When buying a house, not everyone is lucky enough to get a property that ticks all their boxes, but there are some sacrifices people just aren’t prepared to make.

A survey by Which? has revealed the compromises that house-hunters are willing – and not so willing – to make.

Nine in 10 homebuyers are not prepared to budge on the number of bedrooms they want in order to get a house within their budget.

Sacrifices on residential property

The same proportion refused to compromise on their new home’s proximity to local schools.

The poll, which quizzed nearly 2,000 homebuyers, found that more than two thirds had been forced to make sacrifices on the property they bought, although nine in 10 were satisfied with the compromises they ended up making.

A quarter said they were willing to change the location of their new home, although only 10% would buy in an area with worse crime levels.

Three in 10 were prepared to buy a property in a worse overall condition than they initially wanted. Just under a quarter would accept a different layout, while 24% would compromise on whether or not the house had a garden or outside space.

Of those surveyed, only 3% said they were not satisfied with the concessions they had made to buy their home.

James Mackenzie, Head of Strutt & Parker’s Country House Department, comments: “Competition for properties close to the best schools can be fierce - particularly for oversubscribed schools. We often find buyers might compromise on the house to be within a catchment area.”

“Buyers need to work with their agents and take on advice in order to get the most out their house-hunt. Knowing what you want is great, but having a strict wish list could also be limiting – your dream home might only be the next street away! And it seems 97% of people agree that being relatively open minded still pays off in the end.”

Dream homes

The research also found that women were more willing than men to make compromises in their property search, but they were also slightly more likely to be dissatisfied afterwards.

David Blake, from Which?, says buyers often start property searches by imagining their dream home but then discover that some form of compromise is almost inevitable.

He adds that it is crucial to know where to scale back to remain within budget so people can be happy with the concessions they have to make.

He advises buyers to speak to an independent mortgage adviser early in the house-hunting process to help ensure their expectations are realistic from the outset.