If buying a house, what would make you want to walk straight back out?

[JMSA]

I mean it lighthearted-ish, as we probably wouldn’t be quite so rude! But what is an absolute dealbreaker for you?
For me it would be the presence of a Saniflo/macerator toilet. Evil things.

Smell of fags

Dog smell.

Pets.

Are you phobic with snakes? My DH is. I’m not sure it would put me off, tho, I mean, they’d be going with the sellers (hopefully!)

Open plan living
Barn conversion
dark low ceiling cottage
traffic noise

Small of fags, you need to properly gut the house before it goes.
Really rough arse neighbours.
Hardly any natural light.

crap water pressure in showers - I can’t stand washing my hair under a shower that is going to take 5 mins to get the shampoo/conditioner out (obvs other things too, but that’s my random deal breaker!)

Obvious signs of cigarette smoke. It’s almost impossible to get rid of the stink unless you spend
££££ completely redecorating every room and put down new flooring too.

Honestly it would depend on my budget. My first house had no heating, mouldy walls, leaky gutters, suspicious damp and appalling decor....oh and the bathroom smelt of wee. Bit was terraced had no parking and a downstairs bathroom as well. But it was cheap as chips, had nice light and a beautiful stained glass door so I we bought it and did it up, made money and moved on. Current house is a very different and way more expensive story. I was very fussy and willing to walk away from houses that didn't have nice views, drives, big garden, utility rooms, master ensuite, at least 4 bedrooms plus and office downstairs that could also be a bedroom, fireplaces, big kitchens, pavement for the kids to walk to a bus stop, detatched, lots of parking etc. Given the budget I wasn't wanting any structural work but happy to do decorating.

Nicotine stained walls and a ever pervading smell of cigarettes 🤢🤢🤢

Smell of damp, loud people who want to party, had it all with the unemployed and sahm mum's creating nuisance, noise and letting unruly children be naughty. Never buy a ex housing association/council house- be veryvwary of the surrounding especially if alot of children and unemployed. It's a whole level of nuisance. Been there done that and burnt the t-shirt. Some people have no respect for the area they live in.

What country are you in ?
Downstairs full bathrooms are unusual in UK

Smell of damp.

My mum bought a house that stank of cat wee. It was a terrace in a fantastic location with a big garden. The owner was an elderly lady with older cats and she’d stopped being able to manage them. It had soaked through the floorboards. But my dad had gone bankrupt, she could afford it (just) and she knew it would gain value. So, endless scrubbing with Jeyes Fluid, some patching of the worst boards, then reconstructing the house, alterations, painting everything. Huge amount of work on a shoestring over several years. My dad nearly died of neglected pleurisy, my mum was working 50 hours a week, it was like something out of Dickens. The house sold for about twice what she bought it for. I don’t have happy memories of it. But it was still worth it.

I did once walk out of a viewing. I loved the house. Loved the garden.

Then looked over the garden fence....

Massive trampoline, broken kids toys scattered about, dodgy dog jumping up at the fence, loads of dog poo, shin-length grass, a pile of bagged up rubbish.

A nightmare waiting to happen!

Neighbours with a flagpole.
Lots of badly converted and poorly maintained HMOs very nearby - wrong windows and doors for the period of the house, multiple bins in a scruffy front garden. Things that indicate greedy landlords.

Lack of natural light. I viewed a flat once, no window in the kitchen. Nope nope nope.

When it’s been renovated to sell and done really cheaply - cheap grey carpet, pale grey walls, cheap white basics range bathroom and kitchen. The owner has probably bought it as a crap heap and just polished it as quickly and cheaply as possible. There’s no telling if they’ve done the stuff you can’t see properly.

Damp or sewer smell, missing walls, hearing neighbours through the walls, area around being a tip.

Busy A road running past the property
Electricity pylons very close by
Hot Tubs and trampolines in neighbours garden, it usually mean noise especially in the Summer

My last house was ex-Council, it didn't look like one & wasn't on an estate.
I only found out after I'd spent a lot of cash on a survey & legal fees !
It was fine, the small cul-de-sac was mixed, & the only troublesome neighbour was an owner.
So I wouldn't necessarily be put off again.

Dogs.....

If a toilet - or even worse the only bathroom, is accessed via the kitchen.

If you have to go through the house to get to the back garden.

No parking.

Oh yes grey everything! I know it can be ripped out but I thought that god awful phase of decorating your house to look like a Royal Navy battleship has long gone....

Stop picking on Saniflo toilets! They are not all bad.
We have four toilets two of which are Saniflo. One is in my en-suite and no one else is allowed to use it; it behaves very nicely. The other is at the top floor and is really only used occasionally by guests who are warned not to put any foreign objects in it.
We have had them both for years, fine for limited use, but I would not want to rely on a Saniflo as the only toilet.

Hmo or dodgy neighbours