Please help - which house would you prefer (SW London/Twickenham area)

verra

Apologies in advance for a long post J

I am looking to buy a 3-bed housein St-Margarets/Twickenham area with a very limited budget (for that area) ofaround 500K. There isn't anything in that price brackets inSt-Margarets/Twickenham, so I have started looking at the borders of thesearea.

There are 2 houses on the marketnow, please please give me your opinions which one you would prefer and why (ornone of these really) - I am going to throw myself into a really huge mortgage commitment, so thisisn't an easy decision for me.

1 - First house on sale for 550Kbut is on the market for quite a while now, so hopefully the seller will agreefor a lesser amount (although they already refused my offer of 500K). The houseis on the border of a good area (Twickenham) with slightly cheaper area(Whitton). It is a townhouse with the following layout:
· Ground floor: open carport (not allowed to put agarage door), toilet, fairly large kitchen (approx. 12sqm - enough for a6-seater table) and a small 10sqm conservatory
· First floor: fairly large lounge (approx. 18sqm)and second bedroom (double - 10sqm)
· Third floor: master bedroom (approx. 14sqm) withen-suite (shower and sink, but no toilet), third single bedroom (6sqm) andfamily bathroom

Negatives for this house:
· close to a motorway (although it isn't on themotoway, rather on the side road to it, and there is almost no noise as thereare houses in front of it actually on the motorway)
· very small garden (very narrow (3.7m - 12'') andonly extends to 26''(8m))
· lounge and kitchen on different floors, and noaccess to garden from lounge (although can possibly use conservatory instead)
· no scope for extension in the garden but couldbe possible to do another bedroom in the loft.
· also a real push for me as I would struggle topay even 530K and the seller is unlikely to go for less.

Positives:
· close to station (0.4miles)
· nice looking house
· nice looking street
· no need to do any work on the house
· can get a lodger (for the master bedroom withen-suite)

2 - Second house just got on themarket at 470 but there is an open day coming, so it may go for more than that.The house is on the border of a good area (St Margarets) with slightly cheaperarea (Isleworth). It is an end of terrace house with the following layout:
· Ground floor: fairly large kitchen (approx. 10sqm- enough for a 4-seater table), fairly large lounge (approx. 17sqm) and familybathroom
· First floor: master bedroom (approx. 14sqm), secondbedroom (double - 8sqm), third bedroom (small double - 7.5sqm)

Negatives for this house:
· a bit far from the station (0.75miles)
· fairly close to sewage works (so theoreticallycould be smell)
· house is currently smaller (but huge potentialfor extension)
· will need to do a huge extension at some point(although no need to do anything right now)
· house less nicely looking and on a less nicestreet
· can't get any lodger

Positives:
· large garden
· after extension the layout will be much betterand can do what is "perfect" for us
· possibly can do a 2-storey extension and thenthe house will be much bigger
· cheaper and much easier to afford at the moment(as below the tax threshold)

Or shall I just wait and see ifsomething else comes on the market? None of these 2 houses is perfect for us,but very little comes on sale within our price range in the areas we arelooking at, and we have been looking for a while now.

Would really appreciate your opinions!

Thanks a lot in advance!

Pington

Why do you say you couldn't get a lodger in house number 2? Is it because you wouldn't want to share a bathroom with them?

I would add downstairs bathroom to the negatives of house 2.

verra

Thanks Pington. Agree, downstairs bathroom is a negative Yes, it's mainly because I would have to share a bathroom with a lodger, plus the spare rooms are smaller so I wouldn't get much for them anyway...

fairy_lights

I wouldn't like to have my lounge a floor up from the kitchen, so that would really put me off house one. How close is house number two to the sewage works?
Can you post the rightmove links so we can have a look?

Pington

I think I've found the first one on Rightmove; it certainly looks very attractive and well finished, but that kind of townhouse layout isn't for everyone. As you say, the conversatory could be used as a living area off the kitchen but it looks like it might be a bit cold in winter and it's not very big.

The garden is titchy, with a fair chunk being taken up by that summerhouse(?) thing. The second bedroom looks quite small, seeing how theyve squeezed a double bed in. Would you be happy using this as your main bedroom, assuming you let the master to a lodger?

(Assuming I've found the right house of course)

verra

Fairly lights - many thanks and agreed, lounge being a floor up from the kitchen (and no change of changing that ever) is a big downside for me, especially given how much more the asking price is...

Unfortunately I can't post the link as a new user not allowed to... (I tried), but they can be easily found on rightmove

1 - First house - post code TW2 6NT

2 - Second house - post code TW7 7JN

Pington - many thanks again, I think you found the right one the second bedroom isn't too small, it's just the bed is huge (queen size I think). I was actually thinking of using the conservatory s lounge for now, and living in the lounge (letting the master bedroom to lodger) as I need the second bedroom for my parents, they live with me on and off...

fairy_lights

House 1
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-32372220.html?premiumA=true


House 2
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-32852436.html

fairy_lights

The kitchen of house two doesn't look big enough for a dining table, but you would have the option of extending in to the garden.
I don't normally like new builds but house one is stunning, having looked at the pictures I think the only thing that would put me off is the tiny garden, although the summer house makes it look a lot smaller than it looks on the floor plan.

verra

Thanks a lot, Fairy lights!

verra

I agree, I generally prefer House 1, the main consideration is whether it is so much better House 2 to justify extra 50K-ish...

Pington

Number 2 certainly doesn't have the same wow factor and it seems much darker (although could just be the photos). However it does have a lot more potential, the garden is great and the price is much lower. It might be that extended could make it everything you want/need, whereas house 1, despite being lovely, may never give you that.

It's a tough one! Would the cost to extend/improve house 2 make it worth more than house 1? There is also the beneift of adding value, which you are unlikely to be able to do with house 1.