North facing house in excellent location

S

Stylus

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I'm not expecting magic answers but here goes:

I and family have had an offer accepted on a beautiful period home (1600 sq feet) around the corner from our current home which is a smaller version (1200 sq feet) of this house. We urgently need the space at this stage due to small bedrooms and need the space with 2 children growing etc. The area is by the sea on the Dart line.

The 40 ft garden is pure north facing (not helped by a large tall tree
blocking the light into the garden and kitchen). And I believe this fact has helped us get a really good price accepted by the sellers.

We're in that classic quandary whether to Extend (for around 200K all inclusive of architect, construction costs/builder, moving out rental costs during contsruction, engineer, landscape gardener etc.) or move around the corner for around 400K cost (including Stamp Duty 9% and bigger mortgage of course) avoiding some of the extension nightmare hassles.

Any responses welcome. Thanks.
 
All the money in the world could not persuade me to buy a north facing house ever again. I lived in one for 3 years. Again, it had a 60 ft garden, surrounded by tall trees. The back of the house was always cold, dark and we had to have the lights on all day, even in the middle of Summer.

When we bought the house, we were not aware of how the aspect of the house could affect the light and could not fathom why the house had a permanent chill factor about it. The previous people had build a lovely patio (outside the back door) which could not be used as it was never saw a bit of sun. Thinking back now, I dont know why they did not put it down the back of the garden, which got the bit of light there was.

I have moved on twice since then and both houses have been south facing, and the difference is amazing. It may sound stupid, but it makes the place seem "happier", for want of a better word. I paid extra both times for South Facing but to me it was worth it.

I would say stay put, too!
 
The difference is immense. I would extend. In our last house we used to bring chairs out the front of the house to capture sunshine ... in this house we have a sun trap in the back garden.
 
If you extend how does this effect the garden?

- on your above info seems a no brainer to do the extension over the move - generally stamp duty alone more than covers the cost of any building hassles - renting somewhere for 6 months would cost very little hassle wise, in the grand scheme of things monetary cost is also peanuts.

You could probably leave majority of furniture in the house too and even stay in a hotel for the period and still come out better off - 200k diff all in, as my2leftfeet says is immense

Only reason I can think to stay is if you end up with little or no garden

Paddy
 
If you can extend, stay put in the house you like, still have a bit of a garden and save 200k then that is definitely what I would do!
 
Stylus said:
The 40 ft garden is pure north facing (not helped by a large tall tree
blocking the light into the garden and kitchen). And I believe this fact has helped us get a really good price accepted by the sellers.
Click to expand...

Think that one day you may be the seller, facing the same issue as today's seller.

I hope that for €400k cost of moving, there is much more to it than only an extra 400sq feet.

I would seriously consider extending rather than moving...
 
Just so you know, if the back garden is north facing then the house is actually south facing.
 
Many thanks to all for those quick responses, this is a very useful forum and anonymous too.

There is a strong chance we will back out of this deal based on your good advice and experiences, we haven't paid a deposit yet.
 
iguana said:
Just so you know, if the back garden is north facing then the house is actually south facing.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that iguana. I'd read the previous posts several times and was still confused!

In a North facing house, the front will never see the sun. The back of the house gets the sun. Of course if the trees at the bottom of the back garden are tall enough, neither side of the house will see any sun in the winter.
 
South facing gardens are definitely more desirable, particularly in winter - you can shade the windows if necessary during the summer to avoid fading furniture etc.
 
The same question was posed by me about 6 months ago re buying a house with a north-facing garden. I got lots of helpful advice also. If you do a search on north-facing in this forum I am sure you will find it. The advice was mixed re whether to go for it or not, but most people seems to say not to go for it if one had a choice at all. I didn't buy it in the end.
 
MandaC said:
The back of the house was always cold, dark and we had to have the lights on all day, even in the middle of Summer.

When we bought the house, we were not aware of how the aspect of the house could affect the light and could not fathom why the house had a permanent chill factor about it.
Click to expand...


Completely agree - have been in two identical houses in adjacent streets - one south facing, the other east-west, with only the landing window facing south. The difference is amazing and you would be very surprised the thermal gain through south facing windows. In this country with its lack of strong light and inadequate sunshine, its a very important quality-of-life factor but which is usually ignored.
 
Paulone said:
Completely agree - have been in two identical houses in adjacent streets - one south facing, the other east-west, with only the landing window facing south. The difference is amazing and you would be very surprised the thermal gain through south facing windows. In this country with its lack of strong light and inadequate sunshine, its a very important quality-of-life factor but which is usually ignored.
Click to expand...

But if the back of the house faces south & has the advantage of a sunny back garden then surely the front of the house faces north & is always cold? Having lived in a house with a south facing back garden my preference is for a west facing back garden - just to throw a spanner in the works!!
 
A window to the rear where full daytime sunshine strikes has the capacity to raise the temperature in the room even if it also has a front window facing north. the light is a lot stronger too.

In my experience, blinds and curtains tend to be pulled over more on front windows for privacy reasons, so if this is where the sunshine strikes, then less light and heat get in.

Granted east-west does get great morning and evening sunshine, but none at the peak of the day, again cutting down on light and heat.

A smallish rear garden to the north of a house is not likely to get much sun at all - particularly now as the sun gets lower and lower in sky. I think that's not so good because a lot of living gets done in the rear rooms -like a kitchen/diner.

I lived in a very old house that had smallish windows, none of which faced south and I so missed the light and heat.
 
Hi all,

Wife and I are first time buyers, with excellent salaries and looking at entering property market as we are fed up of renting.

We have found a very nice 4 bedroomed house, excellently finished, on the Luas, close to shops, schools etc. in one of Dublin's nicest and best built and maintained housing estates.

Dilemma is this:

A North facing garden about 50 feet long. However, viewing it at midday in January it didn't seem very dark as the light coming through the house from the living room to the kitchen was very strong. The current owners have spent a fortune on a landscaped garden which is pleasant. The estate agent has said that the garden gets strong sun in half of the garden during high Summer but not sure whether this is sales speak. I have to say sun is important to me but I'm not sure if Noth facing is overly put down or not?

As first time buyers our purchasing power has gone up immensely in the space of 6 months. We can now afford a 4 bed house instead of a 3 bed and have no stamp duty. Add to this the fact that the house is very moderately priced compared to its peers and it makes it look like a good deal if we can get over the north facing garden dilemma...

Sorry for the rant but would love to hear anybody with any views on our predicament and indeed on north facing gardens!
 
You need to look at the whole picture and not just the orientation of the back of the house. If it is shaded to the east and west by other houses then you will have a very dark garden but if it is in a straight row with nothing to the east and west then the garden, but not the back of the house, will be bright. A slight North east orientation can also mean a darker garden whereas a slight North West will mean that you will get sun in the back of the house in high summer. If the house is three storey you will get a lot of shade, two storey with a one storey protrusion to the north will get much less. Try to get a detailed map of the area to ascertain the exact orientation. You can also get sun angles for different times of the year at www.susdesign.com/sunangle. Don't overlook the obvious fact that if the back faces north the front faces south. It's a lot nicer to have the sun in a room you sit in than in the working part of your kitchen or utility room. If you are out all day then evening sun is most important and a shaded area near the back door is not a bad idea if you have small children
 
Personally, when looking at houses I have never even looked at houses which have a north facing back garden. Twice I have bought houses with west facing gardens and have had almost day long sunlight in the back garden and the best of the evening sun.
However friends who live in the same estate as me have a north facing back garden which is very large and actually do get a lot more sunshine than I would have believed possible. So I now think that it must have a lot to do with size, exact orientation, surrounding houses etc, just as the previous poster suggested.
 
Everybody thank you very much for your comments and very valuable feedback on north facing gardens. It has really helped us make a decision.

We have decided not to proceed with the house.

The one thing I have learned since I have been debating this all week is this: if it doesn't feel right then you probably shouldn't do it. I guess what it brought home to me was how important I factor sunshine in my back garden.

This coupled with the fact that this is a very hard time to price the market has turned us off for now!

Thanks again.
 
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