Location vs House ?

Octothorpe

Aarghhh lol will have to have a think!

Houses further away = drive to station and schools about a 10 minute journey. Few local shops etc but not much else.
But, more space!

Nikkilou86

We went for the bigger house further away but actually prefer it to the ‘perfect location’ we left now - if money was no object we wouldn’t go back. We are fortunate though in that although we are in a village we have a train station so transport is less of an issue. 

FaceHead

The 'location or house' choice is a bit of a false dilemma. In reality there aren't two properties, to choose from: There is a sliding scale of house vs. location. The answer is not one or the other, but the compromise that suits you. If you chose solely one over the other, the one sacrificed will get you down.

davilown

How long are the kids going to be at school for and how long will you and OH be in your current jobs for?
if it’s a couple of years then go for the larger house as you’ll need the space more with older kids, but remember you might have to be dad’s taxi etc

Our first house was in an nice suburban area with no shop but great transport links for the teenagers. They still had to travel to a good school though.
Current house is in a smallish village (4K people), beautiful walks and 3 miles from a nice harbour. Few shops, pubs and amenities but far enough away from the cities

Octothorpe

davilown said:

How long are the kids going to be at school for and how long will you and OH be in your current jobs for?
if it’s a couple of years then go for the larger house as you’ll need the space more with older kids, but remember you might have to be dad’s taxi etc

Our first house was in an nice suburban area with no shop but great transport links for the teenagers. They still had to travel to a good school though.
Current house is in a smallish village (4K people), beautiful walks and 3 miles from a nice harbour. Few shops, pubs and amenities but far enough away from the cities

Youngest has another year of primary school. Eldest is in Yr 7 settled in a good grammar school. So youngest  could be placed in a nearer secondary school in a year, but eldest has another 4 years in their secondary school.

Currently youngest walks to and from primary school approx 15 minute walk. Eldest takes a school bus from bus stop at top of our road, takes them about ten minutes on bus.
My commute is 10 minute drive so can come home to let dogs out on my lunch break.  Partner works in London and can walk to station in 15 minutes. All ideal!!

Houses further away - 10 minute drive to schools. 20 minute drive to work and station. 

Think we may just need to try and find the elusive house with space in current convenient location that's in our budget 🤔😀

Octothorpe

Why did we have kids again?? 😂

elsien

Your further away house doesn’t seem that much further away, in practice. 

Can the kids still get to school/see friends on the bus or by cycling (once old enough?). And your drive only gets an extra 10 minutes added on, which is nothing. The only issue seems to be your partner getting to the station,
I’m not seeing a huge difference here between the two. 

When you said further out I was thinking longer drives to work and school. 
 

getmore4less

Octothorpe said:

davilown said:

How long are the kids going to be at school for and how long will you and OH be in your current jobs for?
if it’s a couple of years then go for the larger house as you’ll need the space more with older kids, but remember you might have to be dad’s taxi etc

Our first house was in an nice suburban area with no shop but great transport links for the teenagers. They still had to travel to a good school though.
Current house is in a smallish village (4K people), beautiful walks and 3 miles from a nice harbour. Few shops, pubs and amenities but far enough away from the cities

Youngest has another year of primary school. Eldest is in Yr 7 settled in a good grammar school. So youngest  could be placed in a nearer secondary school in a year, but eldest has another 4 years in their secondary school.

Currently youngest walks to and from primary school approx 15 minute walk. Eldest takes a school bus from bus stop at top of our road, takes them about ten minutes on bus.
My commute is 10 minute drive so can come home to let dogs out on my lunch break.  Partner works in London and can walk to station in 15 minutes. All ideal!!

Houses further away - 10 minute drive to schools. 20 minute drive to work and station. 

Think we may just need to try and find the elusive house with space in current convenient location that's in our budget 🤔😀

what's wrong with the house you have?
Can that be fixed?

This a stay where you are  or move dilemma rather than a move but which one dilemma.

Moving costs money you can't recover  on top of any price differential

Octothorpe

Yes in fairness we could stay here - however if we don't go for a detached house now we will probably be priced out. Plus want to pay off enough mortgage whilst still young enough 😆
Also we are lacking storage space and I want to live in a quiet road.

Have just spoken to a friend who lives where we are considering and they have said they love the area. It just involves a car rather than walking. 

stuart746

We recently moved from a smaller house right in the centre of everything (schools, work, etc) to a large house about 3 miles outside of the city. We have teenage children as well, so we knew it would be tricky with commuting. We carefully worked through the pros and cons and decided to make the leap. It is worth it, but you need to know what you are getting yourselves into. The area we have moved to exceeds our expectations, the children like it as well, and the city is on a bus route, but I know we will also be driving them around. It is more expensive with outgoings, but we can afford to do this, and they will only have a few more years of school/sixth form left. After 20 years in the city, in a very busy and polluted area, we started to feel it was not suiting our needs or lifestyle and moving here has given us move space but also a happier and healthier outlook.