What compromises did you make when buying?

[WWBWBapparently]

How do we feel about compromising when house buying? We had the following non negotiable things when we marketed our house for sale with a view to moving.

1. Detached
2. Newer Build
3. South facing or at least sunny garden
4. Not too overlooked
5. Good kitchen and bathrooms so we won’t need to renovate straight away
6. Room for all the family to congregate.

We’ve seen a beautiful house in the right location, its detached, new bathroom, kitchen.

However it has a north facing garden, is very overlooked with a terrace of townhouses at the back.
House is 22 years old and therefore so is the double glazing and heating system.
Lounge is smaller that we’d like, kitchen a galley with only small areas of worktop. Would need to house the tumble dryer in garage with only access through up and over door.

Im so conflicted over it, price is about right although we’d offer 10k under due to the double glazing and old heating system. Will the garden, sun and privacy be awful? We only have about 3/4 months of the year decent weather anyway.
We are downsizing from a big house so it will feel small but will be easier to clean and maintain.

What compromises did you make? Are these dealbreakers?

It doesn’t sound like this is the house you want

I had 4 out of your 6 which were must haves. Large kitchen diner or space to make it so was too.
Another was quiet area, which is what we had to compromise on.

I agree with pp, this is not house you want. It's only like 2 out of 6 and that's way too much compromise imho.

I couldn’t compromise on a sunny garden, I spend so much time outside in the summer.

We compromised off road parking to get the house we wanted at a price we could afford.

It’s always difficult when you are down sizing. I don’t think this is the house for you.

I find the more properties you view the more you flex or alter your starting list of criteria.

for me it’s about what feels right when I view and also how I see myself living there. Where does the furniture go, how do I love around the space etc, does that work for me.

can I see myself in the Kitchen, using the bathroom, in the garden, parking at the front or whatever.

last time my compromise was outdoors, I was adamant we would have garden and land. We’ve needed up with a courtyard garden, but everything else the house offered was ideal.

I basically had no dealbreakers as I was buying in London on a very small budget. The only non negotiables were a) not a renovation b) long lease (flat) and c) in London and in budget. So I imagine my advice is not useful if you do have several dealbreakers! Is it my dream home? Fuck no. But it’s cheap and I’m very happy with my life in general.

This is too much compromise. We had a list of non-negotiables and a list of what we'd compromise on. Your list vs this house makes this house not an option. And that's okay!

Two compromises we made on the house we offered on, because we had sold ours and needed a house:
Bigger kitchen > only slightly bigger but with room to extend. (A galley kitchen was a non-negotiable)
Home office space > 3rd bedroom will be office until we extend/convert garage/create one in the garden.

So you see, we will have to spend money to create the house we want, but this house is worth it. If you can't flex on any of your dealbreakers, WALK AWAY.

We compromised size for location.

Location/ plot were our absolute non-negotiable. It’s the only thing you can never change! We bought the worst house on a lovely street and we have loved every minute of living here.

Location was most important to us and we had a minimum sq m in mind for it to be worth the cost of moving. We weren't expecting detached as live centrally in Edinburgh, but we wanted it to be a house rather than a flat. The only thing we compromised on in the end was garden, we don't have much of one but we do have direct access into a great park.

Went for semi instead of detached. Big mistake and the main reason we will move again.

We had been looking and losing out on houses for several years though so this house was just to get us out of that hell.

My garden is north facing I think but is wide enough that it’s still in sun at all times there’s just a shadow of the house in different areas of the garden all the time but you just move.

I disagree with the three/four months decent weather! Six at least.
I have a north facing garden. I’m mid terrace and have a row of more modern townhouses behind and our gardens are not long. As the sun rises in the east sets in the west for six months of the year I have sun most of the day. In the winter the sun is too low and I don’t get any, but it’s bright enough and it also means my kitchen/diner, which has two skylights and a wall of glass overlooking the garden, does not get baking in the summer and remains bright in the winter.
Two trees give us privacy for two thirds of the year and as I’m not dancing around my kitchen naked it doesn’t bother me that two windows overlook me in the winter. I don’t even have curtains!

We wanted 5bed, at least 2 reception rooms, a certain town, south facing, sea view, new build and not a big garden. I didn’t care about being a detached at all.
we got a semi that fit the bill perfectly! We absolutely love it! It’s the best house 🙌

We moved from a 4 bed detached, with a large not over-looked garden, to a 5 bed townhouse, with a tiny garden that's overlooked. 😆The pay off was panoramic sea views from the front, and a good sized, sunny south facing front garden, with plenty of space for seating, BBQ etc, to enjoy the sea views. Have never regretted it, and we sit in the garden most days. Never use the back garden.

sounds as unlike your ideal home as you can imagine. I think that you need to keep looking

I think our list was basically met
except the kitchen is a bit dark due to small windows

Our only compromise was the masses of work it needs
ie at least £200k but that was reflected in the price

I’m not sure OP the house you’ve found comes very close to what you’re looking for

We compromised and our house is a semi detached attached on the back wall. It also has a smaller garden than we wanted and needs loads of renovation. But it does have: a huge garage, 4 car parking, historic character, 5 beds instead of 4, perfect location, great street/neighbours and complete silence.

It was too expensive though in retrospect. The work to remedy everything will tot up to £200k+

I really wanted a character detached on 5 acres overlooking the sea.

Instead I settled for a ground floor 1 bed flat in a city.

So to sum up I compromised on pretty much everything. At least I have a patio garden, even if it faces a brick wall.

It depends how much the garden is your life! I’d not compromise on that but maybe you could. Also north facing doesn’t mean no sun, and depending on where you are in the country, you may still get a lot of sun in certain parts of the garden. It might limit what you could grow.

Imagine one of your usual weekdays, weekends at home doing your usual things but in the new house. If things are niggling now, you will hate it later. Ilmy non-negotiables are bigger house with more living space, end-terrace at a minimum (detached ideally), not backing onto railway track, big garden, bedroom and bathroom on ground floor, 4 bedrooms upstairs (so I can take one for my office/craft space), no large trees shading the house, parking on driveway or in attached garage

Location and for me personally it has to be an older house I don’t like new builds.

We were downsizing from a 400 year old rural detached to a more expensive urban area last time we moved (2024), so knew we wouldn't be able to replicate the large (0.5 acre) garden with loads of parking and virtually no neighbours, although a detached was possible.

What made it harder was we wanted an untouched, characterful three bed house that needed renovation within walking distance of the sea. Most of the detached houses available in those locations were modern/newer builds which immediately ruled them out. There were a few two beds but these were way too small (we wanted three beds so we could use the largest as an additional reception room if necessary).

The three bed (Georgian) cottage we bought had no original features whatsoever (not even the internal walls!) and is semi-detached. The south-facing courtyard garden is larger than many - but obviously nowhere near 0.5 acre - and not overlooked at all. There's parking for one car. It's two minutes walk to the beach. We're gradually reinstating the period charm. Was it the right choice? Possibly not, but it's growing on me!

@WWBWBapparently that house sounds like it has too many compromises imo.

We set out looking for a 4-bed detached character property with a decent sized garden, large open plan kitchen/family living space, a garage (to convert into a gym) and good motorway links/local schools. In the end, the compromise was the property itself and we ended up choosing a new build in order to get everything else on our list. It was the right compromise and we’ve been very happy here for the past 8+ years.

When I think of town house I think three storey so a terrace of town houses overlooking you from two floors behind your house sounds one hell of a compromise for someone who wanted 'not too overlooked'.

Something else I would add is that £10k isn't going to go very far if you need new windows and heating.

My main compromises when I bought my house were that it isn't detatched - but it's 200 years old with very thick walls between us and our neighbour so we don't hear anything. Also, it has a North facing garden but I have grown to love that especially on blistering summer days.

We ended up with a semi detached not detached (just couldn't get what we wanted for the budget) and a smaller garden than was ideal. We also ended up doing way more work on the plumbing than we'd bargained for. It had a tiny kitchen but we budgeted for an extension.

It also had the off road parking, the location, the period features, and large bedrooms we were looking for.

The garden was a bit of a compromise but not unrealistic for the area we were looking in - but I wouldn't have compromised on it being a sunny one. I want to enjoy the sunny days we do have and am a keen gardener.

I don't think this one ticks enough boxes for you.