House Hunting Question

nesenotes

So we will be house hunting in the very near future, but MH and I have opposing opinions on location. Just out of curiosity...

Would you rather live in a neighborhood with a bigger lot/house but you have to drive 15 minutes to get to a super market and even longer to get to other fun stuff like restaurants, Or live in a neighborhood walking distance to fun stuff but sacrifice lot/house space?

I'm no millionaire so I'm talking like 1200 sq.ft vs. 1500 sq.ft.  for an average house. This may seem small to some of you MidWesterners but in a nice area its really expensive.

breannie

I would like to live closer to the restaurants/fun stuff.

We had a similar dilemma when house hunting, and after weighing our options we went with the smaller house right in the center of town (house prices here in NY are insane too, and we have 1000 sq ft so I feel your pain)

pinkangelmoon

I think it would depend on the specific houses you are comparing and how the space is used rather than the square footage itself.  Like, would you be sacrificing a breakfast area or den, vs. an extra bedroom?  

Regarding lot size, personally having a large lot is not on my top priorities. But I'm not much of an outdoor person, I don't garden, we don't have dogs, etc.  It would be nice to have in a dream home but I'd prefer to be closer to things, especially if I were a SAHM.  I would at least like to have a grocery store within a 5 minute drive.

nesenotes

bellaxanthe said:

How social are you?  Do you go out a lot as a family? If it was me, I'd go smaller with close proximity as long as the schools were comparable.

I am reacting to being a billion miles away from everything I want to do and living in chain restaurant land though.

We get out of the house a lot! Sometimes I miss living at the beach so badly. We would bike ride and date night was a short bus ride so no DUI or expensive taxi cab. We take a taxi now, but its a good chunk of $$ to go on a date. 

nesenotes

You all are confirming my thoughts exactly.

nesenotes

JodieLyn10 said:

bellaxanthe said:

 If it was me, I'd go smaller with close proximity as long as the schools were comparable.

.

Oh yeah, this too.  We are in best school district in the city.  If we had lived in a neighborhood closer to uptown we would probably be shelling out for private school because...yeah...not so great.  That's a big thing to consider!

bellaxanthe said:

How social are you?  Do you go out a lot as a family? If it was me, I'd go smaller with close proximity as long as the schools were comparable.

I am reacting to being a billion miles away from everything I want to do and living in chain restaurant land though.

The schools wouldnt be an issue. If you are in a nicer area the schools are better in general. It just depends what part of the city you choose. But it goes hand in hand with real estate prices, they all tie in to each other.

nesenotes

pinkangelmoon said:

I think it would depend on the specific houses you are comparing and how the space is used rather than the square footage itself.  Like, would you be sacrificing a breakfast area or den, vs. an extra bedroom?  

Regarding lot size, personally having a large lot is not on my top priorities. But I'm not much of an outdoor person, I don't garden, we don't have dogs, etc.  It would be nice to have in a dream home but I'd prefer to be closer to things, especially if I were a SAHM.  I would at least like to have a grocery store within a 5 minute drive.

This is me. I dont have a green thumb and hate gardening. So a yard is only good for the baby to run around in basically.

BubbaJug

I would prioritize important things like... School districts, crime rates, etc... Then discuss the difference in living space vs. drive time to work/Target/ liquor stores (you know, the important places)... I'd say with more than 1 child, you'll need more space, but I am a midwesterner and we have almost 2000sqft (albiet, my house is set up super weird) and my H has said there is no way he will consider having another child until we have more room!

Just go with the place with the closest liquor store. Just do it. You know that will be the best choice in the end.

nesenotes

BubbaJug said:

I would prioritize important things like... School districts, crime rates, etc... Then discuss the difference in living space vs. drive time to work/Target/ liquor stores (you know, the important places)... I'd say with more than 1 child, you'll need more space, but I am a midwesterner and we have almost 2000sqft (albiet, my house is set up super weird) and my H has said there is no way he will consider having another child until we have more room!

Just go with the place with the closest liquor store. Just do it. You know that will be the best choice in the end.

How do you know my Lyfe?! LOL.
:x

Pandril19

Hrrrm.   I'm in Houston.  I do not know this "walkable" of which you speak.

 

I honestly don't know - I think I'd prefer location over size, but I bought in the suburbs.  So it kind of just comes down to the specifics I guess.

JAck5209

I'm in the minority but I would choose home/lot size over walkable restaurants and such. I don't mind driving places and 15 minutes is pretty standard in Ohio. The real question is, how far away is Target? If its within 20 minutes, we're good to go.

BubbaJug

@nesenotes, 

I speak the language of "hearts desire"... Which is always to be at least a little buzzed.

nesenotes

1107mrs said:

nesenotes said:

So we will be house hunting in the very near future, but MH and I have opposing opinions on location. Just out of curiosity...

Would you rather live in a neighborhood with a bigger lot/house but you have to drive 15 minutes to get to a super market and even longer to get to other fun stuff like restaurants, Or live in a neighborhood walking distance to fun stuff but sacrifice lot/house space?

I'm no millionaire so I'm talking like 1200 sq.ft vs. 1500 sq.ft.  for an average house. This may seem small to some of you MidWesterners but in a nice area its really expensive.

I lived near where you are and was in your exact situation a couple of years ago so I feel for you. It's so hard going to look at houses and seeing the tiny place you can afford with all of your hard earned money. I just couldn't stomach paying that much for a house half the size of what we could get elsewhere. We ended up moving about 50 miles north. We got a much bigger house in a great, family friendly area. We are lucky in that my husband works at several different locations and while his commute can suck sometimes, we are happier with choosing more space over a more convenient location. We are not within walking distance to anything except a park by our house but there is a grocery store, target and a few restaurants about a 5 minute drive away so it's not too terrible. It's definitely and adjustment to the LA area where everything you can think of is within a few blocks of you though. I've actually really come to enjoy being a little further away from all of the action. Good luck with your house hunting! Zip Realty is an awesome site and we actually have a friend who is a realtor in the area if you need need one

Interesting take. I'll check out Zip Realty Thanks! I usually search the So Cal MLS and cross compare on Zillow. And Ugh, it is hard saving and saving and only being able to afford a teeny tiny house. But thats the area for you. Its either that or move to IE or something and thats not gonna happen.

ashleynaka

This was us exactly about four years ago before we bought our house.  I grew up in a very affluent neighborhood and so did my H, but even with us making great money, we decided it was more important to be in a place where we could get more bang for our buck and still have things pretty close.  Schools were always important and the lot size did matter to us because we entertain quite a bit, especially outdoors.  We ended up east of LA, but are super happy and love it!  The only problem is that we are the youngest owners by far in our neighborhood, so there are not many kids for Chloe to play with.  If lot size doesn't matter to you as much, then I would say go with a place that's closer to things especially since you like to be out and about.

Oh yeah...one last thing that we thought of was how close to family we wanted to be.  We wanted to be close enough to be able to visit often.  Well, that went down the crapper when everyone moved away two years later!  Good luck with house hunting!