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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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:
KatieScarlettreregged · 11/05/2015 19:01

My house is fugly but otherwise perfect. However EVERY time I come home and park in the drive I sigh over the fugliness. Think late 70s executive villa Hmm
So, non fugly for me next time.
First world problem, without a doubt. I've given myself a grip.

Notso · 11/05/2015 19:01

I wouldn't buy a house with shared access that runs through the back garden again.

I wouldn't move into a road with multiple HMO's in it.

I never want to move anywhere that needs work doing to it either.

DisappointedOne · 11/05/2015 19:02

A pull out larder in the kitchen. They're shit.

Chipshopninja · 11/05/2015 19:04

En Suite

It's just another bathroom to clean and completely uneccessary

I'm considering getting ours knocked out at some point so I can have a nice big master bedroom instead

Bolshybookworm · 11/05/2015 19:09

Another one- fitted wardrobes. They are useful but they date really quickly and are a pain to rip out. Ours (put in by previous owner) look like 90s office furniture- bleurgh.

DisappointedOne · 11/05/2015 19:12

I love my en suite!

Teeste · 11/05/2015 19:19

Our last place was down the (one way) road from two pubs and up the road from a tram crossing and stop. So we were inundated with drunken arseholes every weekend night singing, throwing things and dropping rubbish in our front garden on their way to the tram stop and the road was always full of cars backed up from the crossing. Plus it was paid resident only parking, which was a total PITA. Why can't you just renew those things online?? House was also a draughty and damp Victorian end terrace affair. No fun at all, especially not the black mould. Oh, and wooden steps down to the yard - fell down those slippy buggers a few times (ooo, my coccyx!).

Having now moved to a naice semi with actual insulation and functional windows, I love my downstairs loo, actual cloakroom, driveway and open plan kitchen diner. I don't love the garden that backs onto ours, as it's incredibly neglected and keeps on sending bindweed, ivy, ferns and flies over to us (get orf moi lavender!).

LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett · 11/05/2015 19:22

Oh god yeah, never buy opposite a bus-stop, especially a first floor flat. The noise!

m0therofdragons · 11/05/2015 19:29

I love our 3 storey but I wouldn't choose one with the living room upstairs. Ours is a standard living space downstairs and then bedrooms upstairs over 2 floors. I love having a kids' level and an adult's level at bedtime.
I wouldn't live in the route between a pub and kebab shop like our last house or next to a house someone was doing up as it's in a state - my experience was when they ran out of money we ended up suffering as the water ran through their roof in into ours :(

Kasey86 · 11/05/2015 19:29

Marking a place as we are just in the process of buying somewhere new.

We wouldn't buy another 3 storey, at first glance I thought it would be great but it's such a pain when cleaning. Also, we seem to not use the top floor that much (games room and closet space) so it seems a waste.
also wouldn't buy a terrace as they are usually smaller and have small gardens (in my town anyway)

summerlovingliz · 11/05/2015 19:32

I would never ever again choose real wood kitchen work tops. Nobody told me that they are really high maintenance and only look nice if vanished/treated regularly.. Who has time for that with two young children Hmm

Dogsmom · 11/05/2015 19:33

I'd never buy one where you have to go through one room to get to another, both my previous houses had kitchens off the living room so it ended up being a thoroughfare.
This one has got a lovely long hall with all the rooms off it.
I'd never buy one on a corner plot again either, I like my garden at the back, I hate working to keep a large front garden tidy for everyone else's benefit.

Saladspork · 11/05/2015 19:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Dogsmom · 11/05/2015 19:39

Black worktops are awful too, they make the room look much smaller and look nice for 0.5 seconds after being wiped and polished for half an hour.

Same for wooden floors, I was told they were perfect for dogs so spent a small fortune on them, huge mistake, all the hair gathered under and against furniture so was much more effort to get up then I had to mop and wait for it to dry or it would show the pawprints. I ended up covering it with rugs, give me a carpet and a 5 minute vac any day.

getdownshep · 11/05/2015 19:40

I hated living in a cup de sac, I felt buried alive as no one ever walked past and the parking was a nightmare.
Also never move to a town by the coast with only one main road in and out, I used to spend so much time just sitting in a traffic jam if there was an accident or road works. Also a nightmare in the summer with people trying to get to the beach.

TremoloGreen · 11/05/2015 19:47

Any shared access/ driveways - seems obvious really but convinced ourselves it would be ok
Leasehold - freehold companies are greedy parasites
Near any commercial premises - worst neighbours ever Angry
Victorian - total money pit that no amount of lovely fireplaces can make up for Hmm
Terraced or apartment - fewer neighbours = better
On street parking - I could parallel park on a pound coin now but still, the other eejits!!

HonourableKortonRepresentative · 11/05/2015 19:50

I wish I hadn't looked at this thread given that my first ever house purchase (at the ripe old age of 44) is completing this week! This has really ramped up my feeling of buyer's remorse...!

KingJoffreyFanciesDarylDixon · 11/05/2015 19:53

I wouldn't be so bothered about the garage.

Was the only thing that DP really wanted but it's not used. The stupid fat car doesn't even fit in it and we don't own tools or anything like that to keep in it.

VodkaJelly · 11/05/2015 19:56

We moved just outside the town to a village last year. Much better house, own drive, big garden with side access. Meant a 15 minute a day drive to take the teenagers to school and the same to bring them home.

Didnt realise just how much petrol costs would rocket, and the main road in and out of the village has houses being built so have had to put up with constant temporary lights but now, the whole road is closed for 2 months.

A 15 minute journey now takes me 35 minutes each way, there is no other direct route. On a clear day i could drive from my house to work in 4 minutes, now it takes 15 minutes, each way, its not worth coming home for lunch anymore.

if i had known the road would be closed i doubt i would have moved here. Even when it opens it wont be a through road as they are putting the end of the dual carrage way there, so i would have to go in the other direction to join the dual carriage way to get to work.

Kittykatmacbill · 11/05/2015 20:01

Catchment!

I luffs our third story flat with wooden floors, one bathroom, no parking, a shared garden but what I hate is the school is circa 60 out of 85ish in the city! Rarrr

Whattonamemyselfnow · 11/05/2015 20:06

Well what I would like is a downstairs toilet

AryaUnderfoot · 11/05/2015 20:11

I would never buy opposite a primary school again.

I would never buy a house with artex on the walls. My dad called it 'the house that melted'.

I would never buy a house with a brick wall around the garden. I mistakenly thought it would be easier and cheaper to maintain than a fence. How wrong was I?

I would never buy a house that wasn't detached.

I would never buy a house with the front door opening straight into the living room.

TwoAndTwoEqualsChaos · 11/05/2015 20:13

I woildn't ever, ever, EVER buy a house with shared access. Ever.

I wouldn't buy to do up, because one never had enough time or money or energy and incomplete work is dispiriting.

I wouldn't buy a free-standing kitchen with little storage and virtually no work surface.

A hallway (we live in a terrace and have a corridor), a downstairs toilet and a drive would be lovely next time.

honeyandfizz · 11/05/2015 20:20

A semi detached house with hard of hearing neighbours who are retired and have their TV on really loud all the time!

redexpat · 11/05/2015 20:22

En suite.
Walk in. It just gets dusty.