House buying - best things you’ve seen that made you love a house that bit more than any others. Not deal breakers like ‘a drive way’ or ‘a big garden’, but things you weren’t expecting

[Pinklittlebird]

Just that really. Thank you 🤩

A deeded parking spot in the underground garage. We live in an area where you can drive around for an hour on a Sunday evening looking for street parking, or pay $80/night to put it in a car park. People go their whole lives waiting for a private parking spot to become available. Whatever we paid for it we will more than get back when we sell, and have saved so much time and money in the process.

Our current house - a little kitchenette in an alcove in our bedroom. When we viewed the house we were a bit bemused by it but the estate agent sold it to us as ‘resort living’ as we have an en suite off our bedroom as well, and he was kind of right.

When I’ve given the house a good clean it really does feel like I’m in a hotel and it’s utterly lush making a weekend cup of coffee, pulling the blinds up and taking 4 steps back to bed.

Rose bushes in bloom in the tiny, tiny front garden of my first house made me love it.

i viewed a house with my son and it he wouldn’t have bought it I would have made an offer on it myself 😂

it’s just lovely and bright and spacious with a huge extension with tripel skylights and 2 huge to ceiling widows and patio doors
every time I visit I sigh with envy 😂

Trees. Combined with huge windows, it made it feel peaceful and isolated. I live in London so it’s pretty rare as a combination.

Definitely the walk-in pantry that's bigger than my bathroom. I envisioned it stacked with homemade preserves and cake tins... Its not - it's full of DH's shit that needs to go in the half-finished garage.

We were renting in a multi-flat house and had a lot of anti social behaviour issues with neighbours. When we were looking to buy our budget was only for a flat but then a one-bed house came up. We were half way down the path to the front door when I told DH we were buying it! Just looking at a front door that NO ONE else would use was enough to sell it to me!

Mature garden and a wood burner. My budget is small and it’s depressing how little evidence that anyone lived in the houses I’ve looked at and loved them.

I saw a house on Love It or List it with a furnished garden room. It was just a wooden gazebo but they way it was decorated was just so beautiful and inviting.

A range cooker also does it for me.

For me it was the original 1930s features- picture rails in every room, sun burst pattern stained glass in the original front door, a curved porch entrance, a curved bay window.
The property had a leaking roof, a non working boiler, a cracked ceiling, a pink bathroom out of the 1970s and a kitchen so narrow you could touch both side walls....but I was still in love

Bay window in the kitchen/diner looking into the back garden. So often bay windows look onto the road. I enjoy my view every day.

We'd been hoping for a house in the approximate location to come up for some time and had viewed several. None were quite right. One day we walked past and saw that a house in the ideal spot was for sale. Stopped at the estate agent on the way home, price worked for us, sale particulars suggested it would be perfect. Viewed that afternoon, moved in ten weeks later. We knew the location would work for us but the interior was just right - room sizes and layout. One of the biggest plus points, though, was seeing that not only would we not be overlooked (much) at the front, we wouldn't be overlooked at all at the back because the street behind has huge gardens, the neighbours to either side had high fences and dotted through all the gardens there are tall mature trees and shrubs. 30 years on it's still perfect, although a good deal has changed inside.

A little multi fuel burner in the kitchen, the proper slate tiles (again kitchen! and bathroom). The utility room with enough space for the washing machine/ tumble dryer and fridge freezer plus an enormous shoe storage area. Room for my king-sized bed and for both kids to have a double bed each.

My first house was very small but I loved the stained glass vestibule door and the way the arch in the lounge was square not arch shaped.

Second house I loved the view of the park from upstairs, the weird quirky tiny bathroom and just the overall light.

Third house it was the views and the Juliette balcony in the bedroom so we could see them from the bed.

Current house it was the mature trees in the garden and the lovely hallway with a sideboard and feeling of space.

Pulley in the utility room ( aka 'Sheila Maid' / wooden airer).
I use it all the time.

Walk in robes to all the bedrooms. I love that seperate little room to store all the messy stuff away keeping the bedrooms neater and more spacious.

You first OP

For this house it wasn't the layout or anything in particular apart from it's mid century which I love but it was the storm brewing when I went outside!

Magnolia tree in the back garden.

It's far too big for the garden and far too close to the house (like insanely so) and we're replacing it with a different type of magnolia that's more appropriate in size but still beautiful this year.

I'm in the process of buying my first house and just the way the previous owners have decorated it made me fall in love with it...like, I don't need to do anything to make it mine - deep blue feature wall in living room, dark green feature walls in the hall and landing (half way up the stairs). Also, when I got upstairs and saw the upstairs hall, I was like "wow, this is huge!" (not huge compared to other houses - but for my first house...I'm really happy with it)
I've always said I'll get a highland cow picture and a stag picture when I get my own place and I know exactly where they're going to go!

Our house has a lot of lovely features but it is the butler’s sink just outside the back door with hot and cold running water that is our favourite. It’s a perfect size for soaking roasting tins or bathing the Jack Russell.

A gate at the bottom of the garden which lead directly on to a playing field and great vibes. No children at home but two dogs who would sit at the gate waiting for me to bring the ball, I loved that house, newly separated I felt it wrapped me in a big hug.

The views. I knew from the photos on Rightmove they would be nice but in person they're unreal. We have absolutely nothing behind our house apart from fields, a river, woodlands and then the moors in the distance. Lay in bed in the morning with a brew we just look out on to the countryside and listen to the birds. I sometimes take it for granted and become a bit immune to it but then I will think "Wow. We're very lucky".

Saw a lovely roof terrace with amazing countryside views off the master bedroom in a house we viewed recently. It was very tempting but unfortunately the rest needed more work than we could afford at the price. I also love good built-in storage, a proper utility and/or pantry, nice fireplaces and staircases. Bonus points if there's an extra room I could turn into a library!

Our house is a former chapel and has a total immersion font in the kitchen floor, which we always intended to turn into a mini wine cellar but never got round to! Very memorable as a feature though.

Oh, and we also have a long, gated private drive which we share with some of our neighbours. This is an excellent safe place for the children to ride their bikes etc, and an unexpected bonus feature of the house.