750 square feet - 5 people

[Nimbus1999]

Currently going through a divorce and toying with the idea of buying a 750 square feet house for 5 of us (1 adult, 4 children aged 7-13). The plan would be 2 kids share biggest bedroom & other 2 a room each and I’ll sleep on sofa/in trundle bed in kids room. Downstairs in just a living room and separate kitchen diner.

pros - I can afford it without stretching myself financially, close to school, good location.

obvious cons - very small!

Has anyone got any experience / has made this work? I would hope it wouldn’t be forever, maybe 2-3 years until I find my feet.

Thanks for reading

Is that measurement right for the biggest bedroom? It can't be only 6ft wide can it.
Assuming it's wrong and that the other two children are boys, they should be in the medium bedroom in bunk beds if necessary, eldest in the smallest room and you share with the little one. You could corner an area off if she might be disturbed by lights etc. I would also have a reasonable quality sofa bed in the living room just in case it's ever needed. Be absolutely ruthless with clutter.
As you said it's only for a relatively short time. Under no circumstances would I give up affordable home ownership for renting for a short term space issue.

I think you are deluding yourself that you can move in 2 years, you are banking on getting a pay rise large enough to significantly increase your mortgage and relying on your house increasing in value, a house you can’t afford to do anything to improve its current state so unlikely to gain much value apart from market trends. Even if your house does go up in value your forward purchase will be even bigger, plus the cost of moving itself. If you buy this house you should expect to stay in it more long term as there are too many variables to make moving a definite in such a short period of time.

There aren’t many apartments in my area unfortunately. The one I’ve seen is a high street location, £50,000 more expensive and no parking. It’s just not achievable. Although it was 900 square feet so definitely bigger. This is the top of my budget. It’s a nightmare but I’m not sure I have many options available.

You can make it work. I grew up in very cramped housing and while it wasn't great, we all survived (though I did leave home at 17!). 5 people in a 2 bedroom flat, my sisters and I shared the biggest room.
My neighbour has a family of 6 in a 3 bed and although it is bigger in terms of sq ft, it doesn't seem it. They have eldest in the box room, 2 boys sharing the biggest room (partitioned now they're 16 and 17) and they share their room with their 6 year old (double bunk bed!). It's not perfect, but they're all very happy and still have friends to stay!
I'd do as PP said and have the youngest in with you and give the older girl the box room.

I think you could make it work in the very short term if you literally have no other option and presuming the size on the big room is totally wrong which is what it looks like. Two kids share then the other one in one each. You will need to sleep in the living room. It's quite common in some countries like Poland for adults to sleep in the living area after children go to bed. I hope you're a night owl. Either put a real bed in there dressed as a sofa in the day. Or buy a furl sofa bed. Furl sofa beds are really expensive but you can fold them out by pulling down one tab and they are designed for daily use. There is an ottoman you can get too and get put on wheels with space for bedding. We have one and it's as good as a normal bed. And although expensive, a lot cheaper than an extra bedroom. You are going to have to be completely ruthless with clutter though as there is so little storage.

Are there any options for eg being in a slightly cheaper location? My own current home was very much a 'need more space and can only get it at a price I can afford by changing location' purchase.

If ultimately this is your only option you'll make it work, but - and sorry for being blunt - it's very unlikely you'll be moving in 1-2 years. Barring some sort of massive windfall, I just don't see how the maths come together for that. Sure, you hope for a raise, but also you'll eventually be due to go onto a higher interest rate, and moving expenses are a lot. Saving up for them in a year, against a background of all the stuff you inevitably need or need to fix when you move, while also getting back on your feet financially? I don't see how that's possible. So do it, but do it clear-eyed knowing that you'll be there for some time.

The plan of teen in small room, two in another room, you and small in together sounds most sensible. I would also be saving towards ultimately expanding the space in the home (garden room, loft extension) as honestly that sounds more likely to be achievable than a swift move.

I like that it has lots of cupboards! Very useful.

My worry is if I rent, I wouldn’t be able to afford the monthly rent from my wages. So I’d have to use equity from the sale of the family home to cover the rent. Then in 2-3 years, the equity will be decreased, house prices might have increased and I’ll never get back on the property ladder.

I can look to moving further away to a bigger house perhaps but then I run in to logistical problems - I work full time and all kids can walk to school (older two making own way). I like they’re independent and don’t have to rely on me for lifts. I’d have to drive to school every day if we moved to a cheaper area. Just makes logistics hard on a day to day basis. Plus I’d have to walk further to train station adding extra time to my already long commute.

Aggggggh just so hard to know what to do to bring the most happiness for everyone! Due to the low mortgage rate, I wouldn’t be stretched to make the mortgage repayment (and can afford when it increases also) so we’d have more living money than I do now to enjoy life a bit.

Op, I think it would be fine, if it means you are secure and away from an unhappy marriage then you will make it work. I saw a good idea on Stacey Dooley sort your life out the other day where a single bed in the lounge was partitioned off with a storage unit to make a little separate private sleeping area. Your lounge might not be big enough for this but it could be an idea so you feel you have a little private den if you do have to sleep downstairs. Or share the largest bedroom with your youngest and do this in there.

I think it can work. It is good to have the security of owning and the space is small but manageable.

Go for it.

I think it would be possible if it were short term (1-2 yrs) and you kept some budget back for buying beds and storage furniture that used the space really efficiently. Join an IKEA hacks Facebook groups and you will get lots of ideas of cheap and easy storage solutions for small spaces.

We went from a 4 bed house to living on a school bus for a year with (2 adults 3 children). This was 160 sq ft. Yes it was very cramped and the only private spaces the kids or us had were on our beds with the curtains shut, but it was also really fun and cosy feeling. We hung out together a lot because there wasn’t any other option. It also made us do a big cull of belongings which was hard but also felt so nice going forward with so much less stuff!

Does the house have a garden? This would make a big difference as you could spill out into it when it gets a bit warmer, use a fire pit and make a covered area to sit out in.

Are all the kids at school full time? Is there money in the pot for them to do activities in the holidays to get them out of the house? I think this would also keep you more sane and give each person more breathing space.

Will the DC be spending any time at their Dad's? In one way that would be good as it would give you some breathing space, but on the other hand as they get older if they have more space at Dad's then they might want to spend more time there.

If it's what you can afford and a good location then go for it

I would put eldest DD in the box room and share the other room with your youngest

DC will spend half the time at ExH (he currently lives in a 2 bedroom flat so not much better). There is enough equity for one of us to buy a better sized property for the children but unfortunately, splitting 50/50 means we’ll both end up in unsuitable properties.

OP, it will be absolutely fine. Needs must.

I grew up a family of five in a tiny flat - my mum slept on a fold-out sofa in the living room. It was normal to me. Now that I'm older I massively appreciate the sacrifice she made in not having her own space so that we could.

I now live in a house with an identical size and layout to the one you're considering. Just me and H ATM and we're rattling around in it - we bought it thinking up to 5 people could comfortably live in it (it's so much bigger than the flat I grew up in!) Our neighbour's house is smaller and they're a family of two adults and two large teenagers.

The house you've picked is a totally normal house, with a nice big kitchen and living room. Having a roof over their heads and a mother that isn't stressed about how she's going to pay the bills is worth a lot! Don't overstretch yourself.

I think your plan is sensible. Better to have a secure home even if it's small.

At least on a low fixed rate you'll pay it off well so should gain more equity rather than lose it.

It's not ideal but it's not terrible. I don't know when sharing rooms became so unusual. I shared with my sister and think most of my friends did (one shared with her gran until she went to uni).

It was perfectly normal a generation ago and we all survived.

For what it's worth, I have much fonder memories of the small house my mum moved into after divorce than the previous family home.

I suspect if you let this option go you'll kick yourself as it sounds like choices are limited.

If it helps at all to hear it, yes, in your position I would want to buy if I possibly could. Partly for the financial aspect - I'd rather be gradually building up equity than frittering it away on rent - but largely for the security of tenure. If you rent, you could have to move many times, which would be really unsettling for your family and stressful for you. The rental market at the moment is an absolute scrum. Completely see how the logistics make much more sense to stay in the same area, too.

As a solo parent (in my case by choice) I do also recognise the balance of wanting to future-proof your finances against all possibilities - can I afford this now? Would I still be able to afford it if x, y, and z? - and it often leads me to be financially more cautious than I might in other circumstances.

Are you at all open to letting us go Rightmove shopping for you to see if we can find anything you haven't considered?

We live in a similar house with 5 people (2 adults 3 kids). Our DC are small- it would be very crowded with older ones (no space to get away from each other).

We really use our loft and garage for storage- having a good pull down loft ladder is essential. Garage is the OK for outside stuff, hoover, dryer and tins/bottles but anything that could go mouldy (camping gear, spare toys, most of the arts and crafts stuff) or be attacked by rats (food other than tins) has to go in the loft, so I'm up there multiple times each day.

Dryer is essential, in a house that size you can't have five people's laundry on airers. But you can put it in the garage.

Location is ideal, house is cosy but big enough and they may will still with their Dad on different days anyway if he only has a 2 bed?

Better than renting for sure.

Plenty of people manage in b&b temp accommodation. Much better to buy than rent. You'll manage, even though its a squash.

It would be utterly mad to rent for 2 years.

That's will eat any money/deposit you have and disqualify you from benefit help. It would be a moronic choice that would leave you with nothing at the end of 2 years.

If you rent or not you would STILL need to move twice so no idea what people are on about.

The best option is to find a house actually suitable but if this house is your only option or the best of not great options then go for it.

We used to live in a house this size with two kids. It actually was big enough, I realise now that we really just had far too much stuff and that was the problem. We had neighbours with four kids who did feel a bit cramped, they put a conservatory on the back that they used as a playroom.
If the location really works for you and everyone can walk to school easily then presumably they have friends nearby too so not everyone will be home all the time anyway.
My initial thought was that it was a bit of a mad idea but we moved further out for more space and I do sometimes regret it. Being close to where you need to be and where you have community and amenities counts for a lot. Especially while your kids are coming to terms with the split.

Another observation - made with absolutely no judgement, I'm just talking logistics here - you have quite a large family. And, as another poster put it, this is a 'normal house' - which it is, it's very recognisable as the type of 3 bed house replicated across the country in many, many places. Homes above 3 bedrooms generally mean a big step up, price-wise, from more typical 2 and 3-bed properties. In practice you're going to have to look at 3 beds, and probably the cheaper 3 beds, because that's just the logistical reality.

I definitely recall going through a Groundhog Day phase of looking at houses in a particular area (lots of Victorian terraced streets) and feeling all of them were too small, and eventually recognising that the houses were basically all that size because that's just the size houses in that area were. I wasn't going to find one that was somehow completely different; it just wasn't going to exist.

Given all that, the optimal house for you would be one that gives maximum flexibility of how rooms are used, and for expansion to create more space. Things like, if a room has two windows it could be partitioned; if there are multiple separate rooms downstairs one can be a bedroom more easily than if it's open plan; if a house has an integrated garage it can probably become a room quite easily; can the loft eventually be converted; is there room to eventually extend into the garden; that sort of stuff. For example, looking at the house you've posted, my thinking would be that if it were possible to extend off the back at all (one day, not right now) then the living room could become a bedroom just with a partition to create a corridor from the stairs to the kitchen.

Also, take a trip to IKEA. There's something about going round all those lovely little rooms laid out in tiny spaces that always feels quite reassuring. OK, those fake people have basically no stuff, but you can always shove your actual real person stuff in the garage!

Convert the garage into a bedroom ?

That does rather depend on where the garage is, though. Not really an option if it's not attached to the house (which I would hazard a guess it isn't, since it's not on the floorplan).

Whilst I think you can make it work, do you have to sell your current home? No option to blremortgage and buy ex out? As he is in a 2 bed flat surely he can see one of you has to have a more suitable option?
Also, I would move further to get a bigger house. I know it's not as convenient for school, but being in a cramped house isn't great for anyones mental health. We moved to a totally different town to get more space for our 4. Still a 3 bed, but 3 good doubles. We've moved back to our original area now the older 2 have left home. It was so much better living in a larger home for all of us.