What compromise did you make when you bought your house?

[Napqueen1234]

House hunting and interested to see where you compromised. We live in a city suburb so outside space is a premium. We have two young kids. Found a BEAUTIFUL huge house which is perfect but the garden is small. Can fit a seating area BBQ swing set and a bit of (fake currently) grass but certainly not kick a ball about levels. Close to parks though. Otherwise for similar price a slightly ugly house needing a lot of updating but an enormous long garden. DH likes planting veg but the first has an enormous drive which we wouldn’t need so could put planters down each side for vegetables (south facing) but the the back wouldn’t be super sunny. We currently have a tiny yard we use very little so I’ve never experienced a big garden. Is it a compromise you’d make? We like in NW so have loooong autumn winters inside anywayb

*anyway. !

How ugly is the other house? I would be more tempted by the bigger garden but it would totally depend on the houses. Can you make the second house prettier, or is it just not a nice style?

Compromise in this house was that the garden is very overlooked. House has period character, pretty street, best school locally, and the garden isn’t small, but it doesn’t feel very private. I want to plant a huge hedge at the bottom but DH has ideas about a home office so we haven’t yet.

I compromised on the garden, got an allotment for veg growing. I have two big dogs so need to take them out regardless of the garden size, we are lucky to have lots of off lead walks on our doorstep.

It's smaller than we would have liked but the location is perfect.

We wanted a garage, but we fell in love with a house that didn't have one and decided that as there was plenty of space in which to build one we could live with it. I think if possible you should compromise on things you could change in future if you wanted to. The garden might be tricky to adjust to your needs so it may be better to keep looking.

@TooExtraImmatureCheddar the second is a 60s build so could make it slightly better but ultimately it’s not the prettiest house. The small garden one is a big Edwardian with stained glass windows etc (4 stories). I don’t want to move and still wish we had a big garden as one of the reasons we are moving is outside space but our current house you can only access the yard from a hard to reach back room whereas this one has double doors from the kitchen onto the little garden so it’s far more useable generally even if small.

That’s true @HappyDinosaur it’s not as though you can make a garden bigger 😂 it backs onto another row of houses.

No drive, tiny bathroom that needed a complete overhaul. We didn’t know the area at all either. Worked out brilliantly.

I find generally people with large gardens tend to find them a lot of upkeep and consequently don’t have the time/energy/motivation to use them for their benefits like a place to grow veg/flowers or just relax. I’d compromise the garden, as long as a few planters along the drive will satisfy your ‘gardening time’ requirements. Although a big house, for me, is just a drain too in time and money. I’d sacrifice a large garden for a small one and a large house for an adequately sized house, but I wouldn’t compromise on location or how much work it needed. Life’s too short. Happy house hunting 🙂

We're more overlooked than we were used to, but we wanted to live in one particular small village so we knew we'd never get everything.

We compromised on kerb appeal of a somewhat ugly house in a rural area that needed a little reno; prioritising location, very private garden and separate garage. Having a pretty house here with similar space would have made it completely unaffordable for us and more like a lottery win.

We compromised on the garden, mostly over size and orientation. But, DH wanted an acre or two and this one is 0.2. However, the house is in good nick, large enough and in the right location.

We had looked at properties with lots more land, but further from where we wanted to be and more work, and what we wanted didn't exist for our budget in our ideal location.

I would absolutely take the house with the smaller garden but it's beautiful.
It had everything you need plus local parks.
We are inside so much of the year esp in the North.

Our house is ugly from the outside but the internal layout and dimensions are perfect. Lovely garden so I never actually have to spend too long looking at ugly brown bricks!!

Tiny kitchen but potential to extend

A very small third bedroom. Also it’s right on the edge of the area of an area we don’t want to live. Some people call it area A (not so great) some people call it area B (fine) However, it’s a fab house for FTB, lovely garden and lots of other redeeming qualities. Plus we felt it was the nicest we’d seen in our (fairly low) price bracket so we went for it.

We've compromised on indoor space. We won't have a spare bedroom, but we rarely have people to stay. And the road outside is maybe a little busier than we imagined, but it's only peak times, and we both wfh so not a major issue.

What we got in return was a beautifully renovated house we don't need to touch, great layout that works for us, and a huge garden with great outdoor living space which was our #1 priority.

Oh and an outside brick building which can be converted longer term which would free up a bedroom if we used that as an office for one of us.

Oh, loads! We wanted a period house close to the city centre, which is what we got - but it's small, and has all the things Mumsnetters say they don't want in a house (terrace, no hall, front door opens straight into the living room, no parking...)

Over the years we've made it our own and been happy here, and we still love the convenience of being right at the heart of things. As the kids get older we'd like to move somewhere bigger, as their bedrooms are little more box rooms, but if it doesn't sell or we end up in negative equity we can stay put without too much inconvenience - they do at least have a room each, even if they're small.

Another advantage is that it was at the lower end of our budget, so our mortgage is manageable.

At the end of the day, it's a matter of working out what matters most to you. For us it was location. We could've got a much house and garden for a similar price in one of the newer estates in the suburbs, but I find them absolutely soulless.

Realistically our main compromise was financial, pushing our max on a mortgage, plus borrowing an extra 4k from my sister (which I paid back after completion by utilising a credit card). Essentially meant our disposable income reduced dramatically so we could buy at the top of our budget.

In terms of the house, the layout of the driveway. It's basically an L shape which is pretty annoying with a single drop curb. So one space straight from the drop curb, while the second is perpendicular in front of the garage.

Luckily our neighbour doesn't kind us using their drive to get to this second space to save us having to shift the cars around, which is a bonus.

We came from a terraced house with a drop curb where the whole front of the house was a driveway, so you could fit 4 cars on it.

I would buy the Edwardian house, it sounds lovely.

The exterior of my house is ok, but it’s not the most beautiful. However, the inside is stunning. We have a good sized garden a large granny annexe and a large driveway.

I compromised on area as I wanted to stay close to DCs schools. I got a bigger house than I would have and I love the house, although I don't love the area. Where I am isn't too bad though.

I have quite a big garden as it was one of my must haves in it's a pita. DCs hardly use it and it's a lot of upkeep. When we do move I want a smaller, neat and easily manageable garden.

Wanted an attractive traditional Welsh cottage with a view, preferably of the sea and outbuildings, not needing much work doing just cosmetic and a lovely garden and space for vegetables in north Pembrokeshire or Ceredigion. Log burners and two staircases!

Bought ugly house with a flat roofed seventies extension on the front and rendered in fish scale concrete. No real view. No outbuildings. No working chimneys. One staircase. But with potential that is a big project! And 6 acres. South Pembrokeshire. We are very much living on a building site which was a never doing that again originally, but as we peel off the seventies improvements we are unearthing our lovely cottage.

I would keep looking for a house with a decent sized garden especially as you have young kids. But then i have been in the same house for a long time and can't imagine my kids not having a garden they can play in.