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Original poster

Choosing between two houses - outside space and garden dilemma

46 replies

freshcutflowers · 07/06/2020 10:54

What do you do when your perfect house can’t be found? I know I need to compromise on something. Outside space seems to be the issue!

House 1 is a recent build with a larger garden but the garden is North East facing so I don’t think the garden will see much sun past midday. But it’s quite a private garden. But the garden backs onto a very busy A road. The drive is the type that fits two cars but directly behind each other so a bit of a pain. Some space for DC to play out front on the estate.

House 2 is an older house that has been extended. It has a south facing garden but it’s wide but short so quite overlooked houses to the side/back of the back garden. Driveway allows two cars to be moved on and off separately. House fronts on to a busy road so no space out front for DC to play.

Both houses need a similar amount of decorating and updating but one is much newer than the other. Both are a similar size in terms of living areas and bedrooms. Both are in the same school catchment.

OP posts:

WhatWouldTheDoctorDo · 07/06/2020 10:57

Being overlooked wouldn't bother me, but being able to sit out and enjoy the sun in the afternoon/evening would be a deal breaker for me. Is there any space to play in the back garden for house 2? How old are the DC. Do you need to move soon or can you wait until a better option comes along?

metronome1 · 07/06/2020 10:57

How busy is the road in front of house 2 compared to house 1?

Flamingolingo · 07/06/2020 10:58

A long NE garden might not have significantly different sun to a shorter south facing one. In winter the S facing garden might get very little sun at all, and in summer, the longer NE garden might get sun for most of the day depending on how the house shadow falls. I think your decision has to be on the liveability of the property, so the driveway and the road. We have a road at the end of our garden, about 100m from the back door. We can hear it, it was much more annoying before the speed limit dropped from 40 to 30

Nanalisa60 · 07/06/2020 11:02

House 2 for me , south facing back garden is one of the most important think for me, last time I was house hunting I would only look at house’s with south or west facing back gardens.

LaceCurtains · 07/06/2020 11:05

For me the South facing garden plus cars side by side wins.

Original poster

freshcutflowers · 07/06/2020 11:05

DC are 5 and 2 so lots of play time left in them!

Short garden of house 2 is the width of a decent sized house so yes some space to play and there is also a reasonable front garden. It’s just overlooked because it’s so short.

Road in front of house 2 is a busy B road and near a school but we are at work at those times anyway. It would be too busy generally to allow DC to play out there though. Road behind house 1 is always busy. It’s a dual lane road on one side and a busy junction.

Both houses are very close to a busy town centre. We are set on moving here.

We are fairly certain we are going to get an offer on our house tomorrow so moving will be necessary but we could rent for a while if we need to. I’ve been watching the market in this specific area for about two years and there haven’t been any really perfect ones in that time!

OP posts:

howells · 07/06/2020 11:06

I would go for house no 2 I think, mainly because of the busy road behind house no 1. The garden there will be noisier and I wouldn’t enjoy sitting out in it. We have a busy road at the front of our house but you don’t really notice it in the back.

crimsonlake · 07/06/2020 11:07

Having a space out front for my child to play would be of no importance to me as I would not allow them to do it.
So a nice sunny back garden would be important. I love a private large garden and am always drawn to that, always have to remind myself that living space inside is more important as that is where you spend most of your time. I would not enjoy having it backing on to a busy road apart from the noise there is the air pollution.
A double drive is great, a narrow one not so much. I think it depends upon whether you could safely park one of your cars on the road without the windmirror being knocked off.

hellsbells99 · 07/06/2020 11:07

House 2 for me

user1493494961 · 07/06/2020 11:09

If you're not able to keep on looking then house 2.

GreekOddess · 07/06/2020 11:13

We've recently moved into a house with a north east garden whereas previously we had a south facing garden. We have sun in our garden at the moment until about 5pm.

TaleOfTheContinents · 07/06/2020 11:16

It depends on your personal priorities when choosing between privacy, sunshine, garden size, noise levels, and playing space.

DH and I have just had an offer accepted on a house. It's NW facing and mid-sized but it's incredibly private which was important for us as we don't want neighbours peering at us in the garden, and it's very quiet and peaceful (we walked away from a beautiful house because traffic noise was very loud in the garden). When we viewed the house, the garden was filled with sunshine both times, so we also judged it based on our firsthand experience.

Also, whenever there was something we didn't like about a house, we asked ourselves 'how can I fix that or get around it'? That was really useful because it helped us to see which disadvantages could be worked around and which ones couldn't. So, for example, your kids can't play in front of the house but they can play in a nearby park or your garden so maybe that's not a deal breaker.

Africa2go · 07/06/2020 11:17

House 2 but if its not urgent, neither. I think more houses will come onto the market in the next few weeks.

Velvian · 07/06/2020 11:23

I would go for house 1. A busy road out the front would bother me. We had the same compromise with a North facing garden. Now that summer is here, we get a lot more sunshine than I thought we would. We are also not very overlooked, which I love, having come from a south facing, but very overlooked garden.

Our last house had a driveway like house 1. We made sure that we each had keys for both cars, bought a 2nd lot of car seats and took whichever car was in front. You need a place in the house where you put stuff like work passes, sunglasses etc and bring them in from the car.

doodleygirl · 07/06/2020 11:26

Go with the sun. I once had a north face garden and never again. It’s really miserable having a bbq in the shade on a gorgeous sunny day.

Original poster

freshcutflowers · 07/06/2020 11:30

@Velvian What time do you get the sun until?

OP posts:

kaleidoscopeantebellum · 07/06/2020 11:32

I would keep looking as neither house sounds like they offer exactly what you want. I would rent for 6 months and keep on looking if you know the area you want to be in.

Velvian · 07/06/2020 11:37

@freshcutflowers about 8pm in one corner of the garden (where we just laid a patio),

ReviewingTheSituation · 07/06/2020 11:47

My garden faces due North. I was dead set against N facing gardens when we were house hunting. Luckily it was the summer, and I persuaded the EA to let me view tbe garden only in the early evening, so I could see the sun. Because of the relative positioning of other houses, we get sun all day in the summer (in different parts of the garden), and it's lovely. It's also nice to have shade.
I definitely wouldn't discount a N (or NE) facing garden without seeing it in the afternoon - if you're not local to it, can the owners take a pic for you on a sunny day?

It can be a bit depressing not getting sun in the garden in winter, but I'm more than happy with how it is in spring/summer/autumn. We have big bifolds along the back of the house and have them open all the time too.

user1471530109 · 07/06/2020 11:52

I also have a long NW facing garden and have sun out there all day. I love the fact I can grow big trees at the bottom and not block off any sun from the garden too (no houses behind to upset anyone either).
I am really surprised how much I love my N facing garden.

InTheCludgie · 07/06/2020 12:05

Is there any way to find out how much sun the N facing garden gets? Ours is N also but long, during summer only the first 2 to 3m is in shade. We are quite overlooked however so by 6pm the garden is in full shade.

WhatWouldTheDoctorDo · 07/06/2020 12:26

What about when DC are older? Is there a difference in ability to walk to school by themselves or call on friends?

I would try and find out about the sun in the afternoon for house 1 before discounting it. But we moved from a house that didn't have any sun afternoon/evening (despite being south facing due to position of nearby buildings) and the favourite thing about our new house is sun in the garden.

I'd be tempted to rent for a while yet if I could though.

Original poster

freshcutflowers · 07/06/2020 13:17

House 2 is very close to the secondary school they’ll eventually go to but house 1 is only a short walk away so no real difference there. School friends for primary and secondary will live close by.

I will wait for a sunny evening and make a trip to see house 1.

OP posts:

Zenithbear · 07/06/2020 13:48

I had a North East garden and it wasn't even very long but still got the sun all day because of the space around it. Detached house with neighbour's huge gardens on either side meant that nothing blocked the light. The sun is pretty high up. Moved to a south west facing garden which is unbearably hot at times. We've put in a pergola, trees for shade and a water feature to make it feel cooler.

metronome1 · 07/06/2020 13:57

I would keep looking if possible. If not house 2. I rented a house backing on to a busy road similar to what you describe and it was awful. We never used the garden because you could not hear yourself think. When I moved and sat out in my new garden I couldn't believe I had put up with that noise. Even having the windows open was a nightmare for noise. It's a constant hum and then the lorries..... my god.... No way.
If it was a slightly less busy road then yes I'd compromise.
Our current back garden only gets the sun until mid day and it is a shame but I'd rather that than a noisy road.
We are in the process of moving and are having to make similar compromises so I get it.

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