House 1 or House 2 what would you go for?

[NewKidOnTheBlock99]

Help me and DH decide, he is very firmly in house 1 camp where as I am ever so slightly leaning towards house 2…

House 1 has always been what we said we wanted but for me the reality of it would be what we wanted if we had an extra £100k to renovate which we don’t. We could make an extra bedroom and office space but I don’t see us ever having the money to do it.

We agree that house 1 would be long term end goal House whereas house 2 would fit our needs now

Which one would you go for…

House 1
End terrace so feels big, spacious and airy
Two doubles and a box room
Utility room
Two bathrooms
Huge front and back garden
Loft space (could be converted)
Five mins from station
Five mins from supermarket
If we get it for the offer we have put in then just by modernising it and waiting out the market would make a profit
Garage in back garden
If we somehow have the cash would be the dream family home and could be forever

Cons
No designated parking - permit parking right outside but only Monday to Friday 6am - 6pm- because it’s close to the station we would probably end up having to park quite far from the house on weekends.

Kitchen and dining room are seperate - we like more open plan living and would like to do this but won’t be able to for years because of money.

2 yr old DC would have to go in the box room as we would need the large double as office space/guest room - not all her furniture will fit

Probate property, has been looked after but wouldn’t say it’s instantly liveable - carpets need ripping up and weird cupboards/wardrobes need pulling out

Neither of us are green fingered so worry about the maintenance of front and back garden

Taking us to our absolute max budget.

We plan on having another child so within the next two years would lose office/spare room

House 2
4 bedrooms - 2 small doubles, box room and loft conversion with en-suite
(Hate to put this but) desperate sellers would probably get it cheaper
All changes are cosmetic - would just be removing wallpaper and repainting
Bathroom already half ripped out and just needs tiling
Office space for me plus double bedroom for DC
Instantly liveable - kitchen isn’t too my taste but could definitely live with it
Small drive we probably wouldn’t use as our car wouldn’t fit but could just park in front of it as it’s a drop kerb

Cons
20 minute walk from a station - in my head I think this is fine but I think I’m reality this could be a problem, would probably have to change my work hours to accommodate nursery drop offs etc
10 minute drive to supermarket
Not much downstairs living space - would need a very small extension but kitchen diner is already open planned but this would take up garden space.
No loft space for storage
Garden is a small/medium size
Feels cramped and a bit dark BUT the current owners have ALOT of furniture
Mid terrace
I wouldn’t see us being here forever

What would you do?!

If it came to choosing a mid or end terraced house, I would have to choose end terrace, so I would choose House 1, although the parking would be a bit of an issue especially if you have a 2-year-old and planning another one, but for me, it would still be worth it to live in an end terrace. Having a larger rather than smaller back garden, and two bathrooms, would be my choice for a family home.

House 1.

The parking issue sounds manageable - you say there’s a garage in the back garden already so you do have parking plus a huge front garden may allow you to create parking.

Having a separate dining room means you can set it up as an office/dining room until you have the money to do more work.

Once you have two kids, a bigger garden will be an advantage. Keep it simple in terms of layout and get a robot lawnmower. You might find a whole new hobby in future when the kids are older.

Inflation may be your friend here - in the 1970s a few years of rampant inflation made people’s mortgages look tiny a decade later if they stayed put in heir home for the duration.

House one.

Why can't you park in the garage (or the drive leading to the garage)?

House 1

But in reality, I think you need to keep.looking

It doesn't sound like either is right. I'd keep looking.

Thanks all! Actually quite surprised with all of the house 1 votes!

@CatsOnTheChair so the garage is at the back of the house and it’s an alley with access to all the other garages - would probably be more work then it’s worth to get the car in and out and would always have to be in the garage so as to not block access to the others!

@Whatevergetsyouthroughthenight couldn’t create parking at the front as our drop curb would take away the permit parking for the other houses we would be next to. All permit parking would be at the side of our house no parking out the front.

@EmmaGrundyForPM @poppym12 out of curiosity why do you think we need to keep looking?

Neither sound right for your needs however House 1 sounds very wrong if neither of you are gardeners and you’ve got large front and back gardens to do.

House 1 every time.

Because I'm in a similar position @NewKidOnTheBlock99. We've seen a couple of almost ideal properties but neither feel quite right and as this move is to see us into retirement, I'm cautious about going for one that would just be making do and maybe seeing a perfect one available in a couple of weeks/months.

Thank you! It’s so tough isn’t it - we did find the perfect one but lost out to FTBs. We don’t want to lose our buyers so are feeling the pressure.

House 1 sounds awful.

House too small if you have another DC and a garden that you will come to hate due to the work required. Plus the house needs loads of work that you can't afford and has no parking. Why would you even consider it?

House 2 doesn't sound perfect but the downsides are a lot less than house 1. A 10 minute drive to the supermarket is nothing and an 'enforced' 40 minute daily walk could be great for your physical and mental wellbeing.

How much is the price difference between them?

What is the space in square feet in each house?

House 1 just sounds like there aren’t enough bedrooms. Why would your DC need to be in the box room - wouldn’t it make more sense to have your office in the box room or dining room?

House 2 sounds like the bedrooms are good but the rest of it is small, dark and cramped - not a good description!

That’s why people are saying keep looking. I’d go for the biggest one in terms of square footage.

I don’t think either are what you want either. You’ll get fed up with the parking issue with the first one and you’ll be annoyed by a garage you can’t really use. The bedroom situation isn’t ideal, particularly if you have another child and a large garden will need plenty of maintenance.

House two is better for bedrooms, but a twenty minute walk in bad weather would soon become tedious and the downstairs space and poor parking would be irritating, as well as the fact that it’s mid terrace.

House 1 was on for £5k more then house 2 but it looks like (after speaking to the agent) the offer would be the same for them.

So for various reasons we need space for guests to stay and so made sense for DC to go in box room with office/guest bedroom in the bigger one!

I do hear what everyone is saying, the market is so slow at the moment and worried about losing our buyer so happy to go with almost there. Honestly where we are there is only 1-2 properties coming up a week and usually (like these two) out of budget.

Thank you, this does make sense! Especially the walking in the rain to the station as there is no bus either.

House 1 has much more potential so that’s the one I’d go for.
which house is in the best location?

Neither

House 1 for me (but then I live 5 minutes' walk from supermarkets and train station etc). We hardly ever use our car. Also have a look to see where schools are (are they walkable?).

In terms of bedrooms, you could wait until DC(s) are older (young teen) and then extend the mortgage to do an attic conversion (either for yourselves or the children). I have friends who have done both.

Unless you are having guests all the time, the box room could work as an office/occasional guest room. We had a fold-down desk in ours and a small double sofa bed. It worked so well the neighbours copied us! Not this one, but along these lines:

My thoughts/questions:
House 1

• Would there be scope (in future) to move the wall between the box room and 1 of the larger bedrooms? We did this and turned the box room into a more regular sized room
• Could you fit a summer house in the back garden to turn into an office in future?

House 2

• Is the dark feeling from SO much furniture/wall colour, or tiny windows and poky room sizes?
• How often are you needing to use the train? If once a week, this might be doable, but daily or several times a week might not

Any difference in school catchment for both houses- better school/more options etc?

I had a further thought about House 1 which is that if you were not parking your car in the garage, would there be scope to turn it into a garden office? Possibly cheaper than converting the loft.

I would keep looking for something which really made me keen to buy

Just because of proximity to where we are now and the station - deffo house 1!