To ask what your priorities in buying a house would be?

[Bells3032]

If you were buying what would be your non negotiable.... And how far from a station/high street would you be willing to live?

When we were looking we were coming from a new build that was on a fairly cramped estate that was quite isolated and a bit of a walk from local shops.

So we wanted a location close to shops and good schools.

A decent road with space and off-road parking, not a narrow road where you have to park on the pavement for anyone to be able to get by.

More than one loo

We ended up with a south-ish facing garden but I never quite understand what the obsession with south facing gardens. However, I am not a gardener and would be happy with a balcony/terrace or a back yard. We're lucky that we are in a very quiet location despite having amenities close by.

Having just moved, for the first time ever, to a house that is (significantly) more than 100m from a railway line - the difference in noise levels is astonishing. One previous house literally backed onto the line, 2 other houses were less than 50m away from the tracks. It wouldn’t be an absolute deal breaker but I’d be willing to pay a lot less for a house near the lines.

New house has northeast facing garden. It’s fine. Cool in the hot summer, & needs less watering.

I am always amazed at how high up the list of people's priorities parking is. I can see why it's on the list, but for it to be the most important or sole thing you're looking for - it just fundamentally seems a bit sad to me to see your house primarily as a place where you keep your cars?! It just feels like such a symbol of how car obsessed and addicted we've become.

We've just had an offer accepted on a place and my must haves was
Off street parking- in the worst Parker ever so this was important

A decent sized kitchen/ dining area- I always wanted a socialable kitchen

Other bonuses was storage, a garden and a garage that led into the house

Other bonuses that we didn't think we needed but are so happy we got

Lisasimpson, the pain in the arse that is street parking is a good reason, it is not that you see the house as simply somewhere to store your car, it is somewhere to live and store your belongings, if there is nowhere to store your car (and there is for most people outside of London and possibly other big cities with proper public transport a real need for a car, I could not get my son to school or get to work on public transport, going to the shops would be a 5 hour affair instead of an hour max), therefore this is part of my priorities as the impact to my life of not being able to park is something that would be a pain on a daily basis, it is entirely removed by havng a drive.

Oh yeah and 2 toilets was a must as well

Not in a flood risk area

My first flat can only be described as a shit hole. It took months to transform it, lack of money, lack of time and lack of interest as it wasn't exactly a priority, I spent months without furniture and slept on the floor for at least 2 months until I could afford a bed. So I am pretty familiar with compromises.

Nowadays, my non negotiable requirements:
detached
commutable to central London
excellent schools
parking, at least a private drive for 2 cars
quiet road (but would have considered leaving near a school as the school run doesn't really clash with our working hours)
nowhere near any flood risk
obviously the number of rooms I need as a minimum.

Then it's more about the general aspect of the house, I need space, but would have compromised with open plan downstairs (which I hate) if needed, with number of rooms depending on their sizes.

It's interesting that a south-facing garden is so important for so many people, worth remembering when you intend to sell soon. I have never given it any thoughts, there's always sun in the garden at some point during the day anyway.

Downstairs loo, utilities etc.. are nice, but you can always add them later, so it's not a big deal for me.

@lisasimpsonsbff that’s a really interesting view. Before our current house we lived in two houses without sufficient parking. First house was a terrace with on-street parking, the other was a new build with a single “allocated” parking space out of view of our house.

In our first house we could rarely park close by, and would often end up parking in the next street. It just added another layer of stress at the end of the day after a long commute. Not to mention the amount of neighbours who would block you in or leave nasty notes when we’d parked in “their” space outside their house

In our second house, my car was broken into twice in a year, as were some of our neighbours’. There’s a reason why insurers ask where your car will be parked overnight! (And yes, I know a car can still get broken into/stolen from a driveway). I just prefer to be able to see my car from the house.

A 2 car+ driveway was a non-negotiable for us. We’d had YEARS of hassle with parking and just couldn’t be bothered with it again. We now have a house with a driveway for 4 cars, and I love knowing I’ll be able to park next to my house when I get home! It’s also nice to know that visitors can park easily too.

I don’t think it’s at all unusual to want ample parking if you can afford it. Especially if you live in an area where public transport isn’t great and most people rely on their cars to get around (like us).

LisaSimpsonsbff
it just fundamentally seems a bit sad to me to see your house primarily as a place where you keep your cars?! I

it's not that at all, it's practicality and freedom. Knowing that you can arrive and leave at any time day or night is so important. If you had experienced living in London and driving around for ages trying to find a space, never parking in front of your home even when carrying shopping/ luggage/ new baby, you'd get it.

When it gets to the point you are reluctant to use your car because you have a space, and you know you won't find any at all when you come back later.. it's time to move!

I don't own a car so parking space isn't even on my list.

I'm not saying that I don't get it on an individual level - as you say, it does affect you every day - but I just wish as a society we'd move away from being so car dependent.

We've actually just bought a new house and it's got rubbish parking, as did our old house, it did make it harder to sell but for us both times getting a much, much better house and location than we could have had if we'd only considered houses with driveways. In any case our main goal with the new house was to get down from two cars to one and to make it so that no one has to drive to work, so public transport was very high up our list and parking very low. Of course, a global pandemic and the instruction to avoid public transport if possible now makes that look less wise a decision than we previously thought...

@JaniceWebster we never thought we’d be bothered about having a sunny garden, until we bought our last house! The (very small) garden faced north east and lost ALL sun by around 2-3pm, even in summer as our townhouse blocked it out completely.

It sounds so minor but it was grim on lovely sunny evenings as our garden always managed to feel dark and cold! We could never sit and have a drink in the sun after work.

We have a south facing garden now which gets the sun all day until around 7.30pm, and it makes such a difference.

It’s worth remembering though that even north/east facing gardens can still get sun well into the evening if they’re big enough!

In our old house you had to park on the street and about 200m from the house - once we had DS I did see the disadvantages of this more, but honestly the way some people who viewed the house reacted you'd have thought we were trying to sell a house that was on fire.

The number of people on this thread who will only buy detached houses - that can’t be representative? There aren’t many detached houses where I live, I can’t imagine even considering it. It’s all about location here and everyone I know priorities location first.

Around here, location means detached (or not)..
many people compromise and go for semis because you get a lot more space for your money - at equal floor area, a detached is a lot more expensive, so it's detached vs space.

I take space any day! So many horror stories about noisy neighbours, partition wall disputes. It's bad enough you are always at risk of noisy and antisocial neighbours in their garden and fence war, I wouldn't increase the risk with sharing a wall!

Would never move again if it wasn't to a detached property. Had so many crap neighbours and I wouldn't risk it again. You can have the most gorgeous house but if your neighbours are noisy it can make life hell.

Within easy reach of shops and station/buses - even if I hardly ever went anywhere. A 'safe' area. Privacy and security. A house that didn't need doing up. Warm. A reasonable amount of private outside space.

After the dramas we had 2 months after buying first house with one set of neighbours....

Detached! Will be number 1 priority.

London
Downstairs WC
Garden enclosed and not over looked
Schools nearby
Proximity to tube
Proximity to high street
Close to work for the both of us.

Large garden and or land
Needs work
2+ reception rooms
Eating area in kitchen (not in the middle of it though)
3+ bedrooms
Access to good schools
Detached
Privacy

Not fussed about high streets or stations, I think our nearest station is 25 mins drive and nearest high street about the same.

To me a decent garden would be about half an acre

@Ireolu What happened to your neighbours in the end?

Drive for 2-3 cars
Detached (pref but semi ok)
Utility room
garage
large kitchen with access to garden
medium ish size garden s/f about 60x30' would be perfect but happy with smaller.

Access to amenities. I like to be near things. As big and beautiful as the house and garden are, I'm not happy to be at home all day every day. A garden is great, but I'd rather a smaller garden that was useable and I could get out and about easily.

Also some potential to move things around and make it your own. No hidden costs e.g. service charges as they get you in the end.