which house to buy

[bardu]

really confused and would like MN guidance. Have opportunity to buy a house in really nice village/town in Hampshire

House 1 is on the village green. detached, late 1800's but not massive, 3 beds, 2 baths opp to make 4, qutie a lot of living space (pantry!) no parking at the front (quite big front garden though, no opp to make parking space as it would block view of green)nice sized garden but not massive. parkign space round back of house. needs work. green is massive and beautiful, one of the reasons why we are moving to the village in the first place. cricket every saturday, good pub on the green etc.

BUT for same amount of money we can buy a 4 or 5 bed, more modern house with driveway, garage, bigger reception rooms, but not masses of charachter. on a normal, nice road. head says go for this one, but heart says go for the one on the green.

what would you do?

I'd definitely go for the one on the green but then I do like period properties.

I think you need to work out what your priorities are. How many bedrooms/bathrooms do you need? How much living space? Will parking round the back work for you or will you generally want to park round the front but can't etc...

Is one house likely to hold its value better than the other?

def the older property

Agree def the older property. I think house 1 sounds lovely. Am of your pantry.

How many dcs do you have? would 3 - 4 beds accommodate you all?

How many DC do you have? Surely that relates to how much space you need? I don't rate off-road parking as anything special, and I love old houses, plus you have the nicer ambience with the old house in question.

OTOH,
Modern houses are much lower maintenance, and it comes with a huge shed garage, that you will come to love.

My gut feeling is go for the smaller house, but it really depends how much indoor space you NEED.

The older house every time.You never tire of them and they seem to grow with you and change with your family.New houses always look and feel 'the same'no matter what you do to them.It is a bonus to have any parking at all and the green sounds wonderful.

I would go for character everytime. It will hold its value a lot better than a modern build and you will feel much more at home in it than the modern build. It sounds idillic!

Just thought of something else. Period properties cost more in maintenance generally. We live in a Victorian house, and I wouldn't change it, but since living here 6 years ago we've put in new timber sashes; new boiler; new schoolhouse radiators- things cost more in a period property if you want to stay sympathetic to it.

I agree that it depends on how much time and money you'll have to spend on the period house.

We swapped our modern flat for a period house in Spring. The house has been well maintained, but we've still spent more on running repairs since March than we did in the whole five years we lived in the flat . I do also have to park in the next street if I finish work late. And it's fricking freezing even with the heating on.

But my heart does sing every time I walk up to our pretty house on the street.

older one, definitely.

for me it will always be a period property UNLESS there is an overwhelming 'extra' - i.e. recently looked at a 70's box (admittedly big and with potential, but a box nonetheless) BUT the views, oh my god, the views......