What did you compromise on and what did you gain?

[OUB1974]

Having just had our offer accepted, I'm interested in this. We've viewed around 10 houses. The reason we rejected the other 9 was mainly due to garden size.

We compromised on: a private parking space, and being set back from the road with a front garden (although dh says that's a bonus as he hates maintaining them!). We also gave up having a semi (although it's a wide end terrace so not much difference)

We gained: more space than any other house we've viewed, a large garden and lots of character! We have an open fireplace, beams and floorboards. Plus a 3 minute walk to school! We also have 3 loos, which I find amusing.

I wasn't expecting this at all as I didn't realise there were any pretty houses in the area we were looking in (I think we drove down the street once and I assumed they were all tiny terraces). Where were your compromises?

Compromised slightly on location at the time as we thought we’d prefer not to have to cross the main road when walking from the station. Long term, I’m really pleased as it put us in the catchment of schools I prefer.
Also compromised on a fireplace. We got everything else we wanted and a larger garden than we were aiming for, but our original list was not that ambitious compared to some.
This house ticked off so many of our ‘essential/ideal’ list that we almost made an offer before I’d even got a chance to see it.

We compromised on character. There are some beautiful older houses round here, but our budget would’ve only stretched to a 3-bed semi, and we desperately wanted a detached which was just out of reach.

I don’t love our house from the outside. It’s a 90s mock tudor style which I’ve never been keen on. BUT it’s detached with 4 bedrooms and a south facing garden which isn’t overlooked. We also have a really long driveway - most of the ‘character’ homes near us only have a driveway for one car.

We moved to a cheaper area for more space- we compromised on it being a mid-terrace and with no garage, and no off-street parking, but it’s massive and the garden is a decent size. Also meant we could buy with no mortgage which was a big plus for us, but area is close to town so not the quiet street we had hoped for. It suits us for now and we’ll never grow out of it so will see long term if we made the right decision.

Also we’re 5mins walk from school/nursery and house has loads of lovely features- we genuinely don’t notice the surrounding area when we’re in the house.

Really interesting to read everyone's thoughts! I'm happy with the compromises we made, particularly because we couldn't have got anywhere as nice without them.

I don't remember thinking about it all so much with our first house. We were there for nearly 10 years and in hindsight it was a really good choice (quite ugly from the outside, but spacious with a good garden and very close to a train station 25 minutes from central London). We didn't have kids at the time but chose the perfect house to being them home to. I hope they love our new house as much.

Kitchen. Its small(against the autopsy kitchens that people want nowadays) but because its small we have a great size dining room, lounge and a fab garden. If the kitchen was extended we would lose the lower part of our garden - its my favourite thing about our whole house, its a sunken deck, the white walls and decking and lighting makes me feel like im always on holiday in Cornwall! We decided to embrace the kitchen size - its quirky, modern and full of colour and artwork. And do you know what? None of the rest of the house or furnishings smells of cooked food!

Gain
Location is lovely, woodland, open spaces, village, public transport good.
Big house, open plan, lovely kitchen, plenty of bathrooms
Lovely condition
Off street parking and plenty of space
Flat garden

Compromised
Price, was very expensive, will be working another 15 years
Garden east facing, reasonable size but not huge

I’ve had 2 purchases fall through for good reasons but feel much more positive about this one.

Compromised on location to get a much bigger house for our money. Space was top of the list for us, and we're very happy here, but everyone will have their own priorities.

Compromise - garden shape and size. Near a busy road. 4th bedroom very small would fit a single bed and bedside table at a push. Next to a massive building.

Gained - detached house in a lovely coaching village. Can walk to all amenities. Large dining kitchen. Great layout. Large bathroom. Set back from main road by a grass verge and slip road. Brick archway to front garden.

Having written down the compromises they seem a lot but it really is our dream forever home and if it didn't have those compromises it would have been wayyy over our budget.

Oh and gained a south facing mature garden, had a north facing garden before.

We moved so I could hav3 a garden, he wanted off road parking.

We got that but it’s not a huge garden, it’s a darker house than we left.

But it’s got character, the location is great, rooms are huge, and I’ll just stuff the garden with planting,

Smaller size, better location

Busy road. I gained a big detached house with in and out drive, large garden and walk to school. If I looked on a quiet road it would have been a semi and without the huge room volume.
The road gets quite quiet at night, all our main rooms are at the back and even in the front the road noise hardly impacts us at all.

We got a better location and bigger house with room for an office for me so no more working on the dining room table. It has a garage and driveway, No kitchen dinner which is what I wanted but we are currently knocking our kitchen and dining room through.
We have lost a beautiful decorated house with a park directly behind us and our nearest one is now a 15 minute walk. Ds school used to be on our road and is now a 15 minute walk away as well. I much prefer our new house even though its a state at the moment with all the building work we have going on, it is much more spacious and has some beautiful original features.

At the time I bought, I thought I was compromising on area. But it turned out that I much prefer the area I’m in now. And I got much larger gardens front and back, bigger rooms, period character and lots of light, because this area was much better value at the time than the area I originally wanted.

Next time I buy, my wants will be different though - I’ve had enough of period charm (aka endless money pit) so I want something low maintenance and am happy to trade charm for that. Having spent years taking everything for the back garden, building works etc through the house, I don’t want a mid terrace again; I don’t mind on-street parking but side access is a must. And I want a smaller garden - it’s too much work! 😂

We gained a large detached house with plenty of space, more loos and bathrooms and a garage. Also it's very light. But it's on a main road with a smaller garden. So have gone from a characterful period cottage with a huge garden to our new house. This will probably be our last home, as we have moved to be near our daughter and grandchild. Absolutely no regrets! And weirdly I love our little, manageable garden!

Smaller kitchen than I would have ideally liked,it’s still big enough for a small table and 4 chairs but my last kitchen was massive. A lot more money!

Gained a much bigger living room, went from 3+a box to 5 double bedrooms with two en-suite and a double garage.

Compromising on space definitely
Good location, can walk to places we need to
Size garden is good for what we need but it won't get the sun which is a disappointment but I'm probably different to people on here, I can only afford to buy with my family's help and I have to be out by a certain time so I don't feel i can look and look and be choosy
But the smaller the property less upkeep there'll be which is important when it's just you and not a lot of money

We compromised on as south facing garden, or so I thought! New garden is 40m long so we get the sun pretty much all day in the top half. I wouldn't discount a north facing garden ever again.

We had a north facing garden at our old house @Alienchannell21 and our new one is north west. I loved our old garden, it was around 16m long and we got plenty of an and also plenty of shade when it was hot. Our new garden is longer but narrower, and I'm hoping it will be the same. It was sunny when we looked at it last week.

We compromised on garden size, our last was south facing and 120 feet long but this house is north facing and very wide but only about 30 feet deep. Its on a small 70s estate but a 90s house so definitely compromised on character features.

We gained a wide detached house at the end of a cul de sac (pros and cons though our neighbours aren’t too curtain twitchery) three rooms we knocked together to make a big kitchen diner/family room and big separate lounge. We’re also on two floors now rather than three with 4 double bedrooms. Also gained a downstairs toilet which is a god send with teenagers at home all the time.

Going from a much loved characterful 30’s semi with good ceiling heights and west backing garden to a boxy detached 90’s property with little in way of character and a NW facing garden. We are gaining much needed space and storage and will finally be able to get our bike/s out of the dining room and into a garage ! 🤞🏻 it’s the right move.

Compromises:
No garage or off-road parking
Small garden
Not particularly pretty and doesn't have "character"
Secondary schools nothing special

Gains:
Size
Proximity to stations and shops
Lovely area
Brilliant primary schools

We will probably move for secondaries and to be honest, my biggest regret is not considering secondary school options at the time. It comes round quicker than you think!

Compromised on garden size and location

Gained - a garage/third reception room an extra bedroom and being detached

We were originally looking in a very expensive area - glad we expanded our search by a few miles!

@Sassymcsasserson

Compromise - garden shape and size. Near a busy road. 4th bedroom very small would fit a single bed and bedside table at a push. Next to a massive building.

Gained - detached house in a lovely coaching village. Can walk to all amenities. Large dining kitchen. Great layout. Large bathroom. Set back from main road by a grass verge and slip road. Brick archway to front garden.

Having written down the compromises they seem a lot but it really is our dream forever home and if it didn't have those compromises it would have been wayyy over our budget.

Interesting read @Sassymcsasserson and @Midlifelady. We have been on a verrrry long house buying/selling journey that I won’t bore everyone with but, bottom line is we are now under a lot of pressure to find a house that will be our home until we either downsize or die! We will be moving into rented accommodation which my DH is not keen on, as we are committed to our sale (already exchanged) but had to pull out of our purchase (structural issue). Last week we viewed and dismissed a house we both loved. House and garden had everything we could ever want, but still had opportunities to put our stamp on it. But it was on a really busy road. When is a busy road too busy I wonder 🤔