North light is a feature. Stop apologising for it.

Every buyer says they want light. What most mean is a dramatic sunset they can post. But the homes people still love after ten years are the even ones — the north-facing flats where the study doesn't turn into an oven at 3pm and the living room doesn't bleach the sofa by Diwali.

The Reading Room Flat in Jayanagar is my favourite example. No balcony view worth framing, no rooftop, nothing a portal would lead with. But the north light all afternoon meant the second bedroom became a study, not a storeroom — and the couple who bought it told me a year later it's the room they use most. The west-facing flat they almost bought, for the same money, would have been gorgeous in the photos and unbearable by April.

There's a quieter version of this too: north light is kinder to art, to books, to wood. South and west bleach and warp; north just sits there, even, all day. If you work from home, or you read, or you have things you'd like to keep, that matters more than a sunset you'll photograph twice.

West and south sell on the tour. North sells on the tenth year. Know which buyer you are — the one impressing guests on a Saturday, or the one still happy on a Tuesday in May.