Your first home - first impressions?

japmis

quickbeam wrote: »

Hello

1) After a really bad day at work would going back to that house depress me more or would it cheer me up?
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For me, *ANYTHING* is better than housesharing/renting (14 years under my belt) so even if I'm coming home to something that's a bit tired, bit grey, bit dated, at least it's *MY* house, I can watch what I like on TV and there's no arguments about toilet roll or washing up :rotfl:

nakiwala123

The house we are buying now was a 'wow' for us. It is a 3 bed semi excouncil house, with a generous garden, drive for 2 cars, on the most frequent bus route in this particular town and about 2 miles from mainline station. We are not typical 1st time buyers as we are older so we wanted a 10+yr house.

We had offered on another house before that was a 'it will do house' with compromises on big trees at bottom of garden made me a little nervous and very dated with 20yrs of smoking caked in the walls but it had the space we wanted. Our offer was rejected and we had decided to give it a rest for 2 months while the market refreshed.

I had not turned off the rightmove alerts and when one sleepless night I checked my phone at 2am, I instantly knew this was the house. I liked waht the vendors had done with the downstairs rearrangement, exactly what we were palnning to do to the 1st house so all the hard work had been done.

japmis

rosyw wrote: »

Our first was a "wow"! A Victorian terrace which had been virtually untouched, no electricity, no bathroom BUT it had all the original black marble and tile fire places, gas lights, wash copper in the corner of the kitchen, beautiful coving etc. etc., etc.! The only thing we took out was the wash copper, everything else was restored, electrics put in, kitchen sorted and bathroom added, and we were the only ones in the street to have light in a power cut! :T

Sounds like my dream home! :beer:

lizziebabe

I didn't get the Wow factor but the house was what we could afford at the time. A 3 bedroomed link detached with a garage and manageable garden. The kitchen was quite new and smart and the house was clean. We did a few things to it but we knew that it was a good bet especially for resale. My Husband (now ex) was in the NHS and changing jobs every year, so we needed to be able to sell up quite quickly.
It also was plenty big enough when my DD came along.

The funniest thing I remember was when we went to the solicitor. He was a small, very serious man who told us about the restrictions on the house/garden including 'You are not allowed to have an erection in the front garden'. I fell about laughing, much to his surprise. Visions of my new husband chasing me in the front garden - Naked - you get the picture :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

lincroft1710

Never had a "wow moment" for any of the 5 houses I've owned and none of my parents' 4 houses had one either. All the houses were just somewhere to live in the right place, at the right time.

Sally22_2

I am a FTB and we only viewed one property! I cant really remember having a wow factor but just the fact that it will be ours was enough for us! We always wanted something modern, closer to my family and spacious with a driveway for two cars and this ticked all the boxes. We didnt think we would be able to afford a house either so thats a big bonus. Its only 10 years old and is part buy/part rent but it is the right price in that we will be able to comfortably save some more money while paying all the bills/mortgage.

The only thing I would change about it if I had to is I would prefer a bigger kitchen but other than that, its deffo right for me and my partner

Davesnave

The only 'Wows' I ever had were either just out of budget or at really awkward times, so I've never bought a house because I loved it.

My FTB buy was a very calculated thing, so I was ahead of my time in 1977. I knew I'd only be a FTB once, so I drew up a list of 'good' streets, all within spitting distance of the Royal Crescent in Bath, and just waited. Sure enough, a post-war rebuild in Victorian style came up, and I thought "That's it!"

In those days some agents didn't seem to differentiate much between houses on the basis of location, just type and size. To me, this one was too cheap, but it lacked mod-cons.

I could just afford to buy that house and put in the hot water system the BS required. It took a few more years to get stuff like proper heating. Then, when it was just about presentable, someone who smoked set fire to it, so we were out of it for over 6 months while it went through its second re-build.

It was nice when it was finished though!

Edwardia

My mother was a bit of an amateur developer, as soon as the last lampshade was done, she was off to the estate agents. She always insists the way to do it is research the area first and then get the most space you can for the price you can afford.

We did a lot of driving about and calling into estate agents personally, then devoted a day to seeing eight houses after sorting through the fifty particulars we got.

First house we bought was about number three. It was 10 mins walk from the sea, ten mins walk from the countryside, post box in the road, local shops five mins walk, town centre 10 mins walk, several primary and secondary schools a couple of roads over and doctor nearby. Plus park behind the house, bus stop at the end of the road and 5 mins walk to the station.

4 bedrooms for a first house wasn't bad either..

I_have_spoken

So basically no-one has experienced the 'reveal' moment they have on TV house programmes of gasps, hugs, tears, hand-to-mouth, effusive 'thank yous', more tears, ...

NinaSwiss

I initially lost out(to a cash investor) on what would have been an ideal property(small, Victorian but location was perfect). In hindsight, I’m glad as it needed far too much work and I’ve since learnt they tend to require a lot of maintenance due to their age.

Currently on the road to exchange on a different house (ex council 1950’s 2 bed). I hadn’t planned on making an offer on it as I wasn’t too keen on ex-council.

Decided to view as its close to work and colleagues living in the area vouched for it. Viewed Saturday and offered Monday morning as it met most of my needs (affordable, 2/3 bed, easy access to work, within London zones 1-6, reasonable walk to station, good size garden, low crime, clean neighbourhood). Though requires some work, it appears well maintained and for the price, its the best property I’ve viewed.

Would have loved a 3-bed and a drive but I can live without these as its on a quite road and one of the double bedroom is quite large. Bathroom hasn’t been changed since the 60’s but it's useable till I’m able to fund a new one. Every wall is covered in old wall paper but luckily it’s all white so I wont need to strip them straight away.