DH and I are on the hunt for our perfect house - we're finally in a position where we can put down some roots, we've got our finances in order, and we are ready to buy! We went to several viewings this past weekend and we finally found our dream house! I found my dream house, he found his dream house....and yep, you guessed it, they're different houses.

The house I love is an absolutely perfect house for us - it has all of our essentials in terms of square footage, number/size of bedrooms, newly updated kitchen, reception rooms, a lovely garden, and even a large conservatory (a desired feature but not essential for us). It has an open plan kitchen, breakfast room, family room, and conservatory, which I really love as it gives the house a nice free flowing feel to it. The downside is that it is in the English equivalent of a subdivision, which DH does not like as he feels too closed in. He prefers to walk outside and see open spaces and be in a smaller village type setting. This house is on the edge of a moderate sized city, very close to open countryside and some lovely villages, but there is no mistaking that there are neighbours all around - it is not country living.

The house DH loves is in just that - a beautiful, postcard picture perfect village, about ten minutes drive outside of the town. It really is like a little Hansel and Gretel village - just beautiful. The house is very pretty as well, but it is not ideal for a young family. The rooms are nice sized but they are very closed off from each other. Each room (living room,kitchen, dining room etc) is its own separate room with one door leading in and out, accessible via the hallway - there is no open plan feel to it at all. I just think with two small babies, and potentially a third someday, I'd like to be able to see the kids whilst cooking or doing other things around the house. Other than that though, it's lovely.

So, the TL;DR version is that one house is absolutely perfect in its size and layout, but the location is a bit more densely populated. The other house is in a beautiful village but the actual house itself is not ideal.

Some other points - both houses are near great schools, the village school is a bit better but the school for the perfect house is still very good as well. Both houses are decorated beautifully and are in mint condition. Both houses are also at the very top end of our budget so we want to love it before we take the big jump. The village house isn't really capable of being modified to better meet our needs without undertaking a massive renovation, which we can't afford to do right now.

We're so torn - the property market here is ridiculously hot and there is just not much out there right now that is suitable for us. We've been looking seriously for nearly a month and half now (closer to six months all told) and this is the first time we've both felt this strongly about a property. Ugh, so tough!

So what's more important to you? An ideal location with a less than ideal house, or an ideal house in a good, but not perfect, location? When I say not perfect, I don't mean unsafe or dodgy in the slightest, I just mean a bit more densely populated than we would ideally prefer!

FWIW, we'd both be happy in either house, it's just a matter of how happy!

ETA: holy crap this is a novel - sorry!