Your first home - first impressions?

Brallaqueen

You don't get a lot of wow for 75k. That said, I knew that this flat was the one for me, as it was the only one not on a drug and crime riddled sink estate. The sink estate is three streets away :P

Lizling

Does "Wow, this green and orange paint combo really hurts my eyes" count? If so, yes, it had lots of wow factor.

Better_Days

Lizling wrote: »

Does "Wow, this green and orange paint combo really hurts my eyes" count? If so, yes, it had lots of wow factor.

Yes I know what you mean - we had a 'wow' - is this vendor really trying to sell his house with a full size poster of 'naked lady' on the wall in the bedroom :eek:

Norma_Desmond

We first viewed this house on a dark, foggy January day.

It hadn't been lived in for the last 20 of its 200 years, it was dripping with moss, most of the guttering had fallen off and inside was a total mess.

But it was structurally sound and has panoramic views of the north Pembrokeshire coastline and when the sun appeared for all of a minute it was like being on the edge of the world and we could just afford it..........we fell in love!

Fast forward 10 years and we've still got 'bits' to do - and the guttering has only blown off twice.

We were right with our 'gut' feelings and wouldn't live anywhere else.

hazyjo

Was a 'heart' moment rather than a wow.

Had gathered around six flats to look at (with my ex). The one we bought was more of a comparison flat, we never thought we'd actually buy it.

But... we walked through the door and just knew. It had compromises, it wasn't what we thought we wanted, but we both absolutely loved it.

I'd definitely look at others which you didn't think you'd be interested in. Something which grabs you for some reason, even though it doesn't tick all the boxes.

Ours was on a busier road than we'd wanted, it had a galley kitchen, the bathroom didn't have a window and was small, and the second bedroom was small. But... it was a conversion in the front quarter of a massive old house, so we had our own front door (the main one on the front), a little hallway, two storeys and the remaining rooms were large.

I've always been far happier in the houses I've bought with my heart rather than my head

Jx

martinsurrey

Most definitely a wow moment for me.

Me and other half had viewed dozens of houses, and nothing was quite right, and since we weren’t in a hurry, didn’t want to compromise too much, but we’d seen so many we knew what we wanted (a structurally sound house with curb appeal but with an interior that needs work)

A house came up on right move, (1880’s extended semi) and we decided to buy it based on the exterior and the floor plans alone, we knew before we walked in that it would be our house, and we were right.

I must say though that I wasn’t a 20 year old buyer so wasn’t buying a typical FTB property.

ndf9876

Interesting thread and really interesting to read the comments - my wife and I realised that, for what we wanted and our budget (250k) we were not quite going to get a "wow" moment - we had seen properties for £280k plus that looked very much like they'd give that. We knew we were going to have to compromise between living space, area and kerb appeal and we wouldn't get all our "must haves" in one property.

So after a failed purchase on a 2-bed Victorian cottage, we went for a 3-bedroom semi on a small, clearly ex-council estate. What we "sacrificed" (a lovely looking property near a train station) we gained in a driveway, a huge house and a lovely area (it's a semi-rural location as opposed to suburban). Much time spent poring over crime stats, and a Saturday night walk-around on the estate confirmed that we weren't buying into a grim place, and we're very happy knowing we can grow into the house and stay there for a good few years - unlike the cottage, where we'd have had to move out in 5 years if we wanted to have children.

japmis

I've just bought my first place; I told myself every time I went for a viewing that this was not my forever home it's just my first place to get on the ladder. I've bought a bog standard 2 bed maisonette on an old council estate, trust me, there is no WOW factor. But, it ticked all my criteria:
Can add value
2 bedrooms
Good size kitchen (can fit a dishwasher or tumble dryer)
Garden
Not in a high crime area
Close to work-ish

I'd viewed loads of places previously (had the wow factor but didn't tick all my boxes) but when I saw this place I let my head make the decision so I put in an offer (also it means if the sale falls thru I won't be devastated!). I can do loads to it, it's on a popular road, bonus is the garage so even tho at the moment it's very bland, I know (hope) it's a good buy

Hope this helps?

japmis

ndf9876 wrote: »

Interesting thread and really interesting to read the comments - my wife and I realised that, for what we wanted and our budget (250k) we were not quite going to get a "wow" moment - we had seen properties for £280k plus that looked very much like they'd give that. We knew we were going to have to compromise between living space, area and kerb appeal and we wouldn't get all our "must haves" in one property.

So after a failed purchase on a 2-bed Victorian cottage, we went for a 3-bedroom semi on a small, clearly ex-council estate. What we "sacrificed" (a lovely looking property near a train station) we gained in a driveway, a huge house and a lovely area (it's a semi-rural location as opposed to suburban). Much time spent poring over crime stats, and a Saturday night walk-around on the estate confirmed that we weren't buying into a grim place, and we're very happy knowing we can grow into the house and stay there for a good few years - unlike the cottage, where we'd have had to move out in 5 years if we wanted to have children.

I've just done pretty much the same as you! I would have loved to buy a Victorian terrace, but that's just going to have to wait. So for the time being, I'm making do with a 60s maisonette :beer:

Gra76

When we bought our first home we didn't have time for a 'wow' factor, it was right about the time when houses were selling almost as soon as they were up for sale, we viewed it within a couple of hours of the vendors instructing the EA and had an offer accepted on it within a couple of hours of that.

In saying that I do really like it still (I'd gladly live there forever if we had a smaller family).

We're looking at the moment and have found only maybe 2 houses out of the dozen we've viewed have given us the 'wow' factor. That feeling you get when you're walking back to your car and turn around for another look and you just know you could see yourself living there. The rest we've seen range from 'no way in hell would I live there' to 'I expected more'.