Smaller house for 'nicer' area

[Birchgirl]

Hello

Just looking for some opinions please.

My family and I (DH & 2 DS) currently live in a 4 bed house. Close to amenities, close to a great park and close to childrens school. Good size rooms and an amazing garden. However the location of the actual street is a problem. It's not a particular busy street but there's no front garden so people walking past the house and close to a main road so children can't play out the front.

I've always wanted to live on a new estate. I grew up on an estate and even though I'm aware times have changed, I want that for my children too.

There's a current development started near us now but the houses would put our mortgage amount up by an extra £500 per month (doable). It would be a drive to the school rather than walking (only 4 minutes drive though). Also as they're new builds the rooms sizes and garden would be smaller (not a huge amount but still)

So I suppose what I'm asking is wwyd? Is it stupid to pay so much more a month just because of the street my house is on?

I don't hate where I live I just wish it was on an estate rather than a street.

I know the saying is 'Location
, Location, Location' but what if you don't hate the location of your current house you just don't love it?

Help please

What’s actually wrong with where you live now? Aside from not having a front garden that you want for your children to play in, I don’t think you’ve really said anything that is wrong with it, certainly nothing that would warrant you increasing your mortgage by £500 a month. The school thing would put me off too (although a 4 minute drive will be very easily walkable, unless the estate is 4 miles down a dual carriageway from the school).

On a new build estate you’re not likely to have a front garden, most of them only have a small patch of grass at the very most, and new build estates these days are not what they were 30 years ago. Consider as well that they’ll upsell you on every little thing they possibly can, so if you don’t accept it you’ll be buying an undecorated shell. A certain amount of housing usually has to be given over to social housing which is the source of a lot of tension on these boards (and I’ll freely admit I wouldn’t want to live near it either).

Would you look at the sort of estate you grew up on that’s been around for 30-40 years? The houses will be better built, better value and generally just better in every way. I truly can’t see why one would aspire to live in a soulless new build estate! What am I missing - why do you want it so badly?

I'm a location location location kinda gal, but your current location seems better if its walking distance to school and amenities.

It feels like you are making alot of sacrifices for not alot of gain, worse location for school and amenities, smaller rooms and bigger mortgage for a front garden and an estate to play in?

How are your current neighbours? Do your children wish to play on the street or is it just nostalgia for a 90s style childhood thats rose tinting your thinking?

How do the rest of your family feel? Do they want to move?

This makes no sense to me at all OP.

what is the appeal of a new estate? Tell us more about the current street you live on.
how old are DCs?

This is a bit mad, very few estates have good front gardens and playing out, its concrete driveways for multiple cars.

How long until your kids are old enough to go and play in the park themselves? It's possible you are remembering your childhood and freedom at an age older than your kids currently are and the restrictions you feel they have around playing out are really age related. Being able to walk to school, the park and amenities is a lot more responsibility and freedom than being allowed in the street.

Give it a few years and you will have teenagers, the lack of front garden won't be an issue and you will be glad of the space and the convenience of your current house.

This! Most new build estates arent very convenient, in our area theyre all in random places not near town centres. Some don’t even have pavements to walk to and from the estate. I’d stay put!

It sounds like you already have a lovely home, it doesn't seen like moving would be particulalry beneficial in any way. I know the phrase is 'location, location, location', but I don't always agree with this all of the time. We spend a lot of time in our homes, they need to be somewhere we love to be in and size and space can sometimes be a big part of that. Do you feel that you've got enough space now? Would a smaller home still be practical for you and your family? There's a lot to think about, especially because moving costs a good chunk so it does need to be worth it.

Your current house sounds much better.

You can't raise your children in a past that no longer exists - the estate of today isn't the estate of thirty years ago - far more traffic, less 'playing out', families with busier lives in general.

Being able to walk to school is a huge advantage. Being near a park your kids can enjoy with friends is also great.

Stay where you are: it sounds much better. A walk to school is a huge plus. I don’t like new build estates - the houses are crammed in, small rooms, no character, too many cars, so kids can’t play out safely in any case.

What is the appeal of living on an estate? What does it give you? I drive by a few and they look like identikit houses very close together. Walking to school and decent sized rooms outweighs lack of front garden to me (do you have a back garden? Isn’t that safer and more private)?

The estate I grew up on is very different to the new estates being built now. Tiny front gardens, houses crammed closely together, no mature trees, not even pavements to walk on so you have to walk on the road.

Why would you want that?? You'd be crazy to sell up and move to a new build estate. Are there no suitable houses on older estates near you?

I have never knowingly met anyone who wants to live in a new build house on an estate. This is so interesting to me, OP! I don't mean this unkindly I am just honestly interested. I thought everyone thought they were always much worse and people just had no other option.

As I think the other commenters are also assuming this a bit, so everyone is a bit surprised by the question.

But if you actually like and want a new house, and it's you who will be living there, then I think my main advice is around the street. There are more options than the street you live on and this one other street. Even in the town you live in, there are more options than that. So take a walk around where you live and really look for kids playing out the front. If you don't see anyone, figure out the reason.

Kids play out where I live, so it's not that it doesn't happen any more, but the main determinants seem to be: quiet streets with no cars or very very few cars, nearish a primary school so a critical mass of kids living there, and at least one large end garden they can run in and out of, or alleys with cuts.

I think you’re being idealistic about the estate

Usually they are packed with over parking and don’t have big gardens to play in

seems like a poor trade to me

I'm on a new estate. No children play in my street.

Agree with pps, also depends on the developer - some new builds are totally rubbish

Based on the fact you've already described a near perfect living situation, no I wouldn't move, and definitely wouldn't sacrifice walking to school, just so my kids could 'play out front' ....why do they even need to??

We lived on a 70s built estate at the bottom of a cul de sac for a number of years and the kids still didn’t ‘play out’ like we did 30 years ago. Primary age was all pre arranged playdates, secondary was more about going to someone’s house/the park/costa(!) rather than hanging out on the street. IMO you’re searching for something that is very rare and perhaps doesn’t even really exist any more that won’t be fixed by moving to just any estate

I would never buy on an estate because as has been pointed out, there has to be a proportion of social housing, which may lead to all sorts of problems. For me it would be too much of a gamble, especially in this awful economic climate - £500 more per month is a lot of money - and your current house ticks a lot of boxes. What is it exactly about living on an estate that appeals?

Ok so I think everyone is focussing too much on where I said for the kids to play out the front. I'm aware this doesn't happen but I was using it as an example.

The point I was trying to make is that a new build estate is more of a cul-de-sac living. So no strangers walking past your house looking in your windows, cares driving through as the road is a connecting road for residential streets.

If I opened my door and my children and dog got out they would be straight on to a main road (not as likely to happen with the children but I hope you get the point)

The new build estate I've looked at is with a very good builder, good size houses and gardens. Also the location is also near amenities and parks. So location wise it's the same

Also to add, my house does need work. It's an old house so we need new windows, gutters, render and a new roof in time. So is it worth putting all that money into this house?

You probably need to restate the whole thing, because you’re complaining that people are focusing too much on the kids playing in the front garden which is exactly what you said you wanted and now you’ve decided you don’t.

You also didn’t say anything about your house needing work, and now you’ve also decided the new location is more convenient than it was in the post yesterday.

So, what are the actual pros and cons of each house? Don’t make things up this time. People can’t give you honest feedback if you’re not honest to start with.

So now you’re saying you live on a main road and not near one?

Well, even though your current home seems more practical, you seem keen on a newbuild so what size is the estate and what size will it be when all phases are complete? Also, which builder is it because some people here may have experiences that they can share to help with your decision.

My mother and her H live in a development with just 3 and 4 bed detached houses with just the one road built mid 90s - ( Charles church) it’s still convenient for town and very nice indeed - if I was having a modern/ish house then I see why it’s good choice but these huge developments with no amenities nearby aren’t always a good bet - so I think OP for me it would depend on the size of the development and whether you have to drive for absolutely everything - be it a pint of milk or a coffee

Can you create a porch somehow so that your front door feels less on the street? Window boxes with bamboo in them for your front window?

Is there any need to be rude?