugar · 06/04/2023 22:25

By House 1 I meant House A, and House 2 I meant House B.

Yellowdays · 06/04/2023 22:26

I wonder if house A is much bigger? Perhap over time you could create a kitchen diner by knocking out a wall, and still have 4 beds,a utility and a bigger garden.

Original poster
Hunkyd0ry · 06/04/2023 22:29

I don’t really feel comfortable sharing the links as it would make it very obvious who I am as we are quite far along with the purchase of one house before the other one came on the market.

Some really useful comments.

not planning anymore children. So the 3 good size bedrooms appeal on house B as house A singles don’t have a lot of spare space once the bed is in there.

I have to be out the house to work, my husband occasionally works from home. But as nobody else would be there at the time he says he could use the kitchen table etc.

If finances allowed it house B has a garage so could potentially look to convert that into a utility room with playroom/ office.

OP posts:
Howtohideasausage · 06/04/2023 22:35

Does house B have scope to do the loft/extend if you wanted?

YourUserNameMustBeAtLeast3Characters · 06/04/2023 22:38

Hhhmm

i prefer a kitchen/diner to a lounge/diner
But utility rooms are great
Very different bedroom sizes for two children can be unfair, but one child could eventually have 2 single rooms (one for sleeping one for study or gaming) but you’ve got the flexibility of 4 bedrooms.

How are the halls? We moved and I hate that the new house has a small narrow hall, kids fight a lot more when they get in each other’s way getting in an out of the house.

How tight are the finances? And is it £200k vs £250k or £800k vs £850k?

You could share screenshots of the floor plans fairly anonymously?

MrsBlondie · 06/04/2023 22:42

House B. Prefer kitchen/diner and double bedrooms

Which have you bought?!

shelbaba · 06/04/2023 22:43

I'd go for 3 bedrooms that are bigger. We have 2 large bedrooms and then 2 small single ones as u describe. In my opinion they squeezed an extra room in to get more money on the house rather than having 3 large bedrooms. It's annoying for us because as the kids get older one has a lovely big bedroom and the other has a little single.

I'd also prefer a large kitchen diner over a lounge with dining area too. I also don't like conservatories. So it's a fairly easy choice if it's £50k cheaper so go for that! Also u say you could convert the garage. We did that in our current house and it's a great space. Mainly used as an extra living area/playroom.

Butterwicky · 06/04/2023 23:15

I'd go for B. Especially as in the bigger house one child will get a small room... And for what? A rarely used office in the other single?

What us the square meterage of both? I wouldn't be surprised if it's very similar.

MaggieFS · 06/04/2023 23:20

I would really struggle in a house which has a kitchen diner, no utility and no spare bedroom. You do need somewhere to sometimes dump stuff or dry washing. Or in our case work from home.

Seeingadistance · 06/04/2023 23:50

House B.

Fedupofdiets · 07/04/2023 07:32

Deffo house B.

NotABeliever · 07/04/2023 07:39

I much prefer three double bedrooms to 2 doubles and 2 singles. I also hate conservatories.
I would definitely go with House b

Cornflowers35 · 07/04/2023 07:47

House B.

CellophaneFlower · 07/04/2023 08:17

House B. You're paying a premium for the 4th bedroom, despite not getting much extra space, plus you don't need it.

I generally go for the bigger garden, but seeing as you're not 100% it's bigger, there can't be much in it and the slope would put me off. I'd also be looking at if I could change the kitchen into a kitchen diner too, so that would be ££ and obviously might not be possible.

If house A doesn't have a garage, that would be the final nail in the coffin for me. The storage and potential to convert would be massive. 50k would definitely do this, unless house B needs more work overall?

cptartapp · 07/04/2023 08:24

House B.
Would hate a sloped garden if nothing else.

LizzieSiddal · 07/04/2023 08:42

House B as I really do not ever like Lounge/dining rooms. A kitchen/diner is much better.

CatOnTheChair · 07/04/2023 08:45

Given you are fairly far through a purchase with one house, I think I'd stick with it.
A has a utility but a shared lounge-diner (which I dislike).
B has better sized rooms - but less of them.
Neither is an absolute clear winner (and there is no guarantee you would secure the second house, or that a surprise wouldn't come up during the buying process that means he sale falls through).

Basicaly: a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush.

TenThousandSpoons · 07/04/2023 08:52

B
but if you’re already quite far through with purchasing A you’d have to really prefer B to mess A around that much.

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