Which house....

[Padellainmyhand]

We are about to offer on a desirable location in one of the most expensive places in the country. .(we are lucky and I do count and thank my stars)
Two options, 1) 1.2 mil detached but kind of 20 years old decor a bit dark, weird room configuration 2) semi detached 1.1mil, great spec, wow factor double height extension... Which one? We won't do up (1) if we bought it as we won't have anything left. Everything else equal size of garden, garage, location.

I hated my N facing garden. It was always cold and nothing ever grew. I have W Now and love it

House 2 or something completely different. I think you'd regret buying house 1 - you're not enthused about it at all. You really like house 2, but are concerned about it being semi detached? If you know you'll regret buying a semi, maybe you should wait and see if something better comes along. I can understand why you'd want detached with your budget but house 2 does sound lovely!

If I was spending over a million on a house, I would not want to be able to hear neighbours slamming doors and shouting on the other side of my wall. House 1 and gradually do it up for me

forget it all and buy an actual castle/stately home with that money in the North. you will still have money left over

I would always go for a south facing garden. and light and airy in a house is so important. go for 2

I wouldn’t spend that kind of money on a semi detached house .

I think your heart says 2. Being brought up in London, semi detached wouldn't bother me as long as the neighbours were nice

I voted for 1 then saw it has a north facing garden.

I can't imagine spending over £1million on a semi

I wouldn’t spend so much money on a house that is dark with a weird configuration if I didn’t have the funds to change that. It’s a lot to spend and I’d want to love it!
Is there much difference in the sq footage between the two options? Or just the fact that one is detached and one is semi?
On balance I’d choose the south facing semi because you prefer it.
Whatever the budget, there is always a compromise, which sounds mad at that price point, but it’s true. If your budget doesn’t buy a high spec, detatched house with a south facing garden in the specific area of your choice, I guess you decide which aspect you are happy to compromise on.

House 2

Semi. It would cost £££ to get the other up to the same spec. I went from detached to terraced and it's been fine.

forget it all and buy an actual castle/stately home with that money in the North. you will still have money left over

ha I wished! my work is down here unfortunately...I do drool over those houses on rightmove though...

Whatever the budget, there is always a compromise, which sounds mad at that price point, but it’s true

so true...

Being brought up in London, semi detached wouldn't bother me as long as the neighbours were nice

this is what I think too - will be stealth monitoring the neighbour situation :D

come to think about it, it is not so much about me worrying that it is a semi, but more about the “stigma” (too strong a word I guess). When people say they would never buy a semi , or that a detached is for life and semi is a halfway in between... so if we wanted to resell we would be limiting our market (though I dont think we would not sell for a long time!).

Thank you all, you made me think deeply about this. Will come back to update down the line!

An extension will cost you more than £100k so if that was an immediate plan, house 1 wouldn't be any better than house 2 financially.

A weird layout would put me off though (depending on what you mean by weird).

If you're in London or close by, I honestly don't think many people would blink at buying a semi detached house for £1.2m. It would be very unusual (in my part of London) to see a detached house at all.

I dont think thr whole "semi not for life" applies to london when even a terrace is over a million (in many places). I live near some lovely detached houses but dont have £1.8 to make my dream come true!

Could you post a floor plan?

Detached for me every time. I'd never live in a semi again. I like not having attached neighbours from a noise point of view, both theirs and ours. If you've always been lucky with neighbours you probably won't feel this way.