Help me choose between two houses - which is the best house for a young family?

[Cazwa]

We have accepted an offer on our house, just waiting for the survey to happen so Im looking online at various places. We LOVE the area we live in, walking distance to the beach etc. but its quite expensive and you dont get things like a garden without paying a fortune. We have 2 young DCs, age 1 and 2 who share a room in a 2 bed house with a living room and kitchen and tiny yard. We want a bigger house and were hoping our next one would be a 'forever' house, however its slowly dawning on me that working part-time and the state of the market mean that Im better off thinking the next house is a 3-5 year one and then when back full time at work aspiring to a bigger better 'forever' house.

OK, ramble over. So, I cant decide between the following two houses, I will of course go and view both once the survey on ours is done, I dont want to fall in love with either just yet by viewing properly.

First house
Second house

The way I see it Im getting an extra bedroom in the first house but no extra reception room. The second one has the extra reception room but no new bedrooms. If you had a young family would you be better with more reception space, or with the extra bedrooms?

SD - I'm not sure about that - I've seen some very large fireplaces upstairs when we were looking for this place. I'm staring at the shot with the window on it tring to work out if it's upstairs or downstairs LOL

It sounds very similar layout to our house which has 2 large upstairs bedrooms, and then a smaller 3rd - although ours is the small one on the "extension" at the back of the house - but some on this street have the small 3rd bedroom at the front next to the master.

I can't decide - it's just that it matches the one in the front room, there isn't a fireplace in the master bedroom and there's only 1 reception room.

I note though they've not given the dimensions of the 3rd bedroom on Edith Street! I do think you've picked the best of the bunch so far.

I know that's why I confused as if it's a downstairs one then you should be able to see that wall extend further along for the kitchen and it seems to stop (but how do you get to it? through the bedroom??) and if it's upstairs what is that wall as there are definitely 2 bedrooms at the front of the house - so what's at the back??

Soupdragon - definitely the bedroom is on the upstairs, its above the kitchen. I talked to the agent as shes the one whos selling mine and we talked about extending the kitchen into the yard and knocking through to the utility room to make one big room.

My mum keeps telling me to look further afield. Wish I wasnt so stuck in my ways.

ok - if that's cleared up then I'd definitely go for the 3 bedroom house. I've had a stairs in lounge with young children before and HATED it.

The wall is the house next door - it's staggered back a bit.

(I think it has to be upstairs but it just "feels" odd ) Why don't more agents put floorplans on??

OK, let me talk you through layout of first house (she says without having ever seen it!). They are all similar round here.

Walk in hall, living room on left at front of house. Kitchen is in back room on left of hall. Utility room at end of hall on the extension. Upstairs will be bathroom above utility room, back bedroom is one iwth big fireplace. Front of house is main bedroom and tiny bedroom. Tiny bedroom being above the hallway, main above living room.

It all seems odd because they;ve put the kitchen in the back reception room and made a utility room out of the old kitchen. Wish they'd just left it as it was.

OK. My guess is that the kitchen is actually where the 2nd reception room should be. The utility room and bathroom are where the kitchen would have been, both on the ground floor. All bedrooms upstairs (although the fireplace may have been relocated from the 2nd reception when it was turned into the kitchen )

Is anyone else here househunting and want to share their finds, or got their house for sale to show and tell??

I think the bathroom is on the ground floor though.

no bathroom must be upstairs I think - otherwise god only knows why they've made such a tiny bathroom and utility room when the kitchens aren't usually that small so the spae left from "relocating" it surely can't have been small

SD, why do you think that? Agent didnt say it was, she said its utility room.

well you MUST go and see if and come back and tell us otherwise we'll be wondering for ever more where the bathroom is and how they've mucked around with the space LOL.

Because it's listed after the utility room, before the bedrooms and I can't see where they've carved out space for an upstairs bathroom.

I love a good house hunt

SD, the bathroom and utilty room are both an extension to the house on the back, probs done in the 60's when they stopped using outside loos. This other agents advert shows the back of the house.

LOL, I will have to report back now. I will arrange a viewing next week and show my DH this thread as to the reason why I have to view!

Ah. I was going to ask if the utiliy was an extension On the floorplan I have sketched in front of me, the bathroom is at the top of the stars above the assumed extension which matches the back of the house [snort]

I'm never moving house again, BTW.

they could have carved out the space for the upstairs bathroom above what used to be the kitchen. In some houses this would be the 3rd bedroom. But in others they've made the master bedroom smaller (as there's nearly always 2 windows at the front) to fit 2 bedrooms at the front, and then the 2nd bedroom above the (what is now) kitchen.

For example in my house (which has had the receptions knocked into one years ago).

Hall, stairs in front of you. Door on the right into the dining room/living room (used also to be a door into the lounge before they knocked the room into one). As you stand in the dining room after going through the door from teh hallway front of house on right , back of house on left. Kitchen is on the left in the "extension" bit, and then in our house there's a tiny utility area and a huge bathroom at the end (a 1970's addition).

Back in the hallway and up the stairs. As you get to the top of the stairs there's 2 steps going down to the 3rd bedroom (above the kitchen) - in our house they've added an extra doorway and created a toilet room in that bit too. Other houses have either a tiny bathroom and tiny bedroom there, or biggeer bathroom and no bedroom.

Back onto the landing as if you'd just come upstairs you turn right and up one little step - directly in front of you is the 2nd bedroom - big double, and along the landing at the front of the house (stretching all the way across) is the massive masterbedroom.

And now I've lost the drift of how I was explaining how they could have done it in the house that the OP is talking about

although I have to share this with you as it goes to show that money can't buy taste.

omg Soupy! What have they done to it - I saw the first pictures (of the outside) and thought "wow"............then looked at the other pictures - they've murdered it!

FAQ, that sounds a nice house.

I would love to move into a forever house. I feel v. aggrieved that I cant afford something better when I could have done a few years ago.
I dont know where you live but does anyone think these houses seem expensive for what they are?

I like the living room carpet.