Which house would you choose and why

[whichkindof]

Two houses, one 1930’s detached, large garden and drive, garage, lots of modernisation needed, rooms not very big but bags of (expensive potential) it’s on a main road out of town. We have a cat and young kids.

The other house, Victorian semi, all done up gorgeous, smaller garden because it’s closer to town (side street in town) cellar, 6 bedrooms, 3 storeys, no garage or drive. Plus it’s 100k cheaper than the other.
It’s also opposite a social club. Next door has been converted into flats (some kind of house share ?)

I love them both but the characteristics and price are making me keen towards the second house. I need some sound advice please !!

How out of town is house 1? Easily walkable? Can the kids get to school under their own steam? Would you be having to drive everywhere?
Does house 1 have enough bedrooms?
What is the main road like? Bumper to bumper full of buses, or fairly light use?

You’re so much keener on house 2 you’ve barely described house 1 😁

Do you need extra bedrooms for office space / laundry / regular guests?
What’s the parking like at house 2? A drive is a big advantage if you can have one. Depends totally on the area / commuter parking / neighbours. If there are flats / shared houses / social club locally, there’ll be a lot of other people parking on the road.

Gun to my head, property 2. But in reality I'd keep looking. Renovations with kids is hell.

Every child can have a bedroom from the get go in house 2. The garden is used 3 weeks of the year, realistically, so it doesn't really matter if it's smaller unless you're a VERY keen gardener.

How active is the social club? Have you been there in the evenings/at night?

Six-bed terraced houses are quite common where I live. They would be very desirable, and no one has a drive or garage. Better to be closer towards the centre than to be in the suburbs.

Opposite a boozer, semi, no garage or proper parking, ????

So house 1 the rooms are pretty small, hence we’d need to do a double storey extension, which would cost a fortune, OR loft conversion. Road is pretty busy, it has a crossing outside the house, busier in rush hour obviously. I do love it though, lovely big drive and garden, lovely frontage, it has charm and original feature still as hasn’t been touched. The owner though thinks it’s worth more than it is !!

second house will give us more space inside, due to being in town right by the huge park, the road is quieter but has the social club… and yeah the multiple occupancy thing worries me a little ! But on the other hand we wouldn’t have to spend any money, and it’s 100k cheaper than house 1.

It’s a weekend place more than anything

Still, I'd visit at night.

My neighbours only socialise at the weekend too, but that means I'm feeling murderous towards their teenagers at 1am every Saturday 🤣

It's kind of sounding like you want property 1 now though 👀

Sounds like an extra 100k or something to get house 1 how you want it. Feels like a very big gulf between house 1 costs and house 2 costs. Can you afford house 1 with renovations?

Neither.

House one is a money out and is on a main road.

House two will suffer noise from town and no parking is a massive problem.

Neither. I’ve lived on a busy road and I absolutely hated it. The first house would scare me, with all the work. Personally I would look for something newer in a quieter area, not opposite a social club.

Neither. I’d keep looking.

Dh is going to do a stake out on property 2 😆
the social club doesn’t bother me to be honest it’s next door more than anything not knowing who could be coming to live there at any time, are they noisy? Are they nightmare neighbours ? We have young kids to think about too. The home at the moment is a family home, lots of toys in the pictures. She is downsizing.

property 2, only a 10 minute walk into town so not an issue at all. It’s the costs that worry me though. It’s not something we could do outright, we’d have to save for a couple of years

Definitely not 2. We lived opposite a social club. Was a nightmare with live bands or parties, discos, karaoke all summer with the windows open the kids couldn't sleep. Hated it. Loved living very close to town, on a main road wasn't a problem most of the time.

I’d never get a house on a main road with a cat unless you’re prepared to re-home. It’s basically inevitable unless you’re incredibly lucky that the cat will get run over.

I think house 2 sounds nice, the compromise is clearly parking and perhaps space but I’d live with that for a quiet house and not having to worry about pets.

House 3 ie keep looking.

House 2 definitely. Victorian houses are normally much prettier than 1930s, and the location sounds better. You can live with a small garden, especially if near a park. A quiet social club sounds liveable. Being next to flats wouldn’t bother me, as I’ve spend most of my adult life living in flats.

Don’t buy anything that needs work. We’re doing relatively light renovations on a 1920s terraced house at the moment and to do everything the bill would be £250k. We’re compromising at doing up the main rooms and nothing structural. If you want a double story extension on house 1 then I’m sure the bill will be at least that. Renovation costs are crippling atm.

And yes in London many people live incredibly happily with their families in terraces with small gardens, no drive, and on street parking. That wouldn’t bother me at all.

House B, for sure!

Because of the fact you don't need to renovate and you love the way it is done up currently. That makes a big, big difference in my opinion. You can move in, unpack and get on with life. It also sounds lovely. I don't really care about not living in a detached house (I don't think I've ever lived in a detached or even semi detached house), and also, having a cellar is a great bonus. You could turn part of it into a laundry room, for example.

I'm another one saying neither - carry on looking.

I'd go for detached over a semi, but the main road would put me off the first house.

The semi with flats next door/some sort of HMO set up will likely be noisy at some point. Plus the social club over the road could create a lot of noise too.

I would also never buy a house without offroad parking if I could afford it.

Just because you have a permit doesn't mean you'll be able to park anywhere near your own house.

That said, if it's truly only a choice between these two properties, I'd take a busy road over a semi with an HMO/flats next door.

Neither.

I'm put off house one with lots of work required, a big garden (takes a lot of time maintaining) and more than anything the main road, especially if you've got a cat that goes out (fencing and a locked gate could keep small children safe in the back garden though).

Unless you can easily park in the road and social club is a nice village local, then that wouldn't be for me either.

If you can't afford the renovations on house 1 right away - I'd definitely keep looking. With house two the house share/HMO next door would bother me more than the social club. I mean - the house sharers now might be perfectly fine - but in 6/12 months you have no idea what you might have. It's just a risk for me personally.

Does it HAVE to be one of these two? There are plenty of comments on here saying carry on looking - so you need to bear in mind that with either house re-sale in the future might be tricky.

House 2 for me every day.

I wouldn't be enthused about being next to flats but at the same time I have 3 kids and 2 pets that sound like falling elephants when charging down the stairs so I'm in no position to throw stones at glass houses lol.

I also would worry about damp in the cellar but I would choose that over a small 30s house any day.

No it doesn’t have to be one of these two, but we’re looking in a small radius really not far from our current by one so as you can imagine I’ve searched and searched ! Also we won’t go for a new build due to no characteristics so that limits us too.
yes I think the flats are putting me off

I feel oddly invested in your purchase!

If you pinky promise not to strip out and wreck the character of the first house when you renovate it then go for that! Start with a loft conversion and work out way down.

@PickledElectricityI would never ! I love the stained glass and original doors, it just needs updating. A mix of old and new. Lovely parquet flooring, a little art deco in the hallway maybe. I can see it now 😍