What things have been deal breakers on a house that you liked?

[CrapBag]

I have just had a second viewing on a house and DH saw it for the first time.

We liked it. However, we are hoping for a bigger garden, this one was small and all completely decked. DS immediately said it was too small (and he is used to our postage stamp of a 'garden' that we have now). Also in the main bedroom, there is no room for any wardrobes or drawers. They have big built in wardrobes in the third bedroom, which would be DDs room. I don't really want to have to go in and out of her room forever to get our stuff.

Its a shame as there was loads of storage, it was in a nice quiet street and had amazing views. However I think these 2 things matter quite a bit and it would annoy me if we took a chance and lived there.

What things have been deal breakers on an otherwise nice house?

I am seeing what looks like a nice 4 bed one this week, however, the area doesn't have a great reputation. We already live in this area but we are right on the edge and on a quiet street. The house I am going to look at is more in the middle. The one I saw today was in the same area (D at a good school here) but again it was on the edge.

[expatinscotland]

Bad area, no off-street parking, galley kitchen, only one bathroom, no room for storage.

[NormHonal]

We didn't buy one gorgeous house because it was on a busy main road.

We didn't buy another one we really liked because of lack of parking.

We bought our current place in spite of a small bedroom/ lack of storage, because we plan to extend and fix this longer-term.

A garden we didn't like would have been a deal-breaker for us.

[CrapBag]

After living in flats for years then a tiny 2 bedroom house, we are finally in a position to buy a niceish 3 bedroom house. A garden has to be a priority. DS in particular seems to love playing outside, he always wants to go in my nans back garden. Although part of me wonders if its because of the novelty factor. He does seem to like going outside in our tiny one so it makes me think not.

[patchesmcp]

We've just had an offer accepted on what will hopefully be our family home for a long time. For us, the must haves were:

Location - we wanted a particular estate because of the schools. We them started to get picky about the location, within that location iyswim, so we ideally wanted something central, although we would have compromised on that for the perfect house.
4 bedrooms and an office for DH who works from home
Garden - we currently have a postage stamp garden which is north facing so with 2 DC this was important. Garden of the house is north east facing but it's big so it shouldn't be a problem. Plus with 2 kids I want shade in the garden

The nice to haves for us were:

An ensuite
A kitchen diner and a dining room (had to have one or the other but having both was a big plus)
A playroom
A utility room

We've actually ended up with a house which meets all our needs. It does need decorating to make it to our taste and the bathroom and kitchen will need overhauling in time but there is nothing wrong with them. Price wise we spent about £40k above what I wanted to spend but hopefully it'll be worth it.

I should add a drive and garage for me would be a must have but all the properties where we were looking had these, so it wasn't an issue.

Good luck and enjoy house hunting!

[LondonGirl83]

For us the house had to have potential to extend, be in the catchment of good schools, close to transport, close to the local park, close to the high street and local market. We were also only looking at Victorian houses though our area is mostly Victorian but it had to have high ceilings throughout for my very tall husband. Size of garden wasn't that important to us because of the park but that's very personal. Are you sure you couldn't get some storage in your bedroom and store seasonal closing? Could you possibly take the room you are thinking of putting DD in? No in room storage would have been a deal breaker.

[wonkylegs]

We didn't buy a seriously gorgeous house because of the culminating effect of it not being on mains gas, not on mains sewers and not having it's own driveway - access was via a mile long track owned by the neighbours and in poor nick.
I think I could have coped with one of these but all 3 together was too much & I wish we'd known about the issues before viewing. Real shame as it was a stunning house.

[onepieceoflollipop]

Parking. having lived in two streets where it has caused issues. My former (carless) neighbour took massive offence on the rare occasion I parked legally on the public road in front of her house...just in case her son might visit.
She became abusive when I explained I would not use my garage on the nights i was on call, for safety reasons. (walking down a long dark alley alone).
Interestingly my car developed many deep scratches.
Where i live now (small close) people park very inconsiderately making access difficult.
also would want more than one loo, or the option to add a downstairs loo or an ensuite with little difficulty.

[imme]

For us it's all about size and location. Too small and no room to extend would be a deal breaker. A busy road is also a deal breaker. If you know that you could potentially change and improve things it's not necessarily a deal breaker. it also all depends on what are the alternatives. We bought a house with a NE facing garden as everything else was right (size, location, price) and there was a distinct lack of alternatives (this is London so to get size and location for a decent price you have to make compromises elsewhere).

[Bowlersarm]

For us it was garden size (but we wanted a huge country garden), plenty of parking although not necessarily a garage, and not on a busy road.

If I were in your position, I think it sounds too small. You don't want to buy it, and immediately feel hemmed in and cramped. It'll make you want to move again soon (unless there is potential to extend?)

[Spickle]

In our last move we wanted:
Good Location in desirable area.
Good access to rail station and shops
Plenty of off road parking
3 good size bedrooms
Decent size kitchen, lounge and dining room
Potential to extend
Kitchen at the rear of the property and dining room preferably next to it
Good size garden (though not too big/small)

We managed to get all of the above but compromised on garden facing north and although an excellent location, the road is fairly busy but quiet at night. Also the house is old and in need of tlc.

[CrapBag]

London the bedroom had a double bed (not kingsize which I want when I do buy a new bed) and bedside cabinets either side and small distance to the wall. No room at the end of the bed either. I looked at changed the bed around to the other wall but you wouldn't have been able to get any wardrobe doors open very wide. The third bedroom was definitely not big enough for a double bed so couldn't go in there. I admit is has been a deal breaker for us, that and the garden.

Bowler that's I how I feel. Going from this house, any house does feel much bigger to us but actually when I think about furniture and where things go, it just wasn't big enough.

Next door had out a big conservatory in but it took up the whole top bit of the 2 tiered garden so made it even smaller. Without kids it would be great but with young children (and not completely ruling out the possibility of another one day) it just isn't enough.

If the house isn't massive but the garden is decent and its cheap enough, then extending could be an option but this didn't have that. Shame as it was a lovely quiet street, close to school and cheaper because it is in crappy area, but on the edge so I could live with that.

[Flibbertyjibbet]

Shared access. Never ever ever would I touch a house with shared access again.

[GossamerHailfilter]

Close to the good schools - in our area there is one very good secondary and 2 that are dire.
Open Plan kitchen
Option for an extension
Parking
Back Garden secure and big enough for DS's trampoline.
Office space for DH.

Luckily we managed to find all of these things once we saw past the horrid decor (think mock tudor beams and a red kitchen).

[CrapBag]

Nice gossamer .

What do you mean by shared access flibberty? Do you mean a path that you share? One path down to 2 houses?

[truelymadlysleepy]

I looked with my heart; views, feel of the house, pretty garden.
DH looked with his head; amount needed to restore, square footage, parking, deeds
It look us a long time to tick enough boxes for us both.
Keep looking.

[superlambanana]

Found a house with character, stunning views, enormous garden, quiet street, good area, good parking. Rejected it because I noticed to second keeping how the garden was surrounded by about ten other smaller ones and I felt like I was in a goldfish bowl, despite the size. Plus we would have outgrown the house and it would have been difficult (though possible) to extend.

Went for one with character, slightly smaller though still good garden, lovely views though not quite as stunning, slightly bigger bedrooms, and easy peasy to extend though our bank balance disagrees . It was also £25k cheaper. Very glad we made this decision. Compromised on a garage but bought a very big shed instead so DH is happy! Also compromised on decor as it needs a complete overhaul but that's also fine (if hard work).

[EddieReadersglasses]

wonky why was not being on mains sewer a problem? We have septic tank, is a non-issue for us. (we are also not on mains gas but I can understand that would be an issue for some people)
We also have a rubbish shared private road which is not maintained by landowner, and I agree that's a huge pain in the arse!
We are moving next year
Dealbreakers for us would be house and garden too small, living next to busy roads and having neighbours too close!
Due to neighbour issues here we would only live in detached houses in the future

[whineaholic]

Garage, ORP. Would never , ever by a house with on street parking.

More than one bathrrom

Large kitchen

Decent storage

Not a newbuild on an estate.

[Thumbwitch]

When I was last looking for a house, my list of requirements was this:
Upstairs bathroom
2+ bedrooms, pref 3
Not openplan (although depending on what was linked with what, I might have been flexible on this)
Decent sized bathroom with airing cupboard
Not a galley kitchen
Room to extend if necessary
Offroad parking
Gas connected
Walking distance to somewhere with shops (I had a paranoid fear of my car being completely out of action and me being stranded!)

My list of strong preferences included:
Older house
Open fireplace(s)
No UPVC, especially the doors
Real wood internal doors

The house I ended up buying had all the above, just, except the off-road parking. BUT I had use of a parking lot behind my house, the driveway to it ran alongside my house, and that was on a goodwill thing with the owners of the lot, which they were happy to extend to me. Sadly that changed when the lot-owner changed, but I had enough front garden that I could demolish it and park on that instead, so I never needed to find parking on the road (although my subsequent lodgers did have to)

The back garden was pretty small though; if I had had to extend, I'd have ended up with no back garden at all. As it was, never needed to. The loft conversion had already been done so I had 3 bedrooms, and there was already a downstairs loo and shower room, as well as an upstairs bathroom (with loo) so no need to do extra work.

[Badvoc]

Small/poorly laid out back garden.
Lack of off road parking
Lack of storage
No downstairs WC

[echt]

I live in Australia, so the deal breakers are different. Most houses have a garage and off- road parking.

No open plan, give me doors.

Heating in every room.

Decent garden space.

Catchment for decent state school.

Near the sea.

We had to buy at very short notice so ended up with all of the above, but, bizarrely it has no hallway. It's odd because the last owner was the man who built it. Also every internal door is cheap, nasty cardboardy wood, though they're still last on our list of things to be replaced.

[PlumProf]

Location (geographically and also locally - eg not on a main road, catchment areas, transport links) and size (including of garden) are the only important factors that I would not compromise on. Everything else can be ultimately changed.

[wonkylegs]

Eddie on its own having a septic tank would have been fine but it was the combination of that, no mains gas & the driveway - each would of been ok on their own but together it was just too much IYKWIM.
The house we ended up in wasn't perfect but at £150k cheaper than the nicer but still not perfect one we've set ourselves a £100k budget to renovate it to be our version of gorgeous.

[Thumbwitch]

echt - oh yes, the number of massively open plan houses here is amazing! It's not doors so much I want, as walls - wall space for bookshelves, shelves, etc. - I don't like to have a lot of free-standing furniture. Our house is half and half - not quite enough wall space for me, but not too open plan and we do have a reasonable number of doors (although not for the kitchen)

I would also prefer not to have a massively "bushy" garden - at least 2/3 of it is unusable, because it's planted with large trees/shrubs to create a wilderness style of garden, and we daren't let the boys go in most of it in case there are snakes under the fallen leaves! DH won't hear of clearing it all though, or really any of it, because it provides screening from neighbours and the road.

[Octopusinabunchofdaffodils]

Our requirements were 1. At the closed end of a cul-de-sac 2. With open land nearby for the DCs to play on and 3. In a catchment area for good schools.

We got all of those, and within a fairly modest budget compared to prices in some parts of the country.