House Choice: Southfacing Garden vs Minor Seaview

Educate

There's a property we have in mind to purchase but can't work out what's the best figure to bid on the house. It's ticking all of the boxes bar one...

The property we're thinking of is semi-d and has a €400k asking price. It has a partial sea view out the back (30% of our view is sea, 70% is blocked by houses out the back) but it's back garden is also north facing and there are properties all along a line so the neighbours houses will cast a shadow in the back. There is no garden out the front, just enough space for two cars. It's the north facing garden that's our concern.

A property directly across the road that is identical (in terms of design and square footage) but is terraced just sold for €385k. This property has probably a 15% sea view way off to the side but has a perfectly south facing garden. They're both equally overlooked.

€400k: semi-detached, 30% sea view out the back, back garden is north facing.
€385k: terraced, 15% sea view out the front, back garden is south facing.

We just can't seem to do the mental math to work out whether the semi-d plus 15% extra sea view is worth 15k...

Wearandtear

End of terrace/ semi-detached houses often go 15% or more than similar spec terraced houses, even without the factor of a sea view [at least in Cork, from what I've seen of the market over the last 3 years].

A north facing back garden would be a no for me, because of my amateur veg growing interests. Having said that, I haven't seen a price difference in the same estates based on perspective, but maybe that's just due to the lack of options..

Good luck with your decision!

Deub

North facing garden would also be a no for me. The sea view is a nice to have but would be a lower priority compare to the garden.

Franz Von Peppercorn

If you extend the attic for a full sea view I’d go for that.

HeidiHeidi

I have lived in a house with a north facing back, and now live in one with a south facing back. North one was an end of terrace, current one is terraced.


Both houses you describe have bits of sea view.



I'd take the south facing back, terraced one every time.



I certainly wouldn't be paying much of a premium, if any, for slightly more sea view and semi-d.

pwurple

Side access vs terraced? I would take Access every time. Otherwise it’s bins living out the front or being dragged through the house. Terraces melt my head.


What is north facing... the wall of the house, or the garden boundary?

antiskeptic

South facing everyday. A full fledged sea view is one thing. A sliver of it will just look like a block of grey/green and you won't even notice it after a while. The sun you will notice every day it shines

irisheddie85

If you are buying based on the view be very careful what is on the land between you and the view and could there be any development in the future. Your view might disappear with nothing you can do about it. No one is going to be able to turn your house around.

shenanagans

I have lived in both a semi-d (north back garden) and a terrace. I'd have to say it's enough to have neighbours on one side of one ... I defo won't buy a terrace. What's the potential with the north (rear) facing house?

Is there a boundary wall?
Which could be painted white to reflect light into the house.

Is there a lot of windows/glass door opening to the rear .....Is the house dark? I assume it's the kitchen looking out to the garden...is the Kitchen dark?

Is there a garage/shed/utility to the rear which further obstruct light?

Is there the potential to improve the house .....Make it open plan ...possibly knock a wall ...or make a window into an external glass door??

I would look at the potential to improve the house .... But if it's dark with little opportunity to change that fact then don't buy it. But terrace would be non-runner for me!

Damiencm

pwurple wrote:

Side access vs terraced? I would take Access every time. Otherwise it’s bins living out the front or being dragged through the house. Terraces melt my head.

Where I live, any terraced houses built in the last 20 -25 years have rear access via an alleyway for bins

Flyingfast

We are currently looking at a house with a North facing garden, personally I would much prefer living in a semi detached house with a north facing garden than being wedged in between a number of other houses with a different aspect.

That being said, it really does depend on a lot of other factors and how much natural light is getting into said property.

All it really comes down to at the end of the day is where you think you would be most happiest.

Good luck in whatever your decision.

jethrothe2nd

Having lived in both types, I would take the terraced south facing garden all day long. Personally, I'd place a lot more stock in enjoying the sunny garden and the light filled kitchen (in our case), than a 30% sea view, that I'm assuming you have to be upstairs to see.


I do agree that lack of side access can be a bit of a pain, but you get used to it. On the other side from a security aspect it's one less access point for undesirables.

Educate

Thanks for all the replies everyone. In terms of the points you've made:

> The terraced that went for €385k (based on property register) has no rear access or alleyway access.
> The back of the semi-d is facing directly north and there is a boundary wall. There is also the side of another house right against the back of the garden - taking the positive from this it seems to reflect the sun into the garden somewhat.
> The house is about 350m to the sea and there is no space to build anything more - though if a single old house decided to sell and be demolished someone could build a very small estate and block the view.
> The downstairs is all open plan (glorified apartment) bar the hallway.
> When we first looked at it for some reason we didn't pick up that it had north facing back garden and didn't think of it as being at all dark inside (viewed it twice around 4pm). It's all painted a whitish colour inside and the wall at the back that faces north is mostly glass. However, now that we're aware of the aspect being north the photos seems dark in a way that I didn't notice before...I'm having trouble telling if it's just me seeing things now that I've read how off putting north facing gardens are to so many people!
> The seaview is indeed only upstairs and visible from the two small rooms, not from the main bedroom room.

This would be our first house and it is small, but our hope is to live in it for c.5+ years and look to move to something bigger when the kids that (hopefully) arrive in the next year or so start to sprout. It will just be the two of us initially.

This house is in a sought after area and from what we gather from the EA there hasn't been a massive amount of interest in it... we love the area and it's the only one up for sale, but we're worried we're making a snap choice because we feel the pressure to get onto the market

I think our biggest fear at the moment is that across the board people are saying the north facing garden is a deal breaker and wouldn't even look at it. We're not property investors looking to make a quick buck, but with the property market seeming to slow and stabilise we're concerned that with more properties being built that the value could drop and we'd be stuck with the house and not able to move up when the younglings come along.

AK55

If your house is north facing you will have a west facing garden wall . Can you see much sky looking West? suncalc.org . Very handy.

Plumbthedepths

Semi d over a terrace anyday.

Educate

It's a thin enough garden - probably about 5 meter wide with 1.5 meter high walls around it. You can see the sun coming in from the west, but there are also some houses in that direction that would block the sun after about 7pm at the height of summer.


From using findmyshadow.com we've worked out that the back garden will only see sun for 4 months of the year and won't get touched for 8 months of the year. At the height of the summer the sun will go behind the houses to the west by 7pm.

bullpost

Educate wrote: »

It's a thin enough garden - probably about 5 meter wide with 1.5 meter high walls around it. You can see the sun coming in from the west, but there are also some houses in that direction that would block the sun after about 7pm at the height of summer.


From using findmyshadow.com we've worked out that the back garden will only see sun for 4 months of the year and won't get touched for 8 months of the year. At the height of the summer the sun will go behind the houses to the west by 7pm.

South-facing. You'll get great enjoyment for many years from sunny days in the garden. In time the Sea view may go away?

theteal

Straining to see a bit of water between some houses. Is this what counts as a sea view? It's nice to only have a stroll to the water but that kind of view would not factor into my decision at all.

The garden aspect would be much more important for me. If your garden is big enough, you can "get away" with a north facer. From your description above, I wouldn't consider it in the slightest. Maybe such things aren't important to people but I look for excuses to get out into my garden with the slightest bit of sun - heck daylight will do me. There's nothing quite like relaxing out the back with a beer/glass enjoying the warm sun after the monsters are sound asleep!

Just as an addition, ours faces directly west. I didn't realise it when buying but have since discovered that this gives us the best of both worlds. The master bedroom at the front basks in sun in the morning (screw the kids rooms at the back ) and the rear garden is toasty and warm until very late during the summer months.

C3PO

Like a number of other posters, a south facing garden would be a huge plus for me! You're basically saying that you will almost never get to sit in the sun with the house you're looking at? I'd wait until something else came up!

Woshy

We have lived in houses that have south facing and north facing gardens. The difference is incredible. The house with the north facing garden was like a swamp a lot of the year it is was so dark and damp. The sun we get now in the south facing garden that our kitchen opens out on to is amazing. Not just in the garden but in the house too.

I would always pick a house with a south facing garden if it came down to that choice

jethrothe2nd

Educate wrote: »

This would be our first house and it is small, but our hope is to live in it for c.5+ years and look to move to something bigger when the kids that (hopefully) arrive in the next year or so start to sprout. It will just be the two of us initially.

This house is in a sought after area and from what we gather from the EA there hasn't been a massive amount of interest in it... we love the area and it's the only one up for sale, but we're worried we're making a snap choice because we feel the pressure to get onto the market

If the house is in a sought after area but isn't generating much interest, consider that for when you want to sell down the line. Especially if the house is not big enough, or not what you want for having kids in. If you know there are going to be kids, buy accordingly now.

Educate

Thanks again for all the replies.

Yeah, the house we rent has a west facing garden and it's lovely in the evenings.

The point about resale is one of the primary concerns alright... I should probably say that the house is up about a month and apart from us had I believe five other viewers. We were told one viewer said they had a bid on another house and would be back to bid on this if that fell through.

Just checking on other sales and an identical semi-d in the estate with a south-east facing garden went for €380k two years ago. I guess the €400k asking price for this current north-facing one is probably accurate then? If the current one had a south-east facing garden then it would probably be €430+? The EA said she sold an identical semi-d two doors down (also with north-facing garden) for €405k one month ago, but it's not showing on the property register to confirm this.

irisheddie85

If there is one lesson to learn from the last property crash it's don't buy someplace that you won't be happy living in long term. If kids will arrive in the next few years and the houses you are looking at now aren't big enough don't buy them. The think that caught out most normal people in the crash was paying a big mortgage on a house that was too small for their needs but couldn't sell.

Lumen

I have a 180 degree sea view from upstairs and I don't look at it that much. Plus, its a couple of miles away so it's really just a narrow strip below the horizon.

IMO the sea itself isn't that interesting to look at, it's just slightly uplifting on a nice day. But not as much as a sunny garden.

What is interesting is "visual drama". I looked at a place in Howth a few years ago that overlooked Dublin Bay and you could see thunderstorms rolling in over the bay. That was incredible.

GreeBo

Having grown up in a house with a north facing back garden, the back of the house (kitchen, etc ) i.e. where you spend the majority of your time is always cold and dark.
In the height of summer the garden will have sun, but the rooms will still be dark and dreary. You can somewhat overcome this downstairs by extending out and adding Velux etc, but you still wont get any direct sun into the back of the house.