New home MUST HAVES....

[coffeestains]

DH and I are looking for a (3 bed max) house to buy finally!! What are the things that you think are must haves...I'm not talking about luxuries such as a swimming pool or gym but rather things like near a high street, near a park, a gym, or maybe a tiny garden, a study area, separate kitchen as opposed to an open plan etc
What has made you really happy (or unhappy) about your home?
TIA!

Off road parking and garage.
Large garden and detached so that you have a decent space from neighbours.
Separate dining room.
3 double bedrooms, not two doubles and a box.
Utility area, room or cupboard.
No ensuites.

Currently building at mo. my must haves was an open plan living kitchen area but also a separate living snug area. separate rooms that can be bedrooms but used as offices for both of us. we can't work in same room. laundrey room upstairs with space for a hanging clothes horse. no more trapsing up and down. huge patio doors at back. no driving around the back of the house using the back door all the time (any irish country living people will understand. People come in the front door ) cloakroom built in the hall to store shoes bags and coats. Good insulation to save on heating. Still debating on stoves are allowed with our planning permission but would love never have to log sticks and coal in again

Recently done a big build/reno.

some things I love about our home even though we are still on a part building site with dust everywhere and most rooms still unfinished.

in no particular order

proximity to amazing schools
neighbours who are fabulous and a positive friendly neighbourhood area
underfloor heating on the whole of the ground floor.
real fire in snug for winter cosiness
a kitchen with a large totally clear island (no hob or sink on it)
lots of kitchen storage and big drawers instead of cupboards.
a quooker with boiling and fizzy water
utility/laundry space at the front of the house away from living areas/kitchen.
hot and cold outside taps for dog shower/paddling pool filling.

Detached.

Preferably no shared boundaries with neighbours. I know this isn't often possible outside the countryside, but as a mimlnium, no one's garden backing onto ours.

Plenty of parking (minimum five cars).

At least two bathrooms, preferably neither of them ensuite.

A loo on every floor that has a bedroom.

A dining room that isn't part of the kitchen.

A laundry room/utility room that isn't part of the kitchen.

A large (1/3 acre or more) garden.

We were lucky to find a house that (almost) meets all these criteria. We share a very small bit of boundary with one neighbour. The rest of the property is surrounded by fields.

Last house was location. We are a few mins from a station, 10 min walk to a small high street, very pretty little town, not far from the sea, excellent company.

But essentials are off road parking, a bit of outside space. Not hugely overlooked. And detached preferably

Hallway and/or porch.
A utility or pantry space.
Master bedroom room for a super king-size bed.

And I have a yen for a landing office. A sunlit spot in the house without taking up another space.

Detached
Good school catchment area
Three good sized bedrooms + a study
Parking
Leafy neighbourhood
Within walking distance to town
Not overlooked

Don't particularly care where the garden faces, whether the house has an ensuite or space for dishwashers or islands.
We are all different!

Driveway
Quiet area no busy roads
walking distance to village (in my case)
private garden - not overlooked

I love - in my current house - double drive way, kitchen dinner, study and double sink!

In my next house I would like a downstairs loo and a hallway (mine is a tiny square with stairs!).

Well our first house our must-haves were at least two floors, driveway and garden because if we were spending just short of 200 grand, that’s the minimum it should have. It had to be commutable to work too.

We ended up just barely meeting our must-haves so when we moved our must-haves were basically things we didn’t like or had grown to dislike about our old house. Our must-haves for the current house were: detached, newish but not new build, double driveway and space for visitors, good schools and walking distance to them, walking distance to shops, estate, manageable garden, separate wfh spaces, utility, upstairs and downstairs toilet, not much work needing doing, second living space.

I have a landing office. I love it. But without fail, every single woman who has seen it on a video call says “ooh, I love your fairy lights” and every single man has said “why are you sitting at the bottom of the stairs?”*

*this is actually giving them too much credit. Half of them say why are you sat at the bottom of the stairs, because that’s the kind of person I have to work with.

Parking and ease of access on and off drive.

This

We're currently looking and our criteria
No major work needed ( we saw one house with 3 kitchens)
Enough bedrooms for visiting family.
Large kitchen
At least 2 reception rooms.
Patio/deck for barbecues.

Walking distance to local shops and bus stops
Detached
Driveway
Garage for storage
Separate reception rooms/not open plan
Downstairs cloakroom
Garden
Enough bedrooms to have a dressing room and/or study/craft room

• Parking
• Good storage - I've moved from a 2 bed to a 3 bed and it doesn't have enough storage, bloody ridiculous.
• Decent boiler
• Good water pressure - no one wants a dribbly shower.
• Second toilet

No major work needed ( we saw one house with 3 kitchens)

Surely that’s a good thing- you can have one redone, still have one to use, and then get rid of the two you don’t need. Painless.

Parking, a low maintenance garden, hallway, no stairs in the livingroom, downstairs toilet. Semi detached or end terrace (budget wouldn't stretch to detached for me.)
Decent transport links. Local shops for essential

I wanted a hall because we didn't have one in our tiny first home. Also wanted a bigger garden and my partner wanted a drive for parking but I wasn't that bothered. We didn't overly think anything else apart from location!

Things I do like about the house - small shops within a few minutes walk, great park on doorstep, not overlooked, garden always sunny (didn't even think about that, so it was luck!), downstairs toilet (we never use it but means visitors don't have to traipse upstairs), big living room.

Things I don't like - all the bedrooms are too small which became noticeable more when kids got bigger. House is very cold in winter (but lovely in summer) pebbledash has caused problems, I would avoid that in future.

If I was to move now I'd put these on my must-have.......
(Aged 50+, single with young adult son + girlfriend and two dogs)

Two large bedrooms a 3rd, don't mind a box room, that I could use as a WFH study/wardrobe room
At least 1 en-suite shower room - other bathroom must also have a shower and a bath
Sunny/light aspects to main living areas
Downstairs loo
Large utility room
Decent size hall
Kitchen large enough for dishwasher and table/island, access to garden
Living room big enough for a table (if kitchen has an island)
Not open plan
Good transport links
Medium sized garden - would patio at least 1/2 of it anyway

If the sky was the limit......

Detached
Jacuzzi bath and walk in shower in en-suite
Huge kitchen with lots of work surfaces, built in appliances incl microwave (why oh why are standard cupboards too small)
Drawers not cupboards
Stairs wide enough for a stair lift (future proofing as I have mobility issues)
Additional "snug" - small living room for son and GF - they are gamers!
Walk in pantry off kitchen
Near sandy beach with year round access for dogs
Mud room off garage - for washing sandy dogs
Underfloor heating
Open fire in living room
French doors from living room to garden
Dining room
Attached garage with plumbing/storage/electricity and direct access to house
As much storage as could be created

Funnily enough a lot of the red lines we thought we had when looking weren't in fact that important, and there are some things which definitely should have been must-haves (which we luckily ended up with anyway).

Separate office space for me, a road quiet and non-trafficky enough to have windows open at night, some outdoor space of some sort and an open-plan kitchen/dining room were our must-haves. Also, a house structurally sound enough that absolutely zero renovation was required.

We got all of those except the open-plan kitchen and in retrospect I don't think we'd have wanted it. Two toilets, however, was not a red line for us but in practice is extremely useful.

And if anything "some outdoor space of some sort" didn't go for enough. We thought we'd end up with a little balcony but having a little garden instead has been life-changing.

The real must-have is a house in a good state. So many friends bought places that needed surprise work done on them, on top of the work they already knew they'd have to do. Some of them have lived in building sites for years after buying. I had no interest in that whatsoever. Poke and prod and ask questions about anything that seems in a bad state! Pay attention to your surveyor's report and get it done twice if necessary!

Ultimately though buying a house should be about developing and exercising self-knowledge. If your must-haves are based on what everyone else has or doesn't have, you won't end up with something that's perfect for you.

For me it's:
Decent parking
Garage
Good sized kitchen with either table or island
En-suite
Downstairs loo
Good sized garden
Nice hall.

Really depends on location and type of house I would have thought?

My universal must haves are a manageable garden with a good aspect. I think light is very important and often people don't realise that either their house is going to be baking on one side all summer and in cold darkness the other all winter. Where rooms are in relation to the sun really matters to me. Also walkable access to good public transport.

In a terrace I would look for side-access (but not a house on the corner) and decent fences, a loft extension or extendable loft. Good floors too. A kitchen/diner but not open plan and a sink that faces a window. A box room that is actually suitable as a small bedroom/office. A combie boiler and sound electrics. A downstairs loo would be a boon. As many original features as possible. Ideally structurally sound and a utility room would be fab, but unlikely in our price bracket.

In a detatched house, again, clearly defined dboundaries and a good aspect, nice flow throughout house and no clunky add-ons (dark dining rooms in the middle of the house because of extensions, ropey sunrooms, kitchen renos with a toilet in a cupboard etc).

My deal breakers would be end of a street or on a corner (too exposed/busy), too near shops, garage or main road, weird shared path and access arrangements. Primary schools are fine to be located near (traffic controls and quiet summers), but secondaries and colleges not so much. Also not keen on open plan.

We could never afford anything that had been "done up" as in new kitchen, back extension etc, but also don't want to be in a fixer upper.

Thinking about it though these all very specific to time of life. If you had asked me 20 years ago, nurseries and schools would have been top of the list. Currently "my must have" would be living somewhere where not everyone is redoing their entire house all the time (3 years into next door's neverending rennovations and now the other side are starting on their extension!) Argh.

Near good schools