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?

For my next house whenever that might be

Detached
Parking off-road and no shared driveway space or access
Good garden boundaries with neighbours- none of those silly waist high fences in the back garden
Downstairs loo (as second toilet)
2 proper doubles and a room for an office
Not main road
Or if I could. Miles for anyone else 😀

Be as flexible as you can with your essentials. If you rule out anything without an existing garage when what you actually need is secure storage for tools you might miss out on an option that would work well for you.

Mains gas
Off road parking

When we were FTB ours were

2 off road parking spaces
min 2 beds
low maintenance house/garden
easy commute to work
location

i wanted a home we could just move into as we didn’t have the budget or time for a fixer upper

2nd hone
driveway, garage
3 bedrooms
decent area
large garden
decent sized lounge
front door not opening into lounge

i wanted a newer build 3 bed detached but wasn’t in our budget so we went link detached 1970’s but I’ve always hated the front of the house and the fact that we only have 1 bathroom

We are just about to move again and we now have 2 teens we wanted

newer house
driveway/garage
garden
nice location closer to school/work
bigger bedrooms
en suite or a 2nd bathroom

we have compromised with a smaller garden and garage in a separate block with parking in front of garage but we’ve now got 4 bedrooms (3 are massive doubles) plus a downstairs toilet and an en suite as well as main bathroom. We will be in a mid terraced townhouse but it’s a more sought after area.

this move will also allow us to pay off all our debts so will only have our mortgage.

In an ideal world I’d have loved a 4 bed detached on the estate we are moving to but the £60k extra wasn’t feasible!!

It's worth fiddling with your Rightmove search settings too - we were looking for detached or semi but I found some of the estate agent's descriptions were quite, ahem, flexible or didn't really work for the type of housing in the area so ended up with saved searches for detached, semi and terraced just to make sure we didn't miss anything. Eg an end terrace where the rooms don't back onto the neighbour's is probably quieter than a semi where they do!

We plan to buy somewhere next year. Our list so far:

Walking distance to school/corner shop

Kitchen big enough to be a kitchen diner

Utility room or downstairs shower room where we can install a dog shower/grooming station

Big garden for dogs/hens/growing our own veg

Hubby wants a driveway

Quiet road with places to walk dogs

Downstairs loo in addition to upstairs bathroom

3rd bedroom or annexe for home office

No listed buildings or anything with a low energy rating (C or above - probably means a new build for us or something built in the last 20 years)

No chimneys or fireplaces that need maintenance

No houses on a flood plain or anywhere likely to flood due to climate change in the next 25 years

No ex council houses and nothing in a run-down area

No front doors that open onto the living room (must have a hallway)

No awkwardly shaped rooms

No mould or damp problems or a high level of work beyond new carpet and redecorating (again new or recently restored homes ideal)

Solar panels on the roof would be a plus (there are lots in our area) but not critical as we would probably install them

Playroom for our DD a plus but not a dealbreaker

Our budget might stretch to 4 bedrooms so bedroom sizes must be decent, not 4 tiny rooms

Detached and in our chosen village.

Driveway for parking, south- or south-ish facing garden, 3 beds (even if one small), short walk to a shop and reasonable bus journey time into city.

My non negotiables were:

Not walking through the living room to get to the kitchen
Not opening the front door directly on to the living room
Garden with grass
Upstairs bathroom

Must haves

Not leasehold
Downstairs toilet
Not open plan
Not on busy road
Hallway

Ideally
Not new build
Reasonable sized bedrooms (ie not where space has been squeezed in order to shoe horn an ensuite in)
Utility room
Larder

Not overlooked
Detached
Driveway
Near family
Peaceful, semi-rural environment (we don't mind travelling a couple of miles for food etc)
Extra loo
Move in condition
No DIY bodge jobs that will cost £££ to put right
Eco house - cheap to run. At least a good B on EPC

Essential - Parking, preferably for 2 vehicles.
Downstairs loo
Not overlooked at the back
Garden with grass and preferably trees - hate a fully paved garden

Preferences : detached if we can
Living room looking onto the garden, or maybe onto both front and back. If you have a nice garden why do you want to have to go into the kitchen or dining room to see it from inside? More private too, to sit at the back of the house.

Nice to have but not deal breakers:
en suite
Utility, preferably with a sink
Garage

We moved earlier this year. Must haves were mains gas (lots of villages round here don't have this,) three bedrooms, off street parking for two cars, a garden and a bath or room to put a bath in.

Nice to have but not must haves downstairs toilet, ensuite, utility room.

Why do people want South facing gardens? It means the front is north facing.

When I bought my first flat my two pre-requisites were my own front door, no shared stairs; and easy walking distance to the tube.

2nd property was three beds, two doubles, downstairs bog, character features with fireplaces, easy parking, easy tube access.

3rd property was family, forever home, off-street parking plenty of space, East/West facing. Near tube. Family kitchen, good garden character. Was wonderful for 20 years and then DH wanted his "pile". I'd go back in a heart beat. I miss London.

Why do people want South facing gardens? It means the front is north facing.

Because they sit out in their garden, have lunch or tea, drink after work, coffee with a friend, kids playing in paddling pool. And they don't want to do all that in the shade.
And if they like nice plants or grow veg they don't want to have to always find shade loving plants.

We rent but as we pay pretty good money am still fussy and my particular things are

I like double fronted houses-semi or detached- I feel the layouts just work better and it doesn't feel like your house is a long thin corridor

Parking

At least 1600 sq ft

In great order, as I can't change anything

Near a regular bus service as I don't drive(H does though) no more than 10 minutes into town or shops

Downstairs loo

Decent , but not huge garden

Good quality well maintained windows and efficient up to date heating - at least a C on rating

Near the station
Off road parking

I bought the first house we viewed (out of only 3).We've improved the layout massively in the 20 years we've been here, but those were the only deal breakers. I think I'd be fussier now!

Downstairs loo
Airing cupboard
Kerb appeal

We wanted house with a garden and it did not have to be perfect inside because we were prepared to mould it to our tastes.

Location location location
[within 15 mins walking distance of the station to get to work, near dcs' schools, near a park, desirable area]
Ideally detached
Ideally off st parking
Low maintenance level back garden (min 60 ft).

No main road
No swimming pool
Not keen on conservatory (too hot/cold)
Didn't care about the sun

We found it. Probate sale. Needed a lot of updating. Spent a year gutting and renovating it and it is ours ours ours

Detatched
At least 3 double bedrooms
1-2 acres of land
Double garage
Woodland walks on doorstep
No older than 1950s
Private & not overlooked
No slopey ceilings
Light & airy
No neighbours
Mains water, gas & electric
Great views
Parking for multiple cars
No shared access
No restrictive covenants
Potential for AirBnB chalets
Within 10 minute drive to town
20 minute drive to city
Not near a river, motorway or junction

As for layout/decor of the house, I didn't mind. All that can be changed, whereas most of the above can't.

Took years but we found it! The compromise (there's always one) is it didn't have a garage but plenty of room to build one, to DHs exact plans.

At least five bedrooms

My top three:

Period house with original features and not heavily altered in layout (hate these characterless open plan extensions with bifolds). I like a bit of history.

Sunny, reasonably sized back garden.

Second loo, ideally downstairs and ideally room for a shower too. We don't have this now, and would install one if there was any suitable location (there's not) - but I don't think I'd buy another house with only one toilet. I'm not a fan of en-suites though.

Sea view
Within ten minutes walk of beach, station, shops and school
Garden that isn't overlooked
Original features (fireplaces, cornicing etc.)

• Quiet road/ cul de sac
• detached
• private driveway
• downstairs loo
• en suite
• utility room separate to kitchen

We had a house which we thought was everything we wanted - detached, 3 beds, set back from the road, large enough drive for 5+ cars and a open plan kitchen diner, after 5 years we realised we would rather have money to enjoy ourselves than worth about having a posh house so we downsized to a ex council semi and have never been happier 😁