Bigger v small property

[Nimbus1999]

We’re talking small scale here - terraced v semi detached.

So I have a low budget so not much in my price range. I’ve found a couple that could work and my options seem to be:

(A) Buy a semi-detached at the top of my budget. Bigger property and enough bedrooms for everyone. Mortgage and running costs will be more. The semi needs significant modernisation (same family been there for 50 years!). After the move, I’ll have about £2k in my bank and I can’t afford to save monthly. I do get an annual bonus that could use for renovations (although would take many many years to cover all the work!).

(B) A much smaller terraced property without enough bedrooms but scope to extend into loft. A lot cheaper to buy and run. Would have savings left after the purchase. Other than painting to freshen up a bit (and loft conversion one day!) no major renovation works needed. Could muddle through with the bedroom situation.

Would I be mad to chose option (B) rather than (A)? WWYD?

I’m divorcing with 4 children and we’ve reached a settlement (which unfortunately isn’t enough for a suitable house).

Also, would be down to me to do/pay for renovations. I don’t have any family etc who can help (although might be able to rope some friends in!)

Thanks!

I’m not sure I’d consider it a forever home but definitely itself a stop gap for 10 years. To find my feet, save, be comfortable and try to give the children a decent childhood.

None of the rooms are big. 2 will share the master room, me & youngest daughter the middle sized room and secondary school age daughter the box room. And if loft conversion, 2 would go in loft, eldest daughter master room, youngest stay put and me the box room! So at least I’ll have a private place to sleep! There is no downstairs reception - just the lounge and a kitchen both will be fully used.

The issue is my budget is very small so not many houses come up (I’ve been looking for ages!) and I’m fearful prices will go up once interest rates cut. So if I can’t do it now, I’ll never be able to do it. Rent is so expensive I’d end up eating into equity (unless I rent a 2 bedroom) just to survive month to month so that doesn’t seem like a good option either.

It sounds like you want B more. But 77sqm is absolutely tiny for that many people.

Are there any flats near you that would get you more space for the money? Not ideal with kids but neither is 77sqm.

No I dont think you should share with a child and your older daughter have box room, that doesn’t make sense to me, what about the privacy of the one who’s sharing with you? No one wants to tell their friends they share with their mum.
Plenty of kids sleep 3 to a room.
If you’re planning to stay for 10 years/your children’s childhood it is an important decision and is effectively your forever home.

Honestly it doesn’t sound like either is right for you. But Im coming round to the larger unmodernised home.

Can you rent temporarily (somewhere very small would be fine) and keep looking?

Are there any shared ownership places around that would enable you to get a bigger house? Typically you own a proportion of the house and pay rent for the rest. Obviously that's not ideal, but might help you get the size house that you really need.

My youngest shares a bed with me every night now (her choice) and barely goes in her room (plays downstairs) so it wouldn’t be too much difference. And only until I can get loft done.

I don’t want to live in a 75sm home - but the financial stress of the bigger one and the renovations is putting me off. Just wondering whether best to make do. Plenty of people live in small homes…. If it’s relevant, I’m coming from a large 5 bed detached over double the size. Not sure that has brought happiness though.

No shared ownership unless I totally move area and schools and away from their Dad.

If getting the attic done is affordable and realistic then that changes things

Would you consider posting the general area to see if anyone can suggest other properties that you might not have spotted, or seen and dismissed?

Hi Op, it’s a tricky one. I bought a 3 bed 84 sqm home last year which I rushed into while interest rates were lower than they are now, we’re a family of four and while everyone has their own bedroom, the size of the house is tiny! It gets me down daily, I’m forever cursing the impracticality of the house, there’s not enough storage, bedrooms and living spaces are so small, and I’m constantly bumping into furniture, catching my clothes on door handles. It also means we don’t have space to have people over. I’m very fortunate to own a home of course but the size of our house makes day to day living a little tricky.

Sorry to hear that. That’s the problem, if you make the wrong decision, you’re stuck with it. Have you any hope of extending? People have done lofts, back extensions, porches and garden rooms around where I’m looking.

We bought our equivalent of house A. It’s been a decade of living in a half finished house because we just can’t afford to finish it. I hate it, even though the house and location are lovely.

Aggggggh! It’s a 50/50 split.

I want to cry!

Sorry you are having to go through this. It’s a very difficult decision.
Feel that if you really like the area of the bigger property then maybe go for that one. I know your kids are still young but looking to the future, kids stay at home forever these days so the bigger house would give you more space and the kids when working could contribute towards the mortgage instead of renting. I get that this does not help you in the short term. Finally this bigger house will increase more in value than the smaller house and you could downsize in 20 years time and the increase in value of the house could be given to your kids to help with deposits for their own homes.

Sending you a very big hug.

Yes, we could extend but having costed everything up, we’d be looking at spending £100k at least to get it to a practical size. We could just extend the kitchen / dining area but that would cost £50k and doesn’t solve for the small upstairs. We’ve come to conclusion that now is not a good time to do large scale renos unless you have a very healthy budget and headroom - the cost of materials and labor are sky high, the cost of borrowing is also sky high. Maybe things will come down in the next year or so but I’d sooner go with a house which requires cosmetic updates which can be done over time, where you don’t need to rely on extensions and conversions to make it liveable day to day.

Neither is suitable really.

The semi leaves you no money for emergencies. What if the boiler goes up it or your annual bonus dries up?

The terraced leaves you no room.

You haven't given your budgets but sometimes the only real option is to move out of the area if work allows it (wfh etc). It sounds like a shit option but to me at least you need to seriously look at it.

A sounds as if it's a money pit. You don't have enough money to fix anything that goes wrong. It sounds so stressful that I'd discount it right now. B is very small, but as your daughter is already sharing with you, that's fine for now. You do have solutions. You could have a sofa bed in the living room for you, you can have a cabin in the garden for extra living space and the potential loft extension. The important thing is to be financially secure and not overstretch yourself. I've been in your situation and bought the larger house. I never finished it. It was cold and cost a fortune in bills and repairs and when I could no longer cope with everything and had to give up work for a while it was a nightmare. If I'd bought a smaller house the council tax, heating bills etc. would have been much easier to cope with.

B. Definitely. You don't want to be stressing about money all the time.
You say you can afford a garden room? I know someone who sleeps in one while the children have the bedrooms.

What are the ages and sex of your children?
How much time do you all spend at home?
Will B leave you more money for leisure activities that get you out of the house?
I think it could work but it does to some extent depend on your lifestyle.

Yes B would def leave me more money for activities - the council tax / insurance / gas / mortgage are much cheaper so I’ll have more day to day cash. We spend a lot of time at home as I’ve been too poor (due to the crippling mortgage) to do much and haven’t had a car (long story). I currently 50/50 co parent also so kids are with their Dad. New arrangement though so no guarantees it will stay this way so want to plan for all possibilities. I can afford a garden room now as this one is £50,000 cheaper than the other one.

It’s a real split with people having differing opinions and experiences In similar situations. This has been helpful though so thanks everyone.

I’d go B. I had to downsize to a tiny terrace after I divorced. The lack of space gets me down BUT I don’t have to worry about bills and running costs and heating the house like I would if I was in a bigger place. Also look ahead to when one day the children start leaving home. Which house would you want to stay in?

Finally this bigger house will increase more in value than the smaller house

That's a general rule of thumb, but if the house hasn't really been touched for 40-50 years, just the general maintenance is going to be a rolling programme, let alone renovations and improvements. OP could end up with a money pit that's never pleasant to live in and when she came to sell, would have to take a hit on the state of the place.

I sympathise, the transition from such a large home to one not big enough is going to be hard. One solution may be spending more on creative furniture.
Could you do out the biggest bedroom for three children seeing as the youngest barely uses hers and then create a study bedroom for the eldest? If the little one did come in with you fair enough, but you'd establish from the start that she has her own space.

Googling for small space living and three children sharing one bedroom, it brings up lots of ideas. Triple bunk beds where two come off a wall vertically and one is horizontal across the top, or small singles at 2'6" might help, depending obviously on the size of the main bedroom.

I'd also get a good quality sofa bed for the living room.

If you went for that option and had small but beautiful, it might be more saleable in the future than a larger home that needed work.

Not trying to make things more difficult for you but your kids will get bigger all the time this taking up more space as they get older.

Great to hear from someone in a similar boat who is managing even if not perfect. The terraced feels more bright and airy compared to the semi and has a bigger garden (by a little bit!) and is not overlooked from behind. More “green” in the general area too which is nice. I might be deluded but perhaps more of a community in terraced houses? When I visited, everyone seemed to know each other. Equally though, you could have a nightmare neighbour and privacy/noise is an issue.

There are so many pros and cons! For all the good points for one there is an equal number of bad points!!

I think in my heart, I don’t want to be financially stretched anymore so that’s why I’m thinking option (B). But am just checking I’m not totally bonkers!