Better location vs Better house

Sunrise_Sunset

Would love to hear some opinions on this please.

katie275

Location all day long, you can make improvements to the house as time/funds allow

GingerLily

70/30 location/house

No point in having a awful house in a good location, no point in having a lovely house in a bad location.

I bought a 3 bed semi inside the M50, probably could have bought something spectacular for the same price elsewhere!

bri007

Location is most important for us anyway, I’d rather have a house in bad condition than a house in good condition in bad area. Can always update the house, can’t update an area unfortunately no matter how hard you try!

Sunrise_Sunset

A bit of info then. The smaller house is a 2 bed terrace with attic conversion, unsure about the prospect of extending but probably not, in a good location, close to amenities, kids school, public transport, a great family estate. The bigger house is a 3 bed semi D with no view to convert the attic due to the type of roof but could extend, not in a bad location per se, for crime rates or anything, just a bit further from amenities, and the kids school, reasonable public transport.

Staplor

Sunrise_Sunset wrote: »

A bit of info then. The smaller house is a 2 bed terrace with attic conversion, unsure about the prospect of extending but probably not, in a good location, close to amenities, kids school, public transport, a great family estate. The bigger house is a 3 bed semi D with no view to convert the attic due to the type of roof but could extend, not in a bad location per se, for crime rates or anything, just a bit further from amenities, and the kids school, reasonable public transport.

Could you have the attic as a reasonably usable bedroom?

antiskeptic

Sunrise_Sunset wrote: »

A bit of info then. The smaller house is a 2 bed terrace with attic conversion, unsure about the prospect of extending but probably not, in a good location, close to amenities, kids school, public transport, a great family estate. The bigger house is a 3 bed semi D with no view to convert the attic due to the type of roof but could extend, not in a bad location per se, for crime rates or anything, just a bit further from amenities, and the kids school, reasonable public transport.

You say you probably couldn't extend. You might establish whether yes or no to that and calculate what the total sq ft of the house will be in the end. Overall sq footage counts and you might count the hall/landing of the 3 bed as not really contributing to the overall.

You don't need tonnes of garden if you've a green nearby. From about 5 years the kids will be out on the green / in each others houses. A patio will suffice after that - even if a bigger garden would be a nice-to-have

If you can't expand the 2 bed living space, beware what happens with kids. You really need to be able to have 2 separate living zones so that they can occupy the one and you the other - you'll be driven mental otherwise. It doesn't have to be much - just separate.

Having other kids around is going to become important. If your kids have plenty of others to play with and a safe place to do it then a huge benefit vs. somewhere with few kids and nowhere to play. I look at the big period gafs I once lusted over in my town and cringe at the idea of raising kids in them: no street life and nowhere to play.

Assuming you could make up the (useable) space somewhat, I'd go with the amenity proximity

shirazhyder84

Def. Location!

Spanish Eyes

Well it is all subjective really. Some people will sacrifice location/transport links/schools/commute for a bigger house.

That's fine. But location and access to the above is paramount IMV.

It really is your choice OP. Weigh it up and go with your gut instinct. I have never regretted buying a house within the M50 for a good price years ago, even though everyone told me I would get a bigger, better la la la house further away. So glad now. I went with my instincts and what was important to me in the location I chose in the end.

No regrets whatsoever. Thankfully.

bm_1212

i heard a saying "buy the worst house on the best street"

Alkers

Not only is it relative but it's very subjective also depending on the details.
Neither extreme is suitable imo so it's all about what part of the middle ground suits your particular circumstances.
We opted for a bigger house over a fancy area as we wanted to be sure that in the event of another property collapse etc, that the house we were buying would give us enough room to live in it for 20+ years and not be stuck trying to raise kids in a 2 bed duplex somewhere. In this context the concept of a starter home is madness.
If both houses meet the above requirements, only then would I start to value a better location over the further additional size of the house in the non-preffered area.
In your particular example I would be cautious about the smaller house, do you plan on having another child? Just look back through this forum at some of the posts of people trying to raise twins in an apartment which is in negative equity to the tune of 100k...

Askthe EA

80 location 20 house.

Sunrise_Sunset

antiskeptic wrote: »

You say you probably couldn't extend. You might establish whether yes or no to that and calculate what the total sq ft of the house will be in the end. Overall sq footage counts and you might count the hall/landing of the 3 bed as not really contributing to the overall.

You don't need tonnes of garden if you've a green nearby. From about 5 years the kids will be out on the green / in each others houses. A patio will suffice after that - even if a bigger garden would be a nice-to-have

If you can't expand the 2 bed living space, beware what happens with kids. You really need to be able to have 2 separate living zones so that they can occupy the one and you the other - you'll be driven mental otherwise. It doesn't have to be much - just separate.

Having other kids around is going to become important. If your kids have plenty of others to play with and a safe place to do it then a huge benefit vs. somewhere with few kids and nowhere to play. I look at the big period gafs I once lusted over in my town and cringe at the idea of raising kids in them: no street life and nowhere to play.

Assuming you could make up the (useable) space somewhat, I'd go with the amenity proximity

The estate is large enough and none of the other houses have extended. I don't know what the reason for this is. I will try to find out from the Estate Agent.

Plenty of green space around, so that's not an issue.

What do you mean by separate living zones? Like 2 living room areas?

eurokev

I have an uncle who is a building quantity surveyor and has been involved in housing for about 50yrs. Myself and all my cousins would have looked to him for advice when buying

His saying is " There are 3 important things to consider when buying a house -- location, location, location"

Heres Johnny

All this talk about location always sounded like people thinking of an investment not a home.

There's varying degrees of house/location tradeoff......

It's down to personal preference and how much better the location is than the other and how much better the house is than the other.

It's what suits you really and your own needs/wants.

I definitely traded location for a better house. I wanted to stay in my home town but nothing suitable was for sale so I moved to the next town 10 min drive away for a house I wanted.

On your definition of "bad location" I would chose the better house.

We spend so much time in our houses and having a better and bigger one is so much better imo.

If the better house was in a rough area etc that would be a different decision.

sunnysoutheast

Sunrise_Sunset wrote: »

Would love to hear some opinions on this please.

I've always prioritised location for the place I'm going to live. For an investment maybe not.

markpb

Heres Johnny wrote: »

All this talk about location always sounded like people thinking of an investment not a home.

In our case, we looked at places in south Dublin near where we both work and in places in north Dublin where we could afford much bigger and nicer houses. In the end, we picked bmaster on location but it had nothing to do with investing. We wanted a place that was close to good public transport so we would have a choice of job locations, so our children could be independent in the future and so none of us would be tied to using a car. We wanted somewhere close to a good school. We wanted somewhere that felt like it would be a good area to raise children in, somewhere they will hopefully be able to play in and get to know the other children.

Teyla Emmagan

Location, location, location.

Sunrise_Sunset

Slightly OT, but with Brexit coming up, would it be sensible or silly to wait to see if this affects house prices?

Ning

"Location" means everything and nothing. Except for very specific cases (anti-social behavior), it's very subjective.

beauf

Ning wrote: »

"Location" means everything and nothing. Except for very specific cases (anti-social behavior), it's very subjective.

It might mean beside a train station or a 2hr drive to work. That's not subjective.