How much should I compromise?

[SeratoninIsMyFriend]

We sold our house really quickly in September, having decided rather quickly to move now and up-size both as an investment and for a comfortable family home life. There's just not much coming on in the strata of the market we are looking for, and we have been looking more and more flexibly at places we wouldn't have initially consider. We found a house that I unexpectedly really liked, as did DH, and it ticked most of our boxes. However the one it didn't tick was the garden box: I quite like gardening and would like to do more when I have more time, and we also have little children (one of each) who I'd like to have the space to run around and for the climbing frame, sandpit and playhouse in. It's part of the reason for wanting to move from here, our garden is not huge. The house we are considering has a smallish back garden, with lawn and beds around the edge and a small patio, plus a small front garden of about the same size next to the drive. The house itself is situated along a private track off a residential street, which is shared between 4 other houses, so there is also at space for running, cycling and playing when they are bigger.

I am 80% sure we are making the right choice as I can rationalise that a garden is a luxury and there is space, just not all in one patch... But I'm worried that it's pushing the compromise a little too far and that I will not be happy - especially when I know there are other houses with bigger gardens that would fit our criteria; they just aren't coming on the the market now.

I'm not sure if I am expecting too much or if I'm being realistic about what will niggle and bother me, especially as we'd like this to be the home we stay in for some time. I'm worried about our buyers if we make them wait too long, though they were aware when they offered that we are not in a hurry. DH is being laid back and says he likes most houses we have seen and it's me who's most bothered about the smaller details so he will largely be happy if I am happy. He means well but it doesn't help me make the decision!

Advice please, I am swinging to and for like a pendulum and we need to confirm a tentative offer on Friday.

I'm in a similar position, so not much advice to give unfortunately! There is not much on the market where we are, and prices have shot up recently, so we have been looking at anything that vaguely matches our needs. The house we have offered on is in the perfect location, nice street and lovely garden. We are compromising on the space, as it's got the basics but is not especially roomy inside.

Could you go into rented accommodation for a while? Or risk losing your buyers, on the assumption that you'll get another buyer pretty quickly if they drop out?

I understand your dilemma. We are in a very similar position. We have a buyer, but nowhere to move to and I worry that they will pull out if we don't find somewhere soon. Yet there is, literally, nothing on the market in the right price range and location - and we are moving because we want quite a specific location. We have found a "possibility" which is a bit further out from where we ideally want to be and I am wondering whether it is worth pursuing when the main reason for our move was to go to a specific village for various reasons which I won't go into right now. And then I think of all the costs of moving and wonder whether it is even worthwhile if we aren't going to end up with what we wanted...

I'm not sure what my advice is. I guess only you can decide how important a large garden is to you. Can your estate agent find out how long your buyer is prepared to wait for? Could you even try a leaflet drop in the streets you like? (I suggested this to dh, but he wasn't having it because he thought it was "weird").

Plot size and location - the two things that can't be changed. For me, they are the two elements I refused to compromise on (though actually location was a massive area, just stipulated that it couldn't be near a busy road). So, personally, OP or cavell, I wouldn't compromise.

But ultimately, only you can decide. Is it a forever home or a 3-5 year solution? If its the latter, can you add value in any other way to help you get up the ladder to the non-compromise house?

Also, remember that this is getting into a quiet time in the market with fewer properties coming on than in spring or September. The flip side is that you may be able to pick up a bargain at this time of year - its worth expanding your search criteria up £50k and then seeing if there are houses that were overpriced when they were put on the market in spring. If they're still languishing unsold, then you may be able to get a massive discount. (This is exactly what we did - my rightmove obsession and market research paid off, and i found a house that was £30k over budget, but that had been on the market since April with no offers, so by October we had an offer accepted at £50k below the asking price).

Personally I would wait for house with bigger garden if you are planning on this being your forever house. As whatwill said you can't make plot bigger.
We bought a house we knew was likely to be too small but with a really big garden. 7 years later we now have 4 kids and are planning to build extension which will give us all the space we need. Our garden is big enough to do this without ending up too small.

We spend a lot of time in garden so was a priority for us. We now have climbing frame, sand pit, tree house, summer house, greenhouse and shed. BUT we live out of town to be able to afford to buy this. So I suppose our compromise was location except we prefer living away from people anyway

WhatWillSantaBring thank you for helping me to clarify my thoughts. The "possible" house has lots of potential and it's in a nice road - but it isn't where we want to be. It's already £50k above original budget, but we could just about stretch to it. But it is almost as if we would be moving for the sake of it and I guess it would be a mistake. (Hope I am not thread hijacking here.)

Thanks for so much thought and advice... Cavell, you and I seem to be in exactly the same situation so no hijack, I am swinging towards waiting with the succinct advice on location and plot size can't be changed. Gah, this is hard!

Cavell, what area of the country are you? I did do a leaflet drop on weds and got a lovely email from someone saying they thought a neighbouring property would come on the market soon as owner had died: I drove to look at it and it looks like it hasn't seen a builder for 50 years, so might be too big a job! DH is similarly in enthused about this method as he couldn't see who would suddenly agree to sell their house on the strength of one leaflet, but I am getting desperate!

unenthused

SeratoninIsMyFriend We are in Kent. Interesting to hear about your leaflet drop experience - I have thought about just doing one anyway, without involving dh. Bit awkward about the owner who has died in that it is difficulty to pursue further without possibly upsetting any relatives.