What things would seriously put you off buying a property?

gazfocus

HappyGo wrote: »

I'd have to get something with potential.

That's an excellent point. While we've been looking we've been looking for something that had enough room to extend if we ever wanted to and the house we've decided on has a massive drive to the side and a garden that's big enough to not look too small if we extended backwards.

Another house exactly the same on the same development doesn't have the drive at the side of the house (it's got shared access and the parking for the house is at the back of the house) so we dismissed that completely.

sirmosh

For me it's age, unless I was desperate for somewhere to live anything post-war is a no go for me. There are other things would put me off but if the house had the right feel I could still go for it. I think the biggest put offs for me would be no space between the front door and the pavement (although this would only apply to really cheap houses anyway), no enough room in the garden to have any flexibility (when having a garden party for example) and having a shared driveway would really put me off but wouldn't be a deal breaker.

Mayflower10cat

Busy road, never again.
Badly/shoddily done DIY! Tiling especially.
Extensions that stand out like a sore thumb, bricks/tiles not matched to the original build.

Gonzo33

Price
Location
No lawned garden
No offroad parking
No garage
Crap local schools

The rest I would compromise on

puddy

much the same as every one else but less so about the house finish as those things can be changed

so busy road, anything shared, lack of parking, poor layout that cant be changed, like dining rooms which are far away from the kitchen

i also hate (HATE) this trend for 'lounge/diner', i like separate rooms to eat and relax in, but thats something that hopefully one could change by putting in a wall

overlooked gardens also

the decor of the house wouldnt bother me as i would simplly change that

Wantahouse_2

Small rooms, small gardens, no off street parking.... and galley kitchens... I just can't stand galley kitchens!

cajef

Any property with a flat roof extension.

phoebe1989seb

Anything post 1930s
Bad neighbourhood/location
Shared driveway/access
Lack of potential
Lack of character features.....certain things can be put back, but it's not really the same!
Small rooms...don't like open plan, so potential to knock through wouldn't compensate
Less than three reception rooms.....we have a lot of furniture, lol!
Small or overlooked garden (anything less than 100ft would be a no-no)
Lack of good local facilities.....we are currently in a village but have the best village shop (literally!)
No off-street parking
Stone-cladding a la Duckworths!
Next to a trainline/railway station
Downstairs bathroom.....unless there was room to add one upstairs......

kmmr

Do you mean kitchens along a single wall? I hate that too...

Anyway, as an aspiring property developer this is very interesting when thinking about the look and feel of a place.

I don't consider the decor at all, and to an extent the layout if it can be changed. We try to walk in the door and imagine how we would lay out a place, if an extension is possible etc etc, then work backwards on what is cost effective.

But what does put me off:
- History of flooding. Always has to be reported, and remains a problem forever.
- PITA freeholder. I am in London so am stuck with mostly leaseholds, but I will never buy if the freeholder is a large company, or if they keep adding costs and problems during the purchase process.
- In a similar vein, short leases where the vendor/freeholder are difficult about extending it.
- No potential to add value.
- Poorly maintained exterior of parts of the building impacting you, but not in your control. eg. downpipes from upper flats needing replacing. Will result in time and annoyance with neighbours.
- Bad neighbours, history of disputes. Would NEVER go near.
- North facing gardens.

And of course, location location location. You can fix most things, but you can't move it. In general I don't like things I can't fix, or that involve lots of other people to co-ordinate agreement with.

Hermia

Dodgy looking neighbours or really bad looking area. I'm from London so don't need it to be white picket fences and perfect lawns! But, if there looks like there could be trouble I wouldn't even think about buying it. Hurrah for Google street view. I've seen houses on RightMove that looked lovely, but then had a look at the neighbouring houses on street view...

Bathrooms are an issue. I wouldn't buy a flat that only had an en suite bathroom. I rent a flat like this and it's a pain having guests/workmen etc traipsing through my bedroom every time they need a pee. I also wouldn't want loads of bathrooms. My friend has been looking around some new build houses and some seem to have far too many bathrooms. We looked around one and it had a downstairs bathroom, an upstairs bathroom and an upstairs en suite bathroom. Yet, the rest of the rooms were really small and the house desperately needed more room for storage. You couldn't have fitted more than two people in this house comfortably so I'm not sure how much use all these bathrooms would have got!

I would avoid anywhere that needed too much work. I don't know many people who are any good at manual work or own vans so would end up having to pay someone to do it.