Dream House vs. Dream Location

[hooliodancer]

I'm just interested in what other people have gone for to help me decide!

We are relocating 200 miles away for a new life. We were meant to go 6 months ago, but the people we were buying from pulled out on the day of exchange, which was only 2 days before completion. The house we were buying was in the dream location, but not a dream house. It had a breathtaking garden and amazing sea views though.

Dream house is what I always imagined as my ideal house. 17th century, huge farmhouse kitchen, aga, massive sitting room with log burner. It overlooks a river, so fabulous views. It is in a hamlet of 4 other houses. It is pretty remote, but only a 5 minute drive from the dream location and a 30 minute walk along the river to the nearest town. The house is just achingly beautiful! It needs a new bathroom and carpets.

Dream Location is the place we fell in love with that prompted the move. The house is on the edge of a thriving village, but set up a long drive so feels rural. It is a 5 minute walk to pubs, restaurants, beach, shops. You can walk for miles along the coast. It is an Edwardian house, but messed around with in the 80's so needs a new kitchen, bathroom, carpets, complete redecoration. The house is ok to look at, but not a stunner! It is 50k cheaper than the dream house though.

Of course this could all be academic as we may not get either...

I think the general consensus here is overwhelmingly 'Location'. I would add one more vote for 'Location'! That's what I went for some years back and even till today when EA's send me news about new properties that have recently come on the market with some stunning pictures, I ask myself would I swap my present property for this lovely home but not so lovely location and the answer is always 'No'!

I was going to ask how close was the river I was thinking flooding. I always look for potential to flood as in a county that has although luckily we are at the top of the hill. I couldn't get out of the village a week ago and missed an important and wonderful day with friends😢
I live in a beautiful location though.
Personally if it dint flood or have any chances of it I would have gone for the other one. I live in a small isolated village. No shop but it has a good pub( now), a school and a church. I like Edwardian houses though. DD lived in a beautiful one ( studio flat) when at uni. A whole row of them. Have fun planning the changes. Pinterest is great for planning kitchen I have a page just now.
I loved living by the sea and I do miss it so you will enjoy that. Good luck.

Oops sorry typos😝

We took a sideways step for dream location and couldn’t be happier.
Dh and I have discussed it a million times since and the little things like being able to walk to the shop, dc being able to walk to see their friends, whilst still having the rural location (village) have made all the difference. Having lived in a more rural location now our dc are teenagers we realised how restrictive it was. It was annoying HAVING to get in the car to do everything, dc couldn’t get anywhere without us and had nowhere to go with their friends. Now they can get to the park, the bus stop to go into town, we have a small shop. When we bought the v rural house they were little and none of this stuff occurred to us. Luckily the timing worked out so it didn’t turn out to be a v expensive mistake, I’m sure you made the right decision OP.

Location. You can always alter a house to suit. We're luckily in both.

We have recently chosen location over house style/period.

Having got our heads round the change we are all looking forward to something different but felt very much like you do for the first two months.

I think both locations sound nice. I prefer the sound of the first house as I hate having to do lots of work to a house. So I'd go for the first house.