What puts you off when viewing a property?

[Sittingonasale]

I find smells really off putting.
I viewed several properties last week and I was put off two straight away walking through the door.
I'm not against having pets indoors and have had my fair share in the past but both these houses stank of cat and dog.
We DID view properties which clearly had pets and they didn't smell at all.

I have very allergic children and one with asthma which probably doesn't help the way I feel but I just can't do smells including tobacco smoke ( I used to smoke!), strong smells of food or cheap, sweet air fresheners. I'm the same if I have a lift with someone in their car. 😤

Another thing I find really irritating on pictures or at viewings is a nearly empty toilet roll hanging off the holder or toilet lids open. 😆

Dog smell. I've walked into a house and straight out again because of it.

Vans in the street. If your neighbours are builders or tradesmen they will be noisy and you'll never enjoy a lie in again (I know this from bitter experience!)

Artificial grass. I hate it!

A busy road, no downstairs loo and the owners there.

Dog smells.
Black kitchens.
Grey, grey, grey

Piles of rubbish in next doors garden.

Adjoining back gardens with hot tubs/bar/trampoline/basketball hoop.

Can fix the house, can't fix neighbours.

I managed to find the listings of the house we looked at ten years ago, and the listing of its resale recently. You can see that for the sort of buyers they needed to target, the total refurbishment wasn’t really hitting the mark.

We're viewing at the moment and so far it's been attic bedroom floors and stairs that wobble and move when you walk over them. I don't know anything about structural problems but it doesn't make me feel safe. Really ancient electrical systems. And probate sales where everything is still in the house. We viewed one recently that still had the deceased's crumpled bedding on the bed and their whole life still out on display. I felt such a feeling of sadness walking round I couldn't have lived there.

I’ve never bought a property but I’ve been in rentals for years, smoke smells , damp, or just unpleasant smells in general would put me off and obviously if the house looks like it needs repairs or in general poor condition etc

We've viewed properties recently where the smell of dog literally hit you when you opened the front door. It was just awful. Why not just open a window and wash the doggie bedding??? it's horrible when owners try to mask it with those plastic air freshener type things, the combination just made me feel sick and unable to concentrate on the viewing.

Estate agents rushing you round because they've got another viewing to go to when you've literally been there 10 mins 🙄A property is literally the biggest purchase you'll make in your life so why would you have 10 mins to decide! madness.

When it says No onward chain on the details and then during the viewing the agent tells you the owners haven't even started looking for a property to buy yet and the move will be dependent on them finding somewhere.

Offers in Excess of on the details. Just makes me think the owners are being greedy and won't just name their price. Then they get the hump when you make an offer that's under. So, they only want to be flexible upwards!

Final one, when the agent tells you they need to achieve a certain price because they want to buy another property and you know that the house isn't worth that price. You know it and the agent knows it, but there's this weird guilt trip conversation where they try to persuade you that it's worth the 100k mark up ( they bought it 3 years ago and haven't done anything to it). I'm usually just completely honest with the agent and then when they've stopped trying to sell it to me they actually agreed and said they were trying to figure out how to have that conversation with the owner.

Rant over 😁

Grumpy estate agents.

So much of this thread resonates with me...I must have moved too often!
I've learnt the hard way that a certain type of next door garden is a red flag...I don't mean totally overgrown as in an empty house, just an unloved look, used as a dumping ground. Both occasions there were neighbour "issues".

Spotlights everywhere! I hate poor lighting design.

My main focus is the neighbours houses and gardens. I have a real dread of messy noisy neighbours. Noisy roads are a deal breaker for me too.

Smells would put me off for sure, but for me it's all about location. The dealbreaker for me would be a property on a busy road, or slap bang up against other properties, or with an unpleasant outlook (I once viewed a house which was lovely in itself but overlooked some sort of depot!)

Most things about a house can be changed, but location is everything, and my idea is hell is noise, horrid views etc

Double viewings. Why? I come to spend 20 min in the property and don't want to be chased around by other potential buyers.

Didn't mind the owners that much. In fact on all three times we viewed with the owners we had the most lovely chat.

I viewed one like that, really sad and not much dignity for the previous owner.

Mine was what I'm moving to get away from, kids shouting stuff at you and spitting. Kids playing foot ball in the street hitting houses/cars when they have parks nearby. I will walk straight off and not view.

We rent nice houses so have to be fussy as can't change anything so my list may be slightly specific to renting

Pet smells
Dirty decor (can't trust it will be redecorated)
Bad area
Tiny kitchen
Old appliances
No upstairs bathroom
No bath
Neighbours homes look uncared for
Old boiler
Poor layout
Grotty flooring
Damp

Location and neighbours. Two things you can't change.

In response to those who've expressed an opinion about who shows them round.

I once viewed a house, it was the alternative to the one I'm living in in fact. It was perfect in every way but there was just...something.

I kept going back. I viewed it four times in all, the poor people must have thought it was a sure thing. But there was just.....and I couldn't put my finger on it.

It was the woman owner who was there every time, and finally on my last visit, it all fell into place. Next door was washing their car, and playing the radio. I thought nothing of it, but she got very agitated, and started jangling keys in front of her toddler, encouraging him to make noise, and she started talking really loudly.

We were in the kitchen and I noticed there were fairy lights round a garden umbrella next door, again nothing out of the ordinary but what with her behaviour I asked her if next door had many parties.

She answered "yes" in such a dejected voice. Poor woman. Poor family.

If an estate agent had showed me round, I'd have bought it.

Twelve years on, they're still living there. As are the neighbours.

Owners trying to sell you their crappy furniture.

Lack of parking, busy road, only one reception room, small kitchen with no obvious way to extend.

Things like a brand new kitchen or bathroom that's not to my taste or really badly laid out, I'd rather buy a property needing a new kitchen or bathroom (priced appropriately).

I can cope with clutter and people or pet smells, damp smells would make be run though.

Large cracks running down the outside of the building 😕

I think that if you are seriously looking then one skill is to look past the obvious.

So, smells of dog, that means all new carpets needed. Look at the house location rooms etc etc and if you like it, then factor in new carpets, is it worth it?

Cigarette smells are harder, than means stripping out wallpaper and redecorating, end up being pricey.

Furniture, dirt, decoration, dingy curtains, stupid owners, etc etc , I look past them to the house, and factor in how much it will cost to put it right.

But we got a huge reduction on our current house due to smell of mould. We got a friend to come with us for a second viewing to see what was causing the mould. He was a surveyor and told us it was all condensation damp.
Didn;t cost us much to put right.

I viewed a house (about 20yrs ago) that had a meat cleaver left in the bath, I struggled to see past that I must say. Then another place recently that was filled with the owner’s own paintings, they all featured the same man in various messiah-like scenes, with his face lit up. The house was dark and there was a dead magpie in the middle of the lawn in the back garden. You shouldn’t be put off by these things, but collectively it was a bit much.

Another house I viewed was beautiful but about 100yrs old and clearly subsiding. Walking on the upstairs landing was like being on a boat. I said to the EA “there’s subsidence” and she acted shocked at the very suggestion. I declined to offer, it sold and then came back on the market due to “manageable movement” and asking for cash buyers only.