What (if any) compromises did you make for the right home?

[RunRunGingerbreadMan]

I'm just curious really, I've been watching old Escape to the Country episodes and it's funny how people are willing to compromise once they find a home that feels right. We were the same, we wanted a garage and a big hallway and in the end went for a house with neither! If you don't mind me asking, what did you compromise on? Do you think you made the right decision?

Bluntness100 thank you 😊 It doesn't help that DH has decided he likes the blankness! It's weird moving, you kind of have in your head that it will all be immediately better than your old place.

We work full time and had 2 kids. Wanted something that didn't need lots of work.

Ended up buying the perfect house in the perfect location and the perfect size- that had t been touched since about 1970 and needed gutting. 2 years to gut, build garage, get driveway, do everything necessary.
Now it's glorious, exactly to our taste and exactly what we'd want but couldnt have afforded. Do not recommend renovating during COVID though.

We didn't compromise on anything. It took us over 2 years to find our house but it was worth it. We have been happy here for nearly 25 years now.

Ex-council, no private garden

Small garden well small house and only two bedrooms. But live in an area I never would have been able to afford otherwise

No 2-car garage. Where we live it snows (6 inches today) and digging out 2 cars, the drive and the footpath- even with a snowblower - is a pain without a garage. I can live with it though because I love everything else about the house.

Our house is on a road that gets noisy enough at rush hour.
Just as well as we could never have afforded it otherwise..
I’ve waited for this house all my life.

Compromised on character. Ugly 1960s chalet dormer bungalow. But it's massive and has a great garden and is on a great street in a lovely village, walking distance to a lovely primary school. I'd do the same again - though my heart yearns for sash windows and an Aga.

I was torn between an old detached Victorian with high ceilings and absolutely loads of character but it needed so much work such as damp proofing, re-wiring and every room needed to be plastered I just couldn’t stomach living in a mess.

A 5 bed new build came up in an extremely sought after area but the compromise was low ceilings and no character (which I’m working on). On the plus, the house is massive, has a stand-alone garage which I converted to a home gym and a sprawling garden, none of which I’d have got with a character property. I love my home these days.

However this won’t be my forever home, when my dd reaches 10 I’d like to buy some land and build my own house.

We're (hopefully) moving into a house that has everything I ever wanted. However, like many, I've always gone for period properties and this is 1970s.
But: extra bedroom. Playroom/Office. French doors into garden. Detached. Large garden with nothing having been done to it (keen gardener). Double garage. Parking for 4/5 cars. Cul de sac. Amazing views. Living room 18x20.

So a bit of a step up from our much loved 3 bed Edwardian Terrace, and given all the above I wouldn't care if it had been painted in pink glitter

Only two downstairs rooms - I was moving to get a third one.
Too big a garden - I wanted one about a quarter of the size.
Street parking - I moved from a house with drive and garage.

But I fell in love with the house and still love it about 20 years later.

@Thurlow

Bluntness100 thank you 😊 It doesn't help that DH has decided he likes the blankness! It's weird moving, you kind of have in your head that it will all be immediately better than your old place.

Honestly it’s not, I’ve lived in them all from new build to eighties, to Victorian to now this one about 400 years old, and a few in between, Inc rentals.

You need to live in it and make it yours.

So for example we were skint and too young to know what we were doing, when we lived in the eighties house, magnolia walls and a bottle green carpet. I bought massive cream rugs and massive bright colourful artwork for the walls.

This house, I pop down to b&q and can paint a room in a weekend, in a day even. I colour match f&b colours to valspar 700 or dulux matt washable. Forty quid and a day and I’ve done a room.

It’s never yours to start with, but with some effort, not much money, some research, being brave, you can make it yours and find your own style…😊

Budget (spent more than we could really afford at the time, though it's paid off long term) and a double access drive were our compromises. The positives more than made up for it though.

Only space for one car on the drive… although we technically could use the garage it’s currently filled with kids’ stuff. Also backs onto a main road (not that busy as it’s a sleepy Somerset town). This does mean we’re not over looked.

It’s a new ish build which I didn’t want to look at because “they’re dull” but dh insisted and I fell in love with the big hallway and could picture family Christmases. It’s a very practical house in terms of layout and location.

No downstairs toilet, we have 2 though, we did get a garage, double driveway, south facing garden, loft & kitchen extension so happy with our lot

We needed a four bedroomed house for our family of 7, but bought a three bedroomed with the potential to extend over the garage to form two extra bedrooms, straight onto a new build!
DH worked for the company who were the original builders, so it was quite a straightforward process to get the planning permission and complete the necessary works to give us the dream home we needed at a fraction of the cost of what a 5 bedroomed house would cost new.

It was hard work for my Husband working his weekends and some evenings on it for several weeks, but well worth it In the end, and we still live in it today, now retired from the building trade!

We didn't need to make any compromises. We bought our house in 1983, when a 4 bed house with garden and garage was just £29K - ie slightly less at the time than my then £30K annual salary!
It also had a south facing garden, was in an attractive village with a good small primary school, and was only 100 yards from shop, bus stop, and local hotel/pub.
I have every sympathy with the current generation trying to get on the property ladder at all. I had to provide two £100K deposits to get my DDs a v tiny home each in Edinburgh. Both came with major compromises.

Countryside views and price. We found a larger than expected house which ticked pretty much every box, really worked for us in terms of layout, had a decent garden, and in a great location, just not on the edge of the village enough to benefit from rural views, and we had to push our budget more than we were hoping for

It's so interesting to hear everyone's experiences, thank you all for sharing. It does seem that for the right home some compromises are nearly always worth it.

We always wanted a South facing garden but compromised for a north facing one because the house has a huge garage. I have never regretted it, we use that garage for so many different things!!

North facing garden (love it now)
No downstairs toilet - means my dad can no longer visit as his mobility is so bad :-(

Downstairs loo. As soon as I walked in I loved it and suddenly a downstairs loo didn't seem important

We had very specific location requirements which pretty much confined us to two very expensive, old inner suburbs -- so we bought a very fucked-around Victorian which had most recently been inhabited by twentysomething brothers and about forty of their partying friends with obvious consequences. But it has lovely bones. Eventually, it will be beautiful.

@Babdoc

We didn't need to make any compromises. We bought our house in 1983, when a 4 bed house with garden and garage was just £29K - ie slightly less at the time than my then £30K annual salary! It also had a south facing garden, was in an attractive village with a good small primary school, and was only 100 yards from shop, bus stop, and local hotel/pub. I have every sympathy with the current generation trying to get on the property ladder at all. I had to provide two £100K deposits to get my DDs a v tiny home each in Edinburgh. Both came with major compromises.

Just being nosy and wondering where you live?

@Babdoc

We didn't need to make any compromises. We bought our house in 1983, when a 4 bed house with garden and garage was just £29K - ie slightly less at the time than my then £30K annual salary! It also had a south facing garden, was in an attractive village with a good small primary school, and was only 100 yards from shop, bus stop, and local hotel/pub. I have every sympathy with the current generation trying to get on the property ladder at all. I had to provide two £100K deposits to get my DDs a v tiny home each in Edinburgh. Both came with major compromises.

£30k was a very high salary in 1983, almost 40 years later, that's around the average wage! Access to good money provided you with the luxury of choice.