Buying house priorities?

[Potaytoe5]

It's been 2 months since we sold and haven't found anything to buy yet.
VERY nearly we made a decision on a house, but it didn't feel right, so we've pulled out very quickly. I feel quite guilty about it, but it's making me review what we're looking in for a house!

We've sold our 3 bed semi, good sized but with a box room. DH works from home and I will soon as well. So basically we need a bigger house. Ours isn't easily extendable, no loft space etc. We have 2 young DC.

So far my list looks
Bigger house and being able to walk to school:
only DC1 at school so far, enjoys it there so not sure about changing it? NO WAY will I commit myself to 10 years (because of DC2) of driving the school runs if both of us will WFH. I can't imagine defrosting the car in midst of the winter just for that.

Decent garden

Second bathroom / downstairs loo

Not on the main road

Not too much of a doer upper

Detached

I think DH's list look something like:
Bigger house, detached house, not a doer upper. large garden, second bathroom, not on the main road. He doesn't care too much about proximity to school as he doesn't do many school runs! He gets why I care though.
I HATE driving and don't want to commit myself for so many years.

I think we should start looking at old semis, they have huge rooms and we could keep DC in their current school, but DH really wants detached, which would require moving further.

I'm not sure if either of us is either right or wrong. Maybe I'm missing something? Do you have a priority list of what you want in your next house?

Oh and we also currently have a west facing garden, which is great!

We currently have no plans to move whatsoever but if I was putting a list together. Mine would be as follows:

No Tree Preservation Orders or big trees in garden or neighbouring gardens which might block out light.

Lots of lovely big windows letting in lots of light and sunshine.
Neighbouring houses with/without extensions that also might block light.

West or East facing gardens. If lounge at front of house then I like that to get
evening sun so west at front of house and then like the east facing garden assuming the kitchen/dinning room is at the back where I would spend the majority of the day. If kitchen at the front then i east with lounge at back and west. Don’t really sit out in the sunshine much but like the warmth of the sun and good for growing vegetables. I would be flexible though as we currently have a corner plot and house is on
on its side facing east and north and garden is also very large so we get lots of sun with shade too. Would almost never buy
south facing garden as it means the front of the house is north facing so never gets the sun.

No box rooms. Would like a utility room or space to remodel/put one in.

Never a shared drive and parking for 2 x cars on driveway with other parking nearby.
In walking distance to a decent size food store. I too hate driving so the more facilities in walking or cycling distance the better. Not concerned about schools as kids all grown up. No main roads.

Houses not too close together or overlooked. Currently detached which I think I would still prefer.

The above are my must haves. LIGHT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO ME. Currently have a triple aspect lounge facing east, south and west. I am never moving again as it would be hard to replicate this. Don’t really mind if not the prettiest house out there.

Great thread.

I was reading your post and immediately thought get a semi

Although the children are young so changing schools wouldn't be that bad

I'd also skimp on the garden a bit ( because I found doing much garden was too much whilst raising family ) - it doesn't need to be big for a bit of a laugh

Detached but actually in a corner plot semi now and it’s fine so maybe that would be my compromise.
3 car drive
garage
5 beds, 3 bath - downstairs shower room a plus for muddy kids.
utility so I don’t have to have washing machine/ tumble drier in the kitchen and I can hide the drying rack.
Trees/ mature garden so not some astro/ concrete hellscape. Not too massive and high maintenance.
Near somewhere I can run off-road at least some of the time.
Ideally double yellows outside my house 🤣
Not a massive main road/ rat run but I don’t mind a bit of traffic/ surrounding noise - used to live next door to the university astros and a primary school so used to that. I quite like a bit of “life”.

Dont mind driving so don’t care about being near school or the shops. A bar / pub/ restaurant within walking distance would be nice though.

Not a delivery/ phone signal/ broadband blackspot

Usually something has got to give, you just have to decide which priorities are the least important. If I was you, I'd settle for a smaller garden and not mind too much if it was semi-detached, and prioritise everything else you listed.

My personal priorities:
Near a large park, preferably with water (river or lake) and a playground
Within walking distance of a food shop and cafes
2 toilets
3 good sized bedrooms
A garden with a lawn (not gravel or fake grass)
Good school catchment area
Doesn't need much renovation
Good sized kitchen
Off-road parking

3 bedrooms (or 2 if there is sufficient space for an office elsewhere)
Good downstairs layout/room proportions
Walking distance to a high street/town centre with shops, cafes and public transport
A cellar with potential for conversion (we are looking in an area where most properties have cellars)
A garden that is at least bigger than a courtyard

Happy to take on a project as long as it's not a complete wreck or involving lots of structural work (hence the requirement for a good floor plan). Not bothered about parking or whether it's semi/terraced.

Thank you for sharing your lists!
@LindaDawn you make some great points there, some things I wouldn't think about! I will add 'check for the tree preservation' to my checklist.
I think we are quite spoilt with the great amount of light we are getting, with west facing garden and lounge with both west and east facing windows, we're never short of light.
Thank you all for sharing your lists, I will have to make a document to include some points! So glad to have asked :)

Joint no 1)s big garden (DH is a gardener) +North facing upper room of decent size (I need a studio)
2) big rooms and big windows, rather than more rooms but poky ones with little windows
3) detached if poss

After the nightmare we've been through I will never share walls again!

I wanted something detached, not overlooked, quiet with our own driveway. Everything else could be fixed.

Oh no.... dare I ask what nightmare?
We would prefer detached as well, but this means moving area/schools.
DC loves the school but there are some good ones other side of town too.

I think we've been lucky in our semi so far, we had a childless couple as neighbours for years and now it's a retired man, who likes gardening!
The worst he does is regular mowing his lawn!
We're probably the nightmare neighbours, with screeching kids 😅

Not open plan, 3 bedrooms, or 2 large bedrooms plus study type room, driveway for 2 cars, not on a main road, and absolutely must be detached. We are currently in a semi with very noisy neighbours, so very keen to get away. I find myself finding excuses to leave the house at the weekend when they are in, as I can’t bear having to listen to them. Not fussed with a big garden, would rather something smaller. Hopefully moving in the next year or so.

We have a large semi which is honestly bigger than most detached houses I’ve seen. In the area we live, a decent-sized detached (ie not a small 3 bed or new build pokey 4 bed) go for anywhere north of 700k and closer to a mil. We share a wall but have a nice sized front and back garden, private drive and are not overlooked at all. Our rooms are big (including our ‘box’ which would fit a double bed easily). I really think only looking at detached (similar to only considering 4 bed) narrows your options considerably and you can get a nicer, bigger house if you consider 3 bed semis too - particularly older ones. Ours is 3 bed but we have an enormous loft space, a garage we’ll convert eventually and side space to extend if we want (which we won’t because we don’t need more house really). We will do the loft but not out of necessity as we have two children and the garage will be an office.

I would say no shared facilities, garden with nice and not overlooked aspect. Ideally detached but dependent on size of house. A 1930s semi to me feels more detached than a densely built new build with no real space in front of the house and another in touching distance on either side. Location close to green space and facilities. Parking. I would say that we like many needed to be prepared to renovate and the most unrealistic part of most descriptions has been no works really needed given the age of most desirable housing stock in this country. That is not to say that renovation isn't expensive and really hard to live with because it is. But once you have why would you sell if you could avoid it.

I'd avoid building 10-15 years of plans around a particular school and an assumption that your kids will walk there for their entire school careers. If they're young enough that only one of them has actually started school then there's no telling what will happen on that front. A change of head can have a dramatic effect on the ethos and atmosphere in a school, a rubbish peer group and a load of bullying can dismantle a child's self-confidence and leave you looking elsewhere, and there's no telling that the same school will suit both your children or meet their needs, which are probably largely unknown at this stage. So I'd prioritise what you want/need from a house and then have a look around to see whether it exists at a price you can afford and if so where.

My priorities/no negotiables were:

Walkable to city centre (we don’t drive)
Victorian property
Original features
Hallway
Separate lounge and kitchen - I really don’t like open plan living!
Two double bedrooms, at least!

We ended up purchasing an almost perfect property. We had to compromise on our outdoor space. We have an enclosed courtyard that can fit a small table and two chairs, and nothing else.

We previously lived in a first floor flat with no access to a garden, so we were happy with any form of outdoor space, to be honest. Thankfully, we live near a nice park too. 😊

For us it was location, that's what has made us happy in the end as you can always tweak the property but can't change where it is or it's position on a street.

Otherwise our order was:
Detached (nasty and noisy neighbour made our life hell when we were in terraced)
Quiet location away from roads and on a particular estate we were aiming for
Parking and no shared driveway
Space to work from home for two if us, so either 4th bedroom, downstairs study or potential garage conversion
Walkable to all amenities such as school, shop, park

We wanted something that didn't need renovating but our estate is full of elderly who have lived here since it was built in the 1970's so ended up a large refurb which means it's been more financially stretching and stressful than if we'd found a done house but glad we held out for the right location as we hope to be here a long time.

I’d get a semi near amenities and convenient for day to day life like the school run over a detached with the same amount of space.

We are moving and our priority list was.

• bigger house with at least 4 proper double bedrooms and a 5th as an office - we have two kids but both work from home and regularly host grandparents / extended family
• semi or detached that was wide (for London)
• Victorian / really high ceilings / large period windows, period features
• good sized garden for the kids to play in though not huge as don’t have time to maintain
• large kitchen / diner / family room with a large pantry
• nice quiet residential street
• space for a good sized utility room
• lots of storage
• downstairs loo, master en-suite and 1 to 2 other upstairs bathrooms
• close to the kids school and in good school catchment for secondaries if we need to leave private sector
• close to the high street
• close to transport - it’s London so need to use public transport

We are willing to do work and have done work before but ideally liveable

The important thing is for you & DH to work out your essentials & desirables. Moving schools is certainly doable at your DS's age & this would give you far more potential properties to view.

Even though it's a way off, time does pass quickly so make sure the new home is in an area for good secondary schools. I know things can change but generally good and outstanding schools do tend to stay that way (unless something really bad happens).

• Good schools
• Walking distance to school makes a huge difference if you can
• Sunny garden (unless garden was huge or very long) I'd avoid a North facing garden
• Agree with another poster re large windows allowing lots of natural light and sun in (many period type properties can be absolutely freezing)
• Driveway is an absolute must and cars should not block each other in (if more than one car)
• Garage or decent size outbuilding / sufficient space for sheds and garden furniture
• As un-overlooked as possible - trees and room for shrubs and bushes in borders
• Quiet road - having said that DH is really keen on a detached house that ticks most boxes apart from being on a main road (I like some tranquility in the garden in summer evenings)!!