What did you compromise on?

Unfortunately, I know most of us can't afford everything in a dream home.

Just curious, what did you compromise on?

Re: What did you compromise on?

We got lucky, very lucky, but the one thing we did compromise on was an unfinished basement, not the end of the world but in the perfect scenario it would be finished.

Re: What did you compromise on?

No garage, no outside basement entrance.
On the plus side we got our target neighborhood, very low / no traffic block and water view with no risk of tidal flooding so we felt like we got a great deal.
Oh and the house was destroyed, no floors, interior doors, Sheetrock, cabinets, tile or molding in 90% of the house but we were only looking at fixers lol

Re: What did you compromise on?

Dining room size, not my ideal lot. Would not compromise on location or kitchen size and style of house.

Message edited 7/12/2013 3:12:23 PM.

Re: What did you compromise on?

We got everything we were looking for in terms of style, space, area, and school district—except we bought a house on a double yellow-line road and settled for smaller property than I would've liked. It's not a crazy busy street, but I'd still prefer to be on a quieter block or a cul-de-sac. But we also know that it's probably not our last stop and I'm not really worried about resale because houses in this area, busy street or not, tend to go because of school district.

Re: What did you compromise on?

Number of bedrooms. We bought a 3 bedroom house, but were hoping for a 4th bedroom. But it turns out we only have one child and will only have one, so 3 bedrooms are enough (we still have a dedicated home office/guest room).

We also bought a corner property, which DH was dead set against before he saw this particular house. But its a quiet corner with an oversized property and a useable, private backyard.

I originally wanted a true formal dining room, but I have a split with an L-shaped living room/dining room (so the dining room is open to the living room). At the time, I felt it was a compromise, but I really like it now because I host a lot of large parties and holidays and I can extend my table into the living room and there is still good flow without everyone crowding in.

Of course, we didn't buy a completely updated house --- it had a lot of nice upgrades (gas heat, central air), but the kitchen is older (but a good size) and some of the bathrooms were dated, and we definitely had a lot of wallpaper removal, changing flooring/refinishing floors and that type of thing to do after we moved in. But I don't really consider that a compromise, because interior cosmetics can always be changed (and people usually want to change them), whereas things like layout, lot size, and location -- the big 3 Ls, -- aren't easily changed.

Re: What did you compromise on?

I would have preferred a different shape lot, a slightly quieter street, a garage, a basement.

We also got some things I didn't want, like a pool.

But I LOVE our house and our neighborhood! It was worth it to compromise on some things

Re: What did you compromise on?

less bedrooms, I wanted 3 it's a technically two. I also wanted a formal dining, didn't get it either.

What did you compromise on?

No garage and size of kitchen. But the house has a full finished basement and a fabulous backyard. And there was virtually no work to do.

Re: What did you compromise on?

on a corner, side street is a double yellow line street, and no attic (thought we had one but i found out later on it is really just a crawlspace). We have a garage and a smaller-ish basement but it would have been nice for extra storage to have the attic.

on the plus side we have a big kitchen, gas heat and central air which was important to us.

Re: What did you compromise on?

No full bath on the first floor. Wanted one for our parents when they stay over. Other than that we were pretty flexible and went in with only a few "must haves".

Re: What did you compromise on?

ideally, we would have wanted brick. but the selection of brick in our price range would have had us compromising on a lot more!

What did you compromise on?

Nothing. Got everything we wanted and even some things we only hoped for.

Re: What did you compromise on?

A 2nd full bathroom and the 2 second br's are on the smaller side. We only have 1 1/2 bath.

Otherwise, everything that were MUST HAVES (3 br, decent size yard, garage, basement either finished or the option to finish, nice block, no oil) we got.
We even got extra's that we liked but didn't NEED (crown molding, fireplace, built-in's, family room, finished basement, hardwood floors, central AC, dual dead-end block).

Of course this house was at the top top of our budget but taxes were slightly less then what I estimated so in the end monthly payments worked out to be the same.

This house was move in ready (aside from replacing carpet in the master br with hardwood floors).

This isn't my dream house but pretty close to it. It's a mini-version of my dream house. Ideally I'd like another bedroom and full bath, a larger basement and kitchen, a larger family room, and a larger yard with a pool.

Message edited 7/12/2013 1:32:24 PM.

Re: What did you compromise on?

In our first house: school district, we had a tiny kitchen, basement wasn't finished, only had 1.5 baths

In our New forever house nothing other than I would have liked if it had been move in ready. We have lots of projects ahead of us!

Re: What did you compromise on?

The only thing our house doesn't have is a garage. There is room for it though bc we have a very large long driveway.

Thinking it's a blessing in disguise though bc DH wants to get a boat and if we did have a garage, the boat trailer would take up the entire driveway! Now we can just back it up to the end of the driveway and still have room for 4 cars

Re: What did you compromise on?

Well we got all of our must-haves for our first home. At least the ones on my list. I wasn't reaching for the stars, I was realistic.

I know my DH is unhappy with the kitchen because it's very small and our kitchen table has to be pushed up against the wall to fit. We do not have a dining room, so having people over for dinner is challenging. Fortunately, it's mostly just my parents and they are fine with our setup. We make do.

Message edited 7/12/2013 2:27:34 PM.

What did you compromise on?

I would have preferred a full dining room instead of an alcove in the living room we can put a table. I would have also liked an additional bathroom and the master bedroom on the same floor as the other bedrooms. I feel I will like the separation when my children are older; now not so much. I did get a full basement, garage, crown molding, fireplace, flat lot, great SD and lower taxes.

I was reasonable and saw potential in things that were not already there.

Re: What did you compromise on?

School district
Not having a garage (it's converted)
Not having a basement

It wasn't really intended to be our forever house. It needed tons of work, and now that a lot of it is done its going to be hard to leave. But I still want those three things! And now an extra bedroom and two full baths. We have 1.5 now.

Re: What did you compromise on?

I bought it the height of the market so I compromised on everything, except location and school district. If I only waited.........so depressing!

Message edited 7/13/2013 12:17:35 PM.

Re: What did you compromise on?

Everything but the location.

Re: What did you compromise on?

No basement but its a big 4 bedroom colonial with a 2.5 garage and nice property so it works.

What did you compromise on?

Nothing- our must haves were realistic for our budget.

What did you compromise on?

A 2nd bathroom.

What did you compromise on?

We shopped by school district, initially only Herricks and Syosset but then our realtor pointed us to Carle Place and we are SO happy he did. I would say we compromised a tad because Carle Place doesn't have the name recognition of the other two districts but I am VERY pleased with the schools.

We wanted a garage and basement and compromised on that in favor of a fourth bedroom, den, fireplace and large lot at a fantastic price....it was a great opportunity. Also the house needs some updates which we are currently doing now and enjoying it since it's all to our taste.