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?

We chose a tatty house in the right location, with a good sized plot. We have been in 10 years and we are still saving up for windows, but everything else is done and we don't have any plans to move, so it worked out OK for us.

We are choosing a bigger house in a good location over a smaller one in a great location. The garden isn’t the West facing that I wanted. It’s South East.

Price! We are maxing ourselves out and then some to afford a property that ticks all our boxes. I’m stressed about borrowing so much but this is a forever home.

I wouldn't be bothered about the lack of light in the bathroom - mine doesn't have a window but I really don't notice it any more. It's definitely something I compromised on though.

My compromises were the bathroom, parking and being on a busy road. But it meant I could afford a house not a flat, it's an end terrace, it's not in a bad part of town, and it has a south west facing garden which has a lovely long brick wall. It also didn't need structural work doing to it, which was the alternative for me to afford a house.

Really there were a lot of compromises, but I didn't want a flat so that was that really.

I'm really glad I live in an end terrace, I must say. I also had to do a lot of work to the garden, but it had good bones (facing the right way, long, lovely wall) which for me has paid dividends.

Compromised on: Garden size
Small bedrooms for the kids

Couldn’t compromise on:
Location
Good schools
Period property - I hate anything over 1910!

Garden size. Our garden isn't a courtyard garden but it's not particularly big either. I would say it is small. We have dogs and I would have liked more space, but we are less than 5 mins from countryside footpaths with hills and fields so it was something we decided was worth the compromise.

I don't think we comprised, we looked at a lot of houses and we're under pressure to find somewhere as we got a brilliant offer on our
Property which we wanted to take. We had to up our budget after looking at loads that just wasn't right. We maxed ourselves out which was a bit worrying at that time but it worked out. What is your gut saying?

We went for the size of the house and garden over location. Our area is nice and quiet, but the general town is pretty dodgy. I tend to stick to the very upmarket town 15 minute drive away for shopping and socialising.

Garden size and semi not detached.

We needed space (3 kids). We were in a semi. When we looked at detached, bwe were gaining no space. So we opted for a big semi on a smaller plot.

Bought a shabby house but it was big and had a big garden and in a road we really liked. We still haven't fully done it up after 16 years here, but haven't borrowed extra. Only need a final push of about another £10k to finish the job, one day ...

Proximity to road.

I’ve since realised that motorbikes are irritating regardless of how far from the road you are! So in reality it was a good move for us. Been here 15 years, mortgage free for the last 5 years, and still like it here... but life has moved on since we bought so we’re vaguely looking for the perfect property to move to.

Compromised on main road and mid terrace, but got the only affordable period house in a very lovely neighbourhood, and got a ginormous garden, period features and eat-in kitchen in exchange for the compromise. Also compromised on how much work we were willing to do – it’s a complete wreck, vs the totally done but charmless (though identical layout) property on the other side of the city, with a rubbish park and a less “leafy neighbourhood” feel. I still think it was the right choice although I’m never buying anything as fixer-uppy as this again, I’m literally sitting next to a bucket full of rain water as I type! And I’m inside.

We compromised by being on a busier road than I wanted

We have a large house and garden, nice location, lots of character.

We're on the main road, which was our compromise. It's busier than I would ideally have liked, although as it's a village it's not that bad.

If we move, I'll be going for somewhere quieter though.

Cross posted with @CanIHibernate who said it far more succinctly than me!

Compromises:

No garage, parking spaces are about 100m away
Semi-detached
North facing garden
Limited storage
No utility room
No window in family bathroom

Gains:

Fabulous location
Big rooms
South facing balcony

It was the only house we all viewed and said we could live there. Turns out we have great neighbours too.

Bathroom without a window wouldn't bother me.
I compromised on a busy road. I wanted to live walking distance to school and to get the size house I wanted meant buying on a busy road. No regrets at all - I barely hear the traffic as living room and kitchen at the back, and I have an in and out drive. This house on a quieter street would have been out of my budget.

I would definitely wait in your position, but you might be able to add a sun tube to an internal bathroom. I compromised on no garage, but wouldn't compromise on the garden as that was more important to me. What is the most important thing for you?

Have the ugliest house on the street and gave up on having a fourth bedroom, however been so glad of the big garden which sold it to us.

It depends on whether you have an external reason to move eg relocating due to a job, new child, granny moving in, income falling etc. In all of those cases you know what your budget is, where you want to live and what is on offer at the time and choose your favourite. It won't be perfect. The only time that you are in a position not to compromise is if you have a healthy budget for your requirements and have enough time to hang around for the house of your dreams or the situation in which you can build on the perfect plot.

My house pretty much ticked none of the boxes, but I absolutely love it, for us it was things like 3 beds rather than 4 (dd1 sleeps downstairs in the garage conversion), I wanted a separate lounge and dining room - I had a through lounge / diner, the drive is shared. We only came to view as we were having no luck in our first area, and in desperation (our house was under offer) I expanded our search to include 3 beds in a wider area.

But I love it, I am so happy here that I didn't feel they were compromises, been here over 2 years and I still smile some days when driving home from work. If you are still uncertain then they are possibly not the right houses.

I compromised on pretty much everything - much smaller than I wanted , especially bedrooms and 3 instead of 4 which I wanted - garden much much smaller than I wanted - more of a courtyard - house been rebuilt behind the period facade ( bomb damage ) so no period features - no storage - no utility room ( but have managed to put washer dryer in a cupboard upstairs ) ( no parking or garage but I have never had those ) .

I like a previous poster thought I knew exactly on which side of which street I wanted to live - never for sale. So widened my search and now I would not swap my house at all & so pleased I did not buy one of the houses I thought I wanted. Have made it mine and lovely and the location is so much better in so many ways ( hence less space)

So I compromised on pretty much everything except location. & happy. But I can see an opposite decision would suit lots of people.

I don't think I really compromised on anything in my home other than the asking price, it was a push for us to afford it but it's in a very desirable area where houses don't come up for sale very often. Honestly, go with your gut, can you see yourself living in a house? That's how me and DH decided this was the one.

and of course our view is of the beautiful houses opposite!

yep, more important! as far as yours is nice enough INside.

Badger how did you know that all these places have ASB? owners would really tell, have you spend a lot of time in the evenings in each location?
My biggest worry is noisy neighbours but no way to know this - no one would admit, the best sellers can say is, 'no loud parties in the garden next door', but interior noise - everyone just shrugs.