Dealbreakers/compromise?

[Bluebluesea321]

I know it’s different for everyone but I’m interested to hear experiences of what dealbreakers have been for you when buying a house and what you ended up compromising on (if anything!) and how it has worked out!

Have been house hunting for a couple of months - keep finding places that we love when we walk in, get a buzz of excitement then am lying awake worrying about an issue that isn’t ideal and then realise it’s probably not right I.e too near busy road, too much work needed, small bedrooms, ugly view etc etc.

It’s just quite exhausting! Feels like we will never find somewhere that we won’t worry about? I know the ‘perfect’ house is probably impossible unless you’re a millionaire!

You need to make a must have list and would like list

For me it has to be schools shops and bus route having teens

After that bedroom each and two bathrooms

Very narrow, we found one which is too close to neighbours and garden is a bit small but rest ok

Thanks @greentulips - we do sort of have that (ideal location and number of bedrooms) but then we find somewhere in the right location which is large enough but then I’m worried as the garden is massively overlooked by the neighbours or there’s a rubbish extension we’d need to patch up and then I feel like I’m back to square one! Am I being too picky?!

I will never buy anywhere that doesn't have enough (off street or otherwise dedicated) parking for me and at least one other vehicle, preferably more.

When we started looking my DH wanted to be within walking distance of a train station. We compromised on that as it gives you a much wider area to look at. Basically we did the 'falling in love with the house' thing even though it didn't tick all our theoretical boxes.

Luv

Living near a pylon is a dealbreaker for me

one thing we would not compromise on was it had to have a garage for our motorbike, ideal house would have had a seperate dining room as my OH wants big fish tanks again, but we found one that we can put a dining room on the back of the house , there are a couple of areas in our town we would not look at as 60s ex council and non standard construction so they were out , one house was all electric so we discounted that one

We had to compromise on exterior space to get the right interior space. So it's not detached, no driveway (but the street is v quiet and parking outside the house never a problem) and a smaller garden than I would like.

Completely out of our price range but here is my list for our next house move:

Off street parking
Downstairs WC
Large family bathroom
Two large reception rooms
At least 1400 square foot
4 bedrooms - three of which rooms can fit a double bed you can walk around
Wide hallway
Loft space

My list was all about the location, including

• possible to get to town by public transport
• shops and things in walking distance
• orientation morning sun in our bedroom
• one of the smallest houses in the close
• lovely surrounding houses to look at 😀
• parking without blocking each other in

We have since added a downstairs loo and are in the early stages of building an extension for a kitchen with space for the dining table.

DH wanted a kitchen with space for the dining table and a house that 'felt eight' sigh

As well as having your must have and nice to have lists, this is precisely why you arrange viewings. Now you've seen several places maybe that will help you to only view the houses which could be the one?

I think a bit of both....

It’s a LOT of money, so it’s fine to be picky!

It’s unreasonable to think you’ll find ‘The Oerfect’ house Within your budget (no matter what the budget is) but personally I’ll keep looking until
I’m absolutely certain I’ve got the best possible one for the money I can afford to pay! I’m like that with everything though, hence taking a long time to order/buy stuff

It’s good in some wYs, but paralysing in others, but for a house (to me) it’s worth the wait

!

@FinallyHere out of interest, why do you want the smallest house?

When we started looking my DH wanted to be within walking distance of a train station. We compromised on that as it gives you a much wider area to look at

Doesn't that mean only your husband compromised though?

@Rivkka the smallest house was affordable for me, in a lovely area: my preference to a larger house in a less lovely street

Unexpected bonus is that we get to look at the lovely big houses opposite, while their view is of our smaller house.

My sister and mother have always preferred to have the largest house in the street/area hence live in (slightly) less nice areas.

As a householder, the surroundings are the thing you can have least influence over.

BuzzShitbag - I was more flexible than him to begin with so less need to compromise!

@FinallyHere that makes sense. My house is tiny compared to my neighbours and I've certainly got the best view!

@Rivkka

Great minds....

I always wanted a south facing garden, but I've realised it's not important to me, I like the morning sun at the back of the house

It's strange that that people prefer looking at nice big houses than living in them. I'd much rather be living in a big one and looking at the small ones

Given a fixed budget, though @Moomin12345 , would you be prepared to live in a not so nice area in order to be able to afford the biggest house?

House hunting here...had a big list when we started and now down to a few things we cannot compromise on. We have to have driveway for the 2 cars, garage for our 2 motorbikes and all DH tools, and needs to be suitable for my therapy business. Everything else is just a nice to have

Must have

Potential to extend out and up
3 bedrooms
Enclosed front garden with drive
Preferably a garage
Decent sized garden that is private and not overlooked

That's about it! We bought a house which had all our must haves but our compromise was that it was a shit hole and needed everything redoing to it and a few walls knocked down etc to make it work for us.