Whats more important location or house?

go_cat

If you had the choice between a perfect location with a less than perfect house but livable

or

an almost perfect house in a less desirable location /postcode

and the prices were pretty similar which would you go for?

Opinions please

Lokolo

The first.

You can change the house but you can't change the location.

Tiddlywinks

Location - every time. As the other poster said, you can change the house but you can't move it.

iheartbristol

We've just opted for house over location. The house is so amazing I can put up with the location

Starrystarrynight

Location for me every time. I opted for a smaller house than I'd hoped for, to make sure I lived in a good area.

crazycatlady1984

depends on whether the area is a "bad" area, or a just "not quite so good" area.

With an ok area, when comparing with a good area, theres always the possibility that its an up-and-coming area that might get better and make your house increase in value.......however, I would steer clear if it is just a downright dodgy area!! :eek:

devotee

Location.
Buying a flat in a fab location at the moment, could have bought a house in less desirable area. When this flat came up, I put an offer there and then while I was viewing it. Needs a bit of tlc, layout change, but once I'm done with it (whenever I have the money) I'll have a great place in a great location.

elsien

If the location isn't too dodgy, for me it'd probably be house. Or more specifically, garden.
Although as I can't afford anything in a "decent" location, the question is academic. Having said that, I moved to a less than desirable location as the house was more what I wanted than other places I looked at, and have been pleasantly surprised. Less trouble than I expected, nice neighbours and more of a sense of community than relatives in suburbia.

MacMickster

It has to be a combination of both, but remember that a palace built in a slum would still be part of the slum.

greenmoneysaver_2

Location for us everytime!

Could have 3 bed house 3 miles away for the price of 1 bed. But its big and got a huge garden and is in the right place!

phoebe1989seb

We made a huge mistake last time we moved by buying the 'perfect' house for us (Tudor property with later Arts & Crafts additions) in an area that we knew absolutely nothing about. We knew no-one there and it was 3 hours drive from our nearest family/friends. We chose it because it suited both our style of decorating/what we collect and because it was a large, detached (and very attractive, if run-down) property.

We regretted it massively. Although we could console ourselves that it was perfect in every way, looks/features/size-wise, there was no getting away from the fact that the area was awful.........and not just 'cos we knew no-one - it was horrible

We moved again six weeks ago and although we sold our 'perfect' house within two weeks we lost mega bucks on it as we'd spent shed loads on restoring it to it's former glory in a (failed) attempt to make us content to stay there.

Choosing our new house we decided that this time the area was the most important search criteria...........

............but, as we were mortgage-free and want to stay that way and as we'd lost money on the previous transaction, our choices were more limited. We wanted a large village house with good garden in a picturesque setting with good local amenities, but this proved hard to find. However, we still managed to find a period property of a very good size with a massive garden in an area of outstanding natural beauty........the trade-off being it's on an A-road.

So to agree with the majority of posters, location is (to me anyway) more important than house, but whilst an A-road isn't the most desirable of locations, the fact that we have fantastic facilities in the village, an excellent historic town within 3 miles, wonderful countryside all around as well as a gorgeous house (just not our preferred style!) and fantastic outside space, more than makes up for this