Was there anything you didn't notice as quite common until looking to buy?

staffie1

I noticed that the majority of living rooms have a guitar propped up in the corner.

Callie22

I was genuinely surprised at how mucky so many of the houses we viewed were. You assume that everyone who is selling a house has seen at least one of those 'selling/buying houses' programmes on the telly and would have made some effort to clean up and make the house smell fresh. We viewed loads of houses and I think we only saw one that was properly clean and nicely presented (and they did the whole fresh coffee thing too lol). We didn't buy that one but I was a bit staggered at the state of some of the houses, and I was blown away by how much faith some people put in a single scented candle ...

Brown_Eyed_Girl

Callie22 wrote: »

I was genuinely surprised at how mucky so many of the houses we viewed were. You assume that everyone who is selling a house has seen at least one of those 'selling/buying houses' programmes on the telly and would have made some effort to clean up and make the house smell fresh. We viewed loads of houses and I think we only saw one that was properly clean and nicely presented (and they did the whole fresh coffee thing too lol). We didn't buy that one but I was a bit staggered at the state of some of the houses, and I was blown away by how much faith some people put in a single scented candle ...

Yup!! Although I've not normally ended up seeing those one but as I posted in another thread, soo many on rightmove etc where you'd think the EA would just shuffle stuff about before taking the photo of someone's damp towel on a bed/the kitchen roll on the coffee table/pants in all sorts of places/dishes in the sink/bags of stuff all over the place.

Then again, in London it doesn't seem to be an issue in a place selling...

Money_maker

Gingernutty wrote: »

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-53857331.html

Is it me or has bedroom 2 got really odd furnishings?

GoldenShadow

Gosh the scuzzy things are just not nice. I looked around one that was AWFUL, I felt dirty and smelly when we left

Funny how you notice all these what seem to be unique things which, it turns out, aren't unique!

House we are buying has windows on the side of the house instead of the front upstairs, so your master bedroom looks into the master bedroom of the detached neighbour. I was worried about it until I noticed how many similar (and identical style) houses sell well. Not ideal by any means, but with a whopping kitchen for our budget, being set back from the road and the potential to extend and move the windows around, I'm willing to deal with it.

Gingernutty wrote: »

An odd arrangement where the front door is at the side of the house.

A single gate and garden path serves the two detached neighbours.

If you're stuck between a noisy attached neighbour and the detached neighbour is also some sort of wazzock, then life is going to be as hard as living in a terrace.

Looked at a house rather similar.

It did have a fence which gave separate access. It was owned by the property, but I would have had to rip it down to get the piano in. Wouldn't have fancied the odds of neighbour building a brick wall or their own fixed fence on their side. Would have meant not being able to get the piano out unless it was in bits :eek:

Sagz_2

Whilst looking we found lots of houses where the access to the garden was through the lounge. I've got dogs and don't want dirty feet in the lounge.

MoaningMyrtle

How many (front and back) gardens have been paved over.

dirty_magic

I wanted a house with a hallway but hardly any in our price range had one. I hate stairs coming into the living room so we ended up getting a house with a small entrance area behind the front door.

I also wanted a big south facing garden until I realised there were hardly any houses with them. We ended up with a small south facing garden. I discounted so many lovely houses because of north facing gardens.

DaftyDuck

Oh, the contents of some bedside tables.... and how hard their loo roll is...

No, I jest. However, how many houses have freestanding roll-top baths - poorly DIY fitted.

The number of blown units in uPVC windows... Smelly houses. Just damp and cooking and stale.... People just don't prepare a house for a viewing.

Agents who turn up without a set of details ("Oh, I thought you'd print them off yourselves")...

"Oh, they don't bite, see you've made a friend, Harry", as some mutt tries to shag my leg off.

The new trend for "Lovey Dovey" word poems on the bedroom walls. Long, gushing things in bedrooms, framed... with strange formatting ...Things like

"My love for you
burns softly
as a river flows slowly you are
as paradise
my
simple
soulmate"

Then there's the size of the sitting room sofas, the even larger size of the TV, and ... ... no other furniture in the room.

Brown_Eyed_Girl

Oh god yes!

"We had 'inspire' printed on the wall as we wanted our children to think creatively"

Congratulations, they now think it's ok to write on the wall.