House Q: Interior or Exterior?

[Twoboos]

Looking for some thoughts to help me think this through.

I have been looking to move for a few years now. Always watching the house listings. One came on 2.5 weeks ago, it looked OK and we went to see it. Loved it, made an offer (92% of asking) and they rejected it. (STUPID!) Deal fell apart. It's still on the market, and we've now had time to think, not just go on "we love it!" We went to see it again yesterday. It's in the same town but more near the town center.

The interior is a real PRO in the pro/con list. HUGE kitchen, I can picture the parties. Large fam rm. Fin'd basement w/full bath. Fin'd walkup 3rd floor for DH's office. Really nicely done all 'round.

The major con is - basically no outside yard. I mean, there's a yard, but not flat so no real play space to play soccer or softball. We might be able to find a spot for our (small) swingset. It does have a pool, great in summer (we are in New England) but useless the rest of the year. House opens right to pool patio. Other slight con is kid rooms are on opposite side of the house from Master BR, they are separated by a landing for 2nd floor. Left->MA br, Right ->kid rooms.

So, how to judge, what's more important, great house interior vs. yard space. Just trying to think this through, what's your take?

[truly scrumptious]

I'd consider both, based on what you do the most. Since so much of your time in NE is spent indoors, having good indoor space is definitely a priority.

If the outdoor space is not ideal, do you have other options? Are there parks or playgrounds in walking distance?
Do you spend a lot of the summer with DC hanging out in your yard, running around, etc., while you supervise them from the house/minimally?
(All these might make the lack of yard into a dealbreaker.)

If instead you tend to go out and supervise them, don't mind walking to nearby playgrounds, and only really hang out in the yard as a family, you may be able to make it work.

For example, DS will putter about in our backyard playing with his trucks, balls and shovel, etc. We're considering getting him a sandbox, so that we can watch him from indoors, or sit on a blanket while he plays. I wouldn't be comfortable with him playing on a sloping yard with trucks and balls if I wasn't always within arms reach, so the yard you describe probably wouldn't work for us.

[MoJo]

Well, we bought our home for the outside space, and that was several years pre-kids. But even at that, there's certainly not enough place for soccer etc. And the "kid" bedrooms are on the other end of the (small) house from the master. . . . which for now means I'm sleeping in a kid room to be closer to my very young kids.

Here, kids who want to play soccer go to an empty lot down the street, or to the park at the edge of town.

I agree with Truly Scrumptious. . . it depends on how your family uses your yard.

[ohsara430]

I agree with PPs, it really depends on what you value most as a family. We don't use our yard much, I'm just not the outdoorsy type. I mean we play outside some but not all the time throughout summer so I'm not too picky about a yard. We also have a playground about a block away. We spend tons of time inside so we wanted an ideal layout for us and that's what we prioritized.

When it comes to kid bedrooms our master is on the opposite end of the house from other bedrooms but it's not like it takes that long to get there. I can see where some people would think that's a problem but it hasn't been for us. Our master is much closer than when we're downstairs in the family room watching TV and we have to go up to get DD when she starts crying. We even seriously considered a house with a first floor master, but for other reasons didn't buy that house. DD is a light sleeper so it's actually really nice to have her room a little separated from other parts of the house.

Good luck, it's hard to find the "right" house.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I want a better yard so so much that it really clouds my opinion. Accessible, easy to play in outside space is going to be a sticking point if we buy a new house. And if we stay here we are going to do some extensive renovations to make the back yard better. I personally don't need a big back yard and could live without that. So, if you at least have some safe, easy back yard it might not be a deal breaker.

Beth

[wellyes]

If you're near town center and presumably a playground -- that is excellent. The point is that you can get outside, walk around, do stuff with the kids. I personally think in New England being able to walk to town is more important than a yard since there's not much free outside play half the year (November through March), but you can always walk to the coffee shop and back.

[crl]

I HATED our big flat, perfect for kids and dogs backyard. My kid would not play out there unless we had a playdate. I spend way, way, way more time maintaining that stupid yard than my kid ever did playing on it. I hope to never own a big yard again.

Catherine

[JMS]

Well, I think the outside is an important factor. I'd rather have a nice yard (ie., good size w/o neighbors right on top of me) and an okay interior that has a good floor plan but needs updating. In this market, you might find a better deal on a house that needs a new kitchen and/or with outdated bathrooms. You can fix all that and design to your ideals and dreams but you can never add more square footage to your yard. JMO.

eta: Just read some other posts. It really depends on your family structure, what you are used to and what neighborhood amenities exist. I'm coming from a great fenced in back yard where I open the door off my kitchen and the kids are out there ALL DAY LONG playing and i'm keeping an eye on them through the multiple windows that face the backyard.

[emily]

I agree with PPs. We have small backyard and while we often wish it was bigger, when the kids play outside, it is often in front of the house in the cul-de-sac with the other children on our street. The backyard is primary used by the adults for BBQs and such.
We are also in the NE, and I value indoor space a lot more. Personally, I don't think I would want the maintenance of a pool plus dealing with the safety issues. If we had a pool, I can easily see half the kids on our street in our backyard.

[KrisM]

Yep depends on how you'll use it. We have a good sized, flat back yard with a deck and a few trees. We have a large swingset, a big sandbox, various toys and sports equipment. Our next door neighbors have kids close to our kids' ages, so in the summer, we play soccer, t-ball, tag with all the kids between the yards.

They do play in the front on the cul-de-sac, but that is more for bikes adn scooters. Plus, in the backyard, they can play while I'm inside doing dinner or something.

Personally, I would not give up a nice backyard. I'm in Michigan, so similar weather. Ours has gotten decent play this month and from April through September it'll get a lot of play. My kids swing in the winter too :).

[justlearning]

It's hard to say what's best for your family. We have a good-sized back yard but my boys aren't very outdoorsy. We put in a huge playset with all the bells and whistles two years ago and they almost never go on it unless they have friends over. Instead, they'll just go outside and hunt for lady bugs or smash rocks or other things that really don't require the size of our yard. But some families spend all their time outdoors, so it really depends on your family.

Regarding the master bedroom being split from the kids' rooms, that's the only way that I will buy a house. I like the fact that we're on the same floor as our kids (so we could still get to them quickly) but that they're on the other side of the upstairs, so we have a lot of privacy. Growing up in a small house, my wall was shared between my bedroom and my parents' and it was horrible that way. Not only could I hear everything that went on in their room, but they also got upset when I was older if I stayed up late doing homework and had the radio on or something like that. Having some distance between the parents' and kids' bedrooms is definitely a pro IMO rather than a con.

ETA that for me, buying a house with a pool would be a con and something that I probably wouldn't do. I grew up with a pool and it was a lot of maintenance--I ended up hating that pool because my parents made me do all the cleaning of it. (We didn't have any fancy cleaning equipment, so perhaps if the cleaning is automated, it wouldn't be a big deal.) Also, when we visit my parents, I'm always freaked out about my kids drowning in their pool so the safety issue does worry me.

[lhafer]

You can always fill the pool in if you don't want one, and want a bigger play space for the kids.

We have a small yard, and it has not hindered us at all. But we live in a community that has 2 community pools open in the summer and lots of walking trails and parks.

Actually when we built our house, the size of the lot was a concern because the house is 3,000sqft 1 story on a normal lot. You can see the size of my backyard in the Rainbow swing set post. But we decided that we could deal with the smaller yard because of the amenities in the neighborhood. We are within walking distance to a splashpad pool, and live in a quite street.

And I also would not buy a house where the Master is next to the other rooms. While that's nice when they are little - IMO, that's what monitors were made for. I like my private time with my DH. And if you plan on living there for a long time - kids get older. And then the space becomes important to you AND them!

[Twoboos]

Thanks for all the thoughts! Just to answer a few questions.

Even though the house is "closer" to downtown, it's not walking distance to anywhere. We would still have to drive to the park or any downtown place - just not as long of a drive as we have now. (10mins vs. 4 mins.) We are talking major suburbia.

There are no other little kids on the street, only high school age kids. (Same as our n'hood now.) So we wouldn't have the n'hood at our house/in the pool.

In general, we do spend a lot of time indoors. For many months you don't have a choice here. :) But now that spring was here for a few days (of course now it's snowing again), we were outside alot and DDs were playing, running around, etc. DH decided he really likes our yard. Which is funny, we basically have no back yard, but a large front yard where all playing goes on. But I am able to sit here and look out the front window and watch/hear them play. I don't think this would be an option at the other house due to the layout.

Drat. I am answering my own question and trying to ignore the obvious. ;)

[vludmilla]

Regarding the master bedroom being split from the kids' rooms, that's the only way that I will buy a house. I like the fact that we're on the same floor as our kids (so we could still get to them quickly) but that they're on the other side of the upstairs, so we have a lot of privacy. Growing up in a small house, my wall was shared between my bedroom and my parents' and it was horrible that way. Not only could I hear everything that went on in their room, but they also got upset when I was older if I stayed up late doing homework and had the radio on or something like that. Having some distance between the parents' and kids' bedrooms is definitely a pro IMO rather than a con.
.

:yeahthat: It was a huge "pro" to us that the kids and MBR are separated for privacy.

[MaiseyDog]

Regarding the master bedroom being split from the kids' rooms... Growing up in a small house, my wall was shared between my bedroom and my parents' and it was horrible that way. Not only could I hear everything that went on in their room, but they also got upset when I was older if I stayed up late doing homework and had the radio on or something like that.

:yeahthat: As another kid who grew sharing a wall with their parents I TOTALLY agree. I absolutely refuse to buy a house where the kids bedrooms are on the same hallway as the parents. And it's not like you have to trek across the back forty to get to the bedrooms on the other side of the house. Our current house is 2200 square feet and I can literally get from my bed to their bed in 3 seconds if needed. I don't think shaving 1.5 seconds off the time by having their rooms closer would make all that much difference.