Have we picked the wrong house?

[Burnout101]

We're FTB and just had an offer accepted on a house yesterday but I'm having worries about it now. We don't have a huge budget so we always knew we'd have to compromise on the house in some way, it's not going to be our forever house, but worried we compromised too much/in the wrong ways.

The house is a really good size for our budget but it's small rooms and more of them iykwim rather than fewer big open rooms, I was thinking this suited us better but has anyone gone for small rooms and grown to dislike it later on? Due to where supporting walls are etc I don't think we'll be able to open up the rooms without major cost so we'd definitely be living with the smaller rooms for some time.

Also the house is great but it's got no parking and is on a busy street with yellow lines outside the house and on street parking very nearby but on one side only so we'll always be parking outside someone else's house (no resident bays/restrictions though) - is this liveable or a mistake to go for?

Not sure I'm having buyer's remorse but definitely buyer's wobbles .

The parking would be a problem for me. I think it would start off being a bit of an annoying niggle and then become a bigger deal over time.

Separate rooms, even if small, a huge plus point. I hate open plan living!

Parking is non negotiable for me but as you are considering it does this mean you are used to it? If you want to have work done on the house where will the workmen park,site the skip? Will delivery drivers get ratty with you if they are not allowed to pull up outside?

Busy road and parking would put me off hugely. However, if there has to be a compromise, only you know what’s acceptable for your family.

I lived in a similar house and it was only really a problem when coming back from the supermarket. You can do online deliveries now for all the bulky stuff so not a problem. Wasn’t a problem when my DC were babies, but a bit more of a pain when they were toddlers. But still a lot more convenient than living in a flat.

The parking would put me off.

We have street parking only in our road, but there are more spaces than cars, so it's rare not to be able to park outside your house. If we couldn't park near the house it would be a huge frustration.

I've never lived in a house with parking in almost 30yrs! I drive, have a car but when I was looking for my current home there was one house I fell in love with but was nowhere to park for miles! The house I bought is within 200m of a public car park so I just park there, enjoy the bit of extra exercise and get my groceries delivered! As for smaller rooms and quantity rather than open plan, smaller rooms all the way! Easier to keep warm in the winter and space for everyone to have some privacy.

200mtrs, not miles!!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤪🤪🤭

My house is on a road with no parking. I park round the corner and walk for two minutes. No big deal, and when I shut my front door I’m in a lovely home that I couldn’t have afforded if it had parking.

I don’t have small children, which might’ve made me think twice, and I get my shopping delivered.

We don't have a car so obviously the parking wouldn't bother us but generally it depends on your lifestyle - even if we get a car, we won't be doing grocery shopping in person (don't see the point, online is much more convenient), we won't ever be commuting by car etc so not really a huge problem not to have a parking space..

Depends how frustrating it is getting a space, personally. I had a toddler and no driveway but we can always get a parking spot on our street so it’s rarely too much of a hassle. I quite like separate rooms for things too, I don’t like it when everything’s open plan and it smells like you’ve been cooking in your living room!

I think the rooms thing is quite personal. Some people prefer open plan, some like separate rooms. I'm quite a fan of separate rooms, myself, but it's about what works for you and your family.

The parking wouldn't really put me off. I mean it would be a negative, but not so much that I wouldn't be prepared to compromise on it if other things about the house were good. No one can afford the perfect house, unless they're millionaires, there'll always be compromises. It just depends what's the best fit for your lifestyle.

I'm sure I heard that separate rooms are coming back into fashion, highlighted by more people working from home. So that maybe wouldn't put me off, although I do like open plan.
Our last house had limited parking and it did annoy me. But we managed to sell it on without any problems.

I think that actually sounds like a good house for a couple and a teenager, especially post Covid when you might need to work from home and would benefit from the extra space inside. The parking and busy road wouldn't bother me but then I have always lived in London and nearly everyone has to park on the street. More importantly, is the house competitively priced compared with similar houses in the same street?

Surely the parking situation depends where you live and what is considered normal?

We live in SW London in an area predominantly full of Victorian/Edwardian/between war era properties, most of which do not have drives or off road parking. Lots of these are converted into flats, meaning there's say 3 families (and cars) supposedly using the 3m space in front of the house. Most people I know just park on the street and given people pay upwards of £1m for these houses, surely parking is not the deal breaker it is in other parts of the UK? We do have a purpose built drive as it's a newer build house, however, we are in the minority.

OP: I think it's fairly normal to get cold feet and doubt yourself as a FTB. I certainly wondered if we had made the wrong choice and genuinely felt dreadful at the point when we got the keys and opened the door of our first home. However we kept reminding ourselves of the reason we'd picked it and in comparison to the others we'd offered and lost on, it was the right choice for us. You're not going to get everything on your wish list first time, or ever, in the case of our area versus budget!

The rooms sound fine, especially with older children. The parking depends a lot on the area and what the norm is. We’ve lived in 3, soon to be 4, flats/houses without it and it’s absolutely fine for us because we’re willing to make the sacrifice to live in city centre locations. We get 99% of our shopping delivered so it’s not an issue if we have to park slightly further away. Even with a small baby I didn’t find it at all difficult.

I live in a house with double yellow lines outside. We park up outside to unload any groceries/small children and then park once we’re done. Minor inconvenience that we don’t think about as we love where we live. Visitors often say that they couldn’t live without a drive and then say they wish they had the space we do in our house!

I would hate to live in an open plan house, so for me this wouldn't be an issue. The fact that you are questioning it suggests that it might be for you. No parking is fine, lots of people live like this. We've recently moved to a house with a drive and we live the fact that we can load the car up to go camping or whatever without the world and his wife stopping for a chat - other than that, we never had an issue. If it's not a very busy road you can always stop and chuck bags in, then park!

I'm another who hates open plan.

Parking is important, as you can tell from this thread.
Where I live, it is street parking and you need a parking permit, but it is within a few minutes walk to shops and stations.

Parking near your house isn't guaranteed, which if you have a lot of shopping is a PITA. If you had a baby and a toddler it would be a nightmare.

I would think long and hard about it, and I would encourage your teenager to learn to drive as it is a life skill.

We're looking to move and parking is very important to me, we need a driveway. DP loves one house but it has on street parking only. I looked on StreetView and it put me off. Some ppl have even put cones outside their houses

I've lived in houses with rooms and open plan. Currently in open plan, it looks great but is a bloody nightmare to live in.
The parking would put me off more but in city centers isn't that unusual.

Parking seems an acceptable compromise to me. Not like you are laden down with small children! We have to walk 5 mins to car and it’s a bit shit but getting gradually easier as we move out of the toddler stage.

I much prefer more rooms Even if smaller than one big open space. We have 3 kids and it’s better to be able to have 1 using the study to do school work while another watched tv in the lounge and I can be in the kitchen with my tablet on watching something/not being disturbed by others noise.

I couldn’t care less about off street parking. When we lived in central London (until recently) We had it but didn’t use it. It’s a psychological thing that your car needs to be outside your house. We lived on a street where we had a resident permit and sometimes I parked a street away. Nothing bad happened!

Only you can tell about the other issues though...

@Girlwhowearsglasses I think it's more practical than psychological! Being able to know exactly where you're going to park, have easy parking for guests, being able to pull up rather than parallel park, unload children and groceries with ease and wash the car on the driveway. All very much practical preferences to me rather than "psychological". It's what you're used to, we lived in London and yes managed just fine with street parking and permits although it wasn't ideal it was the norm, but now out of London on a residential estate having a driveway is very much appreciated, easily obtained and therefore on the "must" list.

Open plan looks lovely on tv and in pictures but when living with other people you need to be able to get away from each other. Separate rooms is much more liveable. Parking is a missive issue for so many people but our first house had on road parking and sometimes we had to park round the corner. We are fit and healthy and it was never an issue for us.