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?

Within an easy flat walk to the station, not like ours . Within a walkable distance to the shops and a decent height above sea level. I'd like 4 bedrooms plus a couple of reception rooms that could be used for bedroom at Christmas.

i might also add that if the house was next door to a lovely french bakery - i would not care about much else,as long as it was not 500k !

As @Mmmmycorona said several pages ago, prioirty one has to be within your budget. No good saying
"I want detached / 5 bed / 3 bathrooms / huge garden" if you have £100K to spend.

Also depends on your life stage....... when we moved last, schools catchment was a priority. Next move, it won't matter a jot as our dc are no longer of school age. Same with things like railway stations - if you commute to work by train, it's going to matter a lot more than if you rarely travel on a train.

For me I'd only move now to a detached (or the tiny minority of sensibly designed semis where the living spaces don't touch) with a kitchen diner, at least 2 living rooms, downstairs toilet, two bathrooms and a garden that isn't too big, with parking for at least 4 cars (can be on a safe, non busy road for 2 of them).
But when I bought my first home I was looking at 2 bed flats and delighted to find one I could afford even though it needed a lot of work.

In the countryside, not near a big town or city. Little market town or villages within a short driving distance is nice though.

Detached.
Kitchen big enough for a table.
Decent size garden.

We’ve bought 2 houses, priority was mains gas both times.

Detached
Double driveway
At least 2 toilets
Utility room
All bedrooms double
South facing back garden
Within walking distance of a supermarket

At least 2 toilets preferably 1 downstairs.

The number of people who seem to spend a lot of money extending/decorating/redesigning and don't bother to add another toilet... ridiculous.

Off road parking

Utility room

Dishwasher

Downstairs toilet

Separate dining room

Distance to tube (zone 1 or 2) 0.3 miles max (same as now), max 1.5 miles to DH's work, 0.3 miles to preferred primaries (non faith), 1 mile to preferred secondaries, 200 yds to small shop (same as now), 0.5 miles to supermarket/high street. Min 3 good-sized bedrooms. Enough storage space. 1 mile to leisure facilities - pool, cinema, leisure centre, library. Good bus routes. Park within 0.5 mile. Separate kitchen and living room. At least 2 bathrooms. Quiet road. Excellent broadband and phone signal. Energy efficient (double glazing, well insulated). Good transport routes to various family members in other parts of London.

We're aiming to move somewhere like this within the next few years - need to sort out some financial issues which could take a couple of years, but it's on the horizon!

Location, 4 beds and price.

Anything else is negotiable.

Garage.

Never thought it would be a big deal not having a garage. 9 years and 3 kids later, I really, really wish we had one. 😫

Period features
Garden
Very local to amenities
Good transport network
Parks very close by
Sense of community

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.

@SummerWhisper

Period features Garden Very local to amenities Good transport network Parks very close by Sense of community

Ooh!! We have all that! Maybe YOU will buy my house!

I have a definite veto list.

No window in the bathroom.
No bath, shower only.
Small garden.
Open plan living/dining/kitchen (in pictures looks great, in reality toddler toys migrate easily from sofa area to underfoot in the kitchen and it was a nightmare to keep tidy).
South facing conservatory.
No driveway.
Busy road.
Steps in the garden (can’t step straight out onto flat).

We’ve lived in houses with all of those and I would NEVER consider living somewhere with any of those features again.

No bathroom window?!!!

Agree on the conservatory though - horrible things.

No close neighbours
Large garden and vegetable garden /orchard
In an ideal world I’d have a walled garden
Proper fireplaces
Coving
Solid walls throughout

Garage
Utility room upstairs
Large bedrooms
Land , lots of land
Set away form the road , preferably with a lane
Good Primary schools and access to grammars
I don’t care about proximity to shops or a station
Wouldn’t want to be more than 5 miles away form my work .

1. location. Maximum 10 minutes drive to Aldi/Tesco. Ideally where we are as lots of natural beauty and nice running/cycling routes out the front door.
2. garage - the amount of houses that would have been perfect if they hadn’t done a bloody garage conversion 🤯
3. downstairs living space that is appropriate for the number of bedrooms. Ideally living room, kitchen diner and a separate dining room that could get used as a study/family type area if we wanted.
4. garden big enough that kids can kick a ball around in that still has room for seating. Preferably south facing.

Off road parking is a must in my road. But 2 toilets and a seperate dining room are always on my list. Plus a south facing garden

The utility room upstairs is a recent thing . As long as it has a utility room I’m happy
And an office

Moving isn’t an option for me though .

2 reception rooms
Downstairs toilet
No ensuites

We're looking to move.

So far our main priorities are:

Good sized garden and drive
Detached
Rural but not remote
No more than 40 minutes from work

And on a personal preference level - no bifold doors/open plan layouts/glass ceilinged kitchen extensions and def nothing recently "jacked up"

Location is the most important though.

@Raella50 we rented somewhere temporarily whilst we sold our house and it had no bathroom window.

It was a lovely, big, beautiful bathroom. I didn’t consider the lack of window an issue at all. But it SO was, I absolutely hated it.

@InterestingIris For some reason I read that as you not wanting a bathroom window ha ha! I see why you would want one!