Compromise on location.... or not? How do you decide?

[Tobermory]

We sold our house and moved into a rental, almost 4 weeks. It was only supposed to be very short term, to secure our sale and until our purchase completed. Our purchase has now fallen to pieces , so we’re back to the starting point.

This rental is fine. Well, it’s far from ideal. Clean, ok location, decent condition but way way too small. We’re squeezed in, lots of stuff still in boxes, so it’s not easy. We’ve just put up with it, loathe to spend much time sorting it as we were meant to complete, last week! We don’t want to be here too long. I can’t figure out how much this rental is clouding my judgment about a place we viewed today.

I wanted to buy a house in village A. This is where our purchase was. Love village A. Friends there, scenic, has a soul and lots going on. Right now there’s no properties in village A. Today we viewed a property in village B. Same valley, maybe 3 miles between them. This house is brilliant, private garden, space, layout, brand new kitchen, open plan... very little needs doing to it, just redecorating. If it was in village A we’d have it in a heartbeat though it would be a good 30k (at least) more expensive there! Its also v unlikely to find a house like that there- most modern properties in village A are multi floor living- town houses. And not much comes up for sale in village A. There have been two possible houses in the last 6 months - one of which was our non-purchase. The rest of the family also really liked today’s house, though elder DD would also prefer village A as she knows people there. (Vaguely)

So this is a very long- winded way of asking for opinions

Do we
A- make the rental more liveable and wait it out. How long do u wait? What if we’re staill here next year waiting and hoping?
B - offer on this house. Decide to make village B our home. Village B is a great location, up and coming and interesting. Just to my mind not quite as community driven and lovely as A.

This is a long OP, Thankyou if you’ve had the patience to get to the end!!!

Village b sounds nice.

I live in a village centre which when we bought it was a plus point. Now I wish I lived on the outskirts where it might be a bit quieter.

Could you post a flyer through the door of all the possible houses in village A? I have heard of people doing this successfully

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/1220795-Leaflet-dropping-to-find-a-house-to-buy

I'm going against the majority here and think you should stick to Village A. I would wait for the right property to come along. We settled for a compromise house and it took me a very long time to call it home.

We were in a similar position last year. We wanted to move to a particular village. When we bought our last house we compromised on location and regretted it immediately - it took us seven years to be in a position to sell and move on. There was no way we were going to compromise again.

If we couldn't find a house to buy we would have gone into rented and definitely waited as long as it took. There are villages within 1-2 miles of here with cheaper properties but we wouldn't have considered them.

There weren't many houses to choose from but we were lucky to find one that was relatively cheap and we can adapt to our needs over the coming years. I don't love it, but we all love living here.

Perhaps our ties are stronger than yours, we have years of history here and have been very active in the community. DS is now walking distance from all his mates and we're walking distance from our friends. And the pub .

Maybe your time of life makes a difference too. We're entering our 50s and not planning on moving again, we don't have time to risk another compromise.

Village A for me - you may not have to wait that long & were happy to compromise on the house in the first case.

I would not go for a village you don't want to live in. Three miles is huge! I would wait it out to get a place somewhere you really want to live.

I once rented a beautiful house in a location I really didn't like and it taught me a lot. After a while you get "blind" to the house but the area will always continue to annoy you.

We were in this position last year, and we ended up going for village b which is less of a village in terms of what's available/going on.

I still have the occasional pang for village A - it was our dream for a reason but I don't regret village b at all and the house we have here is far bigger/nicer/cheaper etc and has a better garden than almost anything we could have got in village a and we would have paid a lot more for less. Basically nothing has come up in the intervening time that we would have wanted to buy so we could have St ll been in rented too.

I didn't fully appreciate what village b did have either and now I know it better I really like it. And 3 miles isn't far :)

We bought in village B when we were in this scenario. In our case, although village A is still lovely, I wouldn't choose to live there now and am so happy that circumstances forced us to consider village B.

You would be close enough to still take advantage of all the amenities of village A, with what sounds like a better choice of housing in village B - and possibly more investment potential if there are things being developed in village B like the mill development which may make it more attractive.

What are the local agents saying about Village A? Are things likely to come onto the market in the new year? Or is everything even slower than usual (eg because of Brexit)? What is their sense of anything remotely suitable coming up in Village A?

It sounds like both villages are nice places to live. I'm in a city not a village but went for the bigger house in less preferred location. Love it now and so glad we didn't buy in the old location. I value having a house that is big enough for all of us more than having cool coffee shops on my doorstep. This area is still nice, just quieter which I actually see as a good thing now.

It’s a common thing that not much comes up for sale in village A and that you pay a premium to live there.

Quickwash everything that you say about your new (ish) Home could also apply to this one. To buy this house or one as big with flat garden - I live in hilly Yorkshire- in Village A would cost ££££ . Knowing what I know about the housing stock there, this house doesn’t exist there. One of the reasons we are moving is to get a better home balance- not spending as much time on a crazy big garden or on a crazy old house. I think this house would certainly give us that, easy to live in.

I’d really look forward to living in that house but not quite as excited as living in that village.

stateofindependance village B does have some cool stuff- a couple of cute little cafes- a gin bar- and a bakery that even my cosmopolitan- Brighton living- hispster brother thinks is just amaze balls!

I was in your position and bought in village B. And I've regretted it ever since, even though my house is great. I'm single and all my friends live in village A, so seeing them means travelling. It's not far, but it's too far, if that makes sense.

Ironically I am now about to move to a nearby town, but that's because I am fed up with having to drive everywhere!

An amazing pub (in village A) that you don’t actually use will just be annoying. Anywhere within day 1/2 mile of the pub will suffer from noise at kicking out time, taxis picking up (and beeping their horns) for those who aren’t walking, people having loud conversations at road junctions and additional noise if they show the football, host private parties etc. If you are a regular yourself that’s one thing, if not, well why would you?

say not day

We used to holiday in place X for at least 10 years thinking we would perhaps retire their eventually. Circumstances changed and dh wanted a big life change so we decided to move asap. We initially rented in place X, then after 12 months started to look at property. It was a tourist town and quite expensive. Housing stock was quite poor for what was coming on the market, most were doer uppers. We easily looked for another year after that- always thinking it would be the only place we'd buy in. We decided to go a little further out and found a lovely house on the edge of a village that I only 7 miles away from X. When we visit X now we are glad we did not find a house as it's nearly always busy with traffic and a nightmare during the holidays.

Also whilst your waiting for a house to go up for sale you are paying rent and the housing market could be rising making the perfect house further away financially .

We were in a similar situation, except that our village B had practically no facilities. Village A has a pub, good school and is known to be very social. We went for village B and now love the house and location. In retrospect I became fixated on village A and am not sure that it was really “us”.

It really depends on the number of properties in village a, the probability of a suitable property coming up in the next couple of years seems slight if only 1 or 2 are sold each year. But with brexit it could be a good time to sit with money in the bank (split between multiple companies to ensure you are insured by the banking scheme if a lot of money)! Personally in would give it until the spring at least before compromising then relook at your situation

Village B sounds lovely.
How likely are properties to come up in village A?
There is no point waiting if a house will never come on the market.

BigFishFace - I want YOUR house -- sounds idyllic - what part of the country are you in?! And whats the view?

OP what is the anti social stuff going on in A?
B sounds a better investment - sounds v up and coming - where as A might have upped and come already?

How near to both do you live now - and how involved in each are you?

We went to a stunning village on Sunday (amazing weather) it as mobbed and grid locked due to pretty pub - would be hideous to live there - taken over by visitors all the time.