What, if anything, did you compromise on when you moved?

[Horriblewoman]

We're in the early stages of selling our first house and have been told it will sell quickly due to nothing else being comparable in the market in our area.

If we could extend out or up we wouldn't be moving but it's not an option and we're increasingly tight for space.

However nothing is coming on the market that we've seen that tempts us at all in our area. Or would have significant compromise on some of the things we take for granted (off street parking and a garage in London, close to the overground).

If you compromised was it worth it?! Do you still miss bits of your old places?

Our previous house had a big back garden and even our own piece of woodland. We had total privacy as we were not overlooked. We compromised that when we moved to where we are now. We have a tiny back garden which is North facing, gets hardly any sun, and it is overlooked by apartments, BUT....we are right on the seafront, and our front garden is south facing, bathed in sun shine, and we can sit there watching all the boats coming and going and the waves rolling in. Sometimes we even catch sight of some seals. We never sit in the back. I never thought I would be happy with an overlooked back garden, but the trade off was worth it 100%.

I compromised on parking (as in, no off street parking and no garage). Never, ever again. It's a non-negotiable on my next house.

We compromised on the thing we said we wouldn't - having a neighbour attached. Never again!! Next time we're buying a detached home. We thought it would be fine as he's fairly old and lives alone. Turns out he's a noisy fucker.

We also compromised on being near a busy road. Really wish we hadn't but it's not the end of the world. We can't see the road and aren't right next to it.

Bought a bigger house than we wanted with a smaller garden. It also needed a lot of work.

Plus Points: great location, lovely views, on and off street parking (one of the main reasons for moving).

The garden still irks me. We'll end up moving after I retire - for a bigger garden.

Our compromise was the countryside swapped for being in a town (almost) centre and back to being mid terrace. I am secretly grumpy about it, even though I know exactly why we are doing so - and agree with the reasons. (Yes Iabu!)

Compromised on style of house, garden size and no off street parking - we bought a 70’s terrace.
But -

the road parking is quite easy.
The rooms (including 3rd bedroom) are decent sizes, and all could fit doubles, though only just in the smaller one.

There was scope for a loft extension, which we did many years later and it’s amazing.

The garden is lovely if small, though is quite long. Kids can play out but need to go to park for proper ball games.

And I’d love a house that I “fell in love with” - nice big hall, interesting features etc - but this house is in a great location, been excellent for schools and easy train commute, and nice neighbours. So I have no regrets!

We compromised on location, as in the area, and being on a main road. Never, ever again.

The area was really depressing, very grey, nothing nice there, so I always felt miserable in it, although I loved my big Edwardian house.

The road was supposed to be 30mph, but as it was straight, cars used to bomb down it, and trucks going between the two industrial estates a couple of hundred metres either side of us used to race through. We'd regularly got woken up during the night due to the noise.

I'm now moving to a cul-de-sac with just 24 houses!

We have everything apart from uninterrupted sea views. I’d love a decent panoramic sea view with not a soul or structure in sight!

I compromised on the size of the 4th bedroom. It's just about a double and I would have preferred it just a tad bigger as I feel bad on my eldest who is at Uni when he comes home and has a smaller bedroom than he used to have. However, it's absolutely a first world problem and anyone with a double bed, desk and triple wardrobe in their bedroom with enough floor space to discard practically the entire contents of their wardrobe isn't doing too badly.

A view. I was determined I wanted a view of the hills from my house, because we had a lovely one from our old house.

I don't have a view and (it turns out) I don't give two shits. Everything else is spot on.

When we moved to our previous house, I didn’t want stairs in the living room but that’s exactly what was in the house that ticked all our other boxes. We actually lived there for 23 years in the end 😂 The house we’re in now has a proper hallway with stairs that aren’t in a room 😁

We compromised on looks for practicality

We compromised on getting a 1970s house that needed things doing to it which we said we would never do again. It's worth it and nearly finished, although it inevitably cost more than we expected.

Our compromise was - Living on a main road.
So we do have constant road noise but we've got used to it.
It's meant that we could afford a cottage in the countryside with a few neighbours instead of having to live in a suburban housing estate with on street parking and asb.
I was out at work today in one such suburb and just thought how much I love my home and couldn't live somewhere like that ever.

Massive garden. We ended up going for a decent size garden but not massive. I am actually relieved we did now that I know what work is involved in the actual upkeep of the garden. The size we ended up with suits us just fine 👌

Style. Our house is a modified 80s townhouse. It is in a conservation area and surrounded by lovely characterful homes. It is pig ugly. That's the only compromise though. Alterations mean it is pretty perfect inside, we have a beautiful garden, off street parking and are a couple of minutes walk from the station.

A downstairs toilet - but the utility room is a converted garage with a sink at one end do at some point when we redo the utility room we can take a bit out of it to make one.

We compromised on the garden size with our first house. Really regretted it and I am so glad we are selling. This time we are lucky to not be compromising on anything we wanted on the house we are buying, I can't wait to get the keys (and am nervous of things going wrong)
Now that said if I had millions of pounds it probably would not be the house I would be buying

Shared driveway. Wouldn't do it again

Proximity to a station. I originally wanted a house in a specific area and it had to be walking distance to the train station. We found a suitable property but it fell through. So we widened our search slightly and bought another house we really liked although it was a bus ride / 40 minute walk away from the station.

I’m actually glad we missed out on the original property now. With hindsight I can see it was on a very narrow, congested road and it’s proximity to the busy station is not ideal as commuters park on the road (there are no parking controls for residents). The house we ended up buying is further away but the area has a lovely rural, village feel. It is so peaceful with a huge amount of green space on our doorstep even though we are only 25mins from central London.

I thought that only having one attached neighbor would be ok compared to a terrace. I bitterly regret buying that house. Now it's either detached or lots of soundproofing!

No parking at front and a jungle of a garden which was not usable to For first 5 years. Driveway has been created now. Garden has been terraced with patio and steps 😊

Compromised on leaving fantastic green in front of our house. It’s a car park estate we live on now. But in the school catchment we wanted.

We compromised on location, moving further afield which involved moving primary school.
The house was much bigger and has a large garden. It was hard at first and making new friends took time but we are happy here

In my area there's no off street parking and being period Victorians you don't always get the open plan kitchen living rooms.

So my house has a smallish kitchen separate from the living/dining room and only on street parking. But it is a totally beautiful house inside and out and I love it. And a small but beautiful garden,