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

Plenty of light, good sized rooms, more than one reception room, a kitchen that's big enough to eat in, some outside space are essential. And not on a main road.
V desirable: a loo on each floor.
Would be lovely: a utility room and walk-in pantry. A nice view. Off-street parking.

Our essentials have changed so much since we started actively looking rather than dreaming! It turns out that all that really matters is the location and being detached.

All the things we thought were essential for our next house like a garage, big garden, two reception rooms, downstairs loo didn't matter in the end and the house we're hopefully buying is literally nothing like we imagined!

I would say bay windows (Just what I love) a big garden and good public transport links

For us it was good secondary catchment, quiet location and a big garden. We compromised slightly on size but we are just about to extend the house.
We would have also loved to have a detached, but detached houses in this area are at least £1m for a doer upper, so we are happy with a semi.

Off street parking ie driveway

We recently downsized quite significantly for financial/lifestyle reasons so really had to make some of these decisions about what we could and couldn't live without - I'd say we've adapted very quickly and not missing our old house anywhere near as much as I feared (although admittedly big parties/dinners aren't on the cards atm) and feel very much at home in our new place but OMG I miss having a utility/boot/dog room . In fact so much so that I've told DH that we may have to forego future holidays to pay for a small side extension to accommodate one and hope it doesn't take up too much garden!

Left behind:
Detached
Big garden
Separate 'proper' dining room
Big kitchen/diner/family room
Large driveway
Not overlooked/very quiet
Spare bedroom
Office/study
Utility room ()

Must have:
Ready to move into - definitely didn't want a project
Outside space - patio and a bit of grass is ample
Nice village location
Walking distance of schools and a few shops
Children having a bedroom each
Downstairs wc
Parking for 2 cars

My "must haves" have changed so drastically over the years. When we bought our first home, our requirements were:

• first floor apartment (for security reasons)
• walking distance from university and shops
• safe off street parking
• two bedrooms (so we could have friends stay)

That was it! For our second home, the list grew substantially:

• more bedrooms as we needed space for our home business
• bigger living area for entertaining
• garage
• a little bit of outdoor space
• closer to ageing relatives
• MORE BATHROOMS as our previous place only had one toilet which was stressful at times :)

We plan to move again soon and the must have are:

• double garage
• utility room
• bigger garden
• quieter street
• period property
• the same or more space internally than our current home

I posted all three as I know there are a lot of people at different stages in their house buying journeys, so it can be nice to know you're not alone.

Can I ask why off street parking is so important to so many of you? We’ve never had it and never missed or wanted it. Why is it so crucial?

@VinylDetective

Can I ask why off street parking is so important to so many of you? We’ve never had it and never missed or wanted it. Why is it so crucial?

So you have a guaranteed place to park when you get home. Might come even more valuable with the push for electric cars.

Not having to go through one bedroom to get to another.
A living room big enough for a sofa and two armchairs to fit comfortably.
Not opposite or next to any public amenity or land.
Garden

Nice: downstairs loo

so you don't have to drive around looking for a space

Must have

Kitchen diner - not a dining room the other side of the house.
Separate living room.
Access to rooms from hallway (not access to kitchen via lounge etc)
Not overlooked at the back
Utility room.
Large garden
Parking for 3+ cars

Nice to have
Playroom/conservatory/second living room
En-suite to main bedroom

I am in the process of moving and finding all my must haves in a house was challenging!

@VinylDetective

Can I ask why off street parking is so important to so many of you? We’ve never had it and never missed or wanted it. Why is it so crucial?

Well, we live on an old narrow, tree-lined road, where most of the houses don't have off-street parking because of their age and the steep terrain (houses built into a steep hillside, many with twenty or more steps up or down to a door, or in a terrace invisible from the street and accessible only via a narrow path).

This means virtually everyone has to park on the street, and because it's so narrow and has two-way traffic, parked cars get their mirrors sheared off or minor bangs regularly. We're one of the few houses with off-street parking, and while that wasn't a particular boon as far as I was concerned when we first considered the house, in fact it makes life much easier, both for visitors (elderly parents and nervous drivers visiting aren't keen on looking for distant spots and hiking back) and when having work done. It would also be a genuine trial to have to lug groceries up from the road, as it's quite far.

Must have:
In the right school catchment
in a good wifi area - i.e. not a complete slow wifi hole
some outside space
3 beds
At the right price point

Everything else:
compromisable

@VinylDetective re off-road parking, several reasons.

We have multiple cars and finding street parking for all of them would be a total ballache

We have an excitable dog and getting him safely in and out of the boot on the drive is much safer

Moving a ‘big shop’ from the house to the car is much easier if the car is parked on your own premises.

@VinylDetective I would never even consider a property that didn’t have off road parking. Outside of my situation- carrying shopping / children in must be a nightmare!
Personally- I have 2 DC under 4- one is disabled. It would be extremely difficult & dangerous to not be able to park right outside my front door

There are whole areas (maybe even whole London boroughs) where off street parking is very rare - most traditional terraced streets, older social housing. Families of all shapes and sizes manage to live in these areas fine. On the other hand in areas newer than 1950s or villages/detached houses it would be unusual not to have a drive or parking area. It's just a case of what you can afford and what you are used to.

Must have
A bedroom for each kid, separate office space each for me & my partner, 2 bathrooms, good light, close to good public transport, garden, no major work to do, eat in kitchen.

Nice to have:
Parking space & driveway
Detached/semi rather than terrace, south facing garden, view, eco features, a workshop, a shed, a greenhouse, an extra room or two, loads of glass, a pool, magical fairies that do all the tidying up.

We moved from inner London to outer London and off-road parking wasn't even on our list of must-haves as we were so used to having to park on the street. But now that we have off-street parking I could never go back, it's just bliss not having to worry about whether 'your spot' is taken.

@VinylDetective

Can I ask why off street parking is so important to so many of you? We’ve never had it and never missed or wanted it. Why is it so crucial?

We have cars that can only be insured if they're garaged, so it's essential for us. Plus all the other reasons mentioned above.

Off road parking.

We should exchange tomorrow (fingers crossed everyone), so I actually have my non-negotiable list right here!

It was:

A view (we live rurally, unlikely we could have had this in town)
Light (or the potential to add more with windows/changing decor etc.)
Off-road parking
Some kind of outside space

Strong preference:
Garage

The most important things were those we wouldn't be able to change as we are happy (and quite keen) to rework the interior.

We moved house in March. Our must haves were

Detached
A room for each child plus an extra room for ds's music
A separate study for dh to be able to work from home
Room for a baby grand piano
Ensuite
Plenty of off street parking

Nice to haves

Large kitchen
Quiet friendly area

Must have:
master bedroom with en-suite
an office/study
good sized garden
drive
utility room
kitchen diner
downstairs toilet

nice to have:
modern interior
shed/garage
log burner
smart thermostat (we can take ours with us though, would just save a job)

A detached bungalow and an ensuite or space to have one. I also want a small garden or outdoor space and in a row of detached bungalows. I've had enough of being overlooked and I dont want anything to do with neighbours.