PLEEEASE HELP CHOOSE HOUSE! Links included!

[heldinadream]

Dear House-discerning mumsnetters, I need your help!
Choosing (we think and hope) between two houses, in Bristol.
HOUSE ONE. Beautiful and up together with a couple of minor things that would need doing/tweaking. Really special house in lots of ways. Brilliant garden, not massive but lovely.
HOUSE TWO. Bigger. More rooms. Some aesthetically fine, some not but totally liveable with. Smaller garden all paved so we’d be taking up paving and trying to create a garden.
REQUIREMENTS. I’m going to be 70 next year, DH is 77, but we are both fit, well, and energetic (well him more than me in some ways 😂). So this is our last house.
I NEED a garden. Where we live now it’s minute and I need more.
I NEED an art room or space and a writing room or space, can both be in the same room but I need SPACE.

We’ve sold our house and complete in 2 weeks and are moving into a rental. LOOOONG story but we’ve been looking since last December, mucked around by buyers, couldn’t bear the thought of losing this buyer so we’re moving out so she can move in, so we really, really can’t keep on and on looking. In this time we’ve lost 3 houses that I LOVED. I want to love my next house, I really do. Or make it into my lovable house fairly quickly.
Both houses same price and similar location.
So it comes down to this – house one I would love straight away and have an amazing art room, truly special. But it is on the main road so there could be noise issues, especially in the summer, and the rest of the space is more limited, even though lovely. Smaller kitchen but great utility room. Much, much better garden. House two I could have 2 art rooms (one to work in one to store art materials) and a writing room AND a guest room and still space to do everything else. Much bigger kitchen, no utility but not really needed because kitchen big enough. Both have a garage (for storage, we are leaving one behind so need this).

We absolutely cannot spend big bucks after the move. Some but not big.
So I guess the question is – could I love house 2 and make the garden something good, and so gain all the rooms and space? I crave enough space. I’ve never, ever had enough space.
Or should we go for gorgeous, less space, but already gorgeous garden, but on main road? ARGH! There’s no complicated chains so the consideration is choosing the right house, nothing else.
We wanted to decide today. We’ve only just seen these two today (I knew they were both good).We only lost house 3 that I loved about 3 weeks ago.
HELP!

HOUSE ONE - GORGEOUS HOUSE.
3 bedroom house for sale in Wells Close, Whitchurch, Bristol, BS14 (rightmove.co.uk)

HOUSE TWO - LOTS OF ROOMS.
4 bedroom semi-detached house for sale in Petherton Road, Hengrove, Bristol, BS14 (rightmove.co.uk)

House one is lovely and would be my pick. House two is not the nicest to look at (sorry). It needs lots of work and the back garden is small. It also looks very overlooked and the downstairs layout isn’t doing it for me

House 2 looks like a nightmare to heat - there's a lot of surface area and I bet those dormers especially are cold. Conservatory will also pour out heat in the wintertime. House 1 certainly looks like a better bet in that respect.

@Purplecatshopaholic yes. But...garden?

I'm not sure. Sometimes you just get a gut feeling.

I think what this is telling you (and I don't blame you for not wanted to hear it)
is that neither house is actually the one.

Scrap them both and start over...

One is lovely. But it's all just decoration really. No reason you can't make number 2 look just as smart.

Mobility wise if this is going to be your last house then in number 1 you risk having a huge area of garden you can't get to. The house itself isn't very accessible.

Number 2 on the other hand has a downstairs bathroom already and plenty of scope to turn a room downstairs on to a bedroom if needed later in life while retaining plenty of reception space and having your bedrooms upstairs for visiting family.

The garden will be harder work to create but again you'll have a manageable patch that you can enjoy for years to come without worrying about stairs.

I would go number 2.

If it was either or, house 2.
However both will suffer from terrible noise pollution. One basically is on a main road, the other opposite a large industrial estate.

If you absolutely had to.buy one of them.then house 2 - it's got more potential.

But I don't think either are right for you. I would keep.looking

House one, to get 2 up to a similar spec as one if that's what you like, will take time and money, I'd use that money and put over if those garden pods/workspaces at the end of the garden in one, you've still got a lovely patio/lawn area and to have the flexible studio type space would not only be good for you but will add value. One is lovely, so light.

This.
DH and are looking to move within the next year and this is a key consideration for us (having had MIL declining in a beautiful but VERY inconvenient house).

House 1 is much nicer than House 2, but the awkward access to the front door would really put me off.

I think you need to find House 3...

At your age if your future proofing then 2 is better as you have a downstairs bathroom and it’s easy to turn a room into a bedroom but I don’t like the garden

looks wise 1 is much nicer I think
for one moment I thought it was the house next door to my sons house in Whitchurch 😂 but that’s not finnished yet

the more i look at those garden steps
and then read you’re 70 and your husband is 77
the more i think…. bad idea Op

Out of interest OP did you look at this -as has a good room for what you are talking about plus nice garden and in very good order- and kind of area you are looking

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/153306302#/?channel=RES_BUY

I also don't think either fit what you described. I thought house 1 looked very claustrophobic!

I've clocked it but not seriously considered it. 400,000 is our top end, and this is 425 with no garage. The garage is the extra recep converted. If it had a garage or was cheaper so we could add a garden room, for instance...
But might be worth seeing.

Neither.

They are not suitable for your last home when your DH is nearly 80.

I'm close to this time of life so it isn't being ageist. So many of my friends have moved into unsuitable properties had a couple of years and then if lucky have moved again, but most have struggled with an unsuitable house.

House 1, the steps rule it out.

You need to think about the next 10+ years. Room for a downstairs bedroom, bathroom on one floor, access to garden that is flat.

House 2 is not suitable, mainly because of the garden and work needed

I'm inclining that way too. And not having a downstairs bathroom.

I prefer house 1 of the 2 but I also think you're in a really good position to keep looking.

The road noise is a big unknown and I think you should investigate that a bit more. I just looked, it's RIGHT on that road and that isn't going to change. Don't do it!

i missed that

in that case NO NO and NO

I’d choose House 1 for sure, but I’m years younger than you. At your age I’d be looking for something different than either of those houses.

I know. All Glasto traffic goes down that road! 😂

Considering the first thing you said you "NEED" is a garden, I can't see why house 2 would ever give you that. I can only see a smallish yard on that house.

House 2. We've cared for two sets of parents who lost mobility fairly catastrophically. One set were super fit into their 80s, but once they weren't their three-floor house was a serious issue. When we moved we chose a house with a downstairs bathroom that could be turned into a walk-in wet room and a downstairs study that could become a bedroom - we were in our late 30s but taking no chances!

Also, I genuinely like House 2 much more though I don't know the respective areas.

I feel like you want to choose house two, but you feel like you should choose house 1.

Road noise you will get used to and the space is lovely.

House 2 outside space just isn't the same, no matter what you do with it.

I'd choose house 1 as it will be more economical to run, and the outside is lush.

@Tupster It's actually AT LEAST 4 times bigger than our current 'garden' and if we got rid of the paving I could make it nice.
But it is - for me - the biggest downside of this house.
We keep seeing shit houses with lovely or large gardens or shit gardens with lovely or large houses.
These two are closer to middle ground than any others except the 3 we lost.