What would you compromise on when buying a house?

[Londonder]

FTB in the South East (London border) so very expensive area. Salaries are decent but we cannot get a dream property where we are so we have to think of making a compromise. Curious to know what you'd choose to do (I completely appreciate situation is different for everyone):

• buy a fixer upper even though you can't afford the cost of refurbishing and spend the next 5 years redoing bit by bit
• compromise on space, get a small property (2 bed of modest size) that doesn't need much done (we have 1 DC)
• buy a decent size 3 bed property but compromise on having only 1 downstairs bathroom

These seem to be the most common scenarios I come across with our budget. What would you pick? We are planning to buy a place where we can spend many years, not planning to resell and upgrade.

I’d probably go for option 1 or 3. I’d compromise on pretty much anything but location

We have just sold a fixer upper. It took much more money and time and stress than I anticipated and that was being able to do most of it ourselves as husband is a builder. We didn’t make our money back I don’t think. But we did get to have it exactly as we wanted. I think I would avoid that option if I were you, costs are just going up and up.

The option of the smaller two bedroom house would be my choice. You can then easily move on to your next place without any compromises when hopefully your situation allows.

We've lived in all three

1. decently sized 3 bed semi in rough arsed area to get us on the ladder. And then
2. v small 3 bed semi with huge south facing garden in great village but on busy B road

We moved onto 4 bed, 2 lounge spacious detached on quiet street in heart of village, loads of parking and good garden. The compromise was north facing garden and despite first glance of neutral beige carpets and white walls, it has needed a top to toe renovation. It's still the right decision even if it takes years to get up to scratch because of the location and space.

As you don't want the fixer upper, the downstairs bathroom would be the next best option for you.

As you said 'We are planning to buy a place where we can spend many years, not planning to resell and upgrade.' then I think fixer upper is a good option.

We were in a similar position to you and have done this. Building costs being what they are, I doubt we'd make our money back if we sold tomorrow, but this doesn't matter as we have no plans to sell. When your fixer upper is fixed up it will hopefully be your ideal home.

To flip it, I’d never compromise on location. Would compromise on anything else. If you can get somewhere liveable I’d get a do upper, or otherwise a 2 bed with potential to extend