Viewed a near-perfect house yesterday, one thing putting me off

[booomshackalack]

Currently in an elevated two up two down mid terrace with two DCs of opposite sex sharing a room, DCs are 13 and 9. On street parking which is terrible at times.

We viewed a house yesterday which we fell in love with and it ticks a lot of boxes - only a few steps at the front door, three bedrooms plus a dining room and converted loft, new style kitchen and bathroom and home survey highlights no issues. It's another mid terrace, we were set for a while on a semi however with the economy and fuel bills as they are, it probably makes more financial sense to go for a mid. We are moving within a very sought after area where semis in particular get snapped up fast at tens of thousands over asking so no guarantee we would even get one if we held out i guess.

The only downside is it's on-street parking. The majority of the street are semi-detached houses with their own driveway, with just a couple of rows of terraces. When viewing yesterday it didn't look too bad - or at least, not as bad as where we live atm! Would this put you off if the house seemed ideal in every other way? I guess in the future we could look at putting a drive in the front garden, although it would be a shame to rip the front garden as it's quite nice.

That would be a deal breaker for me.

Go back in the evening and check the situation.

No front garden you could turn into a parking place I suppose?

That's a good shout to check the situation in the evening, will do that later on thanks.

There is a garden at the front, it's a tiny bit elevated however the neighbour at the end has a slightly sloping drive so don't think it would be a barrier. I'd just feel a bit bad about ripping the nice garden out, although I guess I could maybe transplant the plants into the back garden instead.

Nope. Parking is way down the list.
When we were looking we thought parking might be nice, but it really isn't that important.

Check at different times of day
It sounds like a reasonable thing to have to compromise on

Go back after 630pm one evening or on a Sunday afternoon/early evening and see what parking is like then. That's when it's likely busy as everyone is home ready for the start of another week. Or that is the case in our terrace with street parking!

Definitely check at different times of day, but it wouldn't be a dealbreaker for me if there was plenty of room. Some houses near ours don't have drives but because almost every house does, there's abundant street parking for those who need.

I’ve never lived anywhere with a drive or garage. It’s not even on my top ten list of things I look for in a house.

Considering the ages of your children I think them having their own space is more important than your car having a space .

We once lived in a end terrace and had a single drive but two cars. Anyone could park down the end, beyond our house. They chose instead to battle it out in front of the terraces and even parked over our drive with a dropped kerb. The arguments in the street were unreal.
We lost a bit of garden to put in a second space, they still parked over our drive rather than walk an extra 10 steps after parking beyond it.

I would never buy a house without parking again. It’s worth losing a bit of garden for.

I've lived in a few places where it's been parking wars and I wouldn't do it again. What time of the day was your viewing? Wonder if its worse in the evening when people are typically home from work x

Fine with it. I have a drive, I park on the street by choice.

No front garden you could turn into a parking place I suppose?

op suggest there is in her post, but that it would be a shame to rip up the front garden

I guess in the future we could look at putting a drive in the front garden, although it would be a shame to rip the front garden as it's quite nice.

I have never had a drive or garage and no problems.
But I've always had a front garden full of flowers which is much nicer in my opinion.

Much easier now your children are older (and can help carry stuff from the car).

We dont have a drive .Some people have put one in .Parking is challenging sometimes but not impossible . I would check it out at WE/Evenings when more people are home maybe .

I have lived on roads with no off road parking and never experienced poor behaviour or difficulties

@Ditzyduck Yes a big part of me does think that the extra space for our family is more important than parking, I guess I worry that it'll grind my gears eventually, as my current street is a massive pain at times. @VariantHela viewing was 4pm on a Friday.

Your kids need their own space more than the car does! We live in London so we park on the street, I don’t know anyone local to us with a driveway, literally not one single person. I would though want to make sure that you can park easily enough so make sure you visit at different times to check it out.

I'd visit quite a few times to check the parking situation.
Although most cars on my street have drives, most also have multiple cars. One family have 4 cars and two vans. So they take up most of the spare spaces.

I suppose it depends how likely you are to want a new car once no new non-electric cars are available. It’s a consideration if you tend to upgrade your car often.

I don’t think it would put me off as long as there are large amounts of parking on the streets in the area

I live on a road of terraces in London. Noone has off street parking on our road or on many of the roads nearby. It is fine.
I get why it would be an issue with very small children or mobility issues but other than that I can't see why it's a big deal at all.

I've never lived anywhere with parking. Always just park on the street. It has never been an jssue and certainly wouldn't be a deal breaker.