Garden small + north facing

Hannimal

Depends on the price bracket of the house and where it is. If it's bottom of the market and/or a desirable location imho this kind of stuff matters less. Most people are compromising on several things when they can barely afford to get on the ladder, a sub-optimal garden isn't going to put many buyers off. If it's a dream home and priced accordingly this kind of stuff starts to matter. 

Thrugelmir

How long is the garden. Ours faces NW and has sun in part of it all day.  Having a shaded area is ideal in extremely hot weather. 

Cash-Cows

I wouldn't buy a property if I was planning to move in a couple of years. Fees and risk of negative equity could scupper your future plans. 

Drawingaline

Our new house has a north westerly back garden that is small. It genuinely didn't even feature on our radar when we viewed. I am not a keen gardener, there is room for a patio and lawn area and a trampoline and washing line. Enough for me. We don't have a front garden, just parking, which for us was way further up our priority list! 

Now my mil would definitely want a sunny big garden. She is an incredibly keen gardener and spends hours out in hers. I go outside to peg washing out, and have a BBQ that's it!

Swasterix

Look at the satellite photo - it looks to have been taken some time early morning judging by the shadows. Looking at that it would seem that you would get some sun at the bottom, although don’t know what time of year the picture was taken. 

Having said that, I wouldn’t even consider a house with a north facing garden, but that’s just me. 

ic

If you're on android, look up the app "Sun's path".  Its free.  Simply stand in the garden, open the app and point your phone at the sky.  Using augmented reality you'll be able to trace where the sun will be in the summer and winter (or any date in between), and this will allow you to understand whether buildings will cause shadows or not.  (You can also use it to look around on maps, but there's nothing like standing in the garden to use it when viewing the house).  I used it to help me decide to buy my new house, which has a north facing garden - using the app I could see for us we'd only see shadows in the winter, and thanks to the fact our neighbours are bungalows that are downhill, we'll enjoy sunshine all afternoon and evening.

bromine

Thanks everyone for taking time to respond, I really appreciate it.

I have been using suncalc and other apps to trace the path. Besides, I live nearby so have been going there at various times. Not too keen on sun myself but worried about losing potential buyers 4-5 years down the line. Your replies tell me that quite a few ppl will say no. Having said that, this is very much a first-time home, not a forever, family home. I'm wondering maybe garden orientation and size is not such a big factor for FTBs.

So, can I modify my question and ask whether you'd have rejected this house solely because of the garden if you were first-time buyers?

Thanks everyone

houghton91

I’d hazard a guess that garden isn’t a deal-breaker for a lot of FTB - just having one is often enough if they’re moving from rented flats etc. Our garden is north-facing and we had eight offers within three days of putting the house on the market - if it’s a nice house and worth the money you’re asking for it then there’s no reason it won’t sell just because of the garden. 

Octothorpe

Our approx 40ft north facing garden gets loads of sun but also has nice areas of shade that helps on very hot days.

But, we don't have houses directly behind us. 

I do think it doesn't look like you'd get much light in that garden.

skm1981

For me, it would definitely put me off but I love the sun.  My last house, we had a lovely long south-facing garden that got the sun all day, but my neighbours seemed to hardly ever be in their gardens.  It was the same when I lived with my parents, a lot of neighbours didn't seem to use their gardens much at all.  It's like everything, some people it will bother, others it won't.