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.

Turning up to a viewing and having a police cordon around the house is quite off putting. We just kept driving 🤣

We did leave a viewing pretty quickly after spotting an enormous patch on the ceiling that had clearly been badly repaired/painted over that the estate agent “couldn’t see”.
Also in our renting days, left a viewing as the flat was absolutely filthy, kitchen was inches in grease and all the ceilings were yellow.
I’m always super suspicious of houses with immaculate gardens, IMO you either get a well maintained property OR an immaculate garden, finding both is like stepping in unicorn shit 🤣

Serious answer: anti social neighbours as you’re royally screwed as neither can you do anything at all to mitigate against the stress but also it would be difficult to sell or perhaps even rent out.

Light hearted answer: flowery walls and carpets everywhere - I know you’d eventually redecorate but it still takes to save and then to actually redo and it would likely just make all my belongings and furniture look crap in that intervening period!

A "new meets old" single storey kitchen room with lantern skylights, or open plan monstrosity in what could be a lovely house, if left as originally designed by the architect. Especially if it's decorated grey. With an island in the kitchen. Bleurgh.

Ghosts

Estate agents can take ridiculously angled photographs that enlarge a room when they are actually on the small side. Totally misleading and wastes everyone's time when you know you need more space.

God, yeah. Wouldn't it be awful to have neighbours who showed solidarity with victims of genocide ...

When I was house hunting, I went to view one property - good area, decent house - but it had such an oppressive feel. Every corner I went round, I felt as if I was going to come across something awful. I don't normally feel sensitive to atmosphere and it's never happened anywhere else, but I couldn't get out of there fast enough.

Dog smell. I know it can be cleared by cleaning and lifting carpets etc which is fine, but I wouldn’t even be able to do the viewing because unfortunately the smell of dogs makes me feel physically sick.

Any form of right of way or shared driveway.
Loud and noisy neighbours (including loud dogs)
Obvious dodgy electrics
No ensuite, I'm not sharing a bathroom with my kids
Dark and pokey rooms

I wouldn't be immediately put off by superficial issues necessarily, but small windows/dark rooms and not having an upstairs bathroom are things that I would notice particularly. Odd layouts generally bother me. I saw two three bed semi-detached new builds near us recently for sale on rightmove, and although it was a large plot and both were clearly built to look fancy and modern, neither appeared to have a downstairs toilet. Still can't get my head around that.

Seeing children playing in the street outside, I've never lived anywhere that happened, neither would I.

I'd have a drive around at night time and get a feel for the area. I want to live somewhere safe.

I haven't come across those toilets you mention, they would put me off if I knew about them.

I forgot shared driveways! I'd hate that. Near where I live there are lots of 1930s semis that have a shared driveway to the rear. That would be an utter nightmare with a selfish neighbour.

I would buy anything, even a shell without a roof. I would be up for doing a huge renovation or rebuild and redesign the entire house but for some reason a stairlift or a hospital bed etc. totally turns me away from a house. This is nothing to do with the house itself, and I know that it’s my issue but seeing evidence of elderly people struggling in the house, totally panics me.

I would even consider one with a reasonable ghost. But one shower rail and I’m off.

It really depends on price. I can look past most bad things if the bones of the house are good and the price allows me to do the necessary work. Bought a couple of beautiful properties which were in a shocking state initially.

Two houses we viewed last year we politely raced round then walked out and gave each other the eyebrow raise!

First one - advertised online as a perfect family home, arrived to find the owner had decided to renovate the thing but massively on the cheap, and it was a completely half finished job. 2 of the bedrooms had wiring hanging out the walls and half the house had no plug sockets! She'd 'shabby chic'ed the entire kitchen with scruffy paint and stick on tiles. It was just awful. And it was at a high price too!! The pictures online were clearly edited or something.

Second - marketed as a 5 bed, no floor plan online and photos very convincingly made it look like a 5 bed arrived there and it was a 3 bed. The second double bedroom had been fitted with a plasterboard wall in the middle to make two tiny single bedrooms, and the fifth bedroom wasn't even a bedroom, it was a garage with a bed and wardrobe in! - didn't even have heating. I complained to the estate agent as it was just a waste of time. Never again viewed a house without a floorplan!

noisy neighbours
hot tub in neighbours garden
shared drive

Pets
Damp
Open Plan
Kitchen Island
Downstairs bathroom
Lack of parking
Terraced or semi-detached

Single glazing, painted grey all over

!!!

Did you ever find out what the crime was? Did the agents ask you to come back again another day??

It was empty and the estate agent stayed outside. Probably because it was disgusting.

Shared access or driveway. Subsidence. Lack of off-street parking. Plus I have an irrational hatred of downlighters, and if I see them on a house listing, I have to mentally add the cost of putting up new ceilings to the house price.

Lack of light, and north facing garden.

No we never found out what happened. Thankfully the agent was really good and didnt expect us to go back. It's a good story though and people are always shocked by it, we had some awful viewings but that one really topped them all.

I get an instant "feeling" about a house when I walk in the door. Just the atmosphere of the place, if it's not a good feeling then I may as well just walk straight back out because it'll never feel like home.