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!

Any evidence that the house has ever been smoked in. It’s actually really hard to properly mitigate.

Neighbors with a messy garden.

No bath!

Also we've had a lot of issues with our Victorian cottage. Definitely going for something newer next time, with a better layout rather than just a straight, long house. I know that's structural but I just wouldn't pick it again. I love my living room but it's basically a corridor to the kitchen, I'd prefer something less open

Tiny kitchen with separate dining room. I prefer a kitchen diner. New kitchens that end in a utility room that faces the garden. Why not have big windows onto the garden? Costly mistake to put right.

Tiny gardens.

Poky master bedrooms with poky en suites. I prefer separate bathrooms. Why anyone wants the steam and smells of a bathroom in their bedroom is beyond me.

@PattyPan

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.

“No Onward Chain” definitely landlord selling with tenants still there, rather than waiting for vacancy for photos. They’ve been kind enough to allow access for photos, they don’t have to tidy up or change their routine to assist landlord.

@mindutopia

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

spiral staircases! I forgot about those! Absolutely.

@FranklySonImTheGaffer

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.

Mice, wasps nests, foxes make it their base and poo (it stinks) rubbish etc. Bindweed growing into your garden and strangling your plants. You have no control over it but does impact your garden enjoyment.

Shared access
Insufficient parking
No garage
Neighbours gardens with trampolines/hot tubs/bar
Lack of storage
New build

@FranklySonImTheGaffer

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.

Messy garden means number of potential issues. From general lack of care (which brings anything from rats, to structural issue on joint walls), to a person possibly antisocial. You never know why it's messy until late, I guess.

A property that has come up for sale regularly or Modernised to within an inch of its life. To me this shouts they either want to recoup the expense or don’t like it after all. Basically a house that has a sudden jump in price after being bought only a few years ago.

Folk are strange.

Subsidence

It’s a good job I’m not currently planning in selling! I have UPVC windows (personally I’d avoid buying somewhere with wood - too much upkeep), I have a north facing garden (far end is a sun trap and the kitchen and rear bedrooms stay cool), wallpaper (I like it and it’s a 1930s house so it suits), paved front garden (parking for two cars), bins out front (terraced house and I don’t want them in my lovely garden), divan beds, no downstairs toilet (main bathroom and en suite), near a bus stop (handy for getting into town without the car if necessary), conservatory (north facing so doesn’t get too hot and is a lovely space that we use all year round).

"No Onward Chain” definitely landlord selling with tenants still there

I've sold 3 times with no onward chain, twice because we were relocating at short notice so moved into rental, the third time because we had already bought our new property without a mortgage.

Oh and my house is pebbledashed, the same as all the houses in this road……

BakeOffRewatch
"Mice, wasps nests, foxes make it their base and poo (it stinks) rubbish etc. Bindweed growing into your garden and strangling your plants. You have no control over it but does impact your garden enjoyment."

You might think my garden looks a state because I manage it for wildlife and for me. This means NO foxes because yes the poo stinks. I don't worry about wasp and bee colonies unless they are near the house, my neighbour who has a model (as in like a model) urban garden has more trouble with them than I do. I don't have rat/mouse issues either because I tightly control my bird feeding and rubbish storage. Thug plants are not allowed to get a foothold because it would upset the balance and i take the seed heads off wind scattered wild plants as a courtesy to my neighbours.

@SparklyLeprechaun

"No Onward Chain” definitely landlord selling with tenants still there

I've sold 3 times with no onward chain, twice because we were relocating at short notice so moved into rental, the third time because we had already bought our new property without a mortgage.

round here its often because the previous resident has gone into res.care.

@Spanielsarepainless

Oh yes, fitted wardrobes, fitted fridge, fitted deep freeze, fitted washing machine, fitted dishwasher. Hope Covid will makes these things less common.

Why would COVID make them less common? Personally, having all the appliances integrated into my classic kitchen, makes it look uncluttered. If I went into a house and saw a selection of unmatched appliances in an otherwise ‘good’ kitchen, I would be put off buying. However, I accept we are all different!

I would think twice about buying a house with:

Open plan layout - I need many spaces.
En suites - I don’t want to poo in a corner of in my bedroom. Or worse, don’t want other people to do it.
Open styled front gardens, the type of estates that don’t have any hedges or walls at the fronts of houses, I like my boundaries defined.

I have bought houses which stank of pets and cigarettes, I’ve never viewed a house without the owner present, I’ve bought a house near a school and one with no parking or permit zones. I’ve bought a house with no working kitchen and one with shared access and a floating freehold. I’ve bought houses no one has cared about for years and ones that have been bodged massively with utterly appalling standards of workmanship. I’ve bought a house which was difficult to view as the people living in it didn’t want to sell and ive bought another one after viewing in the evening whilst the family sat and ate at the kitchen table with one of the adults getting up to show us around. I’ve bought a house from someone who was changing a baby’s dirty nappy on their sofa at the time and I’ve bought a house where everything that could come back bad on the survey did. But we bought it anyway!

Busy or main road.
Facing or overlooked by ugly estate/apartments.
Anything advertised as a four bedroom house where bedrooms 3 and 4 are in the eaves or where the third storey is a loft extension.
Am bored with our house but cannot find a single road in London that I like as much as ours that doesn’t have the issues above!

Pebble dash is weird. I still wonder who looked at a house, looked at the pebbles around and decided to plop them on the wet plaster

Paved over or plastic grass in the garden

I think I’ve seen 30+ houses in the last 6 months. Things that are deal breakers for me are:

• small kitchen (can’t do much about it)
• no toilet downstairs (possibly can do something about it but I couldn’t be arsed)
• main bathroom downstairs
• north facing garden
• ridiculously small 3rd bedroom (if a room can’t fit in a double bed, even at very tight squeeze but has to be a double, it’s not a bedroom for me)
• open plan kitchen/living room - that’s strictly personal preference. I like to be on my own when I’m cooking, it’s my little escape, I usually listen to audiobooks.

Where I live, prices have gone up crazily. We’ve ended up going for a new build because we couldn’t find anything that ticked all the boxes.

@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.

Christ, one wipe down and you're good to go.

Split level lounges
Dark wood doors and skirtings
Jacuzzi baths
Smell of smoke
Overlooked
Shared driveway
Stairs in the lounge
Front door opening directly into front room

@miltonj

No bath!

Also we've had a lot of issues with our Victorian cottage. Definitely going for something newer next time, with a better layout rather than just a straight, long house. I know that's structural but I just wouldn't pick it again. I love my living room but it's basically a corridor to the kitchen, I'd prefer something less open

No bath would definitely put me off, so often the bath has been replaced with a large shower and I would have to reverse that. A lot of these things people would be put off by surely depend on your budget. If you don't have a lot to spend then wanting a drive, for example, would be beyond your means.