We’re struggling to decide between these two houses. They have nearly identical layouts, both detached and are in a similar quiet areas, similarly priced. This is likely to be a 5-10 move depending on personal circumstances.
House A
Pluses
- 5 mins from local shop, safe walk for kids
- 5 mins from bus stop (distance is important because of disabilities and small kids)
- 5 mins from planned community centre (not yet built)
- large garden (south-east facing), essentially a blank canvas (and with no shade)
- Front of house is a green strip that won’t be developed on. No through road, sort of tucked away. Safe for kids who might try to dash out the door. The town as a whole is a bit rough so maybe fewer opportunistic thieves would come this way.
- Front faces another house but at a distance. Back garden is surrounded by neighbouring back gardens so not too overlooked, feels very open.
- Playground round the corner for young and older kids. (Not amazing)
Minuses
- close to a field popular with walkers, lots of foot traffic in front
- field could potentially be developed on, though there is a lot of other land further away that is already earmarked
- layout has a couple of things - combined toilet/utility room is not ideal. Kitchen leads into the back garden so all the mess from kids goes straight into the kitchen.
- internal decor shows a lack of finesse or care, slap-dash painting, weird DIY jobs, lots of bits need to be touched up. For a relatively new house it is very well lived in (owners have young kids and dogs). Decor is also not to my taste, doesn’t match our furniture, but it’s otherwise a blank canvas. We are unlikely to be able to devote much time or money to decorating so we’ll have to live with it.
- Newish estate, trees are still saplings, not much community feel yet.
House B
Pluses:
- Layout is slightly better - it has a separate utility room with a door to the back garden which we’d really like because of messy kids.
- Garden is a plus/minus - north facing so mostly shaded which I didn’t like initially, but given this summer a north facing garden might be better for kids as they could use all day without worrying about sun and UV.
- Internal decor is lovely, very well looked after by the same owners for 20 years, no touch-ups needed.
- Maturer estate, 20 years old, lovely community, neighbours have mostly been here since the development was built, mature trees throughout, toddler playground on an island in front with lots of trees so it’s a bit more private.
- Prefer the look of the house externally but it’s not a deal-breaker House A is lovely too.
- 15-20 mins walk to another development with a few more amenities and a lovely large park. House A is about 40 mins walk. No direct buses there from either house.
Minuses
- No pavement in front of house, front door leads straight onto road which is quiet-ish. Safety could be managed by only using the back door with kids.
- Garden is completely paved over (presume it’s hard to grow much) and has a very raised deck (to get more sun presumably) with concrete steps, not as pleasant or safe for kids. Unsure whether we would have the inclination to rip everything out or just try to live with it. Also faces the side wall of another house which somehow makes it feel very enclosed - sitting in the garden you would basically be looking at a big wall. It’s a nice garden otherwise and built for entertaining adults rather than for kids.
- 15-20 mins walk from the same shop as House A and need to cross a busy main road (hard with disabilities/children)
- 10-15 mins walk to bus stop (same bus route as House A)
- House is a couple of rows away from a main road - not too busy usually but when there are issues on the motorway, traffic tends to divert to this road.
- On the other side of this road is land earmarked for another housing development. I think noise and dust won’t be that noticeable from where the house is but I don’t really know.
- Playground is for small kids only and old - other small playgrounds are dotted around.
So if it’s about location, location, location, I think House A wins. If it’s about the house itself House B is better, though the garden is different to what we envisaged. If it’s about a nice friendly community House B wins.
But as it’s also a 5-10y house then we need to think about resaleability - again the houses are quite similar so I think selling will come down to similar things we are considering, like location and garden.
DH favours House B because it’s very well looked after and he thinks we can make do with the other things - the relative distances are not that big and he doesn’t mind driving or cycling. I favour House A for the large garden for the kids and closeness to shops and bus stop when I’m dragging unwilling kids along with me, and even if the decor is imperfect it’s still a step up from where we are now.
Would love any thoughts!