What is worse? No side access or overlooked garden? (picture in the post)

[oreo2020]

Have a choice of two houses: a semi with a garage and bedroom on top of it - the garage is joined up to the neighbour's garage and the neighbour has an extension so it makes the houses joined up. The garden is not accessible from the back but I suppose you can carry stuff through the garage and utility room at the back.
Or,
A house with a side access but the house at the rear really close as in picture.
Otherwise both very similar houses.
Which one is worse ?

@BewareTheBeardedDragon
Shirley Croydon... not willing to post the links but oh well I already said that much so if you Rightmove sold and unsold you might be able to find both. Just please please do not post it here if you find.

If house A is where I think it is, location is not that great. It's lovely to be next to the woods but is also close to a Council estate and the local shops are those for the Council estate and the 'posh' high street is a bit far to walk. I don't know the exact area of B but looks typical suburban like most of the area so still nice.

This is so difficult. I love A's road and the location sounds great. Everyone always says go for the location, not house.
I don't like how A's upper bathroom has no window - I'd move it into bedroom 4 and merge the old bathroom with the bottom half of bedroom 3 to get that fourth bedroom back.
Then I'd extend the kitchen into the extension.

Then I'd work hard on the front to make it more attractive. Sort the lawn and landscaping, maybe a tree or big shrub in a pot in front of the extension to distract the eye.

House B is certainly much prettier with a better layout. But location can't be fixed.

@Bathshebahardy valid points however majority houses close by sell for much much much more than house A (house A is let down by ugly extension however offers lots of space)

I’ve found both houses online and actually I’d say I like A better now.

There is another house on the same road as house A for 5k more which is done up very nicely. Doesn’t have the over the garage extension so maybe not big enough for you? But very nice inside.

@YellowBellyCat oh wow. Well done.
Thanks to this tthread I am actually now leaning towards house B. Purely due to being nice inside.

@YellowBellyCat yes the other house is a standard 3 bed (i think it's sold now) and not enough space

@YellowBellyCat

I’ve found both houses online and actually I’d say I like A better now.

I'd agree with this, house A is nicer on the whole. The outside, while not to my personal taste, is in keeping with the other houses on the road, so is actually fine, plus you can do some remodelling inside to make the living space work better for you.

[quote oreo2020]@YellowBellyCat yes the other house is a standard 3 bed (i think it's sold now) and not enough space [/quote]
But I guess it shows you what could be done with a bit of updating.

I thought B until I saw them both online and now think A!

Gosh, I've just seen both online.

DEFINITELY A. Was B a former rental, It looks rather unloved.? The decoration suggests that it might need rather a lot of TLC. I see they didn't bother to plumb in extra radiators when they did the ground floor extension (Is the flat roof okay or will you need to budget to replace that. The kitchen is very odd with most of the cooking area tucked into a corner.

The extension on A doesn't look as bad on the listings/Streetview. It looks much better maintained and the front garden could look much better with very little effort. If you did find the budget at some stage, I notice somebody towards the end of the road has continued the roofline of the house out over the garage and popped in a front window. I walk past a house that used a velux juliet balcony in a similar situation and it looks really good.

I can’t stand being overlooked in the garden so for me that wins every time

Now you confused me altogether...

B. Always go for semi detached/ side access. Planting evergreen Laurel hedging or equivalent, and a new fence will help .
Maybe a light canopy Magnolia tree halfway down the garden to block sight lines too.
Cheap garden sails, pergolas , tall trellis…
Go for it.

I’ve found both listings and still prefer house B. Yes it needs some love but it looks brighter in the photos than house A.

Being overlooked bothers me a lot, so I'd go for A. No side access is a pain but you learn to live with it I suppose as lots of houses have no side access.