Which house for family of 4?

[wife2DZ]

We are currently renting and have asked if our landlord is open to selling as we are ready to buy.

currently we have
3 bed semi and an en-suite
( which our teen uses )
garage/drive and off road parking for 2/3 at a push
new build of 7 years old - needs decor change paint and flooring in kitchen
drive way is to the rear of house
downstairs WC - total of 3 toilets in the house
house is a regular semi, 865 square foot
in the town we are settled

new house
one town along
so will need to change primary for 4 year old who’s just started reception ( not ideal but we are open to this for the right house and lifestyle )
detached
each room slightly larger in general overall
garage attached to the house, parking for two cars maximum
garden slightly smaller
NO WC downstairs
NO en-suite ( only really affects our teen)
both our girls get slightly bigger bedrooms
ours is slightly smaller ( we don’t mind this)
can’t walk a school run, short drive though
1225 square foot
refurbed so everything is new, kitchen, job, flooring and electrics all painted white
house built in 60’s

we plan to put in downstairs WC at some point in the new house but won’t have funds immediately

The new house has potential for extension if we ever got any funds the current house does not

new house garden slightly over looked, current house not over lookwd

thank you for reading

How many bathrooms does the new house have?
it doesn’t sound like you’re getting a lot more and actually you’re losing a lot of convenience
being able to walk rather than drive is a massive plus

what is the lifestyle that you are aspiring to and need a different house for because there is no real difference in either of the properties

It only has one family bathroom :-(

that is true. I do love walking the school
run

Having a downstairs toilet is an absolute must for visitors, when you have kids etc. How easy would it be to put a toilet downstairs in house 2? If not feasible or really expensive I wouldnt even consider house 2 regardless of the other pros.

There’s a huge difference
we currently live in a built up housing estate
the new house is walking distance to a beach
but the town is busy as opposed to our small village
the new house is detached which I feel is appealing and a fair bit bigger overall
life style as in we won’t be able to do much with a large mortgage our rent will be going up considerably so we will be at home a lot and doing free things etc
also this is IF our landlord won’t sell to us meaning we won’t have much choice staying in a village we love as there’s very little movement in the houses here but the main town we have lots of choices of houses, but only really like this one so far

I grew up in a family of 7 with 4 bedrooms (some rather cramped) and 2 bathrooms. Later in life I had 3 kids who each had their own bedroom and we had 2 bathrooms and a downstairs loo. I’d say that by far, having enough toilets and washing facilities for everyone to get ready in the morning is what makes things run smoothly; especially when all my 3 were teenagers.
Your current house sounds like a better set up than the new one you’re looking at. Hopefully your landlord is open to selling. But also, seeing as you’re in rented you can take your time to look around and see what else is out there. Hope it all works out for you.

So we don’t have many visitors ! Only grandparents but it is do able and this would have to be considered in the offer price - the house is slightly more but the vendor thinks there’s lots of movement as it’s been on the market for some time, it’s probate and they want a quick sale so
we will offer a much lower price if we do go ahead

This is a good point but i do only have two children. But it’s a fair point
And also it would be temporary until we could afford to put at least a WC in downstairs

Which one does your heart want?

There's plenty of houses for sale out there, maybe you haven't found the perfect one and should keep looking...

Location is more important than house. Sounds like you prefer the location of the detached house? All I would say is think about the teenage years, don't move somewhere with no public transport or where you have to be a constant taxi service.

Wouldn’t even know
how much it would be to install a WC downstairs I would reflect this into the offer
from the info here it’s clear we definitely need more than one toilet for us
so thank you everyone
I must add that if our landlord isn’t selling we can’t sit and wait too long as I’ve kept an eye the market for years and it hardly moves
we don’t have years do wait either as we are older peeps and need to get on the ladder due to our ages really
I love our village but it’s only because my eldest went to the primary school and my youngest has just started - if a house came up here it would be ideal so needing a plan B

I would probably say I prefer location here as it’s small village but there is a bus route it’s just a little
bit far out but my teen jumps on the bus for school and seeing friends, the new house is in a town and just a bit bottle neck so sometimes sit stuck in traffic but the house is on a lovely wide street with trees and currently I live in a new build housing Etsate so Lego city

Probably this house we are renting but we can’t grow here…in two years when my teen is 17 say I worry we may outgrow. The new house is a bit bigger and has more parking so if and when my teen drives she already has no where to park
and it all depends if my landlord is willing to sell
yes maybe, we can keep looking but as I say I have been a while now

I don’t think either house sounds right tbh. Your current one is very small (we lived in a similar sized house for a few years, it wasn’t practical) but the other one you’re looking at has a lot of drawbacks too, I wouldn’t move to a house with one toilet unless that was something I could fix straight away.

We were in a similar situation and ultimately it was location we compromised on, not in terms of somewhere badly located but moving 30 mins away to an area that was more affordable and had more choice so we could tick the more important boxes for us.

The way you describe them, it sounds like you’re yearning for the new one but the current one sounds more practical to me (bathrooms, schools).

I’d keep looking.

It’s not a “must” (we don’t have one and no room to put one in) but it’s definitely a benefit and it’s something I find frustrating about our home. So if I was choosing between two I would go for the one with more convenient bathrooms. Plus moving is expensive. If your LL will sell, I would stay put.

Find out whether your landlord will sell first of all. Then you have narrowed down the choices and you can decide where to compromise.
Being able to walk to the beach sounds nice.

I bought the house I rented. It saved me a fortune in moving expenses. I had a survey done, but already knew the house so that was peace of mind as well.

I’d never exchange the convenience of multiple bathrooms/ toilets and go back to having just one, in a busy family home. I’d advise staying settled in the place you know, and avoid school upheaval too.

Yeah ideally we can but I’m looking at all options incase we can’t

Well of course that would be ideal once we know what our landlord plans are we can decide but unfortunately we can’t wait around in a village just in case something comes up for sale and as I’ve realized we would make WC a must for downstairs as a minimum

I don’t think it’s such a big deal not having a downstairs toilet. The new house on a wide street would be the one I would go for.