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Original poster

Would you consider a house that doesn’t wow you?

51 replies

Wantarefund · 06/12/2019 20:58

We currently live in an awful house and are planning to move.

At the moment none of the houses I’ve seen online (actually only one suitable) wow me. It’s a great house, big rooms and a big garden but I don’t look at the photos and think ‘ooooooh’. It really just needs a new kitchen, the bathrooms are pretty basic but look clean and well maintained and it’s all very plainly decorated. It’s an older house and I worry we’d just go in and ruin it .

But then I do see houses (unsuitable ones) that wow me but surely it’s ridiculous to hold out for that? Because even if they have been done beautifully they might not be done exactly the way you would have done them?

OP posts:

DookofBust · 07/12/2019 07:39

I bought a house that was only ‘ok’ to me.

XH and DD loved it but I didn’t. It is 15 years old and I have never lived in a new house. It does have some great features for a new house like proper hardwood sash windows and ten foot ceilings. Built in a very traditional style because it’s next to a Grade I mansion... but I thought it was soulless.

A couple of years on H is now XH.

I have bought him out, decorated, new carpets and blinds. I love my home and it isn’t soulless anymore. Kitchen is still not what I would choose but it has got nearly 40 units so £££££ to change - it looks 100% better with new paint, blinds and a bit of thought.

So I would definitely look and consider it. This house had location, good sized rooms and lots of light - I didn’t like anything else about it.

MrsBobDylan · 07/12/2019 07:41

My husband suggested we view a house because it fit our criteria and was the cheapest house in a 20 mile radius.

I would never had considered it had it not been for finances and the promise of an easier life where I didn't have to work.

The previous owner had died in it, it had a yard not a garden, it was absolutely filthy and covered in wood chip wallpaper with missing internal doors and needed a complete re-wire.

Nobody was wowed. I was repulsed mostly.

But it was cheap and solidly built. 8 months down the line, we love the house, the area and the lifestyle it has allowed us to have.

SallyWD · 07/12/2019 07:44

Our house didn't wow me. There was another that really did but the location was all wrong. Our house was a good size, good condition, excellent location etc. It's made a wonderful family home. The other house with the wow factor would have been problematic in several ways and I don't think we'd have been as happy there. I think you have to be practical when buying a house really.

Original poster

Wantarefund · 07/12/2019 09:30

I suppose when I think about it ‘wow’ for me just means it LOOKS good because it’s been recently decorated and has fairly new and stylish bathrooms and kitchen.

But it would be mad to buy a house based on that and discount others that might be bigger, better located etc. Definitely. I think it really is just because of been living in a mess for a while and I’m desperate for a house I can just feel is done.

OP posts:

whattodo2019 · 07/12/2019 09:33

Can we see picture

Original poster

Wantarefund · 07/12/2019 10:24

I don’t want to post a pic in case it outs me

OP posts:

Bowerbird5 · 07/12/2019 10:56

DH certainly wasn’t wowed by ours.

I just knew we were going to live here.
We did loads of work and we are starting again. New kitchen this time last year. Have decorated but now needs the whole house doing because we have let some slide in the last five years some a lot more. This was a good area and close to his mum who needed support. If you walk around the area and the house is basically good then you can make it work for you if the lay out is ok.

KitKat1985 · 07/12/2019 12:45

I think when it comes to house, they key word is 'practicality' rather than 'wow'. At the end of the day you need to live in it rather than look at it. So going for pretty period house which is too small and in a poor location, is never going to be good choice compared to something with space and in a good location.

You can always add a certain degree of wow and character yourself to even the most bland of houses.

baggies · 07/12/2019 12:53

We couldn't afford wow but wanted to live in wow location. Bought an uninspiring house in said location and made it wow for us. To me location always beats house.

Besidesthepoint · 07/12/2019 14:39

My last house and this one weren't exactly "wow", but more "this feels exactly like home". I absolutely loved living in both houses. I couldn't call them wow because stuff needed doing and it needed to be repainted and fixed or whatever but both times it didn't matter, I could see through all that and I am so happy with those choices.

Original poster

Wantarefund · 07/12/2019 14:49

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-65823045.html

It’s fairly similar to this but the garden isn’t as big. It’s got similar neutral, inoffensive decor but as with this it doesn’t exactly set the world on fire!

OP posts:

DookofBust · 07/12/2019 17:03

Nothing wrong with that OP. It could be lovely.

My house was far worse than that, threadbare carpets, not decorated for 15 years, old lady curtains and blinds. It looks fab with my things in it, a lick of paint and new blinds.

cobwebsoncornices · 07/12/2019 17:11

Many houses in the UK are part of estates built en masse, whether by the council or private housebuilders like Wimpey. I don't think any of those houses are ever going to have a "wow" factor as there are always dozens of other identical ones on the same site.
We live in a house built in the 60s which was originally identical to all of the other houses on our road but now everyone has extended here & there. It is dull & boring externally and internally and certainly doesn't have a "wow" factor but that doesn't stop it being a much loved home.
For the same price, we probably could have bought a wow home if we'd been prepared to have a smaller, more rural house - but we weren't.

keepingbees · 07/12/2019 17:38

You can make a house wow, to whatever extent and whatever that means to you.
You need to see a house and get the feel of the place, you can't go by photos.
We had a tight budget and everything we viewed was empty and in a similar state of repair. On paper they all ticked the same boxes. But... Some felt odd like walking in someone else's home, some the area just felt wrong, some felt cold, some smelt damp, some had issues that hadn't been shown on the photos.
You'll know when you find the right one. It'll be more the feel rather than the wow.

Marshy86 · 07/12/2019 17:47

I never got the wow feeling from my current home but what I did get on the first viewing was the feeling of it just being right, you can't get this from pictures. As soon as we walked away from the viewing I told my husband I already felt like I was home and next day we put on offer in. Over time we have made changes to the house which now gives us the wow but we still just love it as much as that first day.

Lamentations · 07/12/2019 18:07

Yes I would make a 'head' decision on a house, especially if it wasn't the forever one. Some friends of mine didn't do this and bought the wow house rather than the one they didn't like so much but was in a great school catchment and would have made them money. They now have kids and need to move for schools but are struggling to sell for a decent profit as the wow house is not in such a desirable area.

BettyBooJustDoinTheDoo · 07/12/2019 19:06

I think the Wow factor is very different from the ‘I want to live here factor’ many houses have wowed me, I often see houses on Grand Designs etc and I think they are wow but I wouldn’t want to live them.

Silencedwitness · 07/12/2019 19:10

When we were looking we saw a house and discarded it. Didn’t feel right didn’t overly wow. No surprises we ended up buying the house and it really works for us because it ticks most of the boxes we need.

PigletJohn · 07/12/2019 20:58

If you can find a house you like more, for less money, then buy it.

But if you can't....

Span1elsRock · 07/12/2019 21:10

We've been looking for around 6 months, and we've learned the hard way that what it looks like on the EA details and how it looks in reality are two very different things.

emma16 · 07/12/2019 21:25

I am a big believer in you go to every house within the area you want to live in, and within the budget you have set...albeit £10-£20k over as you never know what people may drop to.
It is impossible to tell online and our current home, i actually refused to go and see as thought it looked horrendous online! My husband made me come and it didn't 'wow' me but i could see the potential of it with our own stamp on it....4 years later we're still here and will be for some time!

SunsetBoulevard3 · 07/12/2019 21:30

I’ve never lived in a house that wowed me. We have always chosen on the basis of the best house in the area that we could afford. Currently in a house that definitely doesn’t wow me. However you have to compromise on something. Often many things unless you have unlimited money.

Skinnychip · 07/12/2019 23:50

I actively disliked our house, but it was suspiciously good value compared to others in the area, and was in a great location.DH saw its potential and insisted I would like it if we made changes. I concede he was right...but it probably took at least 5 years as we could only afford to make small changes at a time.

beachcomber70 · 08/12/2019 14:27

I've always chosen a house which had the right location, the right price, the right 'feel' [loved and cosy], good light in the rooms and the garden having a good aspect.

I have felt excited by them all though on first viewing, and really loved all of them by the time work had been done on them.

No 'wow's, as I've only bought what I can afford, and even newly built/renovated houses do not having everything I would choose.

In fact I've seen places which have been done up [and asking inflated prices] have been hiding problems and not been done to my standards anyway.

newdeer · 08/12/2019 14:31

We sold our house quickly then had really bad luck trying to buy for almost a year. Every house we tried to buy fell through, and we put in offers on four different 'good enough' properties. Then we walked through the door of this house and my heart stopped. I had already fallen massively in love with it before the agent even showed me the vast kitchen overlooking woods and hills. I'd hang on.

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