Asking what puts you off when viewing a house to buy?

[DarkGreen]

We have had our house valued but we are just getting the house ready to sell. Touching it up bits and tidying up.

For context its a 2 bed terraced house on a country lane with no driveway but space on the Road to park outside the house. It is an old house.

What areas and things should we focus on? What would you look for and what would put you off?

A lot of people don't have much imagination. Give me a house that has been well maintained and dated in a good location and I can replace the kitchen and bathroom, windows decoration etc.

Large rooms, plenty of light and storage are a must.

I've bought from dog owners several times it's never been a problem.

Remove some of your own possessions that you can live without. De clutter.

Post a Rightmove link- a) because people will give constructive criticism and b) I’m looking for a 2 bedroom cottage

Things that put me off- rooms painted ghastly bright colours

Cigarette smoke/smelling of smelly cooking. Not sure tbh I can look past a lot.

@ZaraW

A lot of people don't have much imagination. Give me a house that has been well maintained and dated in a good location and I can replace the kitchen and bathroom, windows decoration etc.

Large rooms, plenty of light and storage are a must.

I've bought from dog owners several times it's never been a problem.

Lots of people don't have the funds to replace and refurb. I have the most active imagination. I saw THE house. It would require 30k+. I didn't have that🤷🏻 Imagination doesn't pay for new kitchen like that

working needing to be done in every single room.

I think i must have a bit more 'vision' than the average viewer because I am not blinded by clutter. I look at the walls and the floors. Do they need to be replastered? Is the bathroom liveable with for a while if the house needs a new kitchen urgently.

A few things that’s put me off when viewing:

• Lino/vinyl flooring in bedrooms (or anywhere really)
• Oddly designed/built extensions. Saw one where the garage had been converted and a front door added, so there were two front doors and the space was unused and really narrow
• Useless estate agents that don’t know answers to basic questions
• Obviously broken doors/cupboard doors, especially when it awkwardly leads to a door coming off the hinges as you look behind it
• Family members sat staring at you as you walk round

Tricky one to answer as sometimes the shabbiest of houses have such a good feeling about them that you end up overlooking what you thought you could never compromise on!

I think for me though, a lot of it comes down to the potential cost of making it “my” home. If I’ve put everything into my deposit and secured a mortgage based on the value of the house, I’m unlikely to have £8-10k spare of my own funds to replace a kitchen and bathroom. If however, the house is 10k more expensive but the kitchen and bathroom are great then I’d go for it as I’m not having to find the cash from somewhere to pay for them, I’m paying for them ‘through’ my mortgage. Houses with potential are fantastic if you have the cash available to pay for making the potential, real.

Garden - a bit of life to it through planting is always nice. Gardens are expensive things to establish, that would also be part of my budget consideration.

Oo this thread interests me. My family have is currently about to go up for the market. We have 2 things listed on here a dog and artex ceilings. However we’ve been inundated with people already offering and it’s not even an active listing yet.

@CharlotteRose90

Oo this thread interests me. My family have is currently about to go up for the market. We have 2 things listed on here a dog and artex ceilings. However we’ve been inundated with people already offering and it’s not even an active listing yet.

I have never been put off by artex ceilings - all my houses have had it, but just the bobbly type, never the huge swirls etc.

Location location location - I tend to spend a lot of time on all days of the week and hours of the day near the house so try and see if I can find out about the neighbourhood generally
What’s nearby?
How overlooked house & garden is
Parking
Garden and large plants close by
Damp
Tbh unless it’s disastrous the cleanliness/decor doesn’t bother me much, I’ll sort that out

can nobody see past a bit of worn out carpet when viewing a home that ticks all the other boxes ?

10 years ago I'd have been totally with you on this.

Now as a WOHsingleM I'd be thinking: Carpet layers need an empty room to work in. Exchange complete and move on same day, can't afford to rent and pay for 2 moves while I decorate and re-carpet, can't afford a big enough house that there's a spare room to pile everything into while I do it one room at a time. Not strong enough to move the wardrobes by myself... Nope, the purple shagpile really is a deal breaker!

It's not just "seeing past". One couple's minor DIY task may be a bridge too far for another person.

Far too much personal clutter everywhere. Too much chintz/nik naks.
Any sign at all of laundry or clothes left lying around, manky towels/toiletries cluttering up a bathroom.
If it stunk of fags- would definitely never buy.
Too much of a personal impact with decoration i.e. neon pink walls - can be very very hard to see beyond it.

@ZaraW

A lot of people don't have much imagination. Give me a house that has been well maintained and dated in a good location and I can replace the kitchen and bathroom, windows decoration etc.

Large rooms, plenty of light and storage are a must.

I've bought from dog owners several times it's never been a problem.

I think it's not only lack of imagination, it's lack of knowledge and/or fear of having to do work (which is understandable particularly those with young children). Sorry to mention Phil and Kirsty on here (I know plenty of people detest them and it's TV not reality), but the number of times you see them show someone a perfectly fine house, in their budget and preferred location and with plenty of space and they shudder at the decor and go 'we'd need to rip out this kitchen, far too much work, we don't have £30k to do that/we're too busy to take on a project' when in fact said kitchen is perfectly serviceable, maybe 10 years old, and could be made to fit their taste very simply by replacing or repainting the cupboard doors, maybe new tiling or flooring or worktops for a fraction of the cost and hassle they are imagining. Plus the vendor is probably willing to knock £10k off the asking price so actually it costs them nothing (although people tend to view taking out a lower mortgage as not actually saving them money, bizarrely). Or, shock horror, they could live with less than perfect decor for a few years (look up the Mitchell and Webb sketch about the avocado bathroom suite for a giggle on this topic).

I don't know, I find it weird but that's me. Of course if 2 identical houses are priced the same and in one the decor/smell/ambiance is more to my taste than the other then I'll buy that one. But if one is £20k cheaper or 10% bigger and I can easily remedy the superficial issues with a weekends DIY or cleaning or spend £5k smartening it up then I'd go for that every time, it's basically free money to me, why wouldn't you

Oh yes- smelling of wet dogs definitely off-putting too!

@DameEdnasNeighbourhoodWatch

I am shocked at some of these replies !! The two houses we have bought and massively profitted on have had loads of issues - can nobody see past a bit of worn out carpet when viewing a home that ticks all the other boxes ? Also, as for pot plants having to be taken to the tip - unless there's a back story of mobility issues/no car - what's the big deal ? Astounded that someone would be all away from a house purchase based on a tiny issue like that !! To me, if the house is the right price and location, with off road parking, I can overlook almost anything. Wrong price or location however, nothing is going to sort that.

I think it depends on whether you can live with things in the interim or not.

Our house was pretty naff - painted wood-chip on every wall of every room in pastel colours (light orange, mint green, etc). Carpets in every room (inc bathrooms - yuck) were all plain, but random colours, and in pretty good condition with occasional marks/stains, but not threadbare. Our main decision was whether we could actually live in it whilst we did the work needed, and the answer was yes, we could. If the walls had had ridiculous wallpaper like mock brick, or if the carpets had been red/green tartan or other heavy patterns, then the answer would have been no. Basically, none of the house was to our taste in terms of decoration and carpets/curtains, and it would all have to replaced, but in the meantime, it wouldn't offend us, wouldn't give us headaches, etc. In fact, it became a bit of a laugh and conversation starter with visitors.

We'd seen plenty of other houses where we really couldn't have moved in before we'd ripped things out, such as red/green tartan carpet!

The smell of any pets, cats, dogs, hamsters, rabbits etc.
Cigarette smoke
Stale room smell
Net curtains
Unfinished DIY jobs
Unkempt gardens with dead plants in plants and weeds in the drive
Artex ceilings with swirly patterns
Flock wallpaper

Bad quality video but mitchell and webb on this topic

@stuckhereontheinside

I agree, the house I bought has thay small bobble after. Its non offence compared to the swirly pattern.

I actually think it gives the house a bit of texture from the typical modern look of all walls being perfectly bland lol

Cat flaps
Animal food bowls and beds
Hideous paint. I viewed a house where all the gloss paint was bright blue.
Scruffy neighbour's gardens
Tatty cars in bits outside
Conservatories. I viewed on which was built half over a pond.
Grubby bedding
Curtains badly fitted or half falling down
Noisy neighbours
Barking dogs nearby

No cooker hood

Nothing except things that I can’t change so location, parking etc.

Everything else I’d go with.

Lots of people don't have the funds to replace and refurb. I have the most active imagination. I saw THE house. It would require 30k+. I didn't have that🤷🏻 Imagination doesn't pay for new kitchen like that

But lots of times the need for a refurb is reflected in the price.
Surely when house hunting you look at ‘finished’ / perfect houses at the top of your budget, or ‘need updating’ at various levels below your budget, and then decide if you are up for the work or not.

MN is full of armchair property buyers critiquing the position of cushions or the vendors inability to provide the double garage and drive in drive out drive that they would never live without.

Out in the real world people have a priority such as a school catchment, number of bedrooms, they have criteria, e.g garden, off street parking etc etc, they have a budget, and they deploy common sense, pragmatism and the ability to look past ban ordinary level of evidence of domestic life.

(I have bought and sold 5 properties in various levels of ‘in need of refurb’)

@CaraDuneRedux

can nobody see past a bit of worn out carpet when viewing a home that ticks all the other boxes ?

10 years ago I'd have been totally with you on this.

Now as a WOHsingleM I'd be thinking: Carpet layers need an empty room to work in. Exchange complete and move on same day, can't afford to rent and pay for 2 moves while I decorate and re-carpet, can't afford a big enough house that there's a spare room to pile everything into while I do it one room at a time. Not strong enough to move the wardrobes by myself... Nope, the purple shagpile really is a deal breaker!

It's not just "seeing past". One couple's minor DIY task may be a bridge too far for another person.

I have to agree with that. For us, we bought as a newly married couple with no kids and were willing to renovate, either doing things ourselves, or getting tradesmen in. We were both moving in with few possessions, virtually no furniture, etc as we had both been living at our family homes beforehand. When we moved in, it was literally a car load from me and a car load from OH, and that was it. Rooms were empty except the lounge and bedroom and we only had the bar minimum of "begs and borrows" in those. Having tradesmen in was easy as we could quickly move between rooms as necessary, weren't constantly moving possessions around etc. Once we'd had the messy work done (new bathrooms, new kitchen, partial rewiring, etc)., we did a room at a time, i.e. stripping the paper, re-papering, painting, then chucking out the carpets, leaving each room, in turn, empty for new carpets, then new curtains, etc. It took a couple of years, but we eventually finished the house and only then did we start buying furniture etc, and have our child.

As years have passed, and we've wanted to do basic modernisation, such as re-papering, new carpets, etc., it's a ball ache having to move the furniture and possessions to squeeze into other rooms. So much so, that we're living with rooms we'd really like to change, but really can't face doing it!

We really, really, couldn't do move to another "do-er upper", now that we have lots of furniture, lots of possessions, our son, etc etc. We looked at houses a while ago, and were definitely looking for something ready to move into with minimal work. Having been through renovations, having suffered at the hands of unreliable/shoddy tradesmen, we really don't want to go down that route again.

A lot of these messages really aren’t helpful as they aren’t things you can change ‘quickly’ or even at all, such as the type of house you own. Also, if the estate agent has taken pictures already, there’s really no point in investing in brand new carpets etc unless the pictures make them look totally different to real life.
We bought a house in need of complete renovation. It had been smoked in, animals had lived there, and loads of clutter upon viewing. We cared that it was structurally sound, which it was. Now it’s a completely different house, no smell of smoke when you walk in as we don’t smoke, no animal smells etc as no animals currently live here. But of course we had it completely renovated (back to brick) and redecorated and that got rid of those smells. So those smells can be removed but with work- if you’re buying a house you intend to completely renovate I cant really see why smells like that would bother you on viewing..! But if you are marketing the house as completely ready to move in to, then it does need to be in good condition. Then again, one persons idea of ready to movement in to is brand new everything’s, another persons idea is “well we could live with a dated kitchen for a year as long as it is clean” so
You really cannot win in some cases.
But a lot of people on here have a long long list which makes me think they have viewed a LOT of houses. How are you affording to move so often, either you’re buying cheap properties (in which case you can’t really expect a long list of requirements to be met) or you’re just viewing a LOT before settling on a long term home, which then I understand you might have a long list of no no’s!!

Damp. The smell of it. Sight of it. Sight of obvious attempts to hide it. I hate damp.

Smell of dog. It lingers. Hate it.

Pretence that a tiny boxroom is a standard single bedroom, or that a living room is a bedroom.

Storage heaters. No gas supply.

The only other things putting us off would be anything less than outstanding schools in the area as we hope to start a family soon so schools are a must have.

You need to be realistic about this. If you've not yet started a family then you're looking at a minimum of 5 years between now and when your future child starts school. In that time, an outstanding school can drop into special measures. My kids went to a good but not outstanding school, and they came out really well. I found that the atmosphere in the school was caring, whereas a nearby outstanding school had a reputation for manipulating things so they got a significant number of academically able kids and very little SEN. These were primaries by the way.