Confused Do we go for 3 bed or 4 bed

[BeauticianNotMagician]

Need some advice please. We are currently renting a three bedroom house for £650 a month. The landlord wants to sell to us next year. We will be first time buyers and have three children aged 9,8 and 4 months.

The house we live in now has a small lounge, large kitchen diner, utility room, tiny downstairs shower & toilet, a medium garden, two small double rooms upstairs a bathroom with a jacuzzi bath and a third bedroom that would fit a cot but not a bed. The house is a semi and we have perfect neighbours really good friends with them.We would pay about £140,000 for the house and then extend to the side putting on a garage, playroom, and two further medium sized bedrooms. The parking isn't very good we have a drive but its a cul de sac so terrible at the weekend.

We have just been offered another house a four bed detached. We would rent to start at £700 a month and it will sell for about £170,000.
It has a hallway, downstairs wc, large lounge/ diner, large kitchen, playroom, lean to conservatory, medium garden, two double bedrooms( master with ensuite), third good sized room, box bedroom and a large bathroom. The reason for the low selling price would be because it needs some tlc. It's quite dated. All three wc/ bathrooms would need replacing eventually. It has a drive way for two cars as well as further off road parking.

If you've read this far thank you. Which would you choose??

[BeauticianNotMagician]

Bump

[Itsaburrdiee]

I would be tempted by the 4 bed house. There is a lot of smallness mentioned in the three bed house which would probably become more of an issue as the children grow.

Replacing bathrooms is also less hassle than an extension.

[50shadesofmeh]

I have 3 kids and would definitely go for the 4 bedroom

[BeauticianNotMagician]

I'm thinking more the 4 bed too. The whole reason we were going for a 3 bed is that a 4 bed was completely out of our price range. The absolute minimum for a 4 bed in this area is £230,000 and that would be typically a semi detached.

[RobotHamster]

Def the 4 bed, sounds like it would be cheaper overall.

Those prices sound v good to me though, you can't get a 2 bed for those prices round here

[cheryl19843]

4 bed defo

[BeauticianNotMagician]

We are in a village in Leicestershire. I'm from much further South originally where all we would have got for that price is a shoe box.

The four bed I feel is a one off so I think we may regret it if we didn't take it. It's purely because it needs quite a bit of work.

It's very rare to get good neighbours we are great friends with ours and our children adore each other. We are constantly over one another's house. But I know that isn't a good enough reason to stay deep down. I just need other opinions.

We are all about saving money at the moment so its really a case of what's more cost effective as well. Out council tax will go up a bit at 4 bed an I also need to take into account electricity/gas bills.

[DontmindifIdo]

Go for the space, it's easier to just update decoration and replace bathrooms than to build extensions, plus you can do that bit by bit, rather than have to save for the whole lot. The extension you want will be expensive and disruptive, and you might not get planning permission.

[Alohomora]

I would go for the 4 bed, as well. If you are going to have to extend the one you're in anyway you might end up spending similar money, and I think it's easier to live in a house with three children if you can do it up one room at a time, instead of having one really big building project on the go.

[LadyKooKoo]

Definitely the four bed. The 30k difference between them would not build the extension that you have described.

[InsertUsernameHere]

I'd go for the four bed too. If you go for the three bed have a very clear plan about how you would fund the extension, especially if you think you would use a mortgage. As it is cheaper you are likely to find the loan to value ratio will limit an extra borrowing on your mortgage. (Not sure i explained that particularly well - basically bank currently lend against what your house is worth when you start not what it will be worth when you finish). Also how far away are the houses? You can still visit your old neighbours - we do!

[Jaynebxl]

How far apart are the two houses?

[SpottedDickandCustard]

The 4 bed definitely.

We had this dilemma recently and went for the 4 bed. So glad we did, the space is amazing!

I'm not sure you would get the extension on the 3 bed for 30k plus doing a huge extension like that is so disruptive.

[ThisIsBULLSHIT]

Four bed. Defo.

[BeauticianNotMagician]

The houses are about a 25 min walk/ 10 min drive from one another. Basically opposite ends of the village.

I hadn't thought about all the disruption when getting an extension done and you're all right that would be a bit of a nightmare with 3 children .

[Mandy21]

In that scenario, I would go for the 4 bed - if the extended 3 bed is going to be about the same space as the 4 bed, the 4 bed will actually be cheaper because I agree with a previous poster, its highly unlikely that you can extend at the side as you describe for £30k.

The only caveat to that is whether those figures are correct - why would the owners of the 4 bed be willing to sell it for £170k if its worth more than that? Is there a possibility that they'll change their minds / put the price up? The advantage (it seems) of the 3 bed is that its been offered for sale now - it sounds more certain than the 4 bed.

Good luck!

[MrsLettuce]

yy, the 4 bed

[Weegiemum]

I'd also go for the 4 bed. We moved about 18 months ago from 3-bed rented to 4 bed owned, it's been brilliant. My dc are 9,11,13 and each having their own room has made a massive difference to us - no more fighting! Our new house is only 9 years old so we've only made cosmetic changes (and the decorator is doing our lounge/diner and hall/stair/landing next week!!) and eventually we'll put a conservatory out the back just for the space, but we really don't regret the move at all.

[BeauticianNotMagician]

The 4 bed needs work has no garage which everyone wants around here and was previously on the market for 3 years at £190,000 with absolutely no interest. The owner just wants rid of it I think. He himself paid out for no improvements since he bought it.

[RedHelenB]

Is the 4 bed in as nice a spot though?

[BeauticianNotMagician]

Oh yes the village in general is beautiful. If anything the end we are in now is ever so slightly not as nice ( sorry bad English can't think of alternative wording). Purely because its the end near the shops and pubs. Generally teenagers who in a village have little to do hang out at shops( not saying all bad) and obviously pubs at some point equals drunks ( on occasion I may be one of them ;-) )

[soontobeslendergirl]

If it helps, we had our main bathroom, en-suite and downstairs loo all ripped out and replaced last year - including a shower bath and 2 new showers, a pump to increase the pressure etc and it cost about £11K all in.

In you OP it is clear from the way you right it that you'd rather have the 4 that may be subconscious though :)

[HeyJudith]

4 bed

More bedroom space is very useful for a family and where possible I personally would not put myself through building works :)

[mummaemma]

4 bed