To ask for your reasons for preferring period properties?

[Derlei]

Sorry, another LLL thread.

I always come across buyers on this programme looking for "period properties". What is it about period properties that people prefer? Is it the charm, is it the potential history associated with it, or is it the way that they're physically constructed? Do they appreciate more in value relative to other types of builds in the same area?

Some of the period properties Kirsty and Phil find are quirky and quintessentially British, but at the same time are tiny and imo don't look very cosy

Oh and a cellar! Great for storage!

I love both new builds and old quirky cottages. Had Victorian house but the layout was rubbish all long corridors, rooms leading into rooms, parking wars, only a tiny yard etc.

Our (newish) build home is a brilliant spacious family home. Good sized rooms, big windows and easy to keep warm, loads of storage/parking. It is well decorated and easy maintenance.
Our holiday cottage is an old stone barn with a huge stable door, stone floors, beams, high ceilings, tiny wooden windows etc. We have to leave the heating on 24/7 for 6 months of the year but it is gorgeous.

We've always lived in period houses. This one was built in Tudor times so is very old and very quirky, the only drawback is lowish ceokings but I'm only 5ft 2 so it doesn't bother me. Dh is 6ft and does have to duck sometimes. But every room is different and to me really interesting.
I find newer houses very sterile and a bit boring. But everyone is different, which is just as well or we would all be fighting over the same houses!

For me and my partner it was space! In our budget (upto £125,000) we viewed around 13 properties. We bought the biggest of those properties (a Victorian mid terrace) which was not the most expensive by any means. Three proper bedrooms (which here, I found to be a novelty. Most properties round here have a third bedroom leading off the second), a huge lounge and kitchen. I like a bit of character - high ceiling, bay windows, fireplaces etc. Square rooms just don't do it for me - unless I'm decorating in which case I prefer them

I like living somewhere with a sense of history-have lived in new builds and can't get on with them for some reason, even though I'm some cases they have offered better space and facilities. I get that I'm not rational-but I feel more at home in an older (older the better) house.

I'm a sucker for Victorian/ Georgian / Tudor style, houses. They are just so beautiful, full of character, unique and most of them are detached!! Plus have a garden.

Before we found our Victorian, we looked at new builds. They didn't have garages, only one parking space and they were semi-detached. Houses that were 70s built, hadn't been updated since and basically dumps for what they were asking for them.

We choose a non-estate area, detached, large yard with garage and drive way. Large rooms. And no one else on our street has a copy of our house.
Basically, I wanted to live like I would be in Australia.

I find modern homes sterile and even £15 million new build mansions in Surrey look cold and just like every other new build mansion. So bland.

When I move back to Australia, I will be more than happy to move into a new house, same if I moved to the US. As they both in my personal opinion have better looking newish houses. In the UK, old style all the way!

A lot of new builds seem to be thrown up on tiny plots with mean sized rooms and no storage space. But I would be very happy to live in a beautiful individual architect-designed house that was very energy-efficient.

Love our quirky country cottage, original part dates to 1700s it was the village forge. It's been renovated and insulated so easy and cheap to heat. Original walls are a foot thick!! Only downside is small bedrooms with eaves storage which we've had to design and build ourselves. Also low ceilings for 6ft3 DH. He had a few sore heads until he learned to duck

Where else could I have a mourning room and two tiny maids quarters?

I live in an Edwardian terrace, sadly previous owners have ripped out Most of the original features, fireplaces all gone etc.

But it's built solid, lovely high ceilings, old solid wood floorboards and it has a cellar.

The new builds near us are so cheaply made, small rooms and built so as many houses can be shoved together in as little space as possible.

I've lived in both new build and old, currently we live in a listed building that's over four hundred years old. New builds like our last home are more functional but lack character, the rooms tend to be just boxes, but they are easy to heat and maintain, character needs to be put In with the furnishings, this house has the original features and has the wow factor, very large rooms and high ceilings , but it costs a small fortune to heat. It's really all about what is important to you.

I can't honestly say I prefer one over the other, it's simply about the actual house to me, some new builds are fab, as are some older properties.

We are currently renting a new build and I hate the fact that all the internal Walls are plasterboard - you can hear everyone going to the toilet wherever you are in the house! At night you can hear sneezing, coughing, laughing...

Can't wait to get back to our house (1950s) - brick walls!
Also, I like the room sizes, ceiling heights, bay windows.

I love period homes, no way could I be happy living anywhere built post war, and the older the better tbh.

I think it's the charming features, the history. I do agree with the PP who said that new homes feel sterile to me.

Each to their own and all that.

The house I live in now is the newest at 1940s.
The house I grew up in was 1600s.

I've got no idea what I prefer about older properties but I know I don't like new builds.

Just don't buy anything listed unless you have the money to sort it properly.

We used to own a stone cottage built around 1865. It was cute, full of character and a complete pain to maintain. It did have a lovely cellar which flooded when the local sewer backed up (although not as bad as next door whose kitchen in the cellar ended up three feet deep in rainwater the next year). The stone was a beautiful sandstone which had been badly repaired with cement mortar so was falling apart. It was expensive to heat because it had no wall insulation and had patches of condensation on the walls because they were so cold.

We now have a house built in the 1990s which is easy and cheaper to maintain. I will never buy another old, character property as they're too expensive to run.

I love period properties-up to the 1970's (not exactly a period property I suppose) my favourites were always Victorian & Edwardian but I also really like 1920's & 30's properties too now as they are so well designed for families. I'm in London and have lived in an 80's flat, Edwardian flat and now in a 50's maisonette. I wouldn't choose a 70's property as first choice but they are well designed and always seem to have good outside spaces too which could sway it for me.
I loathe new builds, particularly the way they have no outside space and are all crammed in on those 'new old' estates you get everywhere now, I think the land they are built on is dodgy too in many cases, a builder told me that they are only designed to last for 50 years!
I suppose my taste in houses is based on whether I can envisage them still standing in 100 years time or not?

I really, really, really wanted to live in a three storey Victorian house.
I love the look of them on the exterior and inside, with their high ceilings, fantastic fireplaces and stucco work is equally beautiful.
DH grew up in one.
There are fabulous examples of them in Dublin.
We could have afforded to buy one but I allowed DH to influence me and we never bought one.
They are beyond our budget now.
It's a regret in my life 😰
I throw it back at DH if we have a row.
Financially it was a no brainer as they have held their value.
Unlike the pile of sh*te we bought.
First world problem I know.

Space for us too. We viewed some new builds that were tiny- so small you could only fit a bed and one wardrobe in the bedroom and that's it

Character
History
Build Quality
Chocolate box factor
Quirkiness

Current house was built in around 1480, although one part is probably 1300's. I'm always finding new fun surprises - witch marks, children's names on beams, old coins etc.

It's completely wonky and had superb ventilation, but has stood for over 500 years and will probably be good for another 500. It hasn't really been modernised other than glass, electrics and plumbing and an 1870's kitchen extension, so we have the original floorboards and doorstep

The downsides are the low ceilings - previous house had 3.5 metre high ones with huge floor to ceiling windows, this one the beams just about clear my head and the windows are small and have leaded glass so it can feel a bit dark at times.

Other downside is the cost of maintenance and repairs - everything costs far more when you have to abide by Listed Building regs and use original techniques and materials. I wish the government would do something about VAT for old property repairs rather than just new build - I don't mind jumping through their hoops for the good of the house, as in a way I'm a custodian as much as an owner, but it would be nice if one could save a bit in return for safeguarding the nation's historic buildings!

I grew up in old houses - everything from C12th to C19th - so I'm relaxed about how many people must have died here (although finding out that 3 children under 7 died in one day from measles in this house 120 years ago did make me cry), and not too daunted by the repairs - I own way too many books on damp and lime plaster - but they are definitely not for everyone and there are definitely days when I wish we had bought the 1998 house with high ceilings and double glazing!

We wanted a nice, period property. We couldn't afford it.

We bought 1970s. Whilst it is vile on the outside, it is a complete revelation on the inside. I'm going to need to get rid of half of my clothes, because it's actually warm in the winter! And so bright and airey!

I have owned period properties, an 1820s cottage, a Victorian city townhouse.

Wonderful charm, my Victorian villa had massive rooms, beautiful intact features throughout, all original fireplaces, working original shutters, cornices etc.
Truly stunning- but very expensive to maintain and heat.
Even simple tasks had to be done by professionals, walls and ceilings too high for DIY decorating, having sash windows re-roped or outside stonework repaired cost a fortune- ditto for any roofwork, guttering etc.

Unless you have a lot of money to keep the place in shape then it can be a problem.

I live in a huge 1970s house now, not particularly attractive on the outside, but has a modern bright Scandic feel inside, very bright and light ( done by previous owner) I have grown to adore it.

We live in a 400 year old cottage and I absolutely love it. I like that it is completely unique, love the history and the character and it just feels so wonderfully cosy and homely. Totally impractical it has to be said and not sure if we will be able to stay once we get older as the stairs are unbelievably steep and narrow but making the most of it now.

It is very warm which I appreciate is unusual in older properties but I think some of this can be attributed to the very low ceilings and small rooms. We have open fires, woodburning stoves and an Aga - cannot imagine a house without a real fire of some description and as for no beams...

All that said, it is very dark and probably pokey to some, I do get space and light envy when I go to newer houses but you can't have everything I guess. I never feel scared here either and there must have been a fair few fights, births and deaths over the hundreds of years it has stood.

We like quirky. 1925 here. Two front doors, one main extension. Some lovely stained glass. Brilliant inglenook. Fab garden and plot. future development plot.