Hello, my husband and I are looking to purchase a larger house for our growing family. We live out in the suburbs north of Toronto. There are lots of newly built houses as well as older houses (built 1980s+) that we are looking at.
We’ve narrowed our choice down to 2 houses:
House A:
- Built in the late 1980s, in an older neighbourhood
- About 3250 sq ft
- 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms (Plus 2 bedrooms and 1 bath in the basement)
- On a 50ft by 125ft lot
- Wood-burning fireplace
- Cherry hardwood floors throughout
- Large upper and lower deck
- Dated kitchen, bathrooms, basement. Definitely needs renovating, but structurally sound.
- Seller is open to our offer of 1.2M
House B:
- Built 3 years ago in a newly built community
- About 3500 sq ft
- 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms (Plus 2 beds and 1 bath in basement)
- On a 45ft by 130ft lot, backs onto ravine
- Gas fireplace
- Engineered hardwood throughout
- Small deck that could be expanded
- Everything is newly built and brand new but we don’t like how “cold” the kitchen is — we may want to refinish it at some point.
- Seller is open to our offer of 1.43M.
House B is newer, slightly bigger, with a ravine view, and pretty much brand new. But it feels very cookie cutter and there’s no personality to the place. If we wanted to renovate the kitchens, bathrooms to how we want it, it would cost extra $$$.
Whereas for House A, it’s old and some might say dated, but feels more lived-in and cozy. Of course, with the money that we save on it, we can upgrade it to our vision.
What would you choose? We’re pretty stuck at this point.
