What type of house would you never buy?

[PinterandPirandello]

Just looking at a thread where properties are being recommended for £750k. One of the houses was completely open plan downstairs which we would hate as a family. Dh likes to sit at the kitchen table and have the radio on (loudly), dc like to game and I like to watch telly in peace. Plus the dishwasher and washing machine on. So we prefer at least a couple of separate rooms. However, I can see open plan could work with small kids but I’d still want private space.

My dream used to be to live on a busy housing development! I was younger and used to have great neighbours back then (80s, 90s and earlier 2000s) so I thought most people were respectful. How stupid was I.

We are currently in a terrace on a new build estate, and most people are lovely, no kids messing about, we get on well with loads of people here, and yet we have ended up next door to an alcoholic who doesn't work and is VERY loud - she blares house music from the second she gets up (midday) to when she goes to bed (around 2am). She also has a yappy, vicious dog, who scared one of my dogs so much when we brought him home as a puppy, (she constantly tries to attack other dogs while the neighbour just screams at her to stop) that he's on constant alert now and barks at everything.

You can hear absolutely everything she does - music, talking, laughing, tutting, and it's getting us down. We can't complain to the council as we want to sell in a few years and we will have to declare it. It's so unfair.

But yes, never again a terrace. People are too selfish for it to work.

Also anything with only one toilet!

Open plan-the whole house stinks of cooking

North facing garden
I wouldnt even view it

Oh and and house that had new kitchen put in (so you are paying new kitchen premium) when they forgot basics such as fridge space so fridge is in dining room...
And no. Under counter fridge freezers are not enough for me as well.

One which was heavily overlooked at the back. There is nothing behind my house and I can't imagine anything worse. Before that there were houses but they were blocked by trees. It's the main thing I hate about new build estates, where the gardens seem to be overlooked at all angles.

I’d always want detached, utility, not open plan, downstairs loo, en suite, parking for 2 cars.

Terrace. Ex smokers. Listed. North facing garden. Thatched. Very remote. Flood risk. I could go on.

Hell is other people.
5m long noodle gardens, 15 in oval setting.
Imagine the noise.
When we wrre lookimg we very quickly discarded newer built estates because of this. You sit there and everyone can hear everything, no bbq unless you want neigbours to absolutely hate you. No privacy

One that’s so remote that you have to get in your car to go anywhere. I really value being able to walk to places and not having to drive anywhere.

Issues for me

Open plan
Shared access or any right of way across my property
No parking

Its really more the surrounding area that’s an issue

On or very close to a major road
Near any kind of factory, warehouse or workplace that could have deliveries very early or late
Near any kind of HMO Or hostel
New estates of any kind including the gated upmarket ones, prefer an established neighbourhood
Any courtyard development
Land that could be developed around it
Overlooked garden
Very large trees very close the house, end of the garden is fine

When I was looking for a house I told the estate agents ‘not thatched and not listed’. I didn’t want hassle. I also hate open plan and my ground floor had doorways but no doors so I got doors put in. I also wouldn’t look at a house with a paved garden or plastic lawn.

Yes agree with that, my current cottage is beautiful and in a conservation village but miraculously NOT listed and just outside the conservation boundary so all the benefits but none of the aggravation. I have to move and there was a lovely one for sale just down the lane but listed and in the conservation area and had to reject it as my pockets aren’t deep enough. It’s madness really.

I agree with open plan downstairs. Having a separate lounge/snug is essential.

I personally think that different house types suit different stages in life plus location matters as much as style sometimes oh and sometimes it’s just shoddy workmanship that is why you don’t like your house. I’m in a townhouse, which is essentially a terrace yet it has excellent soundproofing and we can’t hear the neighbours, we have our master bedroom on the middle floor which as a couple with adult dc is perfect, the upper floor isn’t used unless they are visiting. Close to shops, drs, bus stop into the city, restaurants and crucially an excellent independent pub. I would not have chosen this house with children under 8 or so as I would not have wanted to be on a different floor, and the convenient location means tiny garden and allocated parking, potentially an issue with little ones but fine for us.

picture postcard thatch cottages may seem perfect until the winter cold bites, snow falls on ungritted country lanes, and you get a mobility issue snd your narrow staircase can’t take a stair lift, no drs local, no bus and you can’t drive etc. or you have teens who need constant lifts

I personally think that different house types suit different stages in life plus location matters as much as style sometimes oh and sometimes it’s just shoddy workmanship that is why you don’t like your house. I’m in a townhouse, which is essentially a terrace yet it has excellent soundproofing and we can’t hear the neighbours, we have our master bedroom on the middle floor which as a couple with adult dc is perfect, the upper floor isn’t used unless they are visiting. Close to shops, drs, bus stop into the city, restaurants and crucially an excellent independent pub. I would not have chosen this house with children under 8 or so as I would not have wanted to be on a different floor, and the convenient location means tiny garden and allocated parking, potentially an issue with little ones but fine for us.

picture postcard thatch cottages may seem perfect until the winter cold bites, snow falls on ungritted country lanes, and you get a mobility issue snd your narrow staircase can’t take a stair lift, no drs local, no bus and you can’t drive etc. or you have teens who need constant lifts

Anything older than 20years
Anything with a large garden
Anything not highly insulated
Anything rural

One that needs loads of renovations and work doing to it, that’s not for me!
Also one with nothing decent in walking distance. We’re a ten minute walk from our village which has lots of shops, bakeries, restaurants, wine bars etc.

No open plan living.
Must have a driveway.
Must have a bath and a shower.
The front door and inside staircase should open into a hallway and not directly into the livingroom.
Access to the kitchen from the front door without walking through the livingroom.

As an older person, a rural house where you have drive to get anywhere from.

We’ve just bought and we avoided terraced houses, anything remotely open plan (stupid idea, I don’t know why it ever caught on), had to be semi detached, with a driveway and three toilets.

We also said no to two houses, one had a crèche in the house behind it and another had trampolines in every garden to the back and sides.

We got really lucky and our neighbours are all older professionals with grown kids. I know this may change, people might sell but it was one of the factors that made us make an offer on it.

I am looking now for a property. I would not consider anything open plan, I absolutely hate it. I like separate rooms! Doors!

Also, townhouses (too many stairs), new builds (poorly made and maintenance fees), no parking.

One thing I absolutely hate which I think I am going to have to compromise on is washing machines in kitchens. I really want a separate utility room like I have in this house. I put it in myself as the kitchen used to be even bigger but I love being able to close the door on washing and it's all hanging up in there.. extra sink etc. But the houses I am looking at are much smaller so I might have to get over it. Or send my washing out.

I wouldn't want open plan and I wouldn't want bedrooms without a bathroom on the same floor. I do like to have a separate dining room. There are only two of us at home now but when all the kids were at home the dining room was a small sitting room with the tv and the dining table was in the much larger living room with the gaming consuls.

Anything leasehold or with a right of way through the garden

New build from one of the big house builders and never near traffic noise.

Would struggle with anything not detached now. Also anywhere with a small kitchen, our kitchen is the social hub of the house! I wouldn’t mind open plan living and kitchen if there was also an additional separate living space because that probably would suit us quite well. At the moment we have a very big kitchen and then two reception rooms, which is pretty nice.

Oh also no bedrooms on diff floors except a spare room just for guests. I don’t want kids on a different level from us (too paranoid about fires etc).