Must haves when house searching that I don't 'get'

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All open plan.
Why? Much nicer to have separate rooms where people can do their own thing, and to not have cooking smells invading the whole downstairs.

Kitchen Islands.
Usually just become dumping grounds for loads of rubbish and take up loads of floor space.

I totally get this! I HATE my living room because it has a door at each end so is a glorified corridor.

I have a love hate relationship with the kitchen island. We use it loads to drink coffee and ear etc. It also become a dumping ground for everything. So when I say 'I need to tidy the kitchen' what I mean is, 'I need to find a home for all the junk on the island'

What I'd want depends on whether I had all the space in the world, or was trying to make the most of a small space.

Also depends on who is living there.

The one thing I never want is a sad kitchen where you are far away from the people who are talking and drinking and having fun. Not unless the house also comes with a cook, so I can host by pouring drinks and someone else can deal with the food in the far-away kitchen.

Different folks different strokes. Until I had a large family I never understood the luxury of a purpose built laundry shoot that goes directly from upstairs bathroom to the laundry.. .. I have now seen light & it’s on a dream list .

open plan is great.. on proviso the family don’t make it a dumping ground for all & sundry. Housing architecture here does not allow for a scullery /prep room to act as a seperate mess space when entertaining.
Now downstairs loos, guest bathroom en-suite come into their own when friends /family stay. Keeps everyone esp FIL happy.

Must Haves Arrange with your solicitor, boiler has been serviced very recently (we didn't do this and not only was the on/of knob glued on, when we had it fixed system hardly heated radiators) and there is paper work to verify service, If your not on mains drainage, paperwork to say sceptic tank has been emptied very recently, what fixtures and fittings are going to be left, including kitchen units (large matching dresser in ours wasn't there when we moved in) all rubbish is cleared, we needed three skips to clear our new home, Also important- insist on seeing and speaking to vendors, we were given excuses by estate agent and all things considered after we moved in can understand why. And get everything written down with moving company especially if long distance move into country home with narrow lanes. We have moved three times in all, think ease of first two moves made us lacksidaisicle,
this last move made us realise there are some dishonest and dishonouable people out there.

DH and I are big Escape To The Country fans. Pet hates of ours include:

• having to duck to go into every room
• steps from the kitchen to the dining room
• a random shower room downstairs FOR NO FUCKING REASON
• lack of a proper staircase
• really beautifully-decorated downstairs but really mediocre upstairs

We do bemoan the lack of ensuite given the amount of money most people are paying on these programmes.

We also don't understand people's obsessions with being overlooked at the back of the house (yes, because you're really going to sunbathe nude in sunny Cumbria aren't you Maureen), or their snobbery about bungalows (we have lived in quite a few apartments, plus my inlaws' house is a bungalow...single level living is great!).

We are also not really gardeners so don't understand the desire for really big ones. Plenty of people on property shows seem to want a massive garden but have spent precisely ZERO time thinking through what it actually takes to maintain one (or, worse, acres of land...my FIL is a landowner and I know it's no joke...maintaining it is basically a full-time job).

@ScarletPower surely underfloor heating would solve a lot of your conservatory problems?

Walk-in wardrobe and library would be the absolute dream.

Integral garage rather than the better looking separate garage.

It wouldn't have crossed my mind before I had one. Now i'd never buy without one.

Ive lived open plan. It was cold & crap. But I do like a large kitchen with an island.... I have a decent size kitchen, but sadly no island.

crushedgrapes A laundry shoot may be great with teenagers, but with little kids you would surely spend all your time picking out things that were not laundry, but the kids had put down it as a a game? Sorry I think it is the kind of thing that sounds good, but could quickly become a nightmare.

*chute :p

I don't quite get the need for en-suites, if there is another bathroom on the floor It saves you ever having to share a bathroom with a teenage son.

I love my open plan space but I’m lucky to also have a living room and an extra reception room in addition to it. I’d be less keen if it was our only space

Where we currently live we have a lounge/diner and separated kitchen which I really like. I would also do kitchen/diner but not all completely open plan.

Biggest bug bears on viewing and looking at houses - conservatories or glorified greenhouses being sold as “extra room” when they really aren’t.

Tiny extra bedrooms, like so small that you couldn’t fit a single bed in them, they shouldn’t be allowed to be classed as a bedroom if you can’t fit a single bed in.

Wonky off centre features in new properties. It’s not cute it’s highly annoying.

Feature wallpaper. Although it wouldn’t put me off buying if I really loved it, I cannot stand it!

Any houses where original features have been brutalised or made modern.

@angelil - I have never even thought about underfloor heating if I am honest. It's definitely something I will look into now I know about it.

South facing gardens are a thing people turn into a make or break issue because some home celeb like Phil Spencer says they are indispensable. They are so not. If you have more than a yard then whichever way the house faces you will get some sun during some of the day. And, actually, too much sun in a heatwave, especially in a smaller space, can be stifling.

I have a house that faces east and the back is in the west. It is lovely in my front facing bedroom which is filled with light all morning. In the summer it presents a cool retreat in the afternoon while the back is toasty. The back wall heats up and keeps the patio warm until ten at night in the summer for Prosecco and nibbles in the garden.

I had a house which was south facing with a north orientated rear garden and it was a little less sunny but there was some sun somewhere all day. It wasn’t a no no by any means.

Mystified as to why people don’t want multiple bathrooms and loos. The secret to a happy marriage is separate bathrooms.

When we moved to our last house which had a downstairs loo and upstairs one bed room - ours - had an en suite showeroom we used to get a child every morning coming in to use ours because some other child was on the other one. Even so it was useful to have even if it led to early morning child invasion.

The secret to a happy marriage is separate bathrooms.

And the secret to a happy life is not being married. 1 bathroom (to clean) is plenty.

Teacher22 heatwave? are you 22 and this last summer is your comparison?? Your benchmark?

Oh, anyone, as a potential gardener, needs a south facing garden.

YY to open plan. When I met DH he lived in a flat with an open plan kitchen/living room and you couldn't put a wash on and watch TV at the same time as it the washing machine would deafen you!

"Single" rooms that are actually 6'5" x 4" and you can barely fit a desk in there. I know what you're doing, house, you're lying to me that you have 4 bedrooms when you really have 3 but have stuck a window in what should be a cupboard to trick me

Rectangular living rooms. Awkward as fuck to stick a sofa suite in and feels claustrophobic.

I also hate our breakfast bar with the stools, DH loves it though, I just feel like I'm at McDonald's when I sit there

Not so popular now, but decking is another thing I don't get.

Yes to this! The people we bought our house off put in decking to make the house more appealing to potential buyers. A week after we moved in it got ripped up. Nasty stuff, total nightmare with kids as it gets slippy and slimy and toys fall down the slats