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Property/DIY

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Original poster

what did you compromise on?

82 replies

bouncealeen · 10/05/2019 14:18

Just went to see a house which was perfect except for a) small bedrooms, and b) traffic noise from a nearby A road. These might not be deal breakers because the good things about it are far more numerous, but just pondering. What did you compromise on?

OP posts:

Megan2018 · 10/05/2019 16:59

Age of property.

To get into our desired location (which is perfect) we had to buy a new build "cottage" rather than something with history. It is an individual build (non estate) in a tiny hamlet, part stone/reclaimed brick, with solid oak latch doors, slate floors and inglenook. But it will never have the character of an old cottage.
On the plus side it has none of the damp or maintenance issues of our old cottage either!

But we have no traffic noise, lovely views etc so it was a sacrifice worth making.

Bluntness100 · 10/05/2019 17:00

Your road doesn't sound too bad, I don't think that's much of a compromise really. We were right on the a road and never again. Gorgeous house, we couldn't have afforded it elsewhere, but the compromise was too big in reality.

nonwonderwoman · 10/05/2019 19:09

The budget... and having to redecorate some older style rooms and carpeting. Oh and a tiered garden. Love the location and period features though.

SheChoseDown · 10/05/2019 19:18

A fireplace.
But we have more bathrooms and bathrooms 🙄

RhubarbFizz · 10/05/2019 19:22

Kerb appeal and age of house.
Size of garden

Easilyflattered · 10/05/2019 19:25

No second upstairs bathroom. Needed more redecorating than we'd have liked.

Valkarie · 10/05/2019 19:36

Character. Got the boring featureless ex council house instead of a Victorian. It meant more space for my budget and upstairs bathroom. Obviously with a larger budget I would have had a longer wish list!

Wavingwhiledrowning · 10/05/2019 19:40

First house: internal layout. A bit bonkers with a truly massive landing. We did some work (new walls and window) to make a hallway and extra bedroom. Was marketed as a two bedroom place, but we needed three. Had to cope with DS sleeping on the landing for a bit, but was totally worth it when we sold (and he can sleep through anything now!).
Current house: general maintenance and work required. Hasn't been touched in at least 20 years. New bathroom, plumbing, boiler etc etc. But because of that we're in our dream home. For what it's worth, we're also near an A road. We don't notice it at all. A bit of road noise is nothing if you love everything else.

NotMeNoNo · 10/05/2019 19:42

Only one bathroom/loo. With teenagers this is tricky. Oh and solid wall detached so chilly in winter.

All the other stuff such as no utility room, small kitchen and single oven have been no problem. It's the age of 20th century house with a tiny 3rd bedroom but that's fine for DS1 it contains his mess to a small area!

Snog · 10/05/2019 19:43

Crap bathroom and kitchen

Snog · 10/05/2019 19:44

Oh and no central heating

Th1me · 10/05/2019 19:58

Downstairs bedroom. We needed 5 beds and I didn’t want a downstairs bedroom. But I got one.
To be fair I also got my own living room and a much bigger house than we ever thought we would get. And I quite like having a bedroom away from the kids!

Pinnacular · 10/05/2019 20:21

Semi rather than detached, but location is excellent, and it's got a great garden.

pastaparadise · 10/05/2019 20:31

Last house - north facing yarden. Always ended up sitting on the front step to get any sun (but did get friendlier with neighbours!).

Current house- payed more than we wanted to get the location we wanted. Weird downstairs layout, and all windows split into sections so painting them will be a nightmare. South facing garden though!

PlanBea · 10/05/2019 20:32

Price! We spent £100k more than our original budget. But we got everything we really wanted (the location, detached, the 4th double bedroom, the garage, the views, the utility and not a main road). So many of the houses we saw compromised on one or many of the things we knew we wanted, but usually at least one we couldn't fix through decorating or extending. We've accepted this will probably be our forever home.

GOODCAT · 10/05/2019 20:52

We didn't as such. We had a short list of criteria, which was closer to where we wanted to be to reduce the amount of driving I was doing every day, parking, more storage space and safe for the cat. We had no other criteria and bought the only house that fitted that at the time we were looking.

This was probably just as well because later more came on the market and we would have had more choice. All of those had bigger negatives for me, but my husband would have preferred them as they would have been larger and less work, but I would have been driving more each day.

There are negatives with lack of light and power cables and a power stay immediately outside our front window. The property also has lots of character which wasn't on the list but I would not want to move on to a property without that now. However, less driving i.e. my real reason for wanting to move meant that there was very little that wasn't going to be an improvement on where we were before.

You can only really focus on your must haves, must not haves and what is available at the time and find the best fit. You will probably know when you find it, but if not go back to your true core criteria and choose between whatever is on the market at the time.

Schnitzelvonkrumb · 10/05/2019 20:56

Looks. Our house is quite dull (although no more so than immediate neighbours) but very convenient location for everything we needed and was good value especially compared to period homes of similar/smaller size.

greenlynx · 10/05/2019 21:01

Location and size. It’s a little bit further than I wanted but it’s still very good and popular location. Also it a little bit smaller than I wanted but could be extended. On the plus side we bought it cheaper than we thought initially.
And I liked it - I couldn’t compromise on this!

Copperandtod · 10/05/2019 21:03

I didn’t compromise on anything

GoodPlaceJanet · 10/05/2019 21:07

I didn’t compromise on anything

Perhaps not the thread for you then?

Copperandtod · 10/05/2019 21:20

Why not? Sometimes the right property comes along

yoshismother · 10/05/2019 21:20

We chose our house for the schools. We only have a yard, but there's a park a stone's throw away.

yoshismother · 10/05/2019 21:28

Definitely not compromising on the next house. I'd rather not bother moving!

Bluntness100 · 10/05/2019 21:32

Why not? Sometimes the right property comes along

Well firstly because rhe question posed is what did you compromise on. And secondly because no one believes you, either you're a multi. Multi millionaire or you have low expectations.

So yeah, not the thread for you.

Disfordarkchocolate · 10/05/2019 21:32

It's a 60's house and we really wanted some character house. In our price range all the character houses are small and dark. I love the light so it all ok now.

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