Thoughts? *Buying new house, need opinions.

Question

We started looking for new homes. We found one we absolutely love within our price range. It needs quite a bit of updating (very 80s bathrooms and such),  but’s It’s all aesthetic updates. It’s 3800 square feet, which is like over double our current home. It has a big, beautiful kitchen, a wonderful screened in porch, a very unique loft/office area that looks over the living area. An open floor plan. A master suite that is custom and just amazing. It doesn’t have any carpet, so that’s great. We like hardwood and tile. A partially finished, large basement. 4 bedrooms and 3.5 baths. 
I have a couple of concerns. The bedroom layouts are kinda weird. So, we have a 14 month old daughter. We also have another baby on the way. The master suite and one bedroom are on the main level. I would assume the bedroom next to ours would be new baby’s. Aside from the master bath, the only other bath on that level is a half. So, baby wouldn’t truly have their own bathroom. Upstairs, my daughter would have her own. I could bathe the baby up there? There’s also another full bath downstairs. I know this seems stupid, but it is kind of an awkward layout. 
Also, when you go up to the second level (where my toddler’s room would be), the stair area is not very safe. The stairs come up to an open landing that have a metal railing around it. It’s hard to explain. We would have to find some kind of solid railing or makeshift something to baby proof it, as she could easily slide below the railing and fall down the stairs. Also, is it weird to have a toddler on a separate level? Does anyone do this? 
It has a very very small backyard. Like, we definitely couldn’t have a play area. Should that be a deal breaker? My husband doesn’t think it is, but I am unsure where the kids would play outside. 
My only conditions for the new house were: a nice master suite and a big kitchen. This has both, so maybe I should shut up? Haha. Any advice is appreciated.
Edit: I am going to add photos of the railing and backyard. They are cropped a little, so Glow might make them look all screwy. 🤦‍♀️

Answer

Those are deal breakers for me, especially the fact that the bedrooms are on separate floors. I wouldn’t feel comfortable having one of my children on another floor in case of emergency I want everyone close by. Also if the backhard is so small you cant even have a play area for kids nope, you see what happened with the virus where playgrounds got closed. It’s important for me that my son can still have outside time safely.

Answer

I’m firmly of the opinion that, if a home isn’t mostly/exactly what you want, then don’t buy it. It’s too big of a purchase to make major compromises. 
Very little backyard would be a deal breaker for me especially since the pandemic will be with us for the foreseeable future.

Answer

Tiny yard is a dealbreaker for me. I don’t mind rooms on different floors. The railing situation could be tricky to make safe unless you do major work. I would pass.

Answer

The railing and not a big yard would be two big no it’s for me. I have a nice big fenced in yard for my kids and I love it. We spend a lot of time outside. ￼￼

Answer

Personally I would not want my bedroom on a separate level from my toddler, different if they were an older child who can just come downstairs on their own if they need something. They also might find it scary being upstairs alone when they get to that 5-10 year kind of age where everything is scary lol 
Also, the lack of yard would be a dealbreaker for me. Our yard isn’t huge but there’s enough space for toddlers/small children to play for sure.

Answer

First, the bathrooms. I’ve never lived in a house where everyone had their own bathroom. I have a very nice home that has been in my family for years BUT we have one tiny bathroom. I’ll post pics at the bottom. We are doing fine...but I do wish I had a tub to bath the kids. It honestly would make more sense to me to have one kids bathroom on a lower level for baths but that’s just my opinion. I think the bathrooms are a non issue. The steps I would be worried about but I’m sure they make something like a net to go against the railing or something temporary until your kids are older. What would be a total deal breaker for me personally would be the yard. We have one 2.5 year old and a new baby on the way. My son has a slide/tunnel play set, sandbox, teeter totter, and a play set on the deck. He likes to ride his little tractor around. He would live outside if we let him and our yard space kept our sanity during this whole shelter at home situation. We like to have cookouts. If the layout feels weird to you, a lot of updates need to happen, and there’s basically no yard, I would probably keep looking. It all comes down to what you want and your lifestyle. I know how hard it is to find the perfect home. We were in 14 of them touring and had even put offers, two were accepted but they ended up falling through, and then my gram suddenly had a stroke and eventually passed and we were already taking care of the property while she was in the hospital (there are large flower beds and a very large garden as well not pictured. My family asked if we’d be willing to buy her house and it was the best thing for us. 
This is our bathroom. Please ignore all the paw patrol stuff and sippy. That’s not a normal fixture...he was playing while I was getting ready and I have this picture because I thought it was funny. Behind the door is our shower stall. That’s all there is to it. 😏

The rest of the house is really nice and here is some pics of my deck and yard.

Thoughts? *Buying new house, need opinions.

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