Where is it more important to have lots of space - upstairs or downstairs?

jassco

sunshinetours wrote: »

Made me chuckle! We had exactly that when we last looked to move. We were pretty specific in what we wanted and even created a sproperty spec sheet stating the "must haves" and "would likes". One of the must haves was detached - first agents we go in the 18 year old "estate agent"
skim reads the sheet after asking what it was (even though it was pretty obvious) and then says no problem and goes and gets about 30 properties out of the filing cabinet about half of which were semis - cue us standing up and leaving with all property details left on the desk! Repeat this several times till we found one who actually read and got the only two out of his cabinet that actually pretty much matched the "must haves". We also marketed our house through them after that - it pays to listen!

Back to the OP - I voted downstairs (with kids) was more important as you spend most of your time down there. Kids bedrooms of a reasonable size are more important as the kids grow up I believe, or maybe an extra bedroom which they can then use for their own entertaining space as they grow up

I had a similar experience, "we're looking for houses in such and such area for close to such and such amount". The estate agent then proceeded to show us 10 houses (some flats!) that were outside of our wanted area (in really dodgy areas) and were nowhere near the price we were looking at! The ones she showed us were about 40% lower in price than what we stated. I was actually offended as she must have assumed we couldn't afford what we were saying we could.

When I pointed this out to her, she said 'oh, we don't have anything like that'. I just walked out and made a mental note never to deal with her again after she wasted my time.

HellsGranny

Unfortunately, EAs will always look after the folk paying the bill (the sellers) before the wants and needs of the potential buyer.

The only way to get a 'tailored' service is to try to get on a TV show.

Cheers HG

BexInLondon

The only situation where I'd be looking for big bedrooms and wouldn't mind smaller living space would be in a house-share with strangers, where one's bedroom is effectively one's living room.

My parents gave the biggest bedrooms to the kids, reasoning along Fire Fox's lines.

LydiaJ

Thanks for all the replies and votes so far. It's fascinating that what people are saying they want seems to me to be totally at odds with what developers of new build houses are mainly producing these days. A friend recently bought a newish house - 3 big bedrooms, one small bedroom, decent sized kitchen (with space for table) and one small reception room. Other new builds seem similar.

BitterAndTwisted

Perhaps the developers know something we don''t. It seems to me that if you have a family with teenagers then they will be spending more time in their bedrooms on the computer or watching their own TV than hanging downstairs with the boring old "rents'.

I know quite a few families who lavish TVs in bedroom and whatnot on what I consider to be children much too young to be left to their own devices and perhaps the developers do, too.

ThrowingStonesAtYou

I need a lot of space in my bedroom for the queue of young women next to my bed.

adg1

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Oh, brings back memories of young fools in Estate Agents!

Go in, introduce selves as middle aged couple, no kids. EA fool asks how much we are looking to spend. State requirement for detached house with useful down stairs accommodation, separate lounge diner, no need for more than 3 beds, no more than 1 bathroom, workshop would be good - we are looking to meet the spec rather than a price. EA fool says"yeah but, yeah but" al the way through. Finally we let EA fool interrupt - "yeah but how much do you want to spend?". We reiterate and reinforce "the downstairs accommodation is important to us". EA fool presses for budget, reluctantly we tell him a figure and make clear it is indicative, but stress that the spec is more important.

EA fool says "OK, we have several which meet that", rumages around in filing cabinet, producing 3 sets of details, all priced 20k above indicative. First one is 5 beds, ensuite, jack and jill ensuite, bathroom, through lounge diner and integral double garage. The others similar. Repeat up and down Estate Agent row.

I'm sure thats the story of estate agents all over the country. Its the same when renting. Price/Size/Location is all a lettings negotiator seems to need to know before s/he says 'I have that sir, when can you view?'. I mean, surely they can't guage what I want from my new house in three questions?! Or maybe they truly are geniuses and the system let them down.

My personal preference is to have a large living area. As long as my bedrooms are large enough for their purpose then I'm happy. As long as my bedroom fits my furniture in and the others are large enough for what I want them for then I'm happy.

I have a 3 year old and a house with a disjointed, split downstairs area would mean she can't run freely around and is far less sociable. I'd have a huge kitchen diner living room and a separate snug area reserved for adults.

However, I currently have a 2 bed flat.

But then I do live near Richmond so I suppose one can't have everything.

LydiaJ wrote: »

...totally at odds with what developers of new build houses are mainly producing these days. A friend recently bought a newish house - 3 big bedrooms, one small bedroom, decent sized kitchen (with space for table) and one small reception room. Other new builds seem similar.

My experience of new builds is that its all about how many rooms they caxn squeeze from the same footprint, not the sizes of those rooms, that is important. Older houses tended to focus more on the useability of the rooms and hence they were larger.

clockworks_2

Besides sleeping i don't spend much time in my bedroom. I have a TV in there for the odd lie in on a saturday. To me living space is a lot more important.

blckbrd

ThrowingStonesAtYou wrote: »

I need a lot of space in my bedroom for the queue of young women next to my bed.

Dunno why but lemmings sprang to mind :rotfl:

elfen

Wouldn't mind, but would prefer bigger downstairs with a little bit of space I could use as a mini-office. Have no kids, but I know that I'll be doing a lot of working from home (am now - uni - and may do in the future) and it means OH can have friends round and I still have enough peace to work in.