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

skintchick

Philippa36 wrote: »

It sounds to me like you don't want either property. Are you in a rush to move? Have you sold your property? Can you not wait and see what else comes on the market?

Yes we can wait but there's not a lot moving and I'm concerned if we don;t take the almost-perfect house then we might not get anything as nice again for a long time.

As for those who question if I drive or cycle - yes I drive but I don;t want to drive every day. I enjoy walking into town, I don't think 1.5 miles is walkable with a pram and baby who will become a toddler, and who may then have a baby brother or sister as well.

The bus runs every half hour which is OK, but it stops at 5pm and doesn;t run at weekends which is rubbish.

It's not about whether there are 'decent shops locally' as this is a small town and the shops are in the town! There's a corner shop kind of near the house but you'd still need to drive there really.

I dunno, I can really see us living there, if only it were a bit closer to town.

Fly_Baby

Well, I had exactly the same dilemma. Had lived in the town centre for the past 7 years but moved 2 miles out for the sake of a bigger house. I have absolutely no regrets.

Initially, I missed not being able to walk into town - and I have a toddler in a pushchair and an older child at school IN the town centre. But then - I would be in town anyway dropping off my eldest and was free to walk to the High street if I wanted to. You say that this house you're looking at is just 1.5 miles away - it really is not a big deal if you drive. But you ARE right when you say that town centre properties are smaller in general - my friends' 3-bed houses are tiny but cost at least 25% more than a similar property in the area where I live now - 350-400K as a minimum. And they have tiny gardens - mine is huge!

I too would be worried that if I let an otherwise perfect house go then I might not find a similar one soon. So think very carefully - is the ability to WALK into town as opposed to DRIVING to it for 5 minutes really worth that much money and sacrifice?

One thing I truly miss for some reason is the ringing of church bells. I could hear all bells from my flat including the main cathedral ones, when I lived in the town centre. It was an unbelievably reassuring and satisfying sound. Now, we only have a local methodist church which is not that loud unfortunately.

Fly_Baby

skintchisk, BTW, you were given very valuable advice about schools. If schools in the new area are good then it is not really a compromised location - it's just not central. You won't believe how much schools affect house prices. I've seen some amaizingly beautiful and spacious houses with state-of-art gardens at a very low price compared to the average in the area - but with the worst schools in our town. Now THAT would be a compromise which should not be taken easily if you have a child.

tek-monkey

Now I work in education I seem to find that the kids that want to do well, do well. I personaly think that the parents desperate to get into better school areas are simply those who push their children more to succeed, so it is a self fulfilling prophecy.

skintchick

Fly_Baby wrote: »

Well, I had exactly the same dilemma. Had lived in the town centre for the past 7 years but moved 2 miles out for the sake of a bigger house. I have absolutely no regrets.

Initially, I missed not being able to walk into town - and I have a toddler in a pushchair and an older child at school IN the town centre. But then - I would be in town anyway dropping off my eldest and was free to walk to the High street if I wanted to. You say that this house you're looking at is just 1.5 miles away - it really is not a big deal if you drive. But you ARE right when you say that town centre properties are smaller in general - my friends' 3-bed houses are tiny but cost at least 25% more than a similar property in the area where I live now - 350-400K as a minimum. And they have tiny gardens - mine is huge!

I too would be worried that if I let an otherwise perfect house go then I might not find a similar one soon. So think very carefully - is the ability to WALK into town as opposed to DRIVING to it for 5 minutes really worth that much money and sacrifice?

One thing I truly miss for some reason is the ringing of church bells. I could hear all bells from my flat including the main cathedral ones, when I lived in the town centre. It was an unbelievably reassuring and satisfying sound. Now, we only have a local methodist church which is not that loud unfortunately.

You're right. It is only a short drive and once I have toddler/s I probably won't want to walk it anyway! It IS a lovely house, and we could really make it nice.

I think a third viewing may be in order. Decide once and for all.

EagerLearner

We are in the same situation - in the end we went for the place that was further out but had more space, and a garden, so it would do us for 5 or more years if it needed to. Plus being in Brighton we couldn't get a garden 3 bed centrally, plus I'm kind of fed up being in the centre of town in a shoebox and we're looking forward to cleaner streets, and miraculously, a shorter commute to work! Choose what you can best afford and what you would feel 'aaaaaah' in when you get back from work - that might be easy access to shops for the little one in town, or it might be the larger place you have lots of room to set up the toys and play!

Fly_Baby

tek-monkey wrote: »

Now I work in education I seem to find that the kids that want to do well, do well. I personaly think that the parents desperate to get into better school areas are simply those who push their children more to succeed, so it is a self fulfilling prophecy.

No, it is simply the case of wanting the best for your children. And it is obvious that you want your child in a school with a rating 'outstanding' than a school with a rating 'satisfactory'. This rating is given as an assessment summary for many categories of school life and environment - as you no doubt know - and academic achievement is just one of them.

tek-monkey

TBH, knowing kids from pretty varied backgrounds now, there really isn't that much difference. The kids in cheaper areas do worse, this is true, but not much worse. If you take house price difference and apply it to school achievement, you will find £ for £ the crap areas actually produce better results. The main difference seems to be the drugs they take, the posher schools seem to use cleaner ones. You certainly rarely see coke heads in poorer places, but are more likely to see heroin addicts. An ex of mine came from the 'best' school in the area, believe me there is no difference in those kids that want to rebel.

If you believe sticking your kid in a certain school gets out out of your responsibility as a parent, you're a 'tard. Look out for your kid and they'll go far, regardless of the schooling they receive. Relying on the education system to do this for you is setting you up for a fall, unless you can afford proper private schooling.

fc123

Being near to the school you want them to attend and is in walking distance is a godsend. More space for ££ is added bonus.

When we bought 2nd house years back I did the choosing and we had 2 in budget.
A micro 3 bed terrace in v expensive, swishy location and large 4 bed detached with garage in lesser location but amazing views. Schools were ok at the lesser place but nowhere near as good, though child one was in private at the time but it was in walking distance from micro house.

The other big plus for Micro house was it was walking distance to 'village'' (it's what they call that particular London suburb :rolleyes:) whereas, big house was a trek to just a grim Co-op.

We chose space in the end and decided to compromise on the walking...knowing that we would have to drive a lot more but I think, 14 years on, it was the best decision for us, esp as kids got older.


Now, @22 and 15. they are a short time away from leaving home and we would consider swapping it for smaller in better location..maybe even a flat in Central London one day....but only if we could afford something modest by the sea too. I keep working hard and dreaming :o

You will be amazed at how much space a toddler can use too.....never seems enough.

Tigerlilley1980

Personally I would go for space. My DD is 2 and after moving to our larger house 45 minutes from town, with a great garden, we love it. Although I do drive so really the distance to town is 20 mins in the car, but before I had the car I did walk to town alot and it was OK. Tiger xx