Which house would you choose?

[OverwhelmedAndUnderprepared]

Help! I have been house hunting for months and there was very little of interest on the market, now I am in a position of potentially having 3 to choose from, and struggling a bit. Which would you choose?

All houses are in the same village, which we have chosen for the schools and general location (proximity/transport links to nearby city for work). We have 2 primary age children.

A. Beautiful large detached 1930s house, with a beautiful large garden. Located on outskirts of village so further from the school (1.5 miles) and garden backs onto field but also distant view of busy A-road from end of garden.
Owner is a retired lady who has furnished and decorated it beautifully but some things wouldn't be hugely practical for us so we would want to make a few changes. However it's the absolute top of our budget so large mortgage payments and we wouldn't necessarily be able to spend lots of money on changes and redecoration, we'd have to do it gradually. It is more than liveable though and has a "forever home" feel about it.

B. Large detached house with large garden, not sure when it was originally built, has been extended/renovated and wouldn't need much doing to it. Very well located in centre of village, 0.6 miles to the school. Only downside is road is slightly busier than the others (it's on a bus route and there is some through traffic). Within budget.

C. Semi-detached house with medium size garden, built around 1930s-1940s, we would want to do a lot of work to it. Well under budget so could afford extensive renovations and renting elsewhere while we do them. Main advantage of this house is that it's on my favourite street in the village, quiet and friendly with lots of families with children. As we are new to the village it would be nice to make friends with some neighbours. Reasonably central in the village, 0.8 miles to the school.

C is my favourite location but I'm torn about the renovations, part of me would love a project and would love to make the house exactly how I want it, but I am also aware of the stress and disruption, and probably shouldn't be embarking on it given that moving house will be challenging enough.

DH really wants a detached house so he is leaning towards B.

We actually already made an offer on A, before B and C came on the market, so we need to decide whether to withdraw our offer. Argh!

Sorry just seen you've made a good decision already, fingers crossed for you it all goes to plan.

B
A will likely end up with a housing estate next door at some point
C always go detached if you have the option to

B, nice and central being close to a bus route may well be really handy when the children are a bit older.

B. That bus route will come on handy when your kids are older and the house sounds much more future proof in general than C.
.

I would go for B simply because of the distance from schools etc. if C was a detached I would be up for the renovation although it won’t be easy as so hard to find tradesmen these days,

Sounds as if you have gone for B, good luck!
Just wondering (with my appeals chair hat on) if the nearby school actually has places available? B will put you higher up the waiting list

Dont go semi

a or B

Fingers x the vendors of house B like and get the house they want.

Thanks. We don't live too far away, we're in the city atm and this is a village just outside the city. We're moving for the schools and more space. Been wanting to do it for so long, it'll be brilliant if we can finally pull it off! 🤞

Yes there are 2 primary schools in the village, and the one we prefer currently has space in DC1's year group (though I am anxious to exchange contracts and secure their place at the school in case the spaces get taken).

DC2 is due to start school next September (2025) so ideally we would exchange contracts in time to use new address on the application, in which case we'd be in catchment. I think they'll have spaces though as we know people who got in this year and are out of catchment.

Thank you, yes that's what we are hoping!
One of the reasons we put in our offer immediately is so they can say they are under offer if they decide to offer on that one.

Would A mean children would be driven everywhere…. To school, brownies etc? Would that make a difference?

One of the reasons I want to move to this village in particular is so I don't end up driving the kids everywhere! They could cycle around the village and get a bus into the city, whichever house we go for. But B and C are more central in the village so easier for kids to walk to school, meet up with friends and go to activities etc.

I'm having a wobble now, wondering if none of the houses are quite right.
A - location not ideal
B - not beautiful, not a period property, I don't feel the same about it as I felt about A, and also the house and garden are both really big and it worries me that it's all a lot to manage.

Gah. I think we need a second viewing of B and hopefully that'll help.

Really feel,for you. Hope lots of people will come on soon to help you.

I think it's rare to find a house that ticks all the boxes, 100%.

Remember when you posted yesterday you said you loved B. So you must have really liked it. Have they accepted your offer? Big gardens can be low maintenance, get a robot mower!

B might not be a period property but honestly I live in one and the repairs and the damp, etc. I’d buy a more modern one next time! 😁

Thank you. No news on our offer but I'm not surprised as it's only just gone on the market and there are more viewings so I expect they'll wait to see what happens after those. I might try and arrange a second viewing within the next few days just to confirm we definitely love it and hopefully stop having a wobble!

Also... robot mowers are a thing?! Awesome!

Our neighbour has a massive garden. It’s all to lawn. They never do anything apart from charge the robot mower up. I see it trundling around 😁

I'd go with B due to the bus route

This robot mower is a social media and TripAdvisor star:
www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/edinburgh-mound-robot-lawn-mower-21407143

Haha!

Small update. Seller of house A has accepted our offer. Agents selling house B are really annoying me because they are being completely unhelpful about arranging a second viewing. At the first viewing the owner showed us around and just talked non stop basically, we were there for an hour. Nice guy but I feel I need to go back when he is not there (ie just with an agent) so that I can have some headspace to take it in and imagine myself living there. Have explained this to the agent. Agent has no availability for a viewing except at very limited times that DH and I can't do. We have requested other times but either the agent isn't available or it's not convenient for the owner. ARGH! It shouldn't be this hard to arrange a viewing when we are potentially spending £££ on a house! (Seriously it's a huge amount of money.) It's annoyed me so much I am considering withdrawing the offer. FFS.

That’s so annoying for you