Big house with compromised location, or smaller house in great location?

MarsdenCuckoo

For my 2p worth I think your poll is misleading.....

Always think that location is more important than the building itself - you can always change the building but the location is 'a given'.....

However, from now reading about your circumstances it seems to me that you're not being realistic. You have a young family and will need a family home; not a bachelor pad with easy access to the pub!

Maybe.... neither is 'perfect' for you so you should keep searching? Just a thought.....

Wickedkitten

We live almost 4 miles from the town centre and there are times when I do miss the convenience but others where I am happy that we live in a relatively peaceful cul de sac and aren't on any pub routes.

Running_Horse

We bought the biggest and most expensive house in our street, knowing we should have done the opposite. But it is a huge house in a desirable village where room sizes of 10 X 10 foot are not unusual, and we plan to be here 20 years to raise a family. So any potential losses don't really matter. Are you more interested in a family home or an investment?

pingu2209

It depends what you mean by a good location. What determins good for one is not good for another.

You will be selecting your child's school in 3 and half years. I suggest (unless you intend to go private) that key is that there is a good primary school near by that you can pretty much be sure you get into.

I would also add that when you have children you need a garden for them to run around in and kick a ball in. When you are busy as parents doing somethign in the house and can't take them to the park down the road but it is a nice day, you want to be able to let them out in the garden. Believe me, that is important.

I doubt you will stop at 1 baby and will want another one in a few years. You will want as much space as possible.

Off street parking is also important, and I would always want to be able to have off street parking for at least 2 cars. HOWEVER, it is more important to be near a good school and have a house and garden that is big enough for your and your children's needs. If you can afford all the above and have off street parking then all the better.

Seriously, look into the schools thing.

skintchick

Wickedkitten wrote: »

We live almost 4 miles from the town centre and there are times when I do miss the convenience but others where I am happy that we live in a relatively peaceful cul de sac and aren't on any pub routes.

Both of these are in relatively quiet locations although the town one is near a pub, it is not a busy one except during Regatta, when the town as a whole goes crazy. But that is a good point - regatta could be a nightmare in teh town one.

Running_Horse wrote: »

We bought the biggest and most expensive house in our street, knowing we should have done the opposite. But it is a huge house in a desirable village where room sizes of 10 X 10 foot are not unusual, and we plan to be here 20 years to raise a family. So any potential losses don't really matter. Are you more interested in a family home or an investment?

A family home, definitely.

pingu2209 wrote: »

It depends what you mean by a good location. What determins good for one is not good for another.

You will be selecting your child's school in 3 and half years. I suggest (unless you intend to go private) that key is that there is a good primary school near by that you can pretty much be sure you get into.

I would also add that when you have children you need a garden for them to run around in and kick a ball in. When you are busy as parents doing somethign in the house and can't take them to the park down the road but it is a nice day, you want to be able to let them out in the garden. Believe me, that is important.

I doubt you will stop at 1 baby and will want another one in a few years. You will want as much space as possible.

Off street parking is also important, and I would always want to be able to have off street parking for at least 2 cars. HOWEVER, it is more important to be near a good school and have a house and garden that is big enough for your and your children's needs. If you can afford all the above and have off street parking then all the better.

Seriously, look into the schools thing.

Both houses have parking for two cars, but I agree with you on the garden thing - I won;t always want to go to the park. And yes, the larger house is near a good school whereas the town one is not so near and you have to cross some busy roads to get to the nearest school.

skintchick

Norma_Desmond wrote: »

It's a tricky one; when we were househunting here we looked at everything from a remote, tiny pre-fab bungalow up on the moors with fantastic views and a lot of land, to a massive old house with a small garden on the edge of a village but only 500 yards from the beach......we bought the house because we liked the feel of the community and a few minutes walk and you're out into the countryside or up on the cliffs.
We haven't got children to worry about, but if we had I think that 'space' would have top priority.

Yes, i do keep coming down on the side of space, then think 'but it's 1.5 miles from town...'

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Nothing to decide until you have viewed.


If you have a prospect of income coming in, you can have a mortgage into your 50's

Dare I say you are not ready to buy? What is to prevent you from having the baby where you are now? One thing is screaming out to me - you are not settled about what you want, or else you would not be looking at such different houses. I would suggest too that the imminent baby is not helping - your nesting instincts will be very strong and will induce you to accept anything - the baby is just an artificial deadline, I would suggest.

THe baby is here, she is four months old now. They are not so different, the houses, they are just in differnet places with slightly different-sized rooms. We are very ready to move, as our current home is very small and we are busting out at the seams in it.

DVardysShadow

skintchick wrote: »

THe baby is here, she is four months old now. They are not so different, the houses, they are just in differnet places with slightly different-sized rooms. We are very ready to move, as our current home is very small and we are busting out at the seams in it.

Sorry, I don't always read sigs [or posts sometimes, but I don't let that stop me...]. I would suggest these 2 houses are important to your thinking, because each is showing up the shortcomings of the other, but neither is the right house. We have fairly recently bought the house I will finally leave feet first I think - and it involves a lot more thinking than any of the other houses we have bought. We viewed possibly a dozen houses, but sifted through at least 1000 on rightmove for each one we viewed. From each one we viewed we learned something. In the end, we threw away several constraints on location and found a house in a lovely location at the right price, which actually has turned out better for transport than most of the locations we originally concentrated on. Great neighbours and a garden right for us. It is a matter of being bold enough to reject the things you could squeeze into for something which fits you.

skintchick

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Sorry, I don't always read sigs [or posts sometimes, but I don't let that stop me...]. I would suggest these 2 houses are important to your thinking, because each is showing up the shortcomings of the other, but neither is the right house. We have fairly recently bought the house I will finally leave feet first I think - and it involves a lot more thinking than any of the other houses we have bought. We viewed possibly a dozen houses, but sifted through at least 1000 on rightmove for each one we viewed. From each one we viewed we learned something. In the end, we threw away several constraints on location and found a house in a lovely location at the right price, which actually has turned out better for transport than most of the locations we originally concentrated on. Great neighbours and a garden right for us. It is a matter of being bold enough to reject the things you could squeeze into for something which fits you.

You may be right, the problem is that the houses that ARE perfect are out of our budget. We can afford up to 430k but the ones we'd really like are more like 550k. It's very expensive here. I suppose after missing out on a house already (which was great and within budget cos it needed work) I'm worried about losing out again.

DVardysShadow

skintchick wrote: »

You may be right, the problem is that the houses that ARE perfect are out of our budget. We can afford up to 430k but the ones we'd really like are more like 550k. It's very expensive here. I suppose after missing out on a house already (which was great and within budget cos it needed work) I'm worried about losing out again.

If the house is out of your budget, it is not perfect! Price was one of the things which made us look further afield - what we wanted was mostly not available at any price! If it had once been right, it had either had the garden sold off or had been extended beyond our needs.

Don't worry too much about losing out, that fear will make you grab for the wrong thing.

missindecisive

fast forward a few years...your baby will become a toddler, you may have another baby...you will most definately need a bigger garden space and living space....definately go for the larger house with garden