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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to ask what you would not choose again if moving house

365 replies

chaletdays · 11/05/2015 16:56

Just been reading the open plan thread. When I move again I would definitely not choose an open plan layout, or to buy a place right beside a green or any other communal area where children and teenagers will gather 24/7.

What would be your no nos if moving again?

OP posts:
Eustasiavye · 12/05/2015 23:13

I agree about big gardens. I thought great when I saw the size of both the front and back gardens but now realise they are very hard work.

Wouldn't want a house where most of the garden is at the side of the house either.

OrangeVase · 12/05/2015 23:38

Would love detached - but live in London.

I live in a terrace and don't mind the noise of everyday life. Obviously different if you have noisy neighbours.

Would prefer not to live near a road - but don't mind being 10 yards from a railway line.

Parking is crucial - lucky we have it. Transport crucial - five minutes to bus stop, ten minutes to train station.

Communal garden is actually lovely and means we have a huge space that we'd have to pay £6million for if it were our own private garden. Kids played there, it was safe and happy.

Lived in a ground floor flat - next to the main door - never again. Bang, bang, "Goodbye" scrape, bang slam!!!

Also never again a Victorian terrace converted into flats. Long, narrow, dark, cold, badly insulated. Were the only thing to buy in the 80's and nothing was anything if it didn't have at least one fireplace and a load of "original features". Was swayed by dried flowers in the grate in the bedroom and real flames in the living room, beautiful french windows and lovely cornices, sash windows and a garden wall. Ok - it was nice - but never again.

The thing is though, you never know. They could build anything on the lovely field opposite, (just happened to my mum), or the sweet old lady next door could sell to a family of rock musicians and DIY enthusiasts.

tropicalfish · 13/05/2015 00:13

avoid living next door to people that have dogs (barking)
Currently live between two sets of people that regard their dogs barking at least once every 60 seconds on a summers evening as perfectly acceptable.

wearenotinkansas · 13/05/2015 00:17

neighbours who smoke (in flats) stinking out the stairs and our flat

YourMaNoBraBackOfMyCar · 13/05/2015 01:05

I would not ever buy a house which opens straight onto the street, or has a front door which opens directly into the living space, ie a house with no hall and porch area.

The first house me and dh bought was a two up, two down terrace that opened up directly into the living room. The only time it bothered me was when I was lying on the couch being postnatally examined by my GP and my mil walked in without a warning knock. :o

I loved our little house. We bought it for £71k in 2003. Everybody hated it. Everyone. Dh's parents even refused to give him a contribution towards the deposit if he didn't change his mind about it. Which was cool as we afforded it ourselves. It needed windows, gch, a new kitchen, toilet, everything. We did it bit by bit. In fact for the first 3 weeks of d's existence we were washing up dishes, making up feeds and sterilising out of the bathroom and our bedroom as we had no kitchen. But eventually we got it how we wanted it and it was the perfect little house for our family. Then in 2005 I got pg with dd1 and managed to eke another two years out of it. In 2007 I got pg (but sadly miscarried) so we knew we needed a bigger house with a garden. We decided to sell the house ourselves and as soon as we put the for sale sign up a neighbour knocked on and offered us the asking price of £150k immediately. That gave us a big fat dposit for the run down 3 bed semi we're in now (and slowly doing up - I don't think I've ever lived in a "completed" house). The house everyone hated enabled us to buy a bigger house in a nicer family area. I love bringing it up when dh's snooty parents criticise people who rent rather than buy.

SilverSamhainFairy · 13/05/2015 01:29

I would never buy a house with only loo again. Victorian's are so charming with the high ceilings and fireplaces. Not charming when only bathroom is downstairs and the heating system has not seen an update since the 1940's. I would also like a ghost free home too.

wigglylines · 13/05/2015 01:41

YY to fixer-upper when not much time.

2 years on, still living in a fixer-upper.

lazydog · 13/05/2015 02:18

A log cabin. Looks like a picture-postcard but no-one warns you that each and every log's upper surface is basically a shelf for dust...made 10x worse by the woodstove heating.

ItsRainingInBaltimore · 13/05/2015 06:09

Low ceilings, tiny windows, a lack of natural light.

In the shadow of huge trees that I did not have the right to remove, or were on my land but too close to the house.

A badly extended, bitty, rabbit warren-like layout that didn't flow well.

Very narrow/steep staircases and narrow, dark corridors

A bus stop or traffic lights outside.

Shared access/parking

No off street parking (although I realise that that is something that is not always possible depending on your budget and location.)

Somewhere where there was nowhere to park at all immediately outside the house.

One loo, unless it was a 'two-up two-down' house or a flat.

I would not discount it altogether but I would think very, very carefully about anywhere opposite a public open space, an alleyway or a green, a play area or backing onto a recreation ground or park. It would really depend on the area and the distance from the house, but it has the potential to be disastrous. I went to look at a really great ground floor flat in the heart of a lovely small city but the master bedroom window opened directly onto a grassy area by the riverside path and it was obviously the local hangout for drunks, dossers and druggies. It was bad enough in the daytime so God knows what it was like at night! I am lucky they were there causing a nuisance when I viewed otherwise I might never have twigged.

On a really busy road unless it was set very well back, and even then I'd think long and hard about it. I've been in houses that literally shake and rattle every time a fast car or a big lorry goes past within 6 feet of the front door.

A kitchen that was open plan to the main/only living area

(I don't mind a kitchen being open plan to a casual family area so long as there is another more formal room where I can close a door.)

Likewise unless the house was very small I would not want the only dining area to be totally open and in full view of the kitchen. All this 'chat to your friends while you cook for them' is overrated nonsense - no-one wants people under their feet while they are cooking and no-one wants to come for dinner and sit surrounded by your washing up, or to have to shout over the sound of you clattering around and frying stuff, while they chat between courses. I like an informal eating area in a kitchen as well as a separate dining room/area though, budget permitting.

Would not ever again take on a huge, very overgrown garden. It's so soul destroying to try to get on top of it.

Spiral staircases, unless it's a second staircase and all or most rooms can be accessed via a normal one.

One of those really nasty cheap conservatories that is entirely made of plastic, with shiny plastic panels instead of brick walls at the base, and a plastic corrugated roof.

Thin walls and poor sound insulation in flats and modern terraced or semi detached houses.

Any of these new builds that claim to have four bedrooms and three en-suites when the bedrooms are so titchy there's no room for proper wardrobes or decent sized beds, and the en-suites have no windows and require you to be Houdini.

crossroads15 · 13/05/2015 06:12

Agree with not choosing open plan. Our living area is very open plan atm and with lots of glass. It works during the day when the kids are running around but I hate it in the evenings; it's not at all 'cosy'. And it seems too big and echoey when we have people over for dinner. I end up going to bed at 8:30pm most nights to watch TV / read up there because I don't feel like I can switch off downstairs.

We're moving though, and to a 3 storey built into a hill, this thread is making me panic!

ItsRainingInBaltimore · 13/05/2015 06:15

Also I've seen a few houses where there is no window the kitchen and the light comes from an area that is semi open plan. I wouldn't like that. I like to see out of the window when I am at the sink, not face a dark wall and have all the meagre light coming from behind me.

In fact poorly laid out, badly planned kitchens are a real bugbear of mine. Even if i plan to rip it out I look very carefully at the shape and layout of the kitchen itself, positioning of walls, doors and windows and if i can't visualise a nice spacious kitchen that flows well I wouldn't buy the house even if everything else was great.

unbreakablemum · 13/05/2015 08:11

How do people know houses have poor soundproofing before moving in?

SheHasAWildHeart · 13/05/2015 08:56

I've learnt that in my next house I will not have cream coloured carpet. I have long black hair and didn't realise how much of it fell out on a daily basis but it really shows up on the carpet :/

balletnotlacrosse · 13/05/2015 10:43

"Disagree with you about the green. Ours is lovely (in a modern estate) and is much nicer to look at than a road. There are kids sometimes but they play nicely and are certainly not hanging out smoking weed!" QUOTE

I live beside a green, and that was the scenario when I moved in . Nice little children playing out there in the afternoon, everyone home for bed by about 8pm.
Roll on ten years. The nice little children have grown up and are now annoying older children out kicking football and shouting and swearing until 10pm during the Summer holidays, and treating all the grassy areas, walls etc around the green as if they're also communal property for their unhindered enjoyment. And some of them are now teenagers who take over when the football players go home, except they're even louder because they're also drinking or smoking weed. Sad

ItsRainingInBaltimore · 13/05/2015 12:47

I think if it's a new-ish built with thin plasterboards walls especially on a timber frame then it's a given! It's interesting about build spec - it's one of those things that frequently gets overlooked when buying on a new development. Everyone gets carried away with how lovely the show home looks and what gorgeous curtains it has, and forgets to enquire about the really important stuff, like the capacity/efficiency of the boiler, or the thickness of the walls etc.

I went to look at a Bovis new build once that was almost finished internally but not sold. I was appalled at the quality of the fitted kitchen and how cheaply they'd skimped on it, using really cheap chipboard panels that didn't match the units to fill awkward gaps rather than go up a size on the cupboards etc, it looked so shoddy. I had a go at the sales lady and told her it put me right off the whole developer and it made them look like cowboys and tricksters. They would never dare present a show home like that, but people who buy an a house unseen are conned into thinking they will get show home quality/standard of workmanship. But so many (epsecially FTBs) are naive and just don't ask the right questions and take so much on trust.

ItsRainingInBaltimore · 13/05/2015 12:48

Sorry last message was in response to unbreakable

GERTI · 13/05/2015 13:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Baddz · 13/05/2015 13:40

My sister bought a new build off plan 10 years ago.
No storage - at all. It's ridiculous.
Poor finish on the kitchen and bathrooms....to the point of tiles mismatching
Windows now need replacing
Tiny plot for such a large house, tiny garage that you can't get a car into.
Badly situated in an odd cul de sac.

ItsRainingInBaltimore · 13/05/2015 13:44

me neither Gerti but I am lucky in that I am a stage in my life where I don't have to. I think when you are younger and desperately wanting to get on the housing ladder you can't afford to be so fussy, especially with all the smoke and mirrors deals developers do for you. But I don't think people mind it too much at the time, (compared to the alternative, which is being in rented with no security) it's just looking back with hindsight we say never again. It really depends how lucky or unlucky you've been with neighbours as well.

I really do wish they'd stop cramming the houses in so tightly making them so horribly overlooked, and skimping on storage space and parking though. It's just not sustainable to live like that, it would drive me nuts. The newer build a house is, the worse it is on all those fronts. Even some very big expensive houses are on tiny plots and horribly overlooked, or because they are all three storey now, with shallow gardens, the garden is always in the shade of the house because it's higher than the garden is deep iyswim. It feels very oppressive.

ItsRainingInBaltimore · 13/05/2015 13:47

I know they are not terribly fashionable but I think you can't beat a nice surburban 60's or 70's built estate - lovely wide roads, big plots, plenty of parking, nice big picture windows letting in lots of light, garages, spacious square rooms….I love them.

balletnotlacrosse · 13/05/2015 13:54

I agree with the lack of storage in new builds. Not only do they have very few cupboards, tiny attics, no 'under the stairs' space etc but most of the rooms are so small that you can't even fit a decent sized dresser or sideboard or more than one set of bookshelves. Also, a lot of the bedrooms can just about hold a bed, with no room for lockers or dressing tables or anything like that.

Jackieharris · 13/05/2015 14:51

Yes to no stairs off living rooms-so cold
Storage heaters- no
Has to have gch although I knew someone who wouldn't move anywhere with gas 'in case it exploded' Hmm
Enough sockets
Space for a dishwasher & vented tumble dryer
Master bedroom big enough for a king size bed
Kids bedrooms big enough for bed, wardrobe, drawers, desk, bookshelf, TV, bin & laundry basket

GERTI · 13/05/2015 15:10

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CelticPromise · 13/05/2015 15:52

I am with you on those estates Baltimore, they are lovely.

My house is:
Three storey
Opposite 3 schools
No driveway
Weird layout
2nd loo is a macerator
Wooden worktops
Textured wallpaper
Damp
Bit of a doer upper
Non standard windows
Old and cold

I LOVE it. Smile I fear no one will buy it if we ever need to move though.

ThisTimeIAmMagic · 13/05/2015 16:00

We live in a detached house with own driveway. I could never go back to a semi with on street parking.

Why do people hate en suites so much? I love mine ours.

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