Moving - which house to go for?

[SilverDoublet]

We are looking at moving locally for a bigger house before our kids start secondary school. We've seen 2 houses, one a doer upper, needs new extension, roof etc. But right beside school, 2 min walk, shops and bus stop too.
The other in walk in condition but further from school, 25 min walk, not near shops and bus stops.
Both would end up costing roughly the same altogether.
Which would you go for!?

Are you project people, or not?

Twenty five minute walk to school is fine. To be honest, being two minutes away would be a negative for me, unless it was down a side street, away from the main thoroughfare.

Buses - do you realistically use these, or would you drive everywhere?

Shops - is there a convenience store/corner shop near the second house? How often do you go shopping?

For me, I would go for number two. Number one sounds like too much hassle for me - roof, extension etc.

Is the doer upper cheaper to buy, but the work needed will make it roughly the same price as the other? Is there likely to be work needed that isn’t immediately apparent?
Which one do you instinctively prefer?
Is the school the one you want your children to go to and how long before you need to apply for a place?

I don’t think a 25 minute walk is unreasonable at secondary age, providing you meet the distance criteria.

That’s a really good point about being too close. Will that block the roads when it’s pick up time? Our local secondary is on a main road that is always blocked from 2.40-3.20. Cars waiting to get into school grounds and silly parents parking anywhere, including lay-bys, side of roads, double yellows. It’s mayhem.

I would 100% get the house that’s a 25 mins walk, your kids are old enough to walk that distance.

Yes that's including doing the work and we might get it to a better standard with builders than the one that's already done up, as it looks a bit DIY. My children are in the school already, 7 more years left there. I love the one that's ready to move into, but I love the location of the other one!

No, the school has a car park and the house is down a quiet road, so I really wouldn't see it being a problem. Especially cos you can easily walk and get the bus / cycle.

I'd go for the doer-upper, you can improve the house but being close to school would make life much easier.

Not really project people, have done it before a couple of times and just want to enjoy my life at this stage as we are busy with kids, so if we go for the project we would be getting a builder to do it.
House is on a quiet road off main road beside school and school has a car park.
I often use buses, but it's not very convenient where we are at the moment with the kids.

If you're up for a project, the doer up. Whilst 25 minutes is fine to walk to school, if it's not near a bus or any amenities, you'll have probably end up having to taxi them around a bit when they are teenagers. Giving teenagers independence is priceless.

If you’ve checked it out at school drop off and pick up time, that’s great. If not yet, I would definitely do that once half term is over. Make sure no one uses the quiet road to park.

I'd hate to live very close to a school because of busy roads/cluttered parking

But if you're sure they're not busy because of the school car park AND you like a project, then buy doer upper

For me being a 25 min walk away would be better. Get those steps in! Plus quieter. I live on a village high street and hate it now, I’m annoyed by the noise and people more as I’ve got older. It’s not the traffic as such. It’s the fact that the shop round the corner has their industrial bins emptied at 4am and their bin lorry wakes me up, it’s kids hanging around screaming, people walking back from the pub drunk at night and shouting.

but if you think it’s a quiet street and that’s unlikely then go for it. I’d also never buy another doer upper again! It’s exhausting .

As mentioned in a lot in threads, doer upper prices are rarely discounted enough to cover the cost of the remediation work, and from what I have seen, never discounted enough if you are not DIY’ing it all yourself.
A £50k extension 6 years ago is now a £100k extension. Bathrooms, kitchens, driveways etc, all double what you think.
Location usually trumps condition though, long term.