Great house or great location?

[Evergreen101]

Which house would you pick?

For context, my situation:

• We have 1 child, with plans for more
• We are quite urban and have always lived near nice amenities
• First house we are buying

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House 1:
High level score:

• House itself: 10/10
• Location: 6/10
• Investment potential: 6/10

Comments:

• Great detached house that just went under a refurb, no renovations needed. Could easily be a 'forever home'
• Full open plan, kitchen dining
• Massive south facing garden
• Suburban feel, very quiet.
• Location is so-so, still yet to be gentrified. It will be more of a departure from where we live currently and will be a major change of lifestyle
• Some okay schools, will most likely have to go private
• Less prestigious area, reputation is so-so
• More expensive than house #2 and will stretch us to our limit; it will be very tight for the next 2-3 years
• IMHO, it's unlikely to go up in value very much because it's above comparables in the area and the sellers are totally not budging on price

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House 2
High level score:

• House itself: 7/10
• Location: 9/10
• Investment potential: 9/10

Comments:

• Good terraced house and has also been refurbed recently
• Needs some work to open the kitchen and dining area but it can be opened up without structural work
• Small patio garden
• While it's only a little smaller than house #1, because it's a single front terraced house vs. double front detached, the space does feel narrower
• Urban feel
• More affluent/prestigious location with amenities nearby (tons of green grocers, cute cafes and wine bars/pubs nearby). It will be less of a departure from where we live currently and will be less of a change of lifestyle
• Well known to have excellent schools, both public and private
• 10% less expensive than house #1 and would mean we are quite a bit more comfortable
• IMHO the area has better investment potential because of the amenities and excellent schools

Space and distance to public transportation are about the same so I haven't really mentioned it above.

Which house would you go for and why?

2

2 due to the reasons outlined. Makes sense

Do you have to choose one of them? Could house 2 be a forever home? Personally I'd be hesitant about house 1 - being far from amenities with small child(ren) can be really isolating. Would you be comfortable sharing the rough areas so people can weigh in?

So when your kids are in private school will they be happy to bring friends back to "not gentrified" area. number 1 ?
Will your new parent friends be cool about your so so location ? Does that matter to you?
Do you want a change of location ?
Do you like having amenities close by?
Will you prefer the garden bbq than the nice bar?

2 for € and lifestyle
Sounds better for you

1 if you desperate for detached suburban feel with garden and fewer amenities

You haven’t listed many positives about house 1?

We went for location I know I could sell up and buy a house twice the size but location is soooo important

how much is 10pc?

#1 except for the financials. If they were comparably priced then #1 but I don’t think this is the time to be stretched. Especially as you want more kids (therefore more cost).

Location location location every time!!!

House 2. It just doesn’t seem that you want house 1.

A detached house would always trump a terrace (unless it's in The Royal Crescent or similar) with me.

I could buy a house twice the size of mine but the area wouldn’t be as good. So I have a tiny house in THE best area. Always choose location over house imo

You will save money not needing private schools so can spend some on making 2 really nice. I would go for that one as the location sounds really nice. It would be such a lovely way to live with cafes etc.

We chose the less nice house in the better location and never regretted it. When I checked the other house we were going to buy it had hardly changed in value when it resold whereas our current home has gone up a lot.
It's location, location, location for a reason.
And we have renovated our house a fair bit which is enjoyable.
You can change the house but not the area.

You can change the house but not the area.

This. Also, you're likely to have to drive the kids to (private) school from house 1 (given that you say it's in a non-gentrified area, so probably no private schools near by). I know it's hard to imagine while you only have a little one, but all your lives will be so much better if the kids can get to school and friends independently in their teens. You will save hours of driving - not just the school run itself but social/sports, as kids at a private school are more spread out, geographically. And your DC will be grateful for the independence.

I would discount future investment potential as think the market is too uncertain. I would always favour location though. I don't see the point in making things tight for yourself with house 1 when you have to also spend on private education.

We live in house 2. I do sometimes dream about moving to a detached house more rurally, but the reality is that it's been priceless to have the kids be independent, to walk to school/work/train/swimming pool. We have a small patch of garden that I've often felt frustrated by but would choose this location again in a heartbeat.

The only caveat about location, location is that in this hybrid work environment things will change slightly in the future imo.

I would have neither because excellent state schools and a decent garden are both priorities for me. If you’re not bothered about the garden and reasonably tolerant of neighbours, go for the terrace.

2

Neither appeal but if I had to pick one, it would be house 2.

You have a young family so should be looking for a house with potential. It's not the right time to find a forever home at your stage in life because so many things are going to happen. Unless you have a crystal ball and know or want to stick to a life plan set out in stone right now.

So house 2 is right.

House 2. location is always the most important thing.

2 all day any day!

SUCH a helpful discussion. Thank you so much!

By and large I think I agree that house #2 makes more sense for us at this stage on many levels (lifestyle, £££s, schools).

Reflecting on the comments here, I've realised that the main thing that makes house #1 linger in my mind is the garden. Sorry, probably should have described it better... it's a 150 sq ft+ south facing garden with a swing set, tree house and vegetable patch. I can just picture our kids running around there, and I know it wont be the same if we went with house #2 and the small patio.

For those who went with location and had to give up a big garden.. was it worth it? Did you have regrets?