What puts you off buying a house?

[notwhyicamehere]

Other than structural things or location- which can't be changed, what are the seemingly little things that would put you off buying a house?
For me, seeing tumble dryer or vacuum in a random room screams not enough space/ storage. As well as loads of bathroom clutter.

AIBU to dismiss houses based on things like this?

Looking to sell soon so looking to avoid those mistakes!

When i buy my next house I will properly check the following and in no particular order.. because I failed miserably with this house and had a lot of extra expense which could have been avoided..

How many electric sockets per room
Check the windows open properly
Check the boiler out thoroughly. Find out exactly how old it is
Have a damn good look at the roof
Check the bedrooms for signs of leaks. If they are newly decorated be suspicious.
Check the Internet if poss
Have a good look at the garage door
Ask questions about everything
Check the neighbours out
Actually I would also pay for a proper survey because people tell lies
Make sure the vendor does not leave furniture behind in the garage and that the bins will be emptied.
Check the toilets flush well and turn the shower on.
Check taps for drips

When I bought this house it had been empty for a while. I asked the vendor if i could rent it before I bought it and they said no. If I had rented it I would never have bought it.

Net curtains
Wallpaper
Carpeted kitchens or bathrooms

It wasn't relevant when we bought our house so we are stuck with it but a decent broadband, we can only get fibre to cabinet type so are stuck with about 33 Mbps which is ok but wouldn't be for lots of game playing, 4K streaming or lots of WFH.

Also a decent mobile signal to the house or you will be forever stuck with one of those BT type house phones

Evidence of difficult neighbours.

Fake grass
Small garden
Downstairs bathroom
Difficult to park
Too much stuff creates cramped feeling

Net curtains? We bought our last house from the net curtain Queen ( there were even net curtains over the obscured glass in the front and back doors). Apart from having to remove all the little hooks I don't understand why it would be a problem.
Next door's curtains closed? Don't understand that one either.
However every time we visited our current house the patio doors were open and the owner sat outside 'to keep out of your way'. When we moved in it turned out that they didn't lock properly and were a security risk. We had to replace them which was an added expense on top of all the things we knew about.

I can't understand why anything that is a furnishing or stuff like carpet is a problem as surely that is all part of making the house your own when you live in it. Obviously things like kitchens and bathrooms are a bit more bothersome and expensive to change but I tend to concentrate on the things that can't be changed, usually at any price.

Evidence of bodged DIY for sure! Looked at a house where the owner had tried to do all his own DIY but mostly badly and unfinished, some electrics poking out where they shouldn’t have been, conservatory “repairs” were anything but, hole in roof where he’d shoved a new flue through it. We thought, if that’s what we can see, what can we NOT see?!

Shared driveway.
Near a school or pub
North facing garden
No off road parking
No garage
Overlooked back garden
No side access to back garden

We've always taken on a bit of a project and the house we are in now was a filthy dump - but if we were choosing between two houses that were very similar in all aspect apart from one had woodchip and one didnt, id pick the non woodchip one.

There is a certain bleach smell on entry to homes that I’ve experienced regularly in my job that is aimed to cover pet smells and is in certain areas. These homes have been decorated in a modern way, but very cheaply, with knocks and scrapes from pets and children. Always brown or black leather sofas and huge TVs but no other furniture. The neighbours then seem to have the excess furniture in their front gardens. I’d avoid that too! The bleach smell used to stay in my hair all day.

Bathroom that is only accessible via the kitchen / opens directly onto it

Garden that's only accessible via the kitchen - I want to be able to let DDog out not via the kitchen.

Small kitchen

Signs of damp - next time I move I swear I'm going to buy a handheld damp meter to check everywhere on the viewing.

Neighbouring house covered in England flags or Union Jacks

By the way, on the BT type house phones Ofcom are abolishing the normal landlines from about 2025 and people will have to plug their landline phone into some kind of modem (I bet the sound quality is much worse) I believe - www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0032/137966/future-fixed-telephone-services.pdf

We would be stuffed without our landline phone as there is no mobile signal within the house and only limited in the garden.

Neighbours with front garden full of kids toys.

No private parking.

Long dark corridor.

Dog smell.

Smoking smell - though tbf I grew up with a chain smoking father and after he died mum redid lots of the house - no smell lingered at all as it was all in the soft furnishings.

Overlooked. I know you can't totally avoid but our old house had a mature garden that meant there was only one corner where the neighbours might see you which was fine. DSis just bought a new build and it's so overlooked its taken the shine off for her as she hasn't really considered it before moving in.

My house has washing machine and tumble dryer upstairs on what is really a rather massive landing (with seating, storage etc)- there would be room in the kitchen but why have them there and carry the laundry up and down all the time?

From that Ofcom report

However, some who rely on services such as security alarms and telecare devices, and those who have only a landline telephone service, may require additional support to help them update their services

And

The migration will also impact services – such as security and fire alarms, telecare devices, retail payment terminals and equipment for monitoring and controlling networks – whichrely on some attributes of the PSTN that may not be fully replicated in VoIP-based platforms. This could have implications for both domestic and business customers, as well as public sector users, including some organisations delivering critical national infrastructure. A carefully managed transition will be vital to ensure people experience as little disruption as possible and are protected from harm.

People parking on the pavement/kerbs, really narrow roads that you breathe in when you pass another car. No front garden or driveway. If the garden was tiny, only a patio or fake grass. I don’t like open plan, I like to be able to shut the kitchen door and leave the mess and smells. Not be able to play musical instruments without pissing off the neighbours. No bath in the bathroom.

My husband is all about the layout, so no porch or proper hallway he vetos, rooms that are essentially corridors to the next room. No garage or the ability to build one would be a hard No.

When we saw our house with an agent it smelled of dog wee, garden was overgrown with nettles, parking was a grass bank, nasty gas fires, there was a narrow galley kitchen with a serving hatch- so much that was sufficient to put people off for 6 months while it sat on the market. But house and garden were massive, it had awesome views and they accepted a substantial reduction to sell. Ripping up the piss carpet wasn’t hard and there turned out to be an original wood floor underneath.

Can someone explain why neighbours with messy gardens would put them off please?

Because they look messy! I'd want to overlook a well kept manicured garden and well cared for house. I'd definitely make an assumption about the neighbours (rightly or wrongly).

A neglected space would put me off completely. As for leaving a domestic garden to go wild - not for me. It's no more attractive than letting your hair 'go wild' because you are saving water and shampoo for environmental reasons.
Flowers and trees attract wildlife and birds into the garden, there is not need to turn a small domestic space in a 'wild' area. Mostly gardens left like that are due to laziness, nothing to do with 'environmental' reasons.

Japanese knotweed in the garden

Wow - you have serious issues with that problem.

@StoneofDestiny

Japanese knotweed in the garden

Wow - you have serious issues with that problem.

It's absolutely correct problem. I wouldn't take house with it in a garden unless price reflected that. It's incredibly damaging pest. There is a reason government can fine you if you spread it

Messy gardens can mean messy lives. I’m not talking a lawn that goes two weeks without a mow or an uncared for rose bush, I’m talking rubbish, broken toys, litter etc. Three doors down from us is like this, it’s awful (as is the swearing, door slamming, screeching kids). The council (yep) gave them a skip last month that they had a week to fill (they did) so it looks a bit better but now going the same way as before.

Open plan

Anything that can be changed or things like clutter would not put me off. You have to see past all that but things like the state of the neighbours houses, storage space, parking, busy road and lack of local amenities would put me off.