What things would seriously put you off buying a property?

Sticky77

anyusernamenottaken wrote: »

Every house is a compromise on something on your list. I'd say you never know until you walk in and get a feel for the place...

I think this is very true.

Saying that, On my list of total no would be:
Being over looked
No parking
Bad school catchment
Narrow kitchen
Shared access
Low ceilings and or beams

Things that can put me off (as they cost money but are changeable)
No gas central heating
Dodgy double glazing or none
Open stairs

It's a good job we all have different criteria or there would be a very limited choice.

Gra76

We're looking at moving at the moment and this is our list of things we're trying to avoid. The next house we move to is going to be the one the kids grow up in so I'd like to think we're not planning to move on from there for likely the next 20 years or so.

In no particular order:

Lack of parking - When the kids get older we'll potentially have 5 cars on the drive, plus it'd be nice to have room for people to park when they visit.

Area - I have no intention of moving onto, or moving within a short walking distance of a large housing estate. I'm used to village life now and I like to go to bed not worrying that every noise I hear outside is someone breaking into my house, car or garage. Something that used to be a problem in a previous area I lived in. We've already discounted a couple of properties that, other than the close proximity to well known dodgy estates, would have been pretty much perfect.

Schools - I really don't want to move to an area where the schools are bad. If I can get the kids a decent education then I'd rather pay a bit more for a property in a good school catchment area. This has been a factor in discounting several really nice houses so far.

Garden - A tiny garden isn't doing me any favours. I'd like a garden big enough to kick a football around in or to have a large gathering of friends and family round for a BBQ without being shoulder to shoulder in the back garden.

I'm sure there's more I could list but these are the main things that put me off buying a house.

monkeyboy72

I dont understand why people have issues with storage heaters?, I have lived in my flat with storage heaters for 10 years and guess how much I have spent on maintaining them.....zilch!!
Friends of mine who have gas central heating have literally spent thousands in the same period of time on boilers, breakdown cover, extremely high gas bills and water leaks etc.
Storage heaters give just as good heat, are 100% efficient, can be cheap to run if used with correct off peak tariff and look smarter than those white radiators, in my opinion.
Beat that gas lovers!!

NJS123_2

Totally agree with the others who mentioned lack of good schools and parking as a total no-no. A tiny or narrow kitchen is for me the biggest turn-off. I can live without a garden providing there is some outdoor space like a patio area to keep justa few pot plants or something. Every time I get enthusiasm for gardening it never works and my plants never last. I can't even grow herbs for much longer than a few months. :-(

bev97

Great thread.
After looking for over a year and hopefully moving soon, I have realised that the house we are buying doesn't fit my criteria from a year ago. It is only after viewing over a dozen houses that I worked out what was important to us.
Originally, I wanted to be on a main road and not a cul-de-sac as that is what I've always been used to and I was worried the quietness would make me feel a bit isolated. But we are moving to a cul-de-sac now and I hope it will be fine. I also wanted a house with a front door but the house we are buying only has a side entrance door, but I do still fell the house has kerb appeal. I wanted a big garden but have to admit we are not green fingered so the garden is small to medium size. For some reason, we viewed the house, just viewing anything that was new to market as we had a buyer for ours, and then just knew as I was viewing it I wanted to live there.

I agree about galley kitchens but also another pet hate of mine are conservatories, especially if very old and in need of repair. The new trend seems to be for sun rooms but I like wall space to put book shelves etc. not to just have more windows to clean!

playaz

I gotta see this is a wicked thread - lots of good advice from you guys keep it coming

I must say after recent viewings people that have cats and even worse cats roaming around while doing viewings... I hate it! Saw a place earlier, the vendor had two cats - the carpet looked dirty and soiled, and the stench of cat especially in the main lounge & kitchen was horrid!

Why do people think its a good idea to leave pets around.... I mean if I was selling my car I wouldn't let my dog run around first and do its business...

(sorry for the mini-rant) :-)

andy1886

Drove down a street this week on bin day . Recycle boxes overflowing everywhere with beer cans , one week of warm weather tells us what the neighbourhood would be like if we ever get a decent summer , but worse was these beer cans were mainly Asda Smartprice beer !!!!!!

playaz

andy1886 wrote: »

... but worse was these beer cans were mainly Asda Smartprice beer !!!!!!

LOL! Wow people actually buy that stuff!! I wouldn't drink it if they paid me!

nakmeister

There's a lot of things that people have mentioned which I'd like to have the luxury to be a big no-no. My only ones are:

Price
Number and size of rooms (3 beds, 2 reception rooms etc, decent size)
Location/what the street and neighbours are like
Some reasonable outside space, preferably a garden rather than a yard/patio.

It's interesting that people talk about north facing gardens, as I'm currently looking at buying a house with a north facing rear garden. It ticks a lot of other boxes though, and as it is quite big, gets (I think) quite a bit of sun anyway.

I'm going to wholeheartedly agree with whoever put starter homes on the list - we've been living in a small 2 bedroom starter home for the last few years - you are severely restricted on furniture, fittings and other alterations usually possible in most houses. 90% of Ikea is off-limits!

Better_Days

playaz wrote: »

I must say after recent viewings people that have cats and even worse cats roaming around while doing viewings... I hate it! Saw a place earlier, the vendor had two cats - the carpet looked dirty and soiled, and the stench of cat especially in the main lounge & kitchen was horrid!

Ha, we looked at a house which had 2 used cat litter trays in the hall:eek: Would have made an offer on this property though, but for the fact that on a sunny day there wasn't a ray of sunlight in any of the rooms (combination of orinentation of property and 50 foot leylandi hedge belonging to neighbours). Such a shame as it was ideal.

Went to see a house last week which has become 'The House of No Redeeming Features'. (Overpriced, dirty, dark, woodchip wallpaper in bright colours, boiler in the loft, dirty stained carpet in one room, smelly insects in fish tanks) What put the lid on it was EA was showing us round but vendor and 9yo son were in the living room. Son got a giggling fit then went and used the bathroom for us all to hear. So we got a good idea of the sound insulation (or rather lack of) in the house!:rotfl::rotfl: