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.

Yep, that's my deal breaker too.

I would pass on any house that has the main bathroom such that you have to walk through the kitchen to get to it. Or a main bathroom not on the same floor as the bedrooms really.

Would never buy a new build in an estate.

I have lived in a thatched roof house.

Best house I have ever lived in

The thick stone walls and the thatch made it incredibly cheap to heat in winter and cool in summer and even though it was 400years old 3bedrooms and 800sqft its the best designed house I have lived in.

We moved to a 4bed 1200 sq ft house and most of our furniture had to be sold because it just wouldn’t fit.

There just wasn’t the wall space. It had a tiny kitchen and the design never made sense (ended up taking all internal walls down and starting again)

Open-plan was my immediate thought.

This. I once viewed one where they'd extended and there was now a tiny gap between them and next door, a huge back garden and no way of moving garden waste between said back garden and green bin out the front. Madness!

Forgot to add, anything with a large, mature tree close to the house and with a preservation order on it! - that’s blocking a good deal of light.

Not overlooked - we have open fields at the back and tall hedges with bungalows either side so not overlooked at all but I do worry that that might change in the future.

Detached

Our own drive (not shared)

Ideally not a dormer bungalow as the rooms upstairs are so hot in the summer but that’s the only wishlist item we couldn’t tick on our current house and I love it so much I can manage the summer heat 😬

Tap water that doesn’t taste shit/chemically.

Decent water pressure for a nice shower.

Big garden.

Not thatched wouldn’t have been on my list til I read about the large spiders so it is now a no no for me 😃

Also none of my pictures fitted on the walls. I have still got them wrapped up in bubble wrap and newspaper

Oh and a house on an estate where they all look the same.

Any type of house in a rural location.

A new build town house as the living space never matches the amount of bedrooms.

House with beams and low ceilings that are also full of spiders. Hate them.

A flat. They are rarely sufficiently well noise insulated.

Ref open plan - you need a separate reception room, but an open plan kitchen/lounge/diner is perfect if you have older kids cos at least you will see them when they seek out food and drinks!

I would not buy:

1. A house in a town, city or big village. I am firmly a country girl, and the more remote, the better! This also means that I’m unlikely to live anywhere near a tourist destination/beauty spot (as I did growing up), where you can’t park and the sheer amount of traffic is bonkers.
2. A newbuild. I like Victorian/Edwardian/Georgian houses, so these new ones just don’t cut it for me! Some of them are still lucky enough to come with original features, and they are definitely not open-plan. I wouldn’t go for one with entire glass walls, because I always think, “Think of all of the cleaning! Think of when it gets the full sun, and you burn indoors (I don’t do well with heat)! Think of how cold it will get in winter!”
3. A terrace or a semi-detached, or anything overlooked. I grew up in a detached house, and still struggle with noises from neighbours (I currently live in a rented semi, courtesy of my workplace). However, due to my workplace providing my house, I’m lucky enough to live close enough to walk to work, the views of the countryside are spectacular, I have a utility room, and it is in a place that it’s safe enough to leave your doors unlocked.

I do, however, aspire to a house bigger kitchen, with more cupboard-space, especially now that I am getting more into cooking from scratch! (Thank goodness that I have a dishwasher...)

I wouldn’t buy a mass produced new build. The architects of these places should be forced to live in/move furniture in to their creations.

It might make them a better architect.

This is so interesting. My last house was a beautiful, characterful listed one and I am now in open plan - I would never buy anything that wasn't open plan! But I have very little ones.

Anything attached, overlooked. On a main road,in or near a town or school.

Oh new build or estate

That’s some pretty solid advice!

Those new builds townhouses where most of the ground floor is a garage. A big expensive 3 story townhouse near me has been unsold for years, the kitchen is tiny and that's it for the ground floor. The living room is upstairs and not of a shape that would accommodate a dining area. It would cost a lot to convert the garage into a living room.

I would shy away from new builds due to horror stories about quality. I've seen some that have a fenced 6 foot strip for a back garden.

I would never buy a house with no dedicated dining space. I see so many which have a small galley kitchen and a living room with no space for a table. Do people just always eat on their knees on the sofa?

Front door opening straight into living room would be a big no..

Only one toilet/bathroom. Living with teenagers, just no!

No garden would be a no. I've never had one so next time I will.

Wouldn’t but a single skin house, or one where it was powered and heated by Electric only.

Lived in one and electricity bills were more tgan the mortgage and we were never warm, even in summer

A house on a busy road. I'd hate it.

-On an estate.
-Built after 1990.
-Listed.
-Open plan.
-Leasehold unless the lease was granted before 1930ish and was for 999 years.

Nothing rendered, pebble dashed etc
Nothing without a garden

I don’t think I’d ever buy an old stone built house off the gas grid. I grew up in one and it was always freezing. Easy to heat is VERY high up my priority list.