What are/were your dealbreakers when looking for a house to buy?

[YaffleYaffle]

We are would-be FTBs and after a few viewings are getting a better idea of what we need and want to avoid, but still figuring it out. So would love to know what you did/didn’t want in particular.

So far ours are:
Garage
Space for a dishwasher
Bath not just a shower
Must be able to sit opposite the TV in the living room and not have to position it at a weird angle due to doors/stairs/etc
Not too close to a busy road

What are/were yours?

Off road car parking. Walking distance to work. And only needed nothing more than a lick of paint..Saw loads of houses and nothing ticked all the boxes more than the one I already lived in. Luckily the lovely landlady sold it to me.

Location. Didn't want to waste any time commuting to anywhere. I want to live my life on my terms, not at the mercy of the transport system or traffic. Nothing worse for me than life wasted sitting in a car or waiting for a train which may or may not come.

Light. I wanted to see lots of sky.

No more bedrooms than we need. We live in a very popular area in a very popular city. I didn’t want to be running a free b&b.

New construction, but solid and high quality. I’m so over “period” and attendant bills and issues. I also wanted something energy efficient for our climate.

we were also very practical about it.

eg I want a decent garden and I want to grow things. I do not wnat concreteed over garden.

One house we looked at was really good. But garden was completely covered in garden ponds, surrounded by rock gardens full of fairies and little lights.
When they showed us round they showed us the big shed with all the controls for the water pumps and the fairy lights.

We went home and worked out how much it would cost to rip it all out.
We reckoned about £2,000.
So we factored that in to the cost of the house.
Was it a good buy given that we would need to pay a minimum of 2,000 to sort the garden?

Same with office etc.
In the end out house did not have an office, but it had potential for an office, and we put it in oursleves later.

Private driveway (I.e. not shared as has caused issues for us before)

Decent sized garden that isn't overlooked.

Nice hallway.

Quiet road.

Nice view from windows Or some of the windows.

Close enough to drive to shops within 5 or 10 mins.

South facing garden

Oh and detached top of the list

No but it’s interesting to see / useful in helping us think.

DH has a lot of work equipment that needs storing!

Garden and location.

The things that could have forced a moved down the line.

Stables and land, preferably 5 acres and an easy commute to the City and to a coast. Parking for 3 cars and access/parking for the large horsebox. House had to have 3 bedrooms minimum but wasn't bothered about the rest.

Out of interest why?

Too many living rooms at the back have glass doors next to where the TV needs to go

Minimum semi-detached
Off street parking
(Both DH)
No downstairs bathroom
Not on X Street
(Me).

We bought an Edwardian terrace with on-street parking and a downstairs bathroom on X Street. Been here 6 years and love it. We've chosen to extend rather than move as we like it so much (and that resolved my downstairs bathroom issue).

Don't get too fixated on your deal breakers, you never know what's out there.

Main road

My dealbreakers were that I didn't want stairs I could see from the main living space and I didn't want open plan.

I saw a house on Rightmove and I liked its location/external but decided not to view as it had both of the above...but then a friend persuaded me to look anyway. Nothing to lose! The second I walked in the door, I fell in love.I had an offer accepted the same day.

It's not a bad idea to have 'dealbreakers' but hold them lightly. You might be surprised.

Our garage is just additional space for crap and goes into the back garden from the front, we already have 3 brick built outbuildings for storage so it would be good to see either the outbuildings or garage gone, it just encourages DH to buy yet another bike to add to the six he already has. I can see that people want a garage if they haven't much other outside storage though.

@YaffleYaffle

Young children, I'm more likely to be in living room than kitchen so can still see them from in the house. Also would hate to have my living room that had windows looking out onto the road.

It's all on what you can afford. I'd say space around you (for bins/parking etc) is important. An extra loo if possible.
Buy the worst house in the best area rather than the best house in the worst area.

South facing garden!
In our first house (small budget) we wanted somewhere that had a bath and both bedrooms were a similar(ish) size
Scope to put an extension on or add value in other ways, ie adding an extra bedroom in the loft for example, or being able to put our own kitchen in
Being able to walk into a town or village
Detached (this is still a novelty after living in flats/terraces/semi detacheds my whole life!)

Oh and also a driveway!

We use our garage for the bikes, a large freezer and shelving for extra food, water and cleaning products.

It’s useful space. And with covid and possible power cuts it’s nice to have space to stock up on essentials.

Must haves:
Semi detached or detached
Room for 2 cars to be parked off-road
3 bedrooms, with smallest one being able to fit a single bed both ways (along the outside wall and under the window)
Square wide rooms not long and thin
Room for storage/shed in the back garden
Quiet Road
In a specific school catchment
Not new build

Ideally would like:
1930's build
Not in an area known for ASB
High enough pitched roof for loft conversion
Side access to rear if no garage

We managed to find somewhere that had everything we wanted and have been here 16 years. Two extensions later (loft and two storey rear extension) has given us 4 double bedrooms and a study. Never plan to move again!

Good luck with house hunting - I really enjoyed this part of the moving process. It was the long gap after offer has been accepted to when its finally yours that is stressful!

I find south facing gardens troublesome tbh. They can be just too hot and dry.

Definitely a south/west/south-west facing garden.

I lived in a rental with no sun in the garden after 3pm and it was miserable, never again!

Downstairs bathroom. I would consider if it could be accessed without going through kitchen

when we bought our London flat 4 years ago - literally anything we could afford. Now selling and moving to Sussex near family - we don’t really have a wish list apart from near to public transport and somewhere to store bikes. Will go and view anything we can afford - so many places are nothing like the listing!