Mr. Cereal and I are in escrow for a new house. The home we have been renting for the last 6 years was up for sale, but not within our price range, so we decided rather than stretching our budget so thin each month we would be bare bones for at least a year, we started looking for a house. We had a lot of discussions about where we wanted to look and the size of the house we wanted.
Our biggest decision was size vs location. We live in close proximity to two other towns, both of which are smaller and not quite as nice as the town we currently live in. However, the sizes of the houses in these other towns were quite a bit larger than what we could afford in the town we are currently in. So this meant that we would most certainly have to sacrifice location if we wanted a bigger house. For both of us, the location proved to be the more important factor, but we still decided to look at houses in the other towns to see if any of those really spoke to us and if so, we could make a final decision at that point. Well, in the end location won and we have a smaller house than we were initially thinking. It does tick most of the other boxes though, so in the end I think we made the best decision for our family.
Size
We wanted a house big enough that it would accommodate us in our current state. The kids don’t have their own room because we all share the master bedroom at this point, but we definitely wanted a second bedroom for when they do move out of our room (this could be never for all I know). Our current home is just under 1300 square feet and we have a third bedroom that we never use. Our new house is about 1150 square feet and it has two bedrooms. I think we will be just fine, especially because the layout of the new house is set up much more logically.
Bathrooms
One of our deal breakers for a new house was only one bathroom. We’ve made this a rule for us for our entire relationship so far after having to share a bathroom in our first apartment together. Two bathrooms is a must. And by two, what I really mean is one full and one half. The best part about the new house is that the half bath is downstairs, whereas in the old house, the guest bathroom was upstairs. It was awkward and kind of annoying to have to send people upstairs to use the restroom. It was especially annoying when I was seriously pregnant and having to pee every five minutes. I dreaded going up and down the stairs every day and towards the end, I just stayed upstairs to avoid having to make so many trips. I’m lazy, I know.
Kitchen
I make 95% of our meals, including breakfast and lunch, so having a functional kitchen is super important to me. The old house has a tiny kitchen. The kitchen in our current house seems bigger than it is, but there is literally no counter space at all and very few cupboards. We have to store a lot of food on the counter, so the kitchen always looks messy. The new house has a pantry(!). I cannot tell you the level of excitement I have about a pantry. There is so much counter space and the kitchen is an L shaped galley, so even though it probably isn’t bigger square footage wise, it is much easier to navigate around in it. I can’t wait to get in there and start cooking!
Outdoor Space
The one other thing we were both kind of wanting was a medium sized outdoor space. We have a giant backyard right now and it’s nice, but it is so much work. We have to mow at least once a week and it just isn’t very pretty. We never spent that much time outside because it just wasn’t set up to be a good space for hanging out. There is no shade and one small patio. Because we were renting, we only did minor upgrades to it as we didn’t want to waste our money. The new house has a funny narrow and very long backyard. There is a giant tree growing one side of it and there is an awesome deck off the back door. I’ve been on Pinterest like crazy finding ways to make it pretty without spending a ton of money. I am super excited about starting on it. I’ve convinced Mr. Cereal that he will have to move our garden with us so we will have to start with a planter box first.
Location
We decided to stay in our current location. We have a million reasons for this, but the most important ended up being our comfort level with safety. The town we are currently in is one of the safest in the country. People move here all the time because it consistently ranks as one of the best places to live. The neighborhood we are moving into is mostly families with a few older people scattered around.
School District
We have one of the best school districts in the state. The schools consistently rank well and the two other towns have districts that are much less successful. This is really important to us and I feel really good about keeping the kids in the same district. Granted, this is not something we need to worry about for quite some time, but I’m a planner, so this is a win for me. The elementary school we are assigned to is small and has amazing teachers, so I am really excited about this.
Driving Distance
I think I’ve mentioned on here before that I hate driving. It causes me epic anxiety and I freak out about long trips. Staying in this town means that I am only 10 minutes away from work and only 15 minutes away from the babysitter or my parent’s house. This is huge for me. The new house is actually closer to Mr. Cereal’s work too, so that is a plus as well. We now will live about halfway between our two jobs, which is nice for both of us.
Our old house is in an established neighborhood that was about a mile outside of town. Our closest grocery store is about 10 minutes away, and there are no restaurants or shopping nearby. It is a bit frustrating at times. The new place is much closer to shopping, grocery stores, restaurants, and our bank too. It will be much easier to get to all of these places, and it is closer to the highway that we use to go visit Mr. Cereal’s parents.
. . . . .
Overall, I think we made a really great decision for our family. We plan on doing a lot of small updates and one bigger renovation as we go along. The house has a bunch of unique architectural features and I am really excited to get in there and start making it our home!
Did you sacrifice size for location or vice versa when determining where to live?
persimmon / 1481 posts
That’s what were mulling over right now. We live in a very expensive area and seem to be getting pushed further and further away from DHs job in the city. Right now it takes him about 1.5 hours or more to get home which drives me nuts. I would prefer a smaller house a little closer to the city but he’s not so sure. It’s less cleaning and upkeep but we love our spacious house. We will have to decide soon because our lease is up in September.
pomelo / 5084 posts
Commenting to follow because we are discussing the same thing. I think we both want a smaller house and lot if we can stay close to our works (10-15 min drive now for each of us but in different directions). I just cant with a long commute. I would take almost anything if I could stay close to work. This means living in the city for us with a tiny backyard but I think we will be ok. It’s fun to look for houses even if we wont be moving just yet!!
wonderful olive / 19353 posts
Congrats on the new home!
We sacrificed location for size on our current home, but we love our current home. If we could put our current home in our old location, that’d be ideal. However, we wouldn’t be able to afford it so yea..
guest
Congrats on the new house!
When we moved from a large city to a smaller town in a different state, our #1 priority was location. Previously I didn’t have a car, rarely drove, relied on public transit and lived very close to all sorts of amenities that were in walking distance (restaurants, stores, etc). I wouldn’t trade our smaller house (1300 sq ft) in a great location with a bigger house further out! That said, we have done a lot of renovation of our early 1900’s house over the past several years.
Still…isn’t it sad that location has so much impact on what you get in terms of quality public education, quality of life, etc? It’s where so much inequality in the US begins. I wish we didn’t have to make choices based on school districts!!!
blogger / kiwi / 626 posts
@turquoisemama: The town we live in is pretty small, so commute isn’t ever really more than 15-20 minutes, but I totally get what you are saying. Sometimes time is a commodity that is worth sacrificing space for.
@wrkbrk: Looking for houses was super fun. We lucked out because the market here is super competitive and this is the first house we put an offer on.
@Alivoo01: I totally understand what you mean. We love our current neighborhood, but there was just no way we could afford to stay there, even with the equity we built with our lease to own.
honeydew / 7444 posts
Congrats!
For us it’s location, location, location. I’d be more miserable driving to and from work every day than having a small kitchen or yard. We could have gotten a cheaper and bigger house in the suburbs.