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 😊

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So the link’s not working. Google ‘Used Kitchen Hub’.

Are the bedrooms upstairs in house2 with it bring a dormer? I know you are only 50 but I would go for the true bungalow with bedrooms on the ground floor. So H1 as this would be future proof from an age / mobility point of view.

After having nightmare neighbours in a semi I'd say detached every time - I'm clearly biased though.
Whilst brand new kitchens can cost tens of thousands I've known a few people buy lovely kitchens second hand for very little and then just had labour costs, just a thought if that's the biggest thing putting you off.

I wouldn't buy a house that has a dormer as the roof will need replacing and it sounds as if it's leaking already.

If you intend staying for a long time then the above is worth bearing in mind. I have friends in their eighties sleeping upstairs, but it's good to have the option of a downstairs bedroom.

House 1. I wouldn't be keen to buy a house with no garage. And it just has more plus points. Also I agree you could drop your offer.

I honestly wouldn't factor in the conservatory at all. Ours is only useful for toy storage most of the year (and not even ideal for that as everything gets sun bleached!).

Detached and much nearer the town you like would cover the pain of having to do the kitchen though.

How urgent is the kitchen? Is it just horrible looking or actually dangerous/falling apart?

Thanks again for all the replies 😊

Today's developments and thoughts so far...

Lots more emails, more forms to fill in ect... from solicitors regarding H2 and a polite reminder if we're having a survey to get it booked in.

Our buyers have now decided on a level 3 survey so that's been booked in for end of next week.

this is the most nerve wracking part for me😬 As far as we know there is nothing majorly wrong with the house, but then we're not qualified surveyors🫢
Only thing we can think of is our guttering and fascias are quite old and need replacing. Buyers are aware of this and have seen them themselves and mentioned to our EA at the time.

It will definitely be flagged in survey. Whether they will attempt to reduce price for this or anything else that may arise who Knows. If there is any price reduction this will impact H1.

Plan for now is to wait for their survey and go from there. If H1 sells in meantime then that's the decision made for us, nothing we can do about it.
Thanks all again 🙂

Detached , detached , detached the answer is always detached .

H1 as i wouldn't consider anything other than detached. I've lived in a semi but would never go back and we fortunately in our semi were attached to a quite quiet couple

How many bedrooms, bathrooms and other spaces does each have? You’ve mentioned a separate living room in H2, but not how they compare rooms-wise - number and size. Sunshine in the house? I would look at size of kitchen, living room, main bedroom, and convenience of bathrooms. And whether each has a sunny garden.

so taking the detached aspect away for the moment(which I think is affecting our decision)
H2 is bigger has 8 rooms, 4 up, 4 down, all of good size, bigger kitchen, bigger bathroom.

H1 has 6 rooms and a conservatory.

Both 3 bed, 1 bathroom.
2 bedrooms in H2 are bigger than all bedrooms in H1.

H1 doesn't have a seperate lounge/dinning room, it has a 26ft lounge/diner leading into conservatory.

H2 lounge is around 18 ft with both dinning room and sitting rooms both around 11x10 ft.

on paper H2 makes more sense with more house for the money.