Please help us decide between these two houses

[Inneedofspace]

We are FTBs with young kids, who have always lived in a flat, so this would be our first house ever, and we are super excited (mostly about having a garden for the kids). Having always lived in a flat, we would love a detached property, but these are rare to come by within our budget, so we were thrilled to see one that matched our criteria recently (House 1, link below). We are obviously looking at all other houses in our area of interest, and we have found a lovely done-up semi-detached (House 2, also link below).

From what we can tell, house 1 will need some work done, but we are not sure about the extent of it, and how feasible that would be considering we are WFT and have young kids (we could stay in our rental for some time initially). House 2 seems ready to move in, but we are not sure if it would feel like we are living in someone else’s home (we will not have the money to change much unfortunately as it’s already at the top of our budget). We slightly prefer the location of House 2, but it will need to be extended some time down the line, as we would ideally need an extra room (so that the kids have separate rooms). We would probably prefer a terraced to a semi, just because a semi somehow seems like we are getting half of an ideal detached property (I am aware this probably sounds ridiculous to most…). We have viewings scheduled for both and are ready to make an offer, but not sure if we are considering everything here and if there is something crucial we are missing. We are somewhat familiar with both areas, schools and catchments, but the house itself is more difficult to judge, so we would appreciate any advice please. Which would you go for?

House 1: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/170883104#/?channel=RES_BUY
House 2: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/170881130#/?channel=RES_BUY

Thank you for any advice and thoughts.

House 2 all day long. The garden in house 1 is bizarre and it looks ugly at the front. The ariel photograph of the garden concentrates on the garden next door, which is misleading as next door back is much nicer. .

It looks like it was adapted for an elderly person or someone with disabilities.

We had the same - the people we bought it from had a relative with mobility issues living with them and the wet room/garage turned into bedroom was funded by the council. It looked like that and it really wasn’t very expensive to have a proper walk in shower cubicle put in and have it tiled the way we wanted.

House 1

More sq footage to start the layout is decent and 75k would do a decent amount to that house.
Off road parking is a big plus too.

House 2 is a thousand percent nicer. House one has an awfully cramped kitchen and no fence between neighbour’s garden. Generally has a much colder feeling to it.

I think house 2 would feel more of a blank canvas without furniture in but had good kitchen and bathroom that would be liveable for kids while you save up for any decorating. There is probably a good middle ground though. (I assume this is close to London as so expensive) I would consider looking at older terraces as ours we can’t hear any neighbours, the gardens are often surprisingly big and the price will give you more leeway for making it your own.

Overall I prefer house 1. But the kitchen would put me off as it’s so small. Can the downstairs be changed around? The garden needs a fence too!

The kitchen in house 2 is huge but ugly. It’s a nice house but a bit soulless.

Another factor to consider is that with young children dents and scratches are to be expected around the house. How long will the immaculate finish in property 2 last?

House 2 is bigger and cheaper, but horrible awkward/narrow kitchen. Personally I can’t stand rooms that aren’t square or rectangular, but that’s a personal choice. The garden is very wedged in, and the neighbours on the left look like they really encroach on it, although all legal/established.

I would look at as many houses as you can.

Look at sockets (are there enough or will you need ext leads). Heating system/boiler. Good windows will save you a fortune on heating etc.

Be honest with yourself about the feeling/atmosphere of it. Does it feel like you could make it into a lovely home.

Location is very important when you have DCs.

House 2. The kitchen in house 1 is unworkably small. The garden isn't fenced, it's a strange shape and there are trees on the boundary so I suspect it'll be dark. Not as nice a road as no. 2.

The main reason though is all the flat roofing, it's to the side and the back. I wouldn't buy a house with so much of it.

I agree with everything people have said about size and potential. The location of the more expensive house 2 is so much better in the middle of a quiet road and it looks lovely. However £75000 price difference would give you a lot of upgrades to the other house: a new kitchen, walls moved downstairs to make it open plan, garden improvements, redecorating but you'll be on a busy road. I'd go and visit at rush hour and see what it is like.
The cheaper house could easily have the small upstairs bedroom extended over the side extension downstairs with an ensuite and grow as your family grows.
Ideally to make a decision I'd ask a builder for some quotes to change downstairs into open plan and so that house 1 looks like house 2. If that was all ok and I could afford doing all the work house 1 with house 2 as my inspiration.

I live fairly close to house one. You are in catchment for 2/3 great schools, super close to the station and all the lovely shops in Highams Park. That is a really good price for the area. I would definitely choose house 1.

House No 2. Great layout for family and other than any minimal change in decor you don't need to consider any extension yet. Even though it is top of your budget you are in a great position (with nothing to sell) to offer under asking price.

House No 1 looks like it needs work to it and an extension of the kitchen (too small considering the size of the house)and location not as nice. Also I'd be worried about where the boundary lies at the back.

I agree, we bought our house 11 years ago requiring much more work and are so happy we did it 🤗

I’m really surprised people are so positive about the prospects of house 1, especially for the long run. It will always have a narrow garden, a weird shaped plot and (probably always) be opposite a takeaway. Not the normal mn responses.

House 2 has a premium because walking distance to the Underground? So how important is that to you. I would also consider school catchment carefully. As well as the actual feel of the two roads. Is house 2 the kind of road where all the neighbours mix and the kids do trick or treat together vs a far bigger more anonymous road for House 1.

We're not really considering all the factors - some are just looking at size and price.

Fair enough but this is why@Inneedofspace and her partner need to consider all the factors carefully. Posting on MN will just get casual answers and I wouldn't spend that kind of money without a LOT of research and thinking about both houses from every angle. Things not even touched on include crime stats for both areas.

Wow! Thank you so much, everyone. So many things we have not actually considered or just glossed over…

As for House 1, our initial idea was to knock down the wall between the kitchen/dining room and make it one big, open space kitchen/diner and potentially redo the main bathroom upstairs (no photo so probably in a bad condition?). Would 80k we’ve got left be enough for that? Not sure how long that would take, but we could potentially stay in our rental while this is being done (really depends on how long, as we would need to continue to pay rent while having to pay mortgage at the same time). Is it possible to ask for quotes from builders considering we have not even made an offer yet? Can they do it based on the photos/floorplan?

To answer some questions, we did consider school catchments and also the garden fence issue (not sure if there is a dispute with a neighbour…). Someone mentioned looking into a history of the House 1, and I have just managed to find a previous listing from 2022! Apparently, it did not sell back then but not sure why? The photos seem a bit worse off and there seems to be some damp issues in the converted garage (wet room/bedroom downstairs), so potentially more work needed…

As for House 2, we thought the kids would share the bedroom until we have enough to do the loft conversion (not in the next 5 years or more) or move again (not ideal). Someone mentioned the lack of space, which is difficult for me to see given we are living in a tiny 1-bed flat currently.

We have been looking for a while now, but something better of middle ground does not seem to exist in the areas with good schools, it seems. And we really like both of these houses.

Thank you so much once again for all your comments, they are invaluable to us! X

House 1 on accommodation alone but I don’t like where it is, the road looks busy and I wouldn’t want to be opposite a corner shop and a chippy.

Plus I don’t like the wonky plot. And I think it would be a “scratch the surface and spend 5k every time” place.

Location of house 2 looks better to me and it would be super easy to do a loft conversion with at least 1 extra bedroom and a bathroom.

Looking at sold properties on the same street as house 2 there is clearly precedent for a decent loft conversion.

I would suggest getting a builder to give a few quotes, although this is usually cheaper than the side return which has already been done on house 2. I also think that, once done, the space in house 2 would work better for a family than house 1. What normally happens is that the parents move into the attic to sleep and have kids/ a study on the first floor which gives everyone a bit of space and peace! Whereas with house 1, wouldn’t the parents have to sleep in the front (noisy) bedroom which overlooks the busy road and chip shop and with the dodgy looking wet room (I think you could do a loft conversion on house 1 but it would be more expensive and difficult because of the shape of the roof). I bet that downstairs bedroom would be freezing too- 2 external
walls and nothing above it, plus a large window.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/details/8c3b395c-82c4-4ce2-b6f5-115b7afc07fe

With house 2 I wonder if you could make the third bedroom bigger by moving the wall back over the stairs. You could then build a wardrobe into that space (it would have a higher floor to give the head height on the stairs) and you'd be left with a bedroom 6ft by 8ft 5 which is reasonable for a child. That shouldn't cost too much to do either as only some stud walling (assuming the existing wall isn't a supporting wall).
You need to check where the washing machine etc. in the kitchen is though. I assume it might be in the built in cupboards but the lack of a utility room would be a negative for me.

Another vote for house 1. Character all the way and you can always knock the kitchen through in future. Better value for money. House 2 looks too polished and a bit cold.

The weird garden situation in house 1 is enough for me to say no.
Teeny kitchen and not brilliant location as per street view.
Feels a bit chaotic.
Just feel fraught with potential problems and I can see your AIBU's coming up in the future...

To want detached for the sake of it when you look absolutely crammed in at the back and in someone's shadow versus the lovely garden in House 2.

I love House 2. So much more charm and you could move in/start living straightaway.
Plenty of space for now and you can get a feel for how it all works once in.

I would paint over every bit of grey but other than that I think it's lovely-love the garden and looks high spec. Love the open plan out to garden-great for the kids.

I’d be concerned as to why there’s no fence in the garden in house 1, are they related to the neighbours and so ‘share’ the garden? House 2, true you won’t make much money on it, but living in a do-er upper with kids is quite depressing. Especially if you’re paying as you go, talking from bitter experience!!

We moved in to a similar place and have completly redone it over the last 5 years.

The first thing we tackled when we moved in 5 years ago was the bedroom in the garage conversion and the shower room (plus a small utility) that all came to 10k everything was stripped back to brick and redone (inc hall, landing and stairs as plaster was in a bad way).

The bigger job was last year, 21k to take the rest of the down stairs back fo brick, open up then kitchen/dining room/back extention into one big room, fit the kitchen - it would have been a 1k more, but we didn’t need a steel beam, the wall wasn’t load bearing.

It was then 9k for the kitchen units, appliances and furnishings, new french doors to the garden and flooring (fitting of all those was included in the £21k building cost).

Not going to lie - it was a pretty miserable 3 months, but now we have a house we love.

We live across the road from a shop and a chip shop and the road is fairly busy. It makes no difference. Our home is now amazing, we’ve made it how we want it.

One for me as well.

We had a similar wet room. Recently done but cold and stark looking.

We had a shower cubicle installed on a plinth, levelled the rest of the floor and put in new flooring. It transformed the space but was all done in a day pretty much (small wait on flooring). It's still the same shower, just moved the head up. So that would be relatively easily improved.

House 1. Don’t be won over by the nice aesthetics of house 2