Awful house, great location or great house, awful location?

[morningpaper]

I can't decide....

I know it's supposed to be location location location ... But can I bear to live in a fugly house?!?

Help me!!

Oh wow, hello Morningpaper!!

Location - every time. You won't see the house much, save when you come home twice a day or so.

Avoid soulless suburbia like the plague, especially if you are post-divorce/single. I have just moved from suburbia to a more 'urban' spot - less than a mile as the crow flies but it feels a million times more 'me'. I am single with a child and felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb in the old location.

I like the fugly house. If you stay true to the original style and decorate it accordingly, it can be fun. A park and a stream opposite sound lovely.

Location. It's a no brainer.

I would go retro on the interior too.

The key question is, Do you like to wash and polish your car?

I don't, and that's why I could never live in soulless suburbia.

We chose location over house Op, in fact the house you linked to looks very, very similar to ours! We love our location, we have greenery, lovely walks on the doorstep, teen can walk to school etc. We would love to be in the village where most of our family live but we don't want to have to open up a taxi of mum and dad company ;) We will move there when the time is right for our 'forever home.'

Whilst we love our little street that we are on, I will warn you our 70's house that is like the one you linked to is NOT solid! For us that was just a myth! We can hear our neighbours coughing, their bathroom light going on and off and their shower running, though worse of all they are chain smokers and in just one of our bedrooms (that we have as feel it's a bit crap to put any of kids in it!) it smells very smokey in there at the end if each day. We are hopeful sealing the floorboards and getting carpet laid will help that, we are just waiting for plastering etc to dry out so we can paint first. We had/have all sorts of smell busting gadgets going in the bedroom but doesn't really make much of a difference. My work clothes can sometimes smell of smoke dependent where I put them in the bedroom - it's no fun :(

We will be living with this until we buy our final house, as I've just resigned myself to it now after lots of tears and arguments with OH as he is not noise or smell 'sensitive' haha, he walks around oblivious! I can't :(

We are making the house lovely though, making it our own and when I look out the window I am glad we are in this location - just that your house is not that mythical ex authority solid!

Your house was meant to be OUR house! Sorry!

I like it.

Take blinds down and change front door for something modern in a wood in similar toes to the tiles. put some architectural plants in front garden and keep interior really simple.

Tones

Are there links?

I like that house. It looks neat and light and airy. You could have the tiles swapped for horizontal cedar cladding. It would instantly lift the front of the house and transform it into mid-century uber cool.

The ugliest house I've ever owned has been my happiest abode and we've transformed it into a beautiful family house.

Lots of people will like that house and the location so it will be much easier to sell when you want to move on.

HMMM well it's been on the market for 4 months. I've made an offer of 93% of the market price but it's been rejected...

Going to think about it....

Thank you for all your thoughts and opinions - you are all ACE! :) I knew I'd get some good advice...

I don't get it when people say 'location' wothout question - who wants to live in a shoebox in a nice location? I've tried that and was miserable. No storage, no breathing space. If it's just ugly on the outside but large/semi/detached, that's tolerable, but a mid-terrace with thin walls like this and low ceilings? I'd advise against.

Can you find something in the middle, Op? Nicer house but not beautiful, in an ok location, neither awful nor great?

Always always location, because it will nearly always offer more protection from the dips that happen in the housing market.
We used to live in a very pretty town, which had a large estate of 70's built detached houses that were v v fugly. They were always v v expensive for what they were because......a primary school that had been outstanding for years was in the middle of it, and they were also extremely close to a grammar school that was madly over subscribed each year.

It's hideous. I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole.

Location! Make life as easy for yourself as possible. I know of quite a few people who have just moved into town or are trying to. Especially as children get older.

And hello btw! Great to see you! Are you still local? We never did meet up!

Am intrigued by talk of a park and a stream. There is a park and a stream very close to us! Trying to think if the houses are like the one you linked to.

Would love to meet for a coffee one day if you are still where I think you are?

It's not that actual house is it? Def not great views around that one!

Unless the mid terrace was in an amazing location (I don't just mean nicer views - I mean like within a 2 minute walk of my work place and unbelievably good schools) AND the detached was in a terrible, crime ridden neighborhood, nothing would persuade me to consider the mid terrace over a detached if I could afford to buy the detached... I'm biased after attached-neighbours from Hell, though!

MP - wonderful to see you back :)

We chose great house in terrible location (it's on a ring road) and we've been really happy here. The only way we afforded it was the terrible location.

The downside is that we'll never be able to sell it - we tried a few years ago and when people saw where we were they drove off. So every time we spend money on it I'm thinking "we'll never recoup that - we're never adding to the value of the house". So be aware of that aspect of a poor location - there's little you can do to add value.