Did you get swept away by a house that wasn’t necessarily right?

[Awkwardusername]

My husband and I bought our first home a year ago and whilst we absolutely adore it, it’s completely impractical.
We were so swept away with the tutor style, the roll top bath and the huge bay windows, that we didn’t consider that the box room barely fits a box in it, the garage we so desperately wanted doesn’t exist, and that the entire house needs a rewire and replacing!

I know all houses are a money pit but really, replacing a HUGE window because the previous owners only double glazed some of them wasn’t quite something we considered!

I don’t regret buying it but I wish someone had warned us! Has anyone else done this sort of thing?

(This is just for fun, please don’t have a go at me for being stupid - we know!)

I haven't bitten the bullet but I've been tempted by some completely impractical cottages. Gorgeous but probably cost a fortune to heat and maintain. The only thing that's stopped us is the fact DH has an electric car so off road parking is an absolute must.

I've also looked at and loved some 2 bed properties with larger rooms despite us both working from home often. He's more willing to reign me in there. It's the cottages that he starts trying to think of workarounds for.

Every property I've ever bought!

Current house has stained glass windows in it. Not sure I looked further than that.

Ignored that the lovely open plan room had no heat source in it so would be freezing most of the year, boiler on it's last legs, need for rewire, plumbing best described as interesting...

But it has stained glass windows! Forgot that even those need refurb and resetting which costs a fortune.

I did for this house which was our first. We were naive and just wanted to get moving asap. We fell in love with the fairly new bathroom and the big conservatory across the whole back of the house.

• The gas oven didn't work as soon as we moved in so had to be replaced.
• The kitchen is a galley kitchen and so tiny
• The previous owners cut off the stench pipe, capped it and boxed it in to fit the conservatory across the back so now the smell comes out of the drain by the conservatory door.
• The pointing down the side of the conservatory is horrendous, it's like the owner didn't want to ask to lift the fence panels with next door to do it properly
• A neighbours house is so run down and overgrown that it put off potential buyers when we attempted to sell.
• The garage wasn't built properly so constantly flooded and leaked. We didn't go in to the garage the day we viewed as it was raining heavily outside so just looked from the window.
• The boiler kept breaking and had to be replaced after a year.
• The windows at the back upstairs were old wooden single glazing. The owners didn't think to replace them before they had the conservatory fitted, so it cost us a lot more to do as we had to have scaffolding over the conservatory.
• Constant bodge jobs around the house that we are still finding and fixing.

Oh, and remembered another 1. Only 1 window opening for the downstairs bay window, that they then built a wall up to so the window couldn't open very far at all. So with a south facing giant conservatory and no way to get a breeze into the front room we sweltered every year. We've been here for 9 years and only replaced the window with one that has 4 openings last year.

We had some experience renting horrors in London so we went in to buying our first house cautious. In 2017 we rented a house where next door leaked into the kitchen diner. There were cracks in the front of the house. Rising damp in the hallway. Shower leaked into the second bedroom and into the kitchen. They retiled the bathroom and it still leaked everywhere. The wardrobes in the main bedroom were damp and my clothes ended up covered in mould. The builders they had in did half fixes and the entire thing wobbled despite looking solid. We then moved into a new build that was tiny. Boiler in that property had to be replaced. The engineer left a hole in the wall and I was greeted by a massive rat 2-3 weeks later. All these things we went through informed the caution we took to house buying. Survey was a necessity and new builds were not for us. No house is perfect though. OP I hope the repairs required don't cause you too much trouble.

When we bought 10 years ago we had 3 houses in the running. The one we chose was probably the least prestigious location (although still good) but I loved it and could immediately imagine living here. It has a picture window overlooking green belt, and a beautiful mature garden as well as practical things like being detached, large driveway, enclosed back garden etc. Also the vendors didn’t mess us about like the other two houses.

it had compromises though, such as a small kitchen and no downstairs wc but we’ve since remodelled to address this.

I suspect however that the other two houses have had greater price appreciation than ours, which is the only frustration when we’re thinking about moving up in the future. For now though this house is lovely for a young family, and has great amenities nearby for young children and I’ve enjoyed living here.

Detached, off street parking, mature garden, overlooking green belt are such major pluses to me that the other houses would have to be something really special to beat that.

I reckon I’d have made the same choice, personally.

It's our first home too, so I think we've been well and truly thrown in at the deep end!

A few more highlights:

• The previous owners 'helpfully' left us curtains, mirrors, blinds etc. Took them down to discover they'd all been painted around when they decorated!
• The boiler broke within weeks of us moving in
• The shower doesn't get hot unless the cold bath tap is running - had a plumber out and he couldn't get to the valve he needed because it was too rusted!
• A huge window at the back was never replaced or double glazed when the rest of the house was, and now we've discovered the timber is rotting so that needs replacing!
• We're certainly not gardeners, but the couple before us were. We've finally ripped out the front but the back is going to cost us thousands (why did we think we could keep on top of plants when we both work full time and had a 9 week old puppy?!)

I wouldn't change it for the world but just hoping when we come to sell (which we'll have to, because I'm not actually convinced the third bedroom would fit a bed in it...), we get buyers who were as naive as we were!

Three metre high ceilings and four French windows with arched tops. So beautiful. Good thing we were only there in the summer.

We bought our current house with the plan it was for 3 years (work thing). We’re still here 9years later and have an extra child. We’ve outgrown it but can’t afford to move.

We bought a Georgian vicarage. Looked amazing but was so miserable. Only stayed there for 11 months before putting it back up for sale

House 1 was a detached 60s dormer bungalow on one of the best streets in a local town, in the catchment for an excellent outstanding primary school and 0.5m from a train station. It was the practical choice but I didn’t love it. We offered on it but the vendors kept trying to squeeze more out and messed us around.

House 2 was a stunning grand Edwardian vicarage with a beautiful bay window and enormous rooms. Loads of period features. But it was a semi, and the adjoining house had right of way over its back garden and vice versa- so effectively a shared back garden. And you could see how the neighbours were encroaching. The back reception room looked out onto their camper van.

All had off-street parking.

The houses sound grand but we live in W Yorks and 10 years ago they were all priced between £250k - £300k. Can’t get anything like that for that money anymore!

We nearly bought a house last year that was a converted chapel, it had this enormous living room with a balcony running around the top that the bedrooms went off of. We fell in love - the views! the balcony! the history!

Thank Christ we didn’t buy it because you’d have to set fire to the furniture to heat that room in winter, you’d never be able to watch telly without waking the kids up, and being in a village just outside the town would have quickly become a right pain in the arse.

It was a really close run thing though and it was only the owners inability to find another property that saved us!

Now we’re in a modern townhouse in the centre of town and I count my blessings every day that we lost that place!

I was desperate to buy a grade II listed house with no parking, a right of way footpath across the tiny back yard, and an attic conversion without building regs or listed consent. Luckily the buyers pulled out.

Nope. I always look at the floorplan and location first before I even look at photos. Then the price has to reflect the condition. I have essential and preferable on my list and won't compromise on essentials so definitely would have a garage or at least space to build one. Easy to redecorate, clean and maintain are high on the list.

I'm amazed at people who turn up to view houses and are surprised to see the size or configuration of rooms, lack of garage, next to railway line or whatever. It's like they haven't looked at the details beforehand at all.

I've always wanted live a Georgian vicarage, what were the issues for you?

Yes! I got carried away with how lovely and new the place was that I did a homedwap with that I never considered the size of one of the bedrooms or the fact that I can't fit my large corner couch in the living room properly or that the areas not as great

Yes OP we did exactly the same as you, and ended up with tens of thousands of pounds of work to do in a period terrace. One year later - work is still not done, baby on the way, and a two bed terrace with no drive and a very child unfriendly garden 🤦🏼‍♀️ In our defence, we were sure we didn’t want children a year ago but then changed our minds and want at least two 😅

Yes but luckily they turned down our offer. Total heart over head choice - grade 2 listed with doorways too small for 6ft dh. Hex was fine once in each room but doorways and stairs required him to duck significantly. I’m short but love the fact he was willing to live like that for me to be happy. He loved the location. 6 months later they accepted our offer but we’d already moved to our much more practical new build style home. Not as cute but much easier to live in.

Yes, seeing a house on a sunny day, but waking up as the owner in the middle of winter, regrets beyond regrets. Remembering how the owner had ‘dressed’ the outside furniture for our viewing, made the garden seem like a key feature. Alas, the terrible neighbours weren’t having a weed-smoking party in the garden that particular day.

My top tip is to buy in winter when the property not only should be priced lower, but will look at its worse, including you viewing any leaking drains on a rainy day etc. A far more realistic way of buying a house.

Yes. Bought mine in 2002, FTB, had already been priced out of market in an expensive area of the country and returned home to find somewhere we could afford to raise a family. Market was rising rapidly round here and I was pregnant with ds2. We lost 2 houses because sellers got greedy midway through sale process so bought this house and held on like grim death until it was ours.
In hindsight it was never ideal but I've made it mine (ex-H now gone) and raised 3 children here, so I'm sticking with it despite it being too small. Could never afford to move again anyway.

I so nearly did this. I fell in love with a beautiful Victorian house with an original stained glass front door, cornicing and ceiling roses in every room and a wisteria at the front. I felt in my gut that it was "my" house and I nearly offered on it on the spot ... but I completely overlooked the fact that it was on a busy main road and you could hear traffic noise at all times. Luckily my DH insisted on visiting before we put an offer in and he vetoed it. I live round the corner now and still look at it longingly when I pass!

We had our offer accepted on a beautiful but overpriced and tiny period cottage with on-road parking and zero storage, plus right of way over the small back garden. Thank god the sale fell through, because within a couple of months I was expecting dc1 and planning permission was put in and granted for a massive housing estate on the doorstep.
We were a lot more practical with our next offer!

We are buying at the moment. We are buying a practical box - ticker that is very much a head choice rather than heart. No budget for anything dreamy but hoping it’s still not a mistake anyway!

We bought a 2 double bed house, which seemed huge after our 1 bed flat. Didn’t quite factor in having a second child, because it took us so long to conceive DD and it wasn’t in the plan until at least 3 years later.

Currently holding a 2 week old DS and moving after 18 months 😂

This is probably more a cautionary tale about contraception though, rather than house buying…