What was your 'compromise' with your property purchase?

Splatfoot

Going from a larger house with dining room to a small 3 bed bungalow with nowhere for a table to eat. With a new born and a toddler at the time there were times when I thought we were mad. However it was about location and schools. 12.5 years later it is now a five bed with large kitchen diner. Took a while and a redundancy on route to afford it but we are happy with the house. The views are great, even though we are on the outskirts of a large Sussex seaside town, we are nestled on the edge of a National Park and see hills and trees from our windows. ☺☺

worried_jim

I grabbed the first flat I could afford that was for sale (after being gazumped on my first choice). Wasn't as nice as my first choice but 16 years later I think it all worked out for the best, but my mantra was simple- can you afford it- buy it- as nice places don't hang around for long in Brighton.

cloo

Compromises:
- Driveway - not all that many houses near us did have them, we nearly bought one with, but that fell through. Our house was the only other we saw that was big enough as a whole
- Garden - actually ended up with slightly smaller garden than we had in our previous flat! But again, larger gardens than that were actually hard to come by at under £1m round our way. In the end, figured we had a park around the corner, and this is England, so it's not like one really spends that much time in the garden overall.


Just passed our 4th anniversary of being there, after lots of building work, and very happy!

Davesnave

cloo wrote: »

this is England, so it's not like one really spends that much time in the garden overall.

:eek: Depends what one's interest is, surely? I'm in a group of people who spend thousands of hours in their garden or outside space each year, very few of them sitting down.
But if I did want to sit, snooze, or just watch the world go by in a garden, then I wouldn't want too much of it.


One of my favourite gardens was a friend's little plot beside the coast path above a Cornish fishing village. He had about 5 acres he totally ignored, preferring to cultivate this small space behind a low wall, enough for a table and half a dozen chairs. There he'd sit and watch the whole village at work below, the sea birds and the ships. People on the coast path would stop to chat and maybe share a drink too.

With a property + garden like that, I think I'd have done likewise.:)

SallyDucati

My must have list was -

Garage + off road parking
A proper hallway
Garden not too big
30s semi

What I ended up with-

no garage but 2 car driveway
no hallway - entrance area straight onto stairs
Garden is fine
new build


Again all about location. Getting a higher price for my flat combined with the price of this house coming down meant I could afford a house in a village I have always wanted to live in but thought I couldn't afford. I do like my house but don't love it. I do LOVE the location.

Hectors_House

The house was a repossession so needed some work. However the roof and windows/doors had been replaced so we knew it was a sound building.

There was also a train line nearby but only one train per hour so we could put up with that.

I just fell in love with the place as soon as I saw it and could see the work needed wasn’t major. A house having a good ‘feel’ is important to me and this one did.

wjr4

The only compromise we had was buying a property for £260k when the Help to Buy ISA limit was £250k (before the Lifetime ISA existed)! So, we lost our bonuses.

CarbonImage

Too many, however there was a long list of unexpected pluses too!

Cons
- No drive or allocated parking
- 'dodgy' area
- Ugly exterior
- Small second bedroom
- Small bathroom (and no second WC)
- Backing onto train line
- very basic fixtures/fittings as had just been 'Homes Under the Hammered' by a builder on a budget
- Non standard construction

Pros
- Very close to our favourite area and just about walking distance from our favourite pub
- Big garden for a 2 bed
- Semi detached
- Big, separate kitchen and living room (why are these always the same room in modern 2-bed homes? yuck)
- Big master bedroom
- Quiet road
- Great neighbours
- Brick-built outhouse (shed)
- Freehold

Hoping to upgrade relatively soon in a couple of years, but in hindsight I'm so glad we didn't go for a cramped flat or over stretch our budget.

Mags2019

What I would have liked was a square house 4 large bedrooms, downstairs toilet, off-road parking and a garden over looking fields but as it was my first property and I was buying alone I got a 3 bed narrow but long terraced house no parking no view but I least I got a downstairs toilet! It’s been 4 years and I’m now looking to really stretch the budget and upsize.

To make the house work I have made a 4th bedroom by using a spare room downstairs but it’s not ideal and you can’t make a long house square

mdori003

Pros: Big detached, great area, great bones, good size garden, good price for area.
cons: outdated decor (70s textured wallpaper everywhere, with several layers of underlay), completely crazy electrics- you wouldn't believe the wiring, broken boiler, new kitchen and bathroom very desirable, moss needed digging up. Probably need a tree survey as well...

Several months later, wallpaper almost all gone, DIY job in the kitchen to do for a few years, grass in garden, fusebox fixed (but full reqire needed at some point), new bathroom, new boiler.

Plenty left to do, but all in good time...