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!

North facing garden.
Downstairs bathroom.
No driveway.
Noisy neighbours.
Shower in the bathroom with no bath.

No @cardibach I don’t care about clutter, what I care about is when it looks like the owners can’t be bothered to look after the place. If they can’t be bothered make a modicum of effort and throw away actual rubbish to take the pictures to sell the place then they probably haven’t taken good care of it and I don’t have the money to do up everything they’ve probably neglected. Here’s a link, it looks like squatters live there rather than responsible homeowners! www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/57981663/
Lack of floor plan is also annoying on that listing since it’s not clear what you’re looking at.

Wow it’s amazing any houses sell at all

So many of these are incredibly petty, you’re never going to get a perfect house. Most things can be fixed or changed, or you realise it’s a compromise rather than writing the place off completely.

For me, overlooked garden is biggest issue - cant live with that or change it. Agree with bad parking situations too or overcrowded streets/neighbours on top of you. These things are a compromise too far.

-near a busy road
-house/garden visible to other people
-no playroom
-no space for a table in the kitchen
-small drive
-urban/suburban location

Not much, but only buy renovation projects.

@CallMeCleo

I'd never buy one of those houses that has only one bathroom and that's through the kitchen. Imagine waking in the night and needing a pee and having to go downstairs and through the kitchen to have one!

I do it all the time. I only have one downstairs bathroom through the kitchen. 1930s house and is fairly standard round here. I love my house. Appreciate its not for everyone

@Spanielsarepainless

I don't want to be using appliances where someone else has had their sticky fingers. Irrational perhaps but no one said the reasons had to be reasonable. And fitted kitchen equipment is frequently poor quality and impossible to replace.

I think exactly the opposite, fitted appliances are often high quality (all ours are bosch) they are not impossible to replace just expensive...ao.com are charging £90 for a fitted appliance to be fitted at the moment.

Scruffy houses and gardens next door . Anything inside the house can be changed but you can’t have any control over the neighbours.

@pattypan it could be much worse.... to me that house says 'being sold by landlord, tenants didn't feel like tidying up to help get themselves evicted'. It's all the clothes drying in bedrooms - makes me think there are several individual households.

Bodged DIY or decorating makes me very suspicious though. You know they've been too tight to do proper maintenance.

@IsThePopeCatholic

Plastic / upvc windows Divan beds Pelmets on windows

@IsThePopeCatholic I’m another one that doesn’t understand why the sellers type of bed will put you off, it’s not like they leave it for you. Why does a divan bed put you off?

A bedroom advertised as a double but is so small that the only way that you can get a double bed in is if you have one side against a wall.

I really shouldn't read these threads I just end up feeling like my beloved home is a load of old shit.

We all like different things. And that's ok.

Brilliant thread OP! We are selling our house at the moment and so loving it!
Interesting about the North facing garden... ours is north ish facing and gets sun all day every day all over. Its amazing! So shouldn't always be a no! We viewed one on the otherside of the close which had south facing garden which got shaded for most of the day due to houses behind!

Neighbours. We’re looking to retire early and move rurally. Roll on.

[quote EpitomeofAnOldBattle]@pattypan it could be much worse.... to me that house says 'being sold by landlord, tenants didn't feel like tidying up to help get themselves evicted'. It's all the clothes drying in bedrooms - makes me think there are several individual households.

Bodged DIY or decorating makes me very suspicious though. You know they've been too tight to do proper maintenance.[/quote]
Yup, definitely tenanted. They don’t want to move, do they?

Bad kitchens with no room for dishwasher, too small bedrooms ( that won’t fit double bed).
Messy houses

I used to think location and garden aspect were the only things which mattered. But we saw a great house which seemed perfect for us....but we didn’t buy it because a previous extension had been done right up to the boundary which meant the only rear access was through the house. No gate at the back either. The thought of window cleaners dragging their stuff through the house along with asking the neighbour nicely for access to their garden if any work needed doing made it the deal breaker.

I am a hobby EA site browser. Whenever I look at a listing my first thought is ok what are they not showing me? what is there no picture of?

Dado rails, picture rails, artex ceilings, wood paneling
Lack of a bath
Not enough space for all appliances (eg separate washer and dryer)
Badly done diy - if it's obvious the plastering is DIY, for example, you never know what other stuff they've done badly

I am fascinated by the number of people who have said pvc windows.

I assume they want wooden sash windows? Where I live that is really unusual (unless they are old and rotten).

@IsThePopeCatholic

Plastic / upvc windows Divan beds Pelmets on windows

I don't understand the vendors possessions being a problem, unless you're planning to buy fully furnished then surely the beds will be gone by the time you move in? Same with pelmets, just take them down!

Those dreadful stone/brick fireplaces.

A big garden, because neither of us are interested in gardening.
No parking, because we are always going to have two cars.
Location. Sounds obvious, but we knew we wanted to live in a proper village, and definitely not on an estate. We were prepared to compromise on lots of stuff, including size, but not on this.

Decor, on the other hand was completely irrelevant to us. It can be changed.

For me, no parking / opportunity to add parking, modern glossy kitchen and owners who smoke would put me off.

Can someone explain why neighbours with messy gardens would put them off please? We bought our first house 6 months ago and the house we back on to let's their lawn become massively overgrown. DH is getting annoyed but it doesn't effect us so I don't get it.

Spiral staircases. Mezzanines. Open plan. Only one reception room.