to ask what you would not choose again if moving house

[chaletdays]

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?

Wow- what a price.
I bought a 5 bedroomed house with a garage and garden for £205K last year.

I would always make sure the previous owners took their sodding horses with them

Other than that, no shared access, preferably no neighbours at all (good old country living), no steep roads in or out if it's likely to ever snow.

Never ever ever buy a place without outdoor space, no matter how lovely the local park is. It's not the same.

A drive to park on is essential.

A drive to park on is essential. depends where you live. I have a drive, but there is never a problem getting parked outside my house, always loads of room.

propelusagain Forgot to say that was in 2003 so was incredibly expensive for what it was.

I used to love stairs and say I could never live in a bungalow - until I developed arthritis in my back, hips and knees. Also, my children's rooms are on the top floor and they refuse to go up there! So we're all always in our not-generously-proportioned front room.

However, I concede that when they're teenagers they will love to be able to get completely away from us. And I'm sure that feeling will be reciprocated.

I would never buy a house with one toilet, especially if that toilet is downstairs! Such a pain in the middle of the night...

Wow propel - where's that?! my house is worth about that and its a small 3 bed end terrraced, ex council on an estate.

We bought our first house 18 months ago - and moved 27th December, it was a little stressful!!!

The one thing I would not do again is to adopt the "let's save money and move ourselves" approach... Fuck that! It was bloody awful.

If (big if) we move again, I will be paying someone else and moving only the children, my wife, the hifi, and the tv (rough order of importance!!!).

treacle- just outside Edinburgh.

A house with so much potential we are stunned into inaction

I cant say I agree with all of these. I have a 3 story town house with a shared access driveway across the road from a lower school and backed onto a communal area and i absolutely Love Love Love my house. The 3 stories gives us all enough space and can be fantastic when the kids are throwing tantrums. The shared access and communal park in the back are always clean and the kids and teenages that use the area are lovely and polite and nearly always gone by 8pm and theres no need for playdates for my kids as there friends are always close by in the communal areas. I dont find the school too noisy and its a godsend living so close when I forget something needed for the kids school day. I think I must have got lucky! Lovely neighbours and lovely school and the 3 stories keeps me fit for free ????

I love our house, but we moved in 8 years ago, buying at the top of the market about 6 months before it crashed. Had we waited, we could have got it so much cheaper and then not had to borrow money to replace the kitchen, windows, bathroom AND install central heating .

Like I said, I love it now but it's been a hard old slog! In that time we've had three more children as well so it's too small.

Ah well. One day we will move to a big house with more than one bathroom, large bedrooms and a garden. One day

Village locations, long rooms, galley kitchens, wooden windows, north gardens, no off street parking, anything with more than 2 stories, and a neighbour who has a mess in the front garden (when it came to selling the mess of the neighbour next to ys brought the price of our house down by more than £15,000

The only downside to my house (which doesn't affect me that often TBH) is it is very narrow, near the main road so not much traffic and completely bypassed by the grit lorries.
So it's like an ice rink. With cars either side and a tiny bit of road to drive down.