Houses, aspects, sunlight, hedges and neighbours!

glasgowdan

Trying to weigh up pros and cons while house hunting.

How important is it all to you? I'm feeling that, with house viewings, we're being unrealistically fussy about some of these things and missing out on houses where the issues I'm imagining actually wouldn't be bothersome once living there.

Say a lovely house with a reasonable sized garden, but on the south side there are houses with windows that are right across from the upstairs windows, and the garden inbetween has an 8ft high coniferous hedge (20ft from kitchen window). Is this really an issue? I know in summer it'd be fine, with higher sun, but in winter would you really notice not getting a lot of direct sunlight downstairs?

Likewise, a lovely house in an area with slightly lower quality (on paper) schooling... but glowing word of mouth reports. Slightly longer commute by bicycle (1hr vs 40 mins).

We're renting just now, so I know I could always just be more patient. But we do want to buy asap, get out of wasting a grand a month on rent, and unpack everything and settle in.

RIPironman

We were the same. Been looking for 6 months now and nothing seemed to tick all the boxes. Garden too small, 3rd room too small, driveway not big enough, no garage, garden overlooked by something we don't like, neighbours garden a mess etc etc. We've ended up buying a new build which I never thought I would do but, it ticks all the boxes and the offers were too good to refuse. Plus, we don't have the worry of competition from someone offering more. I know people knock them, but it suits us.

metamatic

I viewed a house last week where the rear boundary was the side wall of an adjoining property. Also had two first floor windows looking directly in to back garden.

Funnily enough this was not shown in the agent's rightmove entry!

glasgowdan

But is it a big deal? Really... I think it's the sort of thing you'd not even think about after a while.

Cakeguts

I would like to suggest this. Look for smaller houses in the same price band. Sometimes if you are not careful you get all the bigger houses that look good value for money but which actually all have a major disadvantage with them.

robatwork

Nothing will ever tick all your boxes.

Aspect is the least important one - there can be advantages to a North or East facing garden - you can get the sun in the back of the garden if you want it, and have the patio in the shade where it's more comfortable in summer.

Hedges can be trimmed.

Neighbours move.

Area and house are what it's all about, but even then the house can be changed, and areas go up and down too.

I always draw up a weighted chart rather than a tick list. Eg.
Aspect 1
Crime in area 8
House "feel" 10
Schools 7
Local bakery 6
Local butcher 3
Walk to station 5
etc.
Then give each house you see a score on each subject, and multiply by the weighting.

At the end you will end up with a total score for each house. The one with the highest score wins.

Then buy the one your wife tells you to.

ellie27

That house you are referring to..... am I one of the neighbours?! What about neighbours peeking through a gap in the fence, is that something you would be fussy about? Haha!

We were very very fussy when it came to certain things....south facing and private garden that is not overlooked, we wouldnt budge on that.

Windows oppposite your own upstairs windows I couldnt do.

We get very little sunlight at the front of our house, but thats where our lounge is and we are only in there at night when the kids are in bed and by that time there is no sun anyway. Hedges blocking sunlight at the back would be a no-no for me if the hedges were that close that it would block the sun during winter.

glasgowdan

Not that one Ellie Yes, the hedge thing is bothering me about this one, really unsure what to do. There are other options though... but none ideal!

lewishardwick

I can think of hundreds of examples of windows looking into... Ahhh I'm not gonna... It's late.

melanzana

I think the "feel" is instant in many cases, even if all boxes cannot be ticked.

Happened to me. Three houses all in the same area, all the same really, but one just got me when I walked in to view it. I dunno what it was.

But 30 years later, my first house is my forever house. Can you believe that!

Helps that is has a South facing garden (great for drying clothes on the line in the Winter, believe me, although I didn't know that at the time!) And it has a park at the back so not overlooked, and it is a cul de sac so little traffic.

But honestly, when I were a lass buying my first house at a relatively young age for those days, I wouldn't have known my butt from my elbow really, it was down to price.

Just got a feeling. Turned out to be a good one!

ibizafan_2

Aspect (after location) is very important to me. I wouldn't consider anything that wasn't west or south west facing at the back. Picky maybe, but an estate agent told me that older people in general are fussier about aspect than younger people. He also said that if aspect isn't mentioned in house details, it often means that it is less favourable. Not bothered about school catchments any more, thank goodness!