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?

Garden size. Our current garden is huge, with playhouse, swing set, slide, trampoline, it's why we bought the house. But to get a detached home near DD school we've had to downsize to a small garden (8×5m), which will be a huge adjustment. There is also no garage and we have a lot of camping equipment and bikes and no idea where they will go. We will rent a storage unit to start with and see what longer term plan we can come up with, may see if we can rent some garage space locally. It's two mins walk from a small park and in a quiet cul de sac where the kids can play out, so I'm hoping that will make up for losing private space.

We compromised on buying on an unadopted road.
We wanted secluded and away from a busy road with off street parking so to get both, we compromised on the fact that our unadopted road is unlit, uneven and pot holed. But I'm glad we compromised as the house and location tick all the other boxes.

We got a maisonette instead of a house. It's as big as a house though, and on two floors, just stairs up to the first floor and stairs down to the garden.

We just couldn't afford a whole house in our area of London, they start at 800K (and that's a fixer upper)!

We did get lots of lovely Victorian high ceilings and big rooms though, and we're near to the tube

South facing garden but much smaller than our previous one. House is really a little too small, but in an amazing location.

We feel the compromise was worth it.

Compromised on parking, no garage, overlooked garden and needed a lot of work. All to get a good sized period property, in a good location.

The size/location paid off when we unexpectedly had to sell soon after, but I've learnt a lot and wouldn't make the same choices again.

On street parking, tiny kitchen (needed extension) all needed renovating. Lived with it as it was for years, got the extension done after 6, still doing the rest up.

I wouldn’t say we compromised but we downsized for financial reasons & I do miss the space. Went from 4 bedrooms ( one ensuite), bathroom, downstairs loo, big lounge, separate dining room & good sized kitchen on a pleasant estate to 3 bedrooms, bathroom, smallish lounge, kitchen/diner, on a fairly busy road. I do miss having 3 loos! Not cleaning them all though! The garden here is actually a little bigger. And despite having less space & not really enough storage, I have felt much more at home in this house.

@Sweett00th

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

Can you put in a velux window or a light tunnel? So not a window but natural light will come in?

Our biggest compromise was bedroom size. Fourth bedroom is a converted garage downstairs and third bedroom is so small I've recently learnt it's not legally classified as a bedroom! No en suite and the master is really just a standard double bedroom. And it's a semi, but I didn't know I wanted a detached until I moved in and heard the neighbours all the time (they are lovely though and not annoying so we are lucky)

Even spending £1.2 million we are still having to compromise!

There is no where for a tumble dryer and no utility as such (there is a plant room for all the heating pumps etc... which has a washing machine but not sink). No idea where we will wash the dogs.

It is only 4 bedrooms so the spare room will have to double up as an office.

However it had the right size garden, amazing living space and I love it.

Style. We have a 60's terrace and would have liked period terrace. But I love my massive windows.

Could you fit a light tube, or two, in the windowless bathroom?

I think you always have to compromise on something. I tend to look for potential and will rather compromise on things that can be changed over time like it’s a bit small but has a good loft/extension option and datet kitchen/bathrooms don’t worry me so much as a small garden or bad location would.

We ditched a huge, beautiful character property for a much smaller, boring house in a better location, good catchment for school and a garden.
I was gutted at the time but it was the right decision.

We also compromised on caracter for space

Swapped a country cottage with a huge garden for a modern house with a small garden on an A road.

I love our new house - four beds, three loos, separate dining room - all light and spacious. Easy to clean and a manageable garden which looks pretty all the time as it's easy to manage. The main compromise was the A road, but with good double glazing and a decent front garden it's actually ok. The main thing that get through the sound barrier is the motorbikes, as someone else said. No regrets - now near our daughter and grandson and we've future proofed ourselves against having to downshift, as this house is easy and practical to run.

We compromised on number of bedrooms and distance to the station but got a house with a huge garden in the catchment area of a brilliant secondary in return. Was a good Trade-off with the lockdown and working from home! We are planning a loft extension in the not so distant future to add more bedrooms.
I agree with a previous poster, compromise on something you can potentially change. I would personally never compromise on location.

But with regards to your personal situation OP, a bathroom without a window is only a small compromise to make if everything else is great!

Well I only have a £170k budget so I will probably have to compromise on everything

We didn't get a garage or an en suite on main bedroom. But we got a lot of additional things that weren't on our list. It was worth the compromise.

With one house we compromised with a North facing shallow garden so no sun in the winter months. Lived there ten years and no way was I going to compromise on that again. Now have a huge west facing garden so even in the winter we have sun somewhere in the garden.

I’m thinking about this now. It’s either the perfect house (1700s, half an acre of garden) in the not so good location (flight path) or the sensible new build in the perfect location.

We wanted off road parking, but ended up getting a rural doer-upper. We park on the lane outside, which is a small price to pay for having a huge back garden instead

We compromise the location, we wanted to buy in the same area where we are renting at the moment (Wimbledon) but we were really pushed out as our budget was not big enough to get a decent 2 bed flat. We have found one in a nice area, still close to Wimbledon and easy access to London.

I (my husband couldn't care less!) have compromised on a north-east facing garden. It is 100 ft long though and looks very luscious so hoping it'll get enough sun.