What thing did you compromise on when buying home?

[Sweett00th]

I feel as though I may have to compromise just so to beat stamp duty. I have choice of putting up with a two bed terrace which also has study , amazing bathroom but a small horrid concrete tiered garden @£375k Or the 3 bed terrace renovated, fab garden though bathroom has no window! @415k.

Did you compromise in end for your home?

How long are you planning to live there, & can you put a window in bathroom?

I’m looking now ... it’s all compromise!

Current place: 2nd bedroom about 10% smaller than I’d hoped, that was it... but it took me FOUR YEARS and looking at over 40 properties (2bed Victorian conversions) in my chosen area of about a mile to find this

I dint think that’s normal

Have just sold & not much to choose from. Thinking about renting for a while...

No way to put on window, tbh I think I might leave it as that would bother me. Plus the other one with lack of garden. Will wait out

We went for location over attractiveness of property. But it's a long term home so we are happy to modify it as we go.

We're compromising on garden size and were going new build - I didn't want to do again. But it's either buy now or wait 5 years to save to pay stamp duty and enough deposit to buy same square ft without htb. As it's saving us 15k on stamp duty alone. On the up side, it ticks all the other boxes and gets us out of Shared Ownership. So no brainer.

Character! My heart lies with a Victorian town house but we can get twice the property for our money 10 mins out of town on an estate (to be fair, a really lovely leafy one).

Our bathroom has no window, not really an issue as we have a great extractor fan.

We compromised on space to get the location. Bought a 2 bed with room to extend, 12 years later almost doubled the footprint. Don't regret it one bit even though 3 DC in a 2 bed was rather awkward!

We have an ugly, ugly house in a beautiful street.

I think that, unless you build and design your own home and have a massive budget, there’s pretty much always a compromise to be made.

My house doesn’t have a front garden at all, which I’m sure would put quite a few people off. It’s also pretty ugly on the outside. But there’s a lot of other things that more than make up for all that.

I think that if you like a house enough, it’s not that hard to learn to live with a few of its flaws. Perfection is the enemy of the good and all that 😉

What we compromised on: very small bedrooms upstairs, kitchen and bathrooms quite dated, useless, tiny conservatory that needs removing, no utility.

What we got: perfect location in our desired village, downstairs big enough with study and playroom, house wasn't a stretch financially.

We've lived here 7 years, have replaced the kitchen and are looking for builders to add a bedroom above garage, replace bathrooms, build large ground floor extension on the back.

It’s always a compromise.

I really want to live on a particular road, the only house that has come on the last couple of years can’t be reconfigured to work for me.

I’m determined that one day I’ll manage to get a house there but it rather depends on someone moving out and they’re the sort of house that people stay in for forty years.

I would have much preferred to live in a town with a train station where the trains go into London. Couldn't afford that and get a 3 bed close to decent schools in a nice family friendly town with plenty of amenities a reasonable drive from work. I've made my peace with it and tbh it is only very rarely an issue.

I really wanted to have an en suite, but that didn't happen. But we did get a massive bargain and otherwise a lovely house, so I can't whinge too much.

We've compromised on a fourth bedroom and downstairs toilet for being in catchment for the best secondary school.

Re the bathroom window - my SIL has installed a roof light - it is a tunnel type thing that lets light in and she has an extractor fan.

We are looking at the moment and it looks like we might have to compromise on off street parking and/or back garden being a bit smaller than we want. It is annoying because I have seen the perfect house for me but DH is a firm no

Last time, location, bathroom size and garden size. This time, somewhere attractive. But this has a perfect location and garden size / aspect so I've learned you should compromise on the things you can change but not on the others as they'll annoy you in the end! The market is very very odd here, if we hadn't found the house we've had an offer accepted on they'd have been literally nothing in our price range or location come up. We'd've had to stop the chain I think and try again after the stamp duty deadline.

@Varjakpaw

We have an ugly, ugly house in a beautiful street.

I have the opposite; a lovely house on an ugly street.

I'm used to it now and it doesn't bother me as much. Location is convenient as it's a 5 min walk from shops, school, the family business location and my parents house.

Modern not character/feature/period.
Medium not large garden.
Small town not small city.

All worked out quite well. Modern houses are so much easier to look after than old houses. I'm now a fan of modern houses.

OP think about the bathrooms in swanky hotels, very luxurious and yet none have windows.

I've compromised on parking on my recent house purchase but wasn't in a position to afford everything I wanted.

Every house in existence is a compromise in some way! Really just got to think through what's actually important to you - it's easy to go along with everyone else's suggestions of what they wouldn't compromise on, & be left in a less than ideal house.

A 10 bed £3million country mansion probably has extortionate heating costs, very poor broadband speed & a lawn that's liable to flooding :D

House size for land. We’ve gained 3.8 acres but lost a bedroom and en suite. We simply couldn’t afford everything we wanted.

@Varjakpaw

We have an ugly, ugly house in a beautiful street.

@Varjakpaw: can you make the house better? Is it the house or the interior?

@DespairingHomeowner. It is the house itself that is ugly. It is on the end of an ugly terrace. It is also in a conservation area (which beggars belief because it is out of keeping with the rest of the conservation area). We love the rest of the street though, and of course our view is of the beautiful houses opposite!

@Varjakpaw : crying with laughter at the last bit!

Had a friend with similar (London, so modern build on bomb damage) - she always said ‘I’d rather be me looking at them than them looking at me!’

We went for location over our actual wish list for a house. I really really wanted a utility room and didn't get one - really hate not having one! However the location is an enormous bonus in lots of ways.