Land found... just not the ideal orientation

Hello everyone,

we can get a plot of land, it will have 650 m2 and includes a green area of 400 m2 facing northeast. It would look like we would have to place the garden towards the northeast and possibly extend the terrace towards the east, basically forming an L-shape to still get the morning sun. There are other plots on the left and right, meaning to the west and east, that will be developed. And to the south is the street, so the garden is out of the question there. What do you think about such an orientation... I know it is not considered ideal, but when is everything ever perfect? What would be your decision... the nice thing about the plot is that it is not in a new development area (with us, the new developments are very tight and everyone can look over everyone else’s plate) and it offers a nice view towards the northeast, although unfortunately it is not the sunny side. Nevertheless, you still have the 400 m2 green area that you can basically use as a garden and there you get sun from all sides.

Hello,
so no one can tell you whether you should take the property or if it suits you. You have to decide that for yourselves. But I'm sure you already know that.

But my thoughts on this are that you should ask yourselves the following questions:
- Can you imagine living with the orientation "for a lifetime"?
- Could someone build something to the left and right of the green area in the near or distant future, so that you would then be sitting in the shade?

From my point of view, I can say that I could not come to terms with a garden facing north. But that is my opinion.
However, I also don’t know what the situation with properties in your area is, whether there are affordable ones or if they are rather rare.

So my first thoughts.

Best regards

Contrary opinion from me

We are not fans of south-facing plots, now we have the second plot which is mainly oriented to the north/east.
Morning sun for breakfast, no blazing sun at noon, but in the evening it still comes from the west. We like it very much, but it's a matter of taste.
Here in the building area there are some north-facing plots that have the advantage that to the north there is only the forest = no neighbors. For at least every second house there is also a "second terrace" for sun worshippers, which is located so far north that the house no longer casts a shadow there.

As always: everything is a matter of personal taste.

Hello, as abetterway says, ultimately only you can weigh this up and decide.

My opinion: Every plot has its own advantages and disadvantages. In individual cases, it can certainly be right to accept one disadvantage for other advantages. It also depends on how the real estate market is in your area and how urgently you want to build. Basically, I think you can also make something great out of plots with supposed disadvantages – maybe for difficult plots it would make sense to involve a good professional. An experienced architect and possibly a landscape architect might have ideas that you haven’t thought of yet. It may be a bit more expensive – sometimes that’s the case with hillside plots – but in the end, the result is often more appealing than others.

And now something I would personally decide spontaneously: I would probably take it. Not a new development area, great view – and the plot without this northeast part is actually big enough to have a garden and actually enough seating areas... Or build yourself a balcony facing southwest, in the morning you sit on the terrace, in the evening on the balcony... Or conservatory plus hedge facing south, then you also don’t hear the street.

Hey, thanks for your answers. As you already suspected, plots are scarce here and that's why we were actually very happy about the plot without having thought about the orientation beforehand. I also think that the perfect plot is very rare and since our plot is very large and we still have the green area of 400 m2, which nobody can build on (unless the green areas are ever converted into building land), we basically always have the sun there. And as you said, you can still do something with the shadow of the house. As mentioned above, we want to design the terrace as an L-shape; does it then make more sense to orient the L towards the southwest or southeast?

Yes, that's funny: I am currently writing a document for this forum. I will pull out a paragraph that I wrote this morning - the document is still in progress and relates to house designs:

You have found a building plot to choose from? Then deal with the infrastructure, location, noise level, size, slope, planting, and the orientation of the property. The surroundings also play a role, as does the amount of land offers. It does you no good to reject a plot because of its orientation if it is foreseeable that the next plot on the market will not appear for a few years. A terrace in the south garden can be in the shade at 7 p.m. if the sun in the west disappears behind the neighbor’s roof. Usually, a plot has more or even better possibilities on second look once you start dealing with it.

Best regards from an unfinished draft by Yvonne