First time buyer - how do you know it’s the right house?

[TheresNoFudgeHere]

Just been to view a house and not sure how I feel about it. It’s ok, but I don’t love it.
I think the main thing really bugging me is you come into a very small entry way, and then straight in to the living room and the stairs are in the living room. I’d much prefer to have a proper hallway.
The kitchen is quite small but ok. Other than that the house is nice, but I’m just not sure.

i know no one can tell me yes or no, but are you supposed to love it at viewing? I also recognise as first time buyers we’re not going to have everything we want. For example, this house has a downstairs WC which is great, but other houses may not have this.

I suppose it’s also a bit difficult to imagine yourself there too. We currently live in a rented flat and at first I couldn’t see us there at all but it is home now and I like it!

It's hard, and depends on your budget I guess.

Could you afford a house with the extra things that you want? Are there any up for sale in the area that you like?

If not, then I guess it depends how much you want to get on the ladder. When we bought our first house it needed a lot of work and didn't tick all of our boxes, but we knew it was a good step and that a few years down the line would enable us to move 'up' into a house that we loved.

Thanks for replying so quickly. The market certainly where I am is quite difficult at the minute - few houses on sale because they’re getting snapped up so quickly, which is also stressful as I don’t want to act on impulse rather than taking our time to think

Can you imagine yourself living there? I’ve bought & sold a few times over the years and if I can see myself living somewhere and feeling comfortable, that does it for me. We’ve just had an offer accepted on a house which doesn’t have 2 of our “must have” requirements but we both walked in and just felt right at home. It made us smile & we felt willing to compromise. We saw several houses before this one. Some we liked but they weren’t for us. Don’t feel panicked into buying one just because you feel you should.

How many houses have you viewed? For us it was a fairly obvious yes as soon as we walked into our house.

Sit down and work out your wants and non-negotiables. For example, my absolute no-no was a living room/hallway (having a living room you have to walk through to get to the kitchen for example or walking straight into the living room from the front door). That narrowed things down quite a lot!

Then just go from there.

Our compromises for this house was a teeny tiny master bedroom (literally just big enough for a bed) and a shared driveway. I still dislike the size of the master but it works and the shared driveway has been amazing as our DD and the neighbours girls play on the driveway all the time!

The right house will be the one you like best out of the ones you can afford.

It helps to see as many as you can so you have some comparisons and find out what features you like and which are deal breakers for you.

There will be lots of compromises to make, just as in looking for a rented property.

You're likely to have to compromise on something, so the thing to figure out through viewings or Rightmove scrolling is what those are. They will be different for everyone - there are a few historic threads on here where people post their deal breakers or "must haves" and some of them are things that wouldn't occur to me but would bother them- may be worth having a look. See also "ensuite lover vs ensuite hater" threads.

You then need to layer on affordability- you're unlikely to get a 4 car drive with a 2 bed terrace.

So take your time, but dont necessarily write off houses you don't "love" because there will be things you dont love. Also be careful of crossing your own "red lines" for a house you get the feels for- e.g. that pretty cottage is affordable because it's on a shitty train line - really easy to persuade yourself it doesn't really matter but when you have to use that train line every day, it will probably detract more from your life than living in the cute cottage will add

When I was house hunting last year I wanted a driveway - I'd been living in a town centre with my ex previously and there had always a fight for parking. I swore I'd never move to a house without allocated parking. It was my must have.

I viewed loads of houses and I ended up falling in love with a house that didn't have allocated parking or a driveway. Or even a downstairs loo! When I saw it, I just knew it was the right house for me - under budget, lovely quiet friendly area, near to school etc. It literally ticked every box other than the parking.

It was weird I genuinely thought that was my 'must have' but turns out it wasn't after all! I think if you have a budget you must be prepared to compromise on some things. Have an open mind but I think when you find the right house, I think you'll just know.

As a FTB it is quite unlikely that you will be there for more than a few years so this is the time to compromise rather than rejecting what may otherwise be a perfectly acceptable house.
If you think you definitely CAN'T live with something then that is fine but if just uncertain you may have to make a quick decision or miss out.

Of course some people stay in their first house (my parents for instance only had one house in over 65yrs) but the "norm" is to get a foot on the ladder, build some equity (and get away from paying rent), find out what works (and what doesn't work) and then try to find your "ideal" property next time.

It depends on your budget and what houses available in your area within that budget are like. If you have a big budget then you can have a big wish list, if you don’t then you cut your cloth.

I don’t have a hallway, a downstairs loo or parking, but I was brought up in a house that didn’t have those things either so they would be little luxuries to me, but I’m sure if you were brought up with having those then they seem standard. Never mind en-suites and utility rooms!

My house has character, a garden, was in my budget and in the location I wanted. They were the most important thing for me, so when I found it I knew I wanted it.

Keep looking on Rightmove and try and work out what appeals to you and what doesn’t. Try to be flexible on your must haves etc.For me a downstairs WC for a 1st home is not an essential but for others it will be. If possible try and buy something that will last you a few years ie you won’t grow out of it too quickly but that is easy to say when it depends on your budget. Try and buy something that has pluses such as a bus route nearby, or local shops etc, as this will appeal to a wide number of people and will help when it comes to selling down the line. Good luck and let us know how you get on.

I think unless you get "I could live here" vibes from the off, then it's not the one for you.
I'm also a FTB working through the solicitor process with my first place. I viewed 6 properties and the one I'm getting is the one that just had the best vibe.
Strangely, it reminded me of the house of my next door neighbour growing up. Just really cozy and "safe" feeling.
I sacrificed slightly on the location. It's in a nice area, but not really quite the area I wanted. But the house itself is what sold it.

I think when you find the one, you'll just know.

Thanks for the advice everyone, it’s so helpful.
Absolutely recognise you’ll never get everything you want as a first time buyer, this house actually has 3 bathrooms which is well beyond what we need. It doesn’t help that I’ve been on nightshifts and in the past 2 days have had 7-8 hours sleep, I’m feeling like a zombie so trying to rationally think is difficult!

Sorry just to reply to some questions. This is actually the first house we’ve viewed however there are only 26 properties on the market at the minute and all the others aren’t for us, location/in dire need of modernisation etc.
Another essential for me is no open plan living room and kitchen - I know we could erect a wall but I don’t want the hassle!

Interesting to see that some of you have ended up realising your must haves weren’t really must haves.
As for picturing whether I could be at home there I don’t know - I’ve hardly moved in my life so for me anywhere new is very difficult to imagine as home, but as I said in OP once you’ve moved in it does become home.

Hi @TheresNoFudgeHere it's been a long time since I bought my first home, but I have owned 7 (don't ask). The house I live in currently I did not even want to view, but my husband had already booked the viewing so I went. I hate the front of my house (cladding is awful imo) and it is definitely not perfect inside. However, it's in a great area for us. It is small enough inside for us and gives us the outside space we need. We have been able to do all the work we wanted to without it breaking the bank and thus make it our own.

I don't stand at the front of my house and look in, so the cladding has not really bothered me.

I guess what I am trying to say is there are always cons to a property, it is just whether you can live with those particular cons or cannot.

It sounds cliche, but location is the most important. We made a small mistake with our first property and bought not in the best area, then sold and stretched ourselves for the current one, only 2 years later. House is not perfect (I love it though) but the best location. Every day I count my blessings

Totally agree

I would definitely wait and view more houses if you're not feeling this one. Can you expand your search area a bit?

We saw something like 17 houses, which was a bit excessive but interest rates changed while we were looking and we found we could afford something a bit better, so kind of started again. I wanted to have something I loved about the house we bought - obviously knowing I would have to compromise on a lot, but having one really lovely thing was important to me. For this house, it was the location - the garden backs onto woodlands so there are lots of birds and it feels very private. There was one other house we thought about buying, where I loved the very spacious hallway and nicely decorated bathroom. Most of the other houses didn't have anything special about them.

Location is really important. I don't love our house (80s box) but I love the area.

It’s a great area, I always said I’d rather a smaller house in a good area rather than a bigger, cheaper house in a bad area.
Definitely the sleep deprivation is impacting me but I’ve done nothing but think on it since we got home and I’m definitely leaning toward it.

I think trying to imagine living there, would it work for you. If the entrance is really small where are you going to put coats and shoes?

make a list of must haves, so this might be number of bedrooms, size of kitchen , garden, storage space

then desirables such as garage, downstairs loo.

fill out a checklist for each property to see which ones it meets.

definitely consider location, both immediate and more general. How busy is the road, is it a nice street or do the neighbours seem dodgy, what’s crime like, what are the schools like, how far is the commute.

My first flat i compromised on a 1 bed. I wanted 2 but couldn’t afford it. Lived there 15 years.

this house I knew what my wants were and non negotiables. The wanted a garden 2 double bedrooms and place for an office. Kitchen it dinning area I can entertain and easy parking. Also close to the city or ideally in the outskirts

I had to move out the city into a village to get it, but it’s really close. I also compromised on bedroom space to get the entertainment space downstairs. But I knew I loved it when I saw it. Just felt home and I was mentally moving in.

look around lots of places and you will get a gut feeling.

Make sure you view everything in your budget, even if it doesn’t look right from the advert.

I cannot recommend seeing more properties enough. Go look at ones which are not suitable on paper or require "too much" work.

We saw maybe 10 houses, looked 3, 2 of which were sold before we had a chance to think about anything and the house we bought... Well I didn't love it but it felt right. I liked the garden and way the light came in through the windows. I saw the potential!

The area is not my first choice but it is very well connected. I don't drive and now realise that if we'd bought in my ideal location I'd struggle to get around as much.

With my favourite house I just knew! I was a FTB and I had viewed lots of houses the same day. My house was the last one and had only just come on the market.

I just knew! It felt happy. I could picture my stuff in it and what stuff I wanted in it. It was a small terrace and I was blissfully happy there for years.

With this one I walked into the garden and a storm was coming in and it felt right. I wanted somewhere in a particular area.