Which house - north-facing but nice, or south-facing but needs work

[ElkMoose]

We're in the process of buying a house on our dream street and are choosing between two. House A is fully refurbished, and fab inside, and has a good garden but its north-facing. House B is a bit of a wreck, but has a larger south-facing garden. The price differential roughly compensates for the work, but not the hassle, iykwim.

The garden in house B is also bigger - 160ft, as opposed to 80ft on house A. Any thoughts?

The south facing one. The interior you can change, the way the garden faces you can't. Once the work is done you will have years of south-facing sunshine to enjoy. The hassle is worth it imo.

I think I'd go for House B. A sunny garden is such a joy. But it depends on how much you hate building work. House B would be worth a lot more than House A done up. You could really add value.

House B

You can change the interior, but you can't make a dark garden sunny.

Definitely B, without a doubt.

Another vote for B

South facing. If north-facing garden is overlooked or shaded by plants, you will not enjoy it!

Are north-facing gardens really dark then? We know that House B would be worth a lot more - the plot is bigger, even if the interior is currently not, but there are lots of room to extend.

Inside House A is fantastic, its been gutted and renovated with fab bathrooms etc. House B is a dump and will take years of work, although we could afford most of it given the differential.

B

Definately BBBBBB. South facing every time.

I would go for the south facing garden.

Agree house B definitely.

You'll only get sunshine for a limited time with house A. In house B the garden should be sunny all day, as well as any garden-facing rooms.
It doesn't have to take years to do up a dump. We bought the crappiest house in the best street last year and we're well on the way to finishing the work, even with an extremely limited budget.
And the best thing is you get to choose the kitchen, the bathrooms, the tiles, the flooring etc.

House B for sure. And by doing it up, you can make it yours.

Well really it depends if you like to be barbequed by constant sun. I'd never heard of this south facing obsession before I logged onto mumsnet. I like my east facing rear with nice cool lounge and bedrooms, but each to his own. That said, if the garden is better it may sway it for me.

Actually, in the end we're going for the north-facing one. The south-facing did have an amazing garden, but "in need of some refurbishment" really means, in need of complete rebuilding as its unfit for human habitation. The north-facing one is otherwise perfect so we can live with it

I'd go for north facing. Ours is. I like being able to sit in the shade on the patio on a sunny day, but if I go to the other end of the garden, I can sit in the sun. With a garden of that length, it's not an issue IMO.

I lived in a house where we lost the sun every day at three in the afternoon. It was depressing tbh, we get little enough sunshine in this country as it is, without living in a shadow half the day.

It is the first thing I checked when we looked at houses to buy after that.

We have a north facing garden and I'd never buy a south facing garden again.

I love the fact that I can let my children play outside in the garden and at least part of it is shady, so I can keep them safe in the shade. The end is always sunny, so we have a patio up that end - but I hate the children being out in the sun all day, at least I haven't got to worry about skin cancer so much with them!!

Also, as our living room is at the front of the house, it is always really light and sunny in the summer... whereas those opposite us who have south facing gardens have also got really dark living rooms in comparison (as their living rooms are north facing). Given the fact that I am not really much of a garden person - I'd personally go for the light and airy living room over and above the sunny garden iyswim!

I can see that the decision has been made! I am not a fan of south-facing garden either. I feel no joy being in an open sun all the time. I am in a process to buy a western facing garden, which for me sounds better than south-facing, but if I had to choose between south- and north- I would probably choose north. BTW, north-facing garden usually have nice peaceful sunshine in summer evenings coming from the side. Which I think is great. In winter there is no sunshine at all usually, so who cares!

Surely it only matters if the garden is so smll that the shadow of the house would cover the entire garden - that's on very tall house or a very small garden.
Personally I like a bit of shade!

Our house is north facing and because it's a back to back there is no other "side". We have the sun til around midday and after that the house and garden are both quite dark and gloomy and I look at the houses opposite with envy!

Karam I agree. I love our north facing garden because it means we have a lovely south facing lounge. Even in winter it is always warm. This far outweighs the 'benefit' of having a south facing garden, which in our climate, we would probably only get to sit out in on a handful of occasions per year. (The back of the garden gets full sun anyway). However, most house-hunters seem to be obsessed with south-facing gardens but I think you have done the right thing.

Sorry - meant to say I think Elk has done the right thing.