Which property would you choose? aghhhh

[sarral]

Hi,
so ultimately I know only we can decide which one, but we're going round in circles so much that I think we're losing the plot with it all🤦

Out of interest what would you do and why? incase we haven't thought of anything.

House 1 we were outbid on, went on to find house 2,offer accepted moving along with it and now at point of instructing a surveyor.
House 1 is now back on market and EA have said they are willing to accept our original offer.

House 1) 3 bed detached bungalow,relatively new conservatory, large drive&garage.

House 2) 3 bed dormer semi, large drive. No garage, no conservatory or room to add one, but does have an extra lounge/sitting room downstairs with patio doors leading to garden, as well as main lounge and seperate dining room.

Both need a bit of work, house 1 more than 2.
H1) needs complete new kitchen ASAP, completely decorating throughout and new flooring, new internal doors(not urgent). At some point it will need a new bathroom, (not urgent) . It's very dated inside but seems to be of a sound solid condition (as far as we can tell without a survey) Has the bigger garden of the two.

H2) kitchen only a few years old, so is fine.Will need redecorating, new flooring throughout.New front door and radiators need replacing. Has been extended at some point to the upstairs years back to add more bedrooms & bathroom. Bathroom will need replacing, (again not urgently) . There looks to have been an issue with main bedroom ceiling (leaks) from dormer window area (which without full inspection yet) look dry now so possibly sorted 🤔
H2 is 20 thousand cheaper than H1.

H1 is 10 mins from town we want to be near, H2 is 25 mins away.

H1) will literally take us to our limit budget wise so most things that need doing will have to be done over time. Also will cost more in morgage each month which we can do, just won't have as much disposable income as H2.

H2)we can crack on getting it how we want it as soon as we move in. Will have more disposable income each month than if we bought H1.

We will feel bad if we pull out of H2, altho they are yet to find a property so are in a chain with them. H1 is no chain, as is our buyer.
thank you 😊

If it was me, I would pick H2. I don't mind living in a semi, especially if most of the rooms don't actually adjoin next door, and where I currently live is 20 mins from the nearest proper town so the distance sounds pretty normal to me. But mainly, I would prefer to have more disposable income, and I would like more proper downstairs rooms better than a conservatory.

Which would you pick if they were next to each other in location A?

Which would you pick if they were next to each other in location B?

Which would you pick if they were both the same price?

H2, because your money won’t all be for the house every month and you won’t be living in builder’s chaos.

H1 sounds a far better option.

Is it a forever home? Where do you see yourselves in 10, 20 years?

Just add some more details, sorry should have said this in original post 🤦🤦
It's just us two, both 50, DC have left home, both properties are roughly in between both DC.
We're starting to lean towards H2(I think😬). I think from a money perspective and having more disposable income, but neither of us can get H1 out of our heads and it's because it's detached more than anything.
It's definitely helping posting and reading from strangers perspective rather than people who know us, so thank you so much to everyone who has posted ❤️

I think the location is a bit of a red herring and maybe I should have left that out 😬 there is a different town 10 mins away, we just prefer town 1.We don't particularly need to be near town one for any reason other than we prefer it.
if they were both same price we'd choose H1

Then put in a cheeky offer for h1? 15- 20k under asking - saying it needs so much work. It’s obviously not being easy to sell because they’ve come back to you before dropping the price. Don’t overstretch your finances but it’s worth offering and if you lose it then you know you’ve tried.

It doesn’t sound as if you can afford H1 at its current price. You have to think of the price being

what you pay the vendor

stamp duty and solicitor fees

work and expenditure to make habitable.

Mrs Micawber could tell you which to choose…..

If you can't get H1 out of your head then I should think that's the one for you.

This is DH's thinking. He wants to give it a go and if it's a no then we've lost nothing 😊

My immediate gut reaction would be the detached one, also it’s nearer the town u like. It’s always good to have a garage. And if it’s a new conservatory then I think the temperature problems may not be as extreme as older conservatories as the are using newer materials. You could always change to a brick built extension in the future if needed as funds allow. You also say you can afford the miortgage but will have less disposable income.. are there any non essentials you can cut back on. I know I could if I had to if it meant getting a better house.

I’ve changed my mind. If you think they might be about to lower the price put in a lower offer and see how it goes. Good luck!

I would put in a lower offer on house 1, detached plus garage would be a big plus for me and also the fact that the chain would be complete. House 2 is not guaranteed yet if you’re still waiting for them to find an onward purchase.

I would want to read H1 survey feedback sand ask why buyers pulled out.

Def Offer lower.

Whichever you like the best.

apparently they didn't get around to survey part, EA has said they could only afford it by asking their buyers to increase their offer and their buyers have said no. 😏 sounds a bit odd to us as surely they had to prove they could afford it in first place, we had to prove it to EA even them contacting our EA to confirm our house sale and price 🤔

H1 sounds like a lot of work and you’re already at top of budget. Do you know why the sale fell through?

I’d lean more toward H2, conservatory puts me off, an extra living space is more functional. What’s the square footage for each of them? At the age you both are I’d want more of a financial cushion.

above post.. why sale apparently didn't go through.
H2 is bigger by just under 20 square metres.

So we're leaving it for tonight, both got banging headaches from it all 🤣🤣

As it stands we are leaning more towards H2 more so from the financial perspective, also the fact it has a relatively new fully functional kitchen that doesn't need replacing anytime soon.

Going to try to put in a lower offer on H1 probably around 8-10k lower than our original offer. If it's a no, its a no, can only but try 😊
Whether this is our stance in the morning is anyone's guess🤦🤣🤣

thank you to everyone who commented and gave advice, it's very much appreciated and has given us a lot to think about 😊

Really feel for you. I forgot to mention that H1 would persuade me more as it doesn’t have a chain above it. Will H2 find a house? Are they serious sellers? Are they looking for a house that doesn’t come along very often, if so you could be waiting for the chain to complete for a long time!

House 1, it's a better house, it suits you better and it's chain free.

I was going to say the same as @Advocodo- realistically how long are your buyers going to wait for h2 sellers to find a new property? How long have they been looking?

I’m not sure I’d be paying for a survey until they found somewhere as you could risk losing ££!

House 1. A financial stretch now will pay off over time.

Worth looking at places like this when you’re factoring in the cost of a new kitchen.