Reassurance needed please

housebuyerlondon

I am a first time buyer and am buying on my own. I'm just about to exchange on a very cute, but small, 1.5 bed house. It has a small but nicely formed garden, a spiral staircase and lots of character. It's also in between an area that I like for its amenities and another area with a fantastic park, and I did lots of due diligence on the neighbourood/street so I am confident as I can be that I'm joining a nice little community, which was important to me.

However, I stupidly went and had a look at Rightmove out of curiosity and saw that there was a very decent sized, 2/3 bedroom house with an extension and a massive garden about 20 minutes walk away. It also has two reception rooms and is semi detached! Way less character, and would need some work, but far more appropriate for a family if I ever have one (which I would ideally like to in the next five years). It was listed for the same price and I'm now kicking myself.

I'm guessing it was cheaper because the area is less popular than where I bought (much closer to the fantastic park, where I do want to go every day for a swim anyway). I also feel I would have been surrounded by families, as opposed to a mix of different types of people, and I think I would find it difficult being surrounded by families if I didn't have one. Also, the garden was really big and required lots of maintenance. I love a spot of gardening but it's time consuming. I am wondering whether actually I have bought the right thing for me at this time, and the kids question is a bit out of my hands, unless I decide to potentially do my own (I'm probably going to run out of time fertility wise in next few years, although I have frozen lots of eggs which may extend that period).

I know I don't know how much it went for, but I am kicking myself for not seeing it to compare, and am now feeling it would have been likely I would have offered something on it as it was such a good buy.

Has anyone else experienced this kind of remorse / kicking themselves? Am I fooling myself that 1.5 beds is enough for someone in my life situation? I'm buying in London (and don't feel up for moving out yet) so it's a lot of money to be putting down and it's stressing me out a bit I think. 

youth_leader

Location is everything, and your current purchase seems perfect, you sound very happy describing it.  Someone else will love it as much as you when you decide to move. 

princeofpounds

This is nothing unusual - you can't control when you see properties. But you need to make a decision, and it's very much based on personal priorities. It's not fair to the current vendors to string them along for long if you aren't going to move ahead.

Given you're in London, 20 minutes walk can mean a different world. It's very likely that you are paying for the location, assuming that there isn't an issue with the new place that you aren't aware of yet. 

'1.5' beds is definitely fine for your current situation. Beyond that it's hard to say, but if you do end up finding a partner and choosing to start a family you will be taking decisions on where and how to live together. They may not even want to live on your side of London. So even if the new place is theoretically perfect, you still might want/need to move. I'm just saying that because nobody has perfect foresight, so don't kick yourself if you do end up selling. 

I'm sure people will give you more opinions.

moneysavinghero

Have you worked out how you are going to get your bed up the spiral staircase yet?

housebuyerlondon

@moneysavinghero yes that's not a problem.
@princeofpounds thank you. Yes good point re partner and not knowing where we would live together. I am thinking that 1.5 beds could accomodate a baby for a few years anyway, assuming that I work from the kitchen or a coworking space. Not ideal but workable I think. 
I don't want to string the vendors along at all - fully plan on exchanging as soon as funds arrive in my account as it's taken a long time to get here - so just torturing myself at the moment I guess and second guessing. I guess that's probably quite common. 

housebuyerlondon

@youth_leader thank you, yes I do find the house enchanting. I'm just wondering if it's a practical enough purchase! But the other area is a bit less inspiring and I do worry I'd feel quite isolated out there, which is silly as in terms of access to central London it's the difference of one train stop! 

housebuyerlondon

Also I'm thinking I may be being silly also because I have no idea how much the second property went for. Some houses are marketed cheaply for a quick sale, and I saw another in the area go on for £420k but go for a lot more. Perhaps that was the case with this one, as the value seemed very very good - and I was already at the top of my budget with current buy.

pinkshoes

The one you are purchasing sounds ideal.

And don't forget that babies really don't take up much space, so the half bedroom would be fine until they were about 3. A friend of mine had 2 babies in a 1 bedroom flat, and the second baby turned out to be twins! They ended up having a sofa bed in the living room and the 3 kids shared the double bedroom. There are always options...

UnderOffer

Your purchase sounds lovely. I think we’ve all offered on a property and then continued to browse Rightmove and see other potential homes that look a bit better or better layout. I’ve never regretted my purchases they were right at the time and felt the other houses were not meant to be. 

keiratea

If you want to see what a house sold for, I find that houseprices.io seems to get the data before Rightmove/Zoopla. e.g. houseprices.io/?q=tw7 shows sales up to the end of March as of the start of June.