What are your "must haves" when buying a house?

[Oops41]

And your "nice to haves"?

For me I must have a utility room and garage and good sized rooms. Also a decent sized garden and off road parking.

Nice to have... room for a playroom, quiet street, kitchen on back of house that overlooks garden

No damp or mould on the wall. More than 1 bedroom so DC don't have to share. Cooker that works. Gas that doesn't keep going off. Carpet that doesn't have slug marks. I wish... You don't know how lucky you are, some of you...

We'll be moving in a few years and based on my current house I'd definitely want detached again - I love not having neighbour noise!

Also ideally a spare bedroom and utility room neither of which we have now.

I'd love a garden which isn't overlooked - ours is and it has bothered me since we moved in. Hope when we come to sell it it's not a non negotiable for potential buyers!

I like having a kitchen/diner and would definitely go for that option again rather than separate rooms.

@NottinghamFlorest sorry you have to put up with that We rented for years before we could afford to buy this house and we had mould, no proper heating and

mushrooms growing in the carpet. We had to throw most things away when we moved!

Essential

Detached
Large rooms
Big, secure garden (min half acre)
Private parking
Character

Nice to have

Views
Brick/solid Outbuildings in good condition

Essential
Large south or southwest facing garden
4 bedrooms and 2 reception rooms
Or
5 bedrooms (one each for teens, one for us, somewhere to WFH
Garage/shed for motorcycle

Nice to have
Off street parking
Kitchen diner
2 bathrooms
A downstairs toilet
Utility room
Mature trees

@NottinghamFlorest - I'm sorry you're in this substandard accommodation. Are you renting privately? This sounds totally unacceptable.

Essential:
Good school catchment
Within 45 mins door to door of work
4 bedrooms
2 bathrooms
Rear access

Desirable:

Off street parking (we don't have a car but it is helpful for visitors, tradesmen, deliveries etc)

En suite

Kitchen diner
Attractive from the outside

Not fussed about:

Garden - would like some garden but doesn't have to be big and don't give a monkeys about which way it faces

Garage - as don't own a car

I can't be doing with botched or weird stuff like badly designed alterations, cracks, seriously overlooked or a very busy road. A decent layout for the price point. Discovered that we can survive several years with one loo and a crappy single oven. But need a quiet space to work and a lounge where the grown ups can shut the door. Cable broadband too.

Most other things can be added if it's basically the right house in the right location.

Ours were rural or village location, garden, off-street parking, working (or capable of being made working) chimney.

We got all that, though with a side order of artex everywhere and a bit of a damp problem... but we still feel very lucky to have our little house.

It needs to be in the style I love. I have an Edwardian house and that was what I wanted. All the other bits (like off street parking etc) were secondary to that.

Must haves for me are:
Detached
Private drive
Two loos minimum
Dining kitchen
Garden that is not overlooked
All bedrooms must be double rooms
Facilities in the locality, shops, Drs surgery’s, schools etc.

We are currently buying and our must haves were
4 bedrooms so that the 2 boys no longer have to share
2 bathrooms as 5 of us using the same one especially in the mornings has become a nightmare
Study
Room for a dining area (wether in kitchen or lounge)
Garage or atttic for storage (we currently have neither as a flat roofed house so will have both which will be amazing for hoarding junk or at least getting it out the way!)

Nice to have
Pantry (which we currently have) but none of the houses in our budget had this feature
Conservatory that is useful as a room (which we have found, very large conservatory that has modern heat retaining roof, heating etc, partial brick insulated walls etc which will be kids tv/games area and also a untility area at the other end
Off street parking - we haven’t got this but the house has a lane at the back which we will be able to park in and we have plans to knock down the garage and rebuild/make parking space

Essentials:
Detached
Private garden
Off street parking
Room for a bath
Storage
Playroom

Nice to have:
Spare bedroom
Utility room
Pantry
Character

I hate stairs by the front door. So when you walk down stair in the morning you're met with your front door. To me it feels very un-cosy.

Am aware that most houses are like this and I'm pretty batshit.

However, I did find a nice house with the staircase tucked away in the middle of the house so I enter a cosy dining area rather than the front door.

Also can't stand downstairs bathrooms. But I'd choose a downstairs bathroom over uncosy stairs. If I had to pick.

Londoner here. Our “must haves” were:

• within 10 min walking distance of the tube
• garden (ours is TINY but we love it)
• good amenities, e.g supermarket close by
• lots of character/period property

Nice to have:

• loft space (which we have turned into an office)
• both bedrooms upstairs
• plenty of parking spaces on our road

@Oops41

And your "nice to haves"?

For me I must have a utility room and garage and good sized rooms. Also a decent sized garden and off road parking.

Nice to have... room for a playroom, quiet street, kitchen on back of house that overlooks garden

We are looking now and exactly the same things!!

Having no neighbours is the first! Hard to find so can't be too fussy about the house itself.

Detached

Bedrooms all in the same floor

Garage

Open plan living space

Massive kitchen

2 bathrooms

Big garden

Driveway for parking

Nice to have :

Walking distance to a cafe
Good supermarket close by
Parks /nature nearby
Highway access

@NottinghamFlorest

No damp or mould on the wall. More than 1 bedroom so DC don't have to share. Cooker that works. Gas that doesn't keep going off. Carpet that doesn't have slug marks. I wish... You don't know how lucky you are, some of you...

I almost wrote no damp problems, but then I figured I would pick it up on the survey and get the cost of fixing it knocked off the price of the house. Same for anything else broken (such as cooker) - we did actually do this with our house which had a dodgy roof/chimney when we bought it (among other things which we have not yet got round to fixing!). So not a must have for me, as long as it can be fixed for a reasonable cost/timeframe! Whereas I am into gardening and love feeding birds etc and you can’t change the size of the garden so that is more of a dealbreaker for me.

Our absolute must haves were:

Good location (countryside for us but not too isolated, walking distance to a village shop/pub/bus stop)

Garden facing west or south

Garage

Parking

At least 3 bedrooms

A decent sized kitchen

2 separate lounge spaces

A bit of character/charm!

Managed to find all that plus the "nice to haves" of a utility room and downstairs loo

A bedroom for each child
All bedrooms double-sized
At least 2 bathrooms
Main bathroom has to have space for a bath
Lift, if a flat above ground floor
Decent storage
Away from a main road
Up to 0.2 miles to nearest food shop
In reasonable condition - would be prepared to do cosmetic updating but not fixing up a complete wreck
Energy efficient, including double glazing
Up to 0.4 miles to a zone 1 tube station
Walking distance to top schools

South or west facing garden.
Down stairs toilet.
Separate utility.
En suite.

Must have

Deatched. I can't go back now I've lived in one.
Two toilets.
Driveway parking for two cars.
Garden that isn't too overlooked.
A room for each of the DC plus a study space... could be garden office if necessary but DH and I both work from home.
Kitchen big enough for a dining table or at least able to knock through kitchen and dining room.

Nice to have

Utility room
Children's rooms reasonably equal size
Ensuite
Separate living room that isn't a corridor to another room

Soul.

Essentials:
Detached
Private garden
Off street parking
Bathroom
Shower room
Quiet road/close

Nice to have:
Spare bedroom
Utility room
Nice views
Character

I live in London, in a flat, so I don't have a lot of non-negotiables.

My main ones were:

• a south facing living room
• big windows
• a window in the bathroom
• close to a nice park
• not far from train station
• very close to shops / coffee shops
• quiet street and bedroom(s) not street facing

Nice to have:

• 2nd bedroom / study (I have that)
• open plan kitchen (yep)
• outdoor space (nope)

What I didn't expect to have:

• loft to convert / to board for storage
• a skylight in the landing
• pretty high ceilings
• a shop with amazing bread 5 min away from the flat.
• a brand new kitchen

What I don't have and missing a bit

• utility cupboard
• built-in wardrobes