Our house is on the market and we have a chain free buyer. We want to move as we are now both fully WFH and do not have enough room to do so. Our mortgage is due for renewal in the autumn, and we need to apply for a primary school place for our child next year. We are in the catchment for an inadequate school a mile away, although there’s a good chance that we’d get into an outstanding school about the same distance away if we were to stay put based on the admissions data and that a few families on our road have managed to get in. Secondary schools are not so good. Despite me wanting one, it feels unlikely we’ll end up having a second child financially and based on our ages, so we either need a house with additional reception or an additional bedroom. It feels a good time to move now rather than disrupting our child during primary. For various reasons this house has been a bit of lemon since we bought it and I just want shot of it.
There is very little on the market where we live and we are torn between two houses from the search so far. Both are chain free. We are contemplating making an offer on either of them but not sure. The alternative is to borrow much more, and we are not sure we want to stretch ourselves.
House 1
4 bed
Has been on market over a year
Is in the same state it was when the current owner purchased it. Literally no redecoration or updating the kitchen / bathroom.
Is in an area where houses always sell well due to proximity to several outstanding primaries within 5 mins walk and secondaries and near major employer in the city.
Main issue is all windows need replacing. They are all single glazed and rotting.
Small garden
On street parking
Doesn’t appear to have been maintained at all and now has been empty for months.
No downstairs WC
Would potentially command much higher price if it was done up so could be good stepping stone move.
House 2.
Marketed as 4 bed but is really 2 bed due to 70s style split level design.
Bedroom 1 is on ground floor and really a study.
Family bathroom by front door.
Driveway.
In catchment for an outstanding secondary but less so for primary.
Has outdoor office.
House also benefits from an annex which would be easily rentable and derive and income from.
Lovely garden with room to extend.
Living room is a through room / corridor to rest of the house so likely to be draughty.
Quiet residential area.
Would meet our needs for now but likely to be hard to sell. That said, we could probably stay there into our dotage as not many stairs and our child could live in the annex!
DP and I are going around in circles on this as market is slow where we are and we are worrying about time not being on our side with our mortgage being up soon. I like both houses even though they are both “flawed.”
Which one would you pick?