What was your compromise?

[PaleGreenAndBrightOrange]

They say there’s always a compromise with houses. What was yours? In my first house there was no compromise, my current house has a tiny garden and kitchen, and it’s looking like I’m going to have to accept a long list of compromises if I’m ever going to find house #3... just interested to hear what others were willing to overlook! Thanks in advance!

My current flat had all the compromises. It's on a main road, no outside space, above shops. It's on the market and proving a challenge to sell.

The next place we are compromising on location to get a quiet street and outside space.

We had to move a few miles up the road up the road into the main town which is playing a gamble with the secondary schools in that I could end up with one kid in a different school to the other two. But the house is beautiful and we needed the space but for the sake of 1.5 miles it saved us over £40k and a bigger house than the typical 4 bed detached in my town.

A very small bathroom. We went on to turn a bedroom into a bathroom and a kitchen that looks out on the the side wall of our neighbour’s house instead of a garden. The only things I liked about our house before we bought it was the sizes of the rooms and the size of the garden (both relatively large). We gutted the whole thing and had the start the garden from scratch (it was just poor grass and a few badly placed shrubs). We love it now. Although it would be lovely to have a nice view from the kitchen window, so that is our ongoing compromise.

Location. Totally worth it, even though it means an extra 30 mins commute each way.

It’s an ex council house. Huge rooms, big garden, in catchment to lovely schools, round the corner from family… but right next door to the world’s biggest chav.

size / garden size - but lovely location. Wouldn't swap until I find the lottery millions down the back of the sofa.

Compromise this time is no 5th bedroom and needing complete redecoration inc new kitchen and bathroom ( house I’m selling is immaculate) We are getting the huge gsrden, double garage and bigger square footage though.

The garden is north facing. But it is a really (really) big garden so there are plenty of sunny sports. Makes it difficult to mow the lawn in the autumn as it doesn't get any sun to dry it. It does mean the kitchen (across the back) is lovely and cool on a hot summer's day though.

Sunny spots lol

East facing garden and it being a terrace. I needed a decent third bedroom with two teens which seemed impossible to find. Advantages though now its summer the East facing garden is fine as its not too large so I can utilise all of the space which gets sun a most of the day. I get all day sun to the front so my through lounge is very bright so not all bad.

Size of kitchen. Still a decent size, but is smaller than my current kitchen
However in return I get a lovely garden , great sized rooms and beautiful location

We live in a large Victorian end terraced. The house next door is converted to 5 flats. That's compromise number 1. I hate having transient neighbours and not knowing who'll be there next. Compromise 2 is that we are on the edge of a very affluent estate, but also an incredibly derprived area. We could have a millionaire walk past the house one minute and a drug dealer the next. Our garden is smaller than we'd like, but we're lucky to have one at all with this kind of house. Advantages outweigh the negatives... We moved to a cheaper city and bought a 6 bed home on a private road for less than half of what we would have paid in our old house, the house has heaps of character, it's on a beautiful private road and we have a great community ethos in the street.

First house, compromised on location (beautiful Victorian cottage ) on a busier side road and opposite a not great estate. To be honest we didn't think about location too much (doh!) and had buyers regret for a while. Made good money.

Second house, compromised on square footage and fifth bedroom, for big garden, good layout and great location.

No off road parking and an east-facing garden. But it means I have a 7 bed Edwardian semi in a fabulous location. I can’t tell you how much I’ve appreciated the space this past year. It’s been amazing. No one has had to work in their bedroom (or anyone else’s bedroom) or in the kitchen/living room. I am in awe of people who managed WFH and homeschooling in tiny properties. And whilst the garden is shady, it’s also surprisingly private for a town centre property.

It's not as remote as we'd like, but that's a practical issue in terms of needing excellent internet for work for two.

I would sag the real compromise was no 4th bedroom giving us a spare room. On reflection it would never be regularly used. We can work around it, and everything else was just perfect and WOW.

Utility/laundry room and semi detached. We also bought on a main road but that was never going to be a deal breaker as here, it's a given for an older house with high ceilings. This house is probably an 8/10 but our perfect house doesn't exist in our perfect location even at double the budget we had.

I love every single thing about my house except the lack of a garage. We have off street parking but it snows a lot where we are and it is a pain digging out cars.

Terraced with on street parking. But we are in a flat now and it’s going to feel like Buckingham palace when we move in

Definitely compromised on the garden... It's absolutely tiny and north facing. Virtually useless! Plus points were a playroom, two bathrooms and a driveway in our desired location so definitely worth the sacrifice.

Road noise.

We compromised on the size (not number) of the bedrooms, to get lots of living space downstairs in the perfect location.
If we'd insisted on 4 doubles, rather than 2 double, 1 single and a downstairs single, we'd have had to move out of the catchment area we wanted.

Utility room. But we have the space to extend in future when we can afford it. Everything else was ticked so we went for it. Don't regret it, been here 2 years now.

Its opposite a play park.
Which I appreciate sounds miserable, but I work from home most of the time and when i'm not working from home i'll be working nights, so screaming kids, even ones who are just enjoying themselves isn't my favourite

Made all the compromises you can think of, I bought in London so...well...it was dictated by budget really.
Small flat, zone 3, up-and-coming location, no outside space, leasehold, the bathroom is tiny and let's be clear, awful (but I'm planning to re-do it next year), some works to do.

What I didn't compromise on:

• quiet street. I lived on a busy road before (like very busy, 24/7 busy) and never again.
• south facing living room and big windows.
• open plan big and modern kitchen.
• second bedroom / study-room. Wasn't a criteria but I'm super happy to have it.
• close to shops and easy to cycle to central London.
• big park round the corner. Never really cared about a garden, but I want a nice park.
• been able to just take a 20 year mortgage and I'm still able to save loads each month.

What I gained

• the loft space (which I will board for storage at some point)
• a certain taste for DIY
• a good necessary sense of minimalism
• lovely neighbours on each side + downstairs. I'm actually blessed to have such great, polite and considerate people.
• a lot of stamina because of the cycling
• can use the front garden for gardening.
• just love my little pad really.

My choice was between a house/bungalow, semi/detached, or - in the same town - a south-west facing, apartment, 25 yards from the beach/sea, with french windows onto a balcony, constant, views/sounds of the sea, and glorious sunsets.

Chose the apartment - downside is - it's noughties build-quality - so there are minor sounds, from neighbours (chopping in the kitchen, turning the key in the lock, etc.). And I have to be aware, that, neighbours can probably hear me - so no aerobics in the living room.
At present, undecided on whether my compromising privacy for sea views, was correct, or should I retreat, and opt for the anonimity of a bungalow, a few streets back? Will wait out, a first winter, before deciding.