What are your turn-offs when it comes to buying a house?

BikingBud

Andyjflet said:

Astroturf, bad for the environment and looks awful, it will be the garden equivalent of woodchip in 10 years time.
Messy and or dirty homes, you are trying to sell your house !!!!!!!
Small gates 3 feet from the front door, whats the point.

I quite like wood chip in the garden.

It helps to keep the weeds down and the moisture up, can make a nice path but can also migrate into the house and leave a mess especially on wet days

Martico

BikingBud said:

Andyjflet said:

Astroturf, bad for the environment and looks awful, it will be the garden equivalent of woodchip in 10 years time.
Messy and or dirty homes, you are trying to sell your house !!!!!!!
Small gates 3 feet from the front door, whats the point.

I quite like wood chip in the garden.

It helps to keep the weeds down and the moisture up, can make a nice path but can also migrate into the house and leave a mess especially on wet days

I think Andy meant woodchip wallpaper

Elliott.T123

Andyjflet said:

Astroturf, bad for the environment and looks awful, it will be the garden equivalent of woodchip in 10 years time.
Messy and or dirty homes, you are trying to sell your house !!!!!!!
Small gates 3 feet from the front door, whats the point.

I think in certain situations it is ideal, albeit definitely not as nice looking (if you can grow a good lawn) and clearly not as good for the environment.

For us, we have awful drainage, the entire area does, so if there is any rain a lawn has surface water for days draining away. We have 2 kids that want to play and two dogs who will dig any grass / soil the see.

It was totally impractical to have a lawn as it would always be full of holes, wet and unusable. We have replaced with astro and the dogs can no go out anytime and don't run mud through the house, the kids can do out and unless it rained in the last hour can play barefoot without getting wet. 

We appreciate it isn't to everyone's taste and given the choice we would choose a nice lawn, but for our current situation it works so much better. 


To answer the OP 

Anything other than detached
No driveway, at least 2 ideally 3-4 spaces
Space to create an open plan kitchen, I see a lot of posters anti open plan but we had a kitchen diner extension and its the best decision ever, its so much more social being able to spend time together cooking, watch the kids while you cook etc.
Space for an office
Garage
Utility room with direct access to outside (so we can put a dog shower in)
Decent size garden
Bathroom downstairs
Only 1 bathroom

jennifernil

Jemma01 said:

I do wish that designing your own house was that common here. It ends up costing an arm and a leg and you can't be sure it'll finish on time. It needs someone that can get involved in the process and knows what shoddy looks like 🤔 poor handling of material esp wood can turn into a nightmare.

There are about 20 houses around us where people had purchased the plots, about a third of them are individual designs, the rest are a variation on some “off the peg layouts”.  The majority are timber frame with brick skin and very well insulated.  Most were built with the various builders doing all the work, one next to us, the guy did a lot himself, as did we, to keep the cost down.  Total floor  area is 280 sq m plus double garage .  This includes a “granny flat” of about 70 sq m,  now just part of the main house.

We were fully involved, and moved in as soon as allowed and finished off the non essentials, mainly the driveway, fencing, and garden,  over the next 3 years.  The main build took 6 months. total cost including the plot, landscaping the garden, laying the driveway, fencing, carpets, lights etc etc was £160k, we could have sold it then for £250k.

The finish is of a high standard and fittings are of good quality, we chose everything ourselves,  so we have not had to change much over the years.
If you have the knowledge and the skills it is a good way to get what you want at an affordable price.  The problem these days is finding an affordable plot.
 

newsgroupmonkey_

RHemmings said:

I'm scared to read this thread because there are likely to be people listing things that would rule my house out for them

Horses for courses. We have a number of things that would put other buyers off.

Dormer bungalow.
A strip of plastic grass out the back that's replaced a path.
And so on.

Couldn't care less. If something as silly as plastic grass bothers you, then I'd probably not bother buying any house.
It's not hard to replace.

I've never found or gone looking for the perfect house. You can change many elements of any house. You can't change its location or plot.

It's a bit like voting for a political party. As someone explained to me, you'll never find something that 100% suits you.
Think of it like being at the bus station and you need to get home. You won't get a bus that stops in your drive, so get the one that goes as near as possible.

House buying is the same. Put your prejudices away and think of what can be done. Clearly, if walls need to be moved or an extension or bedroom added, the bus isn't even going to your town.

But if it's the wrong colour or the garden isn't configured as you'd like or the kitchen doesn't have enough cupboards, then it's not difficult to do. It's like the bus will stop on the next street.

Slinky

Some people bought a 1960s house down our street at the start of last year and for approaching a year builders have been in and have ripped out almost everything. Internal walls down, dug up floors, replaced the roof, externally insulated the walls, put in solar panels and triple glazed windows etc etc and still a long way off finishing. Probably an ASHP going to go in. Will need a new kitchen and bathrooms.  Knowing what we spent on ours, I reckon they'll be lucky with any change out of £300K. It would have been cheaper to knock it down and start again. They are going for Passive House standards. They must be in their 70s. They'll never see the benefit of the cost savings. I do hope their children want to inherit it in due course, otherwise someone will get a bargain. It will never sell to cover the investment costs. All the time the work is going on, they're paying out rent elsewhere.

Florafauna

We've surprised ourselves as until now we have always lived in Victorian or older houses. We are currently in  the throes of buying a 2004 house with (horrors!) an AstroTurf back lawn. The house is great,  light, beautifully maintained with 2 new bathrooms, a dining kitchen with shiny units and a lovely living room.
The AstroTurf will be removed as we are keen gardeners

oystercatcher

I hate astro turf but it wouldn't put me off a property if other things are good enough.

I have noticed that astroturf is often offered up on our local free on facebook site and loads of people interested , so don't send it to landfill if you have some to take up!

subjecttocontract

Most people buy the best house they can afford as most people have a budget to work to. 
I'm surprised nobody has mention SDLT (stamp duty land tax).
I would hate to fall in love with a property where the stamp duty pushed the cost just beyond what I could afford.

twopenny

Interesting.

For me it was an emergency move to a doer upper bungalow supposed to be for 3mts then to move to desired location and bigger property.

I found that the only downside was too small but otherwise has 'almost' everything I wanted.

Vert quiet, good neighbours, sunrise one side, sunset the other, sound of owls and the sea. Sun streams in in winter when there is any. Lovely views. Church bells in distance.

5mins from shops and library, 10mins from sea.

Overlooked - I grew easy maintain rose and jasmine up the fence to stop the mutual view. Planted blossom tree outside bedroom.

Small, I'm learning I don't need more if I organise.

It was dirty, no garden just grass and gravel. Both easy fixes and now looks desirable.

We;ll see

What put me off many?

1. neighbourhood.

2. conservatories that block the light

3. vans parked leaving all hours especially early. Lots of cars that will come and go. Neighbours arguing.

4, new fancy kitchens and bathrooms that were'nt to my taste by any stretch.

5. The opposite, houses stripped but left dirty with damp marks. The house hasn't been bothered with.

Ditto, vacant but with clothes and medical equipment still left.

6. Beautiful refurbished open plan bungalow. I'd have to keep everywhere tidy and if there were a fire it would rip through in seconds.

But get the basics right, location mainly (including neighbours), and the rest is just cosmetics you can change.