Would you buy a bungalow with young children?

[hummingbird12]

Just that really!
We're going to look at a bungalow this evening. It's in the area we're desperate to live in. 2 minute walk to our DC's current primary school.

The location is lovely. Great primary and secondary school options. Houses in the area don't come up often and usually out of budget. The bungalow has a great garden and is down a quiet little lane which we love.

We are currently in a 3 bed semi, small garden (although a good size house) with on street parking 10 minute drive from school.

The bungalow is only a two bed but the plan would be to get rid of of the conservatory and do a brick built extension for an open plan kitchen/living/dining area and then turn the current kitchen into a 3rd bedroom.
Will include a floor plan.

Just wanted to further opinions before we go to the viewing ☺️

I much prefer being in a flat to a house with my toddler

We have a bungalow. Moved in when eldest (now 36) was toddler. They are great, especially now when I have mobility issues and we don/ have to move.
My only slight caution would be children climbing stairs. I grew up in bungalow, my granny had bungalow, my primary was all on one level. First time I had to deal with stairs on regular basis was tower block at secondary school. For first couple of terms I had to go up on hands and knees...not a good look for 11-year old and led to ridicule.

We loved it.
The location and the gardens are perfect.
It needs some modernising and re jigging inside but it's been very well kept.
It's a probate sale and the family still go round a mow the lawns etc

Good luck, op!

Sounds brilliant and like you think it’s your one!

My parents moved to a bungalow when I was 2 and it was a great family home. In fact it was quite a shock to the system when I had my DC in a house and had to deal with stair safety and small children and up & down toilet dilemmas.

Very happy for you! Feel sure you will love it.

Yes, I live in a country where what you call a bungalow (the word means a different thing here) is the norm. I would hate to live in a house with stairs, it's so much easier having everything on the same level.

I did 🙋‍♀️

We are in bungalow with our DC 7 and 3 years old. We converted the loft so the kids rooms are upstairs and our bedroom and guestroom/playroom are downstairs. It suits us.

My husband was very sceptical about buying one when we were looking for our first house 12 years ago but when it came to move the second time round, he had mellowed about the idea and tbh, the only house we could afford in the area we wanted was likely to be a bungalow that needed updating and renovating.

This is exactly our situation. Our dc are the same age too!
There is a new build estate just round the corner but they're very expensive and tiny gardens etc

I own a bungalow and have two preschoolers. We're currently mid-build/rejig and it's been a lot of work but I can really see how it's going to work for our family. I bought mine for the brilliant garden, the parking, the garage, the location and the potential. We do have the clear one side for living/one side for sleeping, and I'm adding a door at the top of the corridor that leads from the living space to the bedrooms. I keep thinking back to when I was constantly carrying two babies up and down stairs and thinking how much easier it would have been on the bungalow.

For us a small garden was deal breaker. The existing bungalows near me mostly have generous gardens. I do like a new build but, yes, the smaller rooms and smaller gardens really aren't great.

I was partly raised in apartments and a bungalow and I loved it! I'm now living in a bungalow and despite all the work that needs doing here I absolutely love it!

I think your DC will love it!

We have got a bungalow and we’ve put 2 dormers upstairs we now have 3 beds and a shower room upstairs and the downstairs we have a kitchen diner, another shower room and effectively 3 living rooms, which works really well with older kids having their friends round. It cost about £110k

I've not read other people's responses so this might have been said already, but having moved into a bungalow a couple of years back with a primary aged child, just be aware that noise really carries in a bungalow. If we have friends over, or are up late, we feel we have to creep about to reduce noise. However, our layout is different (all rooms off a central hallway) so it may not be an issue for you.

We live in a much smaller bungalow so it's a bit tough.
I do think that is great living in bungalow with children though and would live in this bungalow in a heartbeat. It looks really spacious (even though there are people saying it's too small for a family 😜) and there's lots of potential for a third bedroom.

That is also true.

Would you mind me asking if £110k was just for adding two dormers, building a staircase and insulating upstairs?
Or did you also have to move any load bearing walls etc.

I'm glad you like it!
Before you commit, do have someone look at the possibility of the planned rejig:
The floor plan looks like a square bungalow with an extension across the back for utility/en suite/dressing room (which means a double skin wall if you want to move those arches you'll need a lintel) and that they have already converted the garage to a lounge and added a conservatory. The more work has been done the more likely your builder is likely to come across things that you weren't expecting (uneven foundation depths etc) so just in case make sure you get someone experienced.
If I've misread the floor plan and it's all contemporaneous then bob's your uncle 😀.

Thanks everyone for the tips!!
The vendors and EA so far have been great.
We really love it. Our house hasn't sold yet as only went on the market a couple of days ago (EA and vendor knew we were just starting the process before we viewed)

We made an offer this morning subject to selling our house and the vendor has accepted stating they will mark it as sold for 6 weeks to give us a chance to sell.
Estate agent is confident we will get a quick turnaround on ours. Planning a second viewing in couple of weeks.

We had a walk round that way today with dc and the dog and it feels right. The location is so great for us and a very private lovely big garden. We feel very lucky and just keeping our fingers crossed everything goes right now

DH is confident we can do the building work we want to within budget also. We don't plan to do the loft conversion anytime soon but it's an option when dc become teens

How exciting @hummingbird12

Ds is just entering the world of work and is adamant that when he starts out on the property ladder he wants a bungalow. His friends are all laughing at him but I don’t think it’s such a daft idea!

Very exciting, OP! Best of luck to you.

Yes. We almost did. It’s normal in the US and Australia I think.
very few of them round here

I'd have kitchen as bedroom and bedroom 1 as part of new kitchen extend across to make large open plan then have current lounge reduced to a third bedroom