Stick or twist? Modern & rural or period character in village

[competentadult]

Now that the youngest child has gone to uni, we have been dithering over whether or not to move. We’ve lived in our modern house in the country for 10 years. It's attractive, we’ve done a lot to it and it meets our needs but we still have a pretty big mortgage (now borderline crippling, since Truss). It has gorgeous views but it’s on an exposed hill, the garden faces north and we have to drive everywhere.

We have just viewed a place in the centre of a nearby village. The house is a similar size but it's 17th century with original wonky floors and lots of character. Little sheltered south-facing garden. The environment is lovely – beautiful village, views of the church, great pub, good little shops etc all 2 minutes' walk from the (gorgeous) front door.

It would cut our remaining mortgage in half meaning that we could pay it off in 5 years with lower payments. My husband adores it and would move in tomorrow. I have never lived in a very old house and although I love the quirks, I am worried about it being cold and draughty.

If we don’t seize this opportunity - while we’ve both still got jobs - to get a good-sized house we can afford in a lovely place, it might never come again. But I’m also worried I’d be making a mistake leaving our warm, insulated house for one with electric heating and single-glazed (albeit beautiful sash) windows.

What to do?

Not quite the same, but we had a similar dilemma when we moved to our current house. We were moving from a big city to the country and we looked at all kinds of houses of different styles in different locations. We ended up with a "head" house - nice but not hugely characterful detached less than a decade old in a very good location and a "heart" house - huge, listed rambling 200 year old place with a great garden but less desirable postcode. We went with head eventually. I do get a bit wistful sometimes when I drive past the heart house as it is absolutely beautiful, no doubt about that. But we vaguely know the people that it owns now - and make no mistake, it owns them, not vice versa - and it is an absolute money pit, particularly because it is listed and they have to stick with original materials and techniques. I know they have recently had some windows replaced at very high cost as they had to be made individually. I've never asked about their heating bills but I assume they are much higher than ours.
I understand the pull of an old house, and now our children are all away at University or beyond, I do find myself stopping outside estate agents and dreaming. But then I remind myself that we are not getting any younger and that whilst we probably should downsize in the next decade or so, it needs to be somewhere cheaper and easier to run, not a place that makes life harder for us or bleeds us dry. We'll probably look for a modernish place a bit nearer civilisation.
I would look very carefully at the running costs of a very old house. Everyone I know who lives in one seems to be needing things repaired on a regular basis.

We live in an old listed cottage. It has single glazed windows and draughts but we have good heating, which we’re running all day atm and fires for colder evenings. Electric heating would be a hard no for me in this type of house.

A house that old is likely to be a money pit. I’d definitely consider moving but I’d look at more options if you can.

I live in an old listed cottage and love it like a member of my own family, but, dear God it's impractical and expensive! I wouldn't live anywhere else though, they really get into your heart.

For me it would depend on the heating,

I have lived in a seventeenth century cottage and it was cold cold cold

Single glazed, lots of draughts. Our heating bill was massive and that was with not using the lounge and dining room all winter and living in the kitchen/diner.

The last thing we want is a cold money pit... not to replace our big mortgage with massive electricity bills.

It's a mid-terrace cottage, and it's tall and narrowish rather than sprawling, if that makes a difference. Does it?

Is it listed? If so do not touch it! I lived in a listed cottage and whilst it was beautiful it was a bugger. The windows and door were replaced so we had double glazing but they had to be made by artisans and apparently cost a fortune. We were lucky we had central heating

If it's not listed it could be good with gas heating. Are the mains connected? You could replace the windows.

I would be tempted because of where it is and it will reduce your mortgage.

Mid terrace will be warmer. Even if it's listed you can still make improvements to heat if needed. Either secondary or heritage double glazed windows should be possible.

My question would be are there too many floors for when you are old?

We live an old house which is listed.
Your friends are:
Secondary glazing
Curtains over outside doors in winter
A woodstove in the main sitting room
An electric blanket.

It's a big house, but it hasn't cost us a fortune to maintain. To do up, yes; maintain, no.

Also, moving to a house with a small garden in a village with shops will save you having to move later in life when the garden gets too much for you and driving everywhere suddenly looks less appealing.

NB Views of church. Does it have bells? Are they rung regularly? If they are, you can expect as standard 90minutes- 2 hours once a week for practice (including the clashing and banging as learners are slowly inducted into the mysteries of call changes and plain hunt), half an hour on Sundays, and the odd funeral/wedding/peal/quarter peal. Personally I love the sound of bells, but then I ring them, so of course I would!

I lived in a very cold flat once. It also had sash windows, single glazed. It was awful. I thought it would be bad but was never home so figured it would be okay.

I completely underestimated how annoying it would be. It was really hard to keep it anywhere near a civilised temp. The ceilings were high ish and the feeling of the heat being up there was annoying too.

it was also dreadful to try and warm it up if I was away at all, even for a couple of days.

I had no idea if there was a heatwave going on outside. I wouldn't do it again.

my mum's house is quite cold - not as bad as she has double glazing.

but if you're used to the place being warm, I'd say really think how you will feel if you're living in a home that's a pain to heat. I had all the stuff - heavy curtains, draught excluders, etc. It was not fun. In some ways, it was more annoying if you did a 14 hour day and got back and couldn't warm the place up.

Definitely go for the village house. We did it, and absolutely no regrets. It doesn't cost much to maintain, and because we are terraced, it is not particularly expensive or hard to hear. Being in a village as you age is really important.

Single glazed is fine. You will manage. We've lived in single glazed for the last 25 years in this Edwardian house. If necessary you will put on a thermal vest. If you aren't an obsessive gardener and you don't mind next door neighbours it all sounds ideal. If the garden is at least 60ft thats plenty.
It's also fantastic to have shops within walking distance.
This new house isn't going to lose its value unless there is some terrible secret like dry rot or subsidence.
The savings on the mortgage will more than offset the extra heating bill surely??
Our neighbours have just ripped out all their single glazed sashes and replaced with double glazed wooden sashes, it looks good but they won't recoup the investment except when it comes to resale or rental. It isnt essential to double glazed and in some cases the house is ruined aesthetically with unsightly replacement windows

Buy it!!!!

The church has bells and I love them!

It is listed. No gas in the village. I was hoping the heating/electricity bill wouldn't cost more than we save with the reduced mortgage but that is an unknown as I am a novice in this old house business.

The stairs might be unmanageable when we're old, they're quite steep. But I guess we'd move up the road to a retirement bungalow/flat if that happened.

That's interesting about the windows - I had imagined replacing them but the agent mentioned good secondary double glazing too, so it sounds like a better option.

We might!

And then again, I might chicken out.

Mid terraces are warmer than detached or semis.
I live in an 1820 cottage with the original single glazed sash windows, it’s reasonably warm. Thick walls help. We have gas central heating though. My Mils modern architect designed house is actually quite a bit chillier but she does live in a colder place.
The older house sounds much better overall for you, the situation, size, garden etc.

Go for it! Village house sounds great and bills will only be bad for a few months whereas mortgage is every month...

Is there enough room for returning children?

If you’re concerned about running costs you could ask the current owners how much they paid last year for heating oil/electricity. Is there no way of moving to a village to a less old house?

Ime with old houses the bills tend to be high (unless you rely on log burners and source your own logs), but the really crippling thing is the maintenance. If it’s been really well looked after it will cost you much less than if you have to correct years of neglect or bodging.

We have no gas, I had to have an new oil tank fitted (and in a different place so had to be done from scratch). Not sure of your radiator arrangements, but it costs me about £7k - big tank mind you, and I can’t remember if that included the new boiler or if I had that done separately.

I would do the village house!

We did the opposite @competentadult and went from old to new. Different reasons behind it.

At the time I was very resentful for moving into a newer build house but it was the right thing for the family. Honestly. I wouldn't go back now for all the tea in China. Our new home is not full of character but it is warm, functional, minimal upkeep and homely. It has proper built in storage. And it doesn't cost a lot to run and maintain. Looking back our last house was a money pit that would never be 100% right. As soon as you had sorted one thing the next thing needed doing and then back round again.

Think very carefully about an older property but by all means move to somewhere you love.

Not for me OP. Can stand a cold house

Yes, plenty of bedroom space

We have oil in our current rural house but there is no scope for oil in the village house - nowhere to put a tank without having to deliver through the house.

If it had central heating I'd be less hesitant but the storage heaters fill me with dread.

Nor me. I think I'm a run cold type person though and probably have the heating up higher than others. I'd rather be too hot than too cold.

The village part sounds dead appealing though, so even if you don't go for this house, it sounds like you should be starting to look at cheaper village houses that might suit you more now your kids have left home.

Well I’m not a fan of modern or in the sticks so I’d definitely go period village 😄 sounds perfect!