Did you compromise for a house based on great location and if so- what did you sacrifice and did you regret it?

[mummabubs]

DH and I have found a property that is literally in our dream location- a popular village where properties don't come up very often and certainly not within our budget. There are things we definitely like about the house (good size south facing garden), but we would definitely be making some sacrifices in ways that the house is less ideal, namely size of kitchen and one of the bedrooms and there is parking for the property but it's located further down the road.

Whilst we umm and ahh about how much location location location really is the biggest factor I was wondering if anyone else here made some compromises on the house they bought to get in their dream location - if so what were the sacrifices you made and do you regret it? Thanks all!

We compromised on a utility room and the size of the kitchen. We bought our house because it has 2 large living rooms which we really wanted.

The kitchen I'm fine with, it's a galley kitchen but quite wide and really well laid out which makes a difference I think.

I regret the utility room a bit as the washing basket and clothes horse are stored in the family room and I could do with just one more kitchen cupboard.

It's a flexible space and in the long term we figured if we wanted to stay when our kids are older we'd move the kitchen to the family room and make the kitchen a snug room and build a small lean to extension for the utility room. I'd hoped to build the untility room earlier but skint now....thanks COVID!

I think my sister moving to a house WITH a utility room (and gloating about it!)has made it worse especially as her house was cheaper! It wouldn't have suited us at all but I still get annoyed

I have to say though parking would be a huge issue for me especially if spending maximum budget.

Is there any front garden you could pave over?

Size of garden, really wanted a bigger garden but where we want to be that’s difficult.

We’ll probably move in about 10 years for a bigger garden when we don’t need to be within walking distance of husband’s kids.

House is too big and garden too small. But we both liked it a lot and are enjoying living here.

We wanted a house in a particular school catchment - yes, it’s smaller than the ones at the other end of town out of catchment, but it also has character and is on a pretty street of stone cottages. The third bedroom is very small, but it has 3 reception rooms downstairs and a galley kitchen. We decided we’d rather have catchment and character over a 4th bedroom and second loo. It also has a bigger garden than the new builds we looked at (not a huge garden by any means, but a decent one).

One day we’ll knock down the conservatory and build a kitchen extension. The current kitchen will become a downstairs shower room and a utility room. Then it will be just right!

@oohmyback So it's not maximum budget (especially if we manage to get any off the price as it's been on the market for 2 months now unsold, I suspect the parking situation and quirkiness of the house having 2 outbuildings may have put some people off. We don't mind the outbuilding situation, but would need all the spare budget we could get to increase the kitchen and bedroom 3 longer term).

Re parking there is space at the front but the house is down some steps so it would likely cost a crapload to level the soil (and loose one of the outbuildings in the process and then the cars would be right in front of the kitchen and block out light... So physically doable but not ideal!) I think the crux for me is whether it would be possible to knock down the garage and pave the space to make enough room to fit two cars side by side. I don't mind having to walk down the road in a quiet village to my guaranteed space but if DH and I had to constantly leave the house to move cars that would probably be a deal breaker for me.

The parking would be a no no for me.

I wouldn’t sacrifice on parking.

We compromised on size of kitchen for excellent south facing garden and lovely road / location. Early days for us, we're planning to extend the kitchen at some point, but so far I don't regret it!

We moved for a particular catchment area. The house is very functional, but I don’t love it. There wasn’t much on the market at the time so I’m not sure we could have done much about it.
Your village house sounds a lot more promising though. If you love the village enough you might be able to overlook the irritation around the parking, which I think is the major issue.

I compromised as its on a busy road and has a small back garden. But it's in great schools, near my bubble support and extended family. Plus meant I could be mortgage free as could just (30p in bank when completed) afford it.
Once I knock through tiny kitchen and dining room, it will be much better!

My house is a 1950s block in the best location in the area. It is big (almost 5000 square feet) and the rooms are all lovely and large so very useable. We used every penny to buy it but it’s ugly.

22 years later we are finally at the stage where we can turn it into a more attractive building. It’s been worth the compromise.

Had a similar predicament with a house and went for it, when we were in it wasn't necessarily the things we thought we were sacrificing that were an issue IFYSWIM. I wouldn't be bothered as long as we could park one car and it wasn't an issue for insurance. We've got the good size garden and outbuildings too, I'd happily walk down the road to the car rather than give them up

Yes, we have a North facing garden and the house is open concept (carried out by the previous owners) with a small kitchen.

I wouldn’t want to look out the window directly at my car. How far is the walk to your car? What happens when you have visitors, where would they park? Would this home be a forever home?
It would depend on those factors for me.

12 years later! I couldn’t have waited 22 years

We compromised on the state of it. Has taken 10 years to get the inside up to scratch and I spent many years missing our old house badly. Now need to tackle the garden (front and back) and windows, guttering etc...... Is never ending (But ultimately we probably won't move again so worth it in the long run.)

@mummabubs

DH and I have found a property that is literally in our dream location- a popular village where properties don't come up very often and certainly not within our budget. There are things we definitely like about the house (good size south facing garden), but we would definitely be making some sacrifices in ways that the house is less ideal, namely size of kitchen and one of the bedrooms and there is parking for the property but it's located further down the road.

Whilst we umm and ahh about how much location location location really is the biggest factor I was wondering if anyone else here made some compromises on the house they bought to get in their dream location - if so what were the sacrifices you made and do you regret it? Thanks all!

Apart from.the parking, 15 years ago I could have written this post! We had a list of things that were important to us. We viewed a house that ticked all of the main ones including great village, within walking distance of the school, south facing garden. But the kitchen was really small, as was the 4th bedroom, and the house was very ugly. We were used to a kitchen we could eat in so that felt like a compromise but not a deal breaker.

Houses in our price range so rarely came up in this village that we went for it and it was absolutely the right decision. We lived with the awful kitchen for 7 years until we could afford to build an extension and we now have a fabulous kitchen/diner. We made the 4th bedroom into a study and the study into a guest bedroom.

The house is still ugly but we don't have to look at it - our neighbours in the gorgeous cottage opposite do

We have never regretted it. I think i might have done if we had compromised on one of our deal breakers like having a South facing garden, but the small kitchen was not a huge issue for us.
Interestingly in the 15 years since we bought there has hardly ever been a house that has come up in the village that fitted our original requirements and was in our price range. So had we not gone for the one we did, we probably would have ended up in a different village.

We compromised because our house is on a reasonably busy road... but it was perhaps a third less (significant here as very expensive area) in price and has potential for another house (with access thanks to the busy road) as the plot is so large. Position is great for many reasons and it is only 5 mins from schools and nothing comparable has come on in the last two years. Very glad we made the decision. Your situation actually sounds very good as those are all things that can be fixed (even the parking if you had to... but it wouldn't bother me walking to a parking space). It doesn't sound like you would lose money on it in the longer term - even if it is slightly trickier to sell.

I don't think the parking situation sounds all that bad - you have a guaranteed spot, it's not like you are fighting for an on-street parking space. If properties in this location don't come up very often then I'd go for it. When we first moved to our current location, we bought an ex-council house on the end of a street with £1m+ houses. It was definitely the ugliest house on the street, but the location couldn't be beaten, and it was actually quite spacious. It was a definite compromise from our (then) dream of a pretty victorian cottage, but we loved living there and the compromise was worth it for the location.

Yes we did it for our last move, ended up buying a house that was much too small for our needs to be in our "dream village location" and moved 3 years later. The shared driveway drove us insane. Now we have prioritised house over location, against all the MN advice ha, and we are much, much happier. The compromises we have made on location which are just weekly inconveniences are far outweighed by the daily satisfaction and improvement in quality of life in our new home.

I always say be very cautious getting obsessed with location, it's banded around very loosely on here that location is everything, and of course it's important, but remember location means very different things to different people, and you can often replicate a good quality of life in a variety of locations, there is a reason Kirstie and Phil often (successfully) expand a search area in "Location, Location, Location" despite the name.

People always say location is the most important thing. But I bought my last house in a great location and sacrificed the kitchen (we had open plan before) and it turned out we could never park on our drive because people would block us in.

We also had awful neighbours and the house needed alot of work that wasnt noticeable. I sold at a loss.

That house was my worst and most expensive mistake.

Location and environment are important.

We sacrificed ideal location (so we are in the slightly less desirable end of a small town which isn’t as bad now as it was 20 years ago) for a better house.
The house things that we sacrificed are mostly things that can be sorted with a bit of money
So no utility but conservatory huge so have had plumbing put in there to crest a utility end which frees up some space in the small kitchen.
No parking but street is quiet enough and long term we can move the back fence a bit to creat parking there as there is a lane down the back of the house.

We compromised on the garden. We wanted a bit of proper land, an acre or two, but to get that with this kind of house in our location was way beyond our budget. We have a huge front garden with big driveway and double garage which makes up for it in a way as it gives us a feeling of lots of space around us.
We still have a decent back and side garden, the house is beautiful and it's our perfect location so over all it was worth it.

We compromised as our house is on a main road. Also it had a shared driveway at the back to access our garage and parking spaces. But it has a lovely sandstone walled private garden, four bedrooms, recently replaced bathrooms, cloakroom and kitchen. Very light compared to our previous 17th century cottage. Also detached compared to our previous semi-detached. Two years on we don't notice the road and no problems at all with the shared driveway - everyone respects their own space.

Hardly any houses come up in our village, which is on a bus route to the nearest city. The village has good amenities and there is a market town just a mile away with doctors, dentists, restaurants, etc. Most importantly we are now half an hour away from our daughter instead of an hour and a half.

There are always compromises whatever your budget. Ours has worked for us.

@EmmaGrundyForPM thanks for taking the time to post, DH and I have reflected that a lot of what you've said definitely resonates with us, especially the realistic knowledge that we could wait years and nothing else within our price range is likely to come up (average property price there now sits at £700,000+... This house is priced nowhere near that and we'd never be able to stretch to within a whisker of that). But there is chance to extend and improve what's already there. The local schools are also excellent at both primary and secondary level which is a pull for us too. I'm really glad that your decision paid off for you!