Mad to buy a two bed bungalow?

[Greenestofbeans]

We have been househunting for many months. Sold up in Surrey back in November, moved in with my MIL in Somerset with our toddler (I was pregnant with no. 2, born Feb and now we are a family of 4). We made an offer on a house just after DD was born, but three weeks ago our seller pulled out for no reason). So back to the drawing board. We're exclusively looking in Wells (have fallen in love with it and can't imagine living anywhere else) but there is so little on the market right now - the house we lost really did have everything we wanted and more, and nothing else has come close. So now we are finding ourselves having to make huge compromises. One house we looked at is in a gorgeous spot on the edge of town, amazing big south facing garden with views over the hills, detached garage with a soundproofed studio. Garden is a huge plus as I am a gardener and want a nice big veg patch. Only problem is it's a two bed bungalow and rather pokey inside!

We would have the budget to extend, but I don't know about the patience. Would it be mad to buy the house to live in for the next, say, 5 years and have the kids share a room, and then decide whether to move again or extend? What would you do? I get some mad ideas in my head sometimes, and can't decide if I'm considering this house out of sheer desperation or not 😅

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/88123812#/?channel=RES_BUY

Position, location and where it is! It sounds great. If you are extending out it’s much easier, I think. You could always put an offer in. If it’s meant to be…😀

Buy it. You're paying for the plot and it's a big plot. You have plenty of options for extending.

Wells is lovely.

Are both children the same sex? If so, absolutely buy it! Sounds great.

I would. It’s liveable and you can extend when funds allow and you can see how it would work best for you.

Perfectly decent house. Bungalows are like apartments in that you feel like you have more living space because it’s all on one floor but without the hassle of upstairs/downstairs neighbours.

From the plan it looks as though the only access from the house to the rear garden is through the sunroom which can only be accessed via the bathroom?

Surely that's going to be really annoying and inconvenient?

If someone's on the loo you will have to go out the front door and round to get to the garden?

I suppose you could put French doors out from Bedroom 1, but then everyone has to access the back garden from your bedroom.

Lovely looking house and garden though and Wells is a really lovely town.

If it's a great plot and location, you can't go wrong.

I would only buy if I was confident on being able to extend as that is actually pretty poky for a family of four. Are neighbouring properties extended? Do you have a clear idea of what work you would do and how much? I think at least one more bedroom, one more bathroom or toilet as minimum, larger kitchen/dining living space.

It looks great and you might find that your children enjoy sharing, plus a large garden and no stairs is brilliant with young children.

The sunroom and bathroom seem to be separated by a tiny passage/lobby, as per post 1970s (?) regulations requiring two doors between kitchen and bathroom.

DH and I live in a bungalow with a large garden and really love it (kids were teenagers when we bought it and now live in their own homes), ours is like yours but with an extra bedroom behind your bedroom 1 and with the window of 'bedroom 1' being on the side rather than the back of the bungalow. Or you could extend into the loft, if that is an option?

Yes go for it. Location is important. Lots of potential for future changes to the layout and size when you can afford it and can manage a renovation, but very liveable in for some time.

It's not that pokey, certainly not when compared to a lot of new builds, and you'll be using the garden a lot too. You could put a canopy over some of the patio for playing outside even in the rain. Given your children are so young baby will presumably be in with you for a while yet and they can share a room for years until that gets more tricky. It looks a nice solid home.

No there is a corner cut off the bathroom so you go through an opening and turn right through a door into the bathroom and left down steps into the sunroom. I thought the same as you when I first looked at it.

Go for it bungalows are so versatile plus the big plot means big extension plus still got a decent garden. You will get your money back. Would do it in the next year or 2

I think it’s lovely and fine while you have young children. We bought a bungalow and love it! Family of 3 with a 2 yo, works really well for us.

It looks as though there's a little landing - there's a door to the bathroom on the right, so you don't have to go through the bathroom to get to the sunroom.

We have similar - you get used to not having a door directly from the kitchen to outside.

We’ve just done a loft conversion and tracer extension coming to an end so 3 months of work with a toddler and it’s been sooooo much easier than I imagined!! I think the toddler is going to be quite sad when the builders leave for the last time!

So don’t let that put you off as I have zero patience and it’s been totally fine!!

They're not. But I don't see an issue with them sharing until secondary school age. Even when we were buying a three bed house the plan was to have them share and for partner to use the third bedroom as an office in the short term.

That looks a great size. It’s the same sq ft as some 3 beds and you don’t lose any space to house a staircase!

My 2 bed bungalow is about this size and we love it!

We moved from a two bed flat and I do remember saying at one point if we could just move the flat down to Somerset and add a garden I'd be perfectly happy! One of the many reasons we moved was to get away from noisy neighbours.

But I don't see an issue with them sharing until secondary school age.
I'd be looking at separate rooms from when the elder child is younger than that.

There's a small corridor between the sunroom and the bathroom, so that's not an issue.

Sharing until secondary age!!!!!!
my 2 youngest are 7b and 10g and no way would they be sharing past about 3 & 6
they need their privacy
I think I’d stay with the in-laws and get the house renovated if you have the budget and create a 3rd bedroom and if you need an office - one of those too.
perhaps you could have a loft conversion for office space/ spare bedroom and another bedroom downstairs?
Wells is great we have friends near there and this definately has potential and the garden is lovely.

Good luck op! Looks like a lovely home

Glad to hear such positive comments, we've been considering similar. 2 kids, both wfh but really want to prioritise location/ garden.

That’s a much larger bungalow than I lived in sharing a room till I was 12 or 13

Is this how you’d extend?
You'd have to put a window on the other side of the wall for bedroom 1 and rejig the kitchen so you could access a bedroom from there.

Im sure someone else will come up with a much better idea for an extension but that’s what came to my mind. Unless you change the sunroom and make that bigger but you’ll need at least another toilet.

Good to hear it was manageable for you. I would plan to either convert the rest of the garage to a guest room first or get a cabin for the garden, so if we did extend we could at least find refuge there if needed.