Two houses! Help me choose please!

[billyidol]

Both 3 bed detached which is our requirement

House 1
23 years old Barratt home.
Preferred location
Integral garage which impacts on downstairs space quite a bit. Downstairs living smaller than we’d like and layout not ideal - have to walk through lounge to galley kitchen.
Pretty garden but overlooked
Almost brand new kitchen and 2 bathrooms. Beautifully decorated
Bedrooms really good sizes

House 2
4 years old Persimmon
Not ideal location
Detached garage
Slightly larger downstairs than house 1 as the garage is separate
Preferred layout with hall and rooms that are separate.
Nicely but blandly decorated and kitchen is cheap flat pack persimmon standard kitchen
20k under the price of house 1
South facing garden not overlooked

I actually love house 1 and have discounted and gone back to it time and time again to see if we could make the smaller space work for us. House 2 would be more a ‘ticks more boxes’ buy.
So mixed up!

House 1 definitely- if it’s only you and DH - why do you need so much space. Make one of the 3 bedrooms a second living with a sofa bed. As you age location and amenities are everything.

Which is your Husbands preferred one ?

House 1 - you prefer the location; the garden can be altered to provide more privacy.

However, if the whole point is downsizing for the future, I note that neither house has the potential for a downstairs bedroom/bathroom.

DH is no help! Up to you he says. He’s happy as long as I’m happy which does not help.

“House 1 is on the flat and walkable to train station, shops, local pub etc.”

OP, this is go8ng to become more important as you get older, and there is always the possibility that sooner or later, you might no longer be able to drive. House 1 looks much nicer, and you are clearly drawn to it. It has the potential to convert the garage - the other house you’re stuck with what you’ve got. If it were me, I’d be going for house 1, no doubt about it.

House 1. Or keep looking.

@billyidol 😀 house 1 definitely, beautiful shower as well, the whole place looks so well looked after and almost not lived in. And it is your ideal location. Good luck with your move

House 1 really is gorgeous and I can imagine myself there. Just hoping we can squeeze our furniture in 🙈

@billyidol for retirement location is a really top priority. Proximity to what you need on the flat makes a massive difference.
I much prefer house 1 as well, but a north facing garden would put me off. You could improve the overlooking aspect but not the aspect.
Is the third option to wait for the type of house you love but in a better position to come up for sale?

House 1. Location as you age is very important. You can plant to create more privacy, you can convert the garage if you need more downstairs space. We live in our 4 bed house which we bought when our now adult children were small. 2 bedrooms are only used if people come to stay. I've made my peace with the annoying corridor which is the lounge as the whole downstairs would need to be reconfigured to change it. The joy of not being open plan is that it's much easier to keep it warm without costing a fortune! It looks as though you could knock the dining room into the kitchen to give you a bigger dining kitchen if you prefer but the 'galley' kitchen is great as everything is to hand when you're cooking.

My parents house was in a dip which was a mile up a really steep hill to the shops. It was exhausting when young and fit but became impossible as they aged. It was a steep climb even to the bus stop so they had to use the car to go anywhere....

You need to think about how you would live in the spaces.
My parents have a 3 bed semi (2 doubles and a box room) with a 1 storey extension downstairs which essentially gives it 4 bed footprint downstairs and a 3 bed upstairs. It means they have a spare room and a hobbies room upstairs which suits them but has a downstairs that fits their growing family. My parents have gone from accommodating 3 children when we were all living at home to having to accommodate 3 children, 2 partners and 3 grandchildren. The reality is they need a bigger downstairs space than they did when we were all living at home.

I would be looking pragmatically about the useable space in the house with the internal garage and whether that meets you needs.

I prefer house 1 and its location is much better. You can add trellis to the garden fence and grow evergreen ivy or some other plant. This will take your fence height to over seven foot. We did this with our fence and four years later we are no longer overlooked. We also planted two bay trees along the fence and a birch tree.

House 1 has far more instant appeal. But a North facing garden would put me off. Why not keep looking? I would hold out for something which has the benefits of House 1 (better location as level walk to shops etc) but with a better garden and a layout you prefer. At the end of the day, those are the things which really matter. The fact House 1 is newly decorated and bathrooms done up gives it the turn key appeal but tbh those are the type of things you can do yourself to your own taste.

It’s the size that worries me a bit. Both adult children have their own homes but we like to have them around for food occasionally. I could get an extending round table that would seat 6 I guess. DH is keen to think about adding a proper roofed orangery or conservatory that could be used as a second sitting room.

Also, when we tell people we are downsizing a bit they all say ‘but what about if you have a load of grandchildren’. Room for them to sleep but we’d be a squeeze if all the adult kids and grandchildren came. On the other hand we may not have any at all!

whats the length of the rear garden of house 1? Thats a lovely seating area they’ve built, and clearly they’ve positioned it to catch what sun they can as the area near the house will be in shade. But I would really check out how much sun you’ll actually get! If it’s just an hour or two in summer then it’s not a lot. The photograph looks great so they obviously timed that well for a north facing garden. And as you mention your dh is thinking you could build on a conservatory for extra space, bear in mind the area directly at the rear of the house won’t get sun.

Have you used that shade app to see what sun you get in the garden?

I couldn't live in a house with no evening sun. But I didn't like house 2.

The sun creeps from the back of the garden to the front nearest the house throughout the day, the corner nearest the back door will get the latest evening sun. But it won’t be for long, probably just the high summer months

Number 1 hands down!

A late afternoon pic in June

I think house 1 looks a more attractive house. House 2 is a bit of a weird shape and looks out of place where it is. But if you really aren't sure is it worth waiting for more houses to come on the market.

Go for house 1. Being nearer everything is really important as you get older. If there is OSP, then it's so easy to convert a garage into a dining room or utility and study or second living room. They are good rectangular shapes. Also, anecdotally - houses built 20+ years ago are more solid than recently built ones.

Also, house one has bigger 2nd and 3rd bedrooms, which matters if you do have guests and family to stay in the future.

You can put up trellis or tall plants to screen the back of the garden.

Location - house 1.
Both have tiny rooms.
I'd knock the kitchen and dining rooms through and put an extension on the back.
I'd also repurpose the gg as a utility room, cloaks cupboard and downstairs shower room in the event that in very old age you can't manage the stairs.

How much wriggle room is there on price - what have other houses gone for in that ppst code over the last 18 to 24 months?

So the pergola probably gets the best of the sun later in the day.

I think if you are downsizing/getting older you can not put a price on things being flat and walkable.