Townhouse vs Terraced - same location

mgabriel

Hi,

Me and my wife are FTB and we are looking to buy a house and trying to decide which one would be better.
The townhouse is more modern, end of terrace and seems to be ready to move in without much work to be done but has a very tiny courtyard which I think I will hate.
As we are currently living in a townhouse I started to hate climbing the stairs.
The terraced is cheaper, seems to need a little bit of  work before moving in but has a larger garden. I don't like the shared front garden and I don't know if a fence can be installed in it.

What would you choose between these two below?

rightmove.co.uk/properties/113752460#/?channel=RES_BUY
rightmove.co.uk/properties/112386635#/?channel=RES_BUY

Thank you!

user1977

Surely a townhouse is just a terraced one with pretensions?

Anyway, given the "townhouse" is an end terrace, I'd be strongly inclined towards that one as you've got less scope for noise from the neighbours (though every room adjoins the party wall which isn't ideal).

Belleofthebooks

The townhouse is beautifully done out but the kitchen and garden are smaller than the terrace.
The terrace would need quite a bit of work if you wanted to get it to the townhouse standard but there's more opportunity there to add value. Thats quite a big price difference too so i think i would go for the terrace, even though the townhouse is more my style.

AFF8879

I’d go for the terrace (assuming it’s standard construction). It’ll need more spending on it but feels more like a house/home than the townhouse to me…

TripleH

Blimey, that's not too dissimilar in price to here in the North West.

Do you commute or work from home?

If you commute, do you really want a large garden to maintain, whereas if you work from home what is the view like?

Where we are, the house is a bit old and knackered but mentally the view is much nicer (countryside) than the brand new flat we were in where the view was a dead city centre (accept that was a temporary thing but 12 months of that and other issues wore me out).

We saw an end terrace that had some fantastic views and was almost perfect, the issue was that they had just let the council put a bollard up just outside the property which made parking a pain.

lookstraightahead

If you stand outside , which do you feel more at home with? Although the same area, what do you feel about the 'street'?

That would be my decision. The look of the newer one is more appealing to me, but if there was a retail park next to it it would put me off.

MrsBrush

In all honesty, both are in a terrace, and there is a big price difference.

For me, the mid terrace seems to offer a more liveable space, with scope to add value through making changes over time. It looks presentable enough to not have too much to do when you first move in, and you can make it your own in your time. If it is affordability and style - you are getting more house in the mid-terrace but much less of the newly done pretty factor and million bathrooms you get in the town house. 

Questions I would be asking:

• What is the comparative square meterage in both properties (if not on the floor plans, work it out or ask the EA's)? That will give you a comparative cost if you work out how much each square metre will cost for both houses. 
• What would it cost to upgrade the mid terrace to meet the standard of the town house (I bet it wont be £65k unless you hire in people to do everything and have top of the range kitchens / bathrooms installed). Can you take on some work yourselves, and can you live with the work going on around you?
• How long do you intend to stay in the property?
• What scope is there to extend / add space over time if needed?
• What would the security be like for both properties? Whilst a mid-terrace has its downsides, there are far fewer potential entry points into your property from unwanted visitors!
• Think about what annoys you now - what would really start to get on your nerves if you are stuck with the situation long term?

Answer these questions together, and view both - most importantly trust yourselves to make the right decision for how you live and how you see your lives evolving in the next few years.

Teapot55

The terraced house only has one upstairs toilet for the whole house. The townhouse has more bathrooms, but, strangely, bedroom 2 has an en-suite with no toilet? (Might just be an error in the plan drawing though). 

eddddy

I guess if I was being pedantic - I would call the 'Townhouse' a 'Semi-detached with a loft conversion'.

(The clue from the outside that it's a loft conversion is that the neighbour doesn't have rooflights in the same place. Plus a search of planning applications suggests the owners got planning consent for the rooflights in 2003 and 2007.
You can search for the address here: https://pa2.north-herts.gov.uk/online-applications/)


The terraced house looks like it's ex-local authority. That's sometimes an issue for mortgage lenders, if a lot of the nearby houses are still local authority owned.

But TBH, the variety of front door designs suggests that they have all been bought by private owners. (If they were still owned by the local authority, they would usually all have similar standard front doors, windows etc.)


You could put a fence along your side of the shared path - and maybe your own gate in the front wall. Otherwise, you'd have to get agreement from your neighbour about putting a fence down the middle of the shared path, and creating a new gate for each property on each side of the fence..

GDB2222

Although not a keen gardener, I'd certainly want more outside space than the townhouse gives. So, I'd choose the terrace.

The front garden isn't shared. It's just the path that's shared. 

GixerKate

Out of the 2 I would probably choose the mid-terrace, just seems more than what you get for the 'townhouse', especially with that price difference.

On an aside, the place I have just moved from was a ex-council mid-terrace with a very similar layout, spent over 10 years there and it was a nice house.