I would NEVER buy a house with…

[Wyr]

• solar panels

• a ‘garden house’ IE a lockdown special outdoor wooden shed dressed up as an office - usually taking up half the garden and completely pointless

• a neighbour who has a load of cars / shit in their yard - hoarder vibes

who’s next? 3 things that would make you not buy a house…

I’ll add grey render and grey windows

I second solar panels, especially that are not discreetly placed.

A mortgage.

I prefer my grey, open plan, bi-fold doored, kitchen/diner with island, my on street parking, roof with solar panels and only a shower, to be debt-free.

😆😉

No that would be ok but wouldn’t buy as I’d be paying for a lounge that we just wouldn’t use in the open plan area - much rather have a contained kitchen and a separate lounge and dining room or a good sized utility space instead

How do panels make a house look ugly? It's just a bunch of roof tiles on a roof, how are they "pretty"?

Mine would be

1. On a main road
2. Near a corner junction
3. At the bottom of the hill
4. Anywhere near a river/stream

These are due to stories of police officers going to a car crash of house vs car, or the risk of flooding.....

Really? Omg they’re sooo ugly!

exhibit a and b and these are quite ‘tasteful’ compared to some!

Oh I hate grey. The current trend for monochrome decor will come to an end soon and there will be lots of DIY going on. Ditto with open plan. Yes it visually enhances size of living space (used to be called a room} but it's so inefficient to heat - as are rooms with high high ceilings and beams. You'd have ti climb up and sit on a beam to be where the heat is.

Anything you can’t change.

We bought a house with artificial grass we just spent a weekend digging it up and replaced with a proper lawn.

Three things for me:

• no side or rear access
• on a main road
• new build estate

We previously bought on a new build estate and it was fine but since moving we’ve realised how lovely it is to hear the birds!

Hilariously, I can see my neighbour's flagpole (with Union Jack on it) from the window (we're in the East End of Glasgow. And this kind of thing is becoming increasingly rare in this area, thankfully).

Would never buy a place:

1. without the possibility of secure/ covered personal e-bike parking at street level (i.e. not a flat where everything has to be carried upstairs, and the only feasible bike parking would be outside in the road)
2. on a road with lots of traffic/ pollution, or next door to a primary school playground!
3. with a windowless kitchen (yes, these exist)

Would also aim to avoid (but would change asap):
4) places with no mains gas/ central heating - so the only heating comes from inefficient electric wall heaters
5) draughty houses with single glazing
6) no storage cupboards at all

As a renter, it's less easy to make even minor changes, never mind structural/ expensive ones - I like lots of things about the flat we live in now, but if we owned it would definitely change a few things:

eg install an outdoor tap, and a better garden shed situation;
consider a heat pump and solar panels(I see they're not popular with everyone but don't understand why not!);
create more storage/shelving;
replace nasty generic grey carpets (in both bedrooms), preferably with cork tiles, but anything that wipeable!;
look out for a Japanese-style bath rather than a full-length British style one....

No downstairs loo (elderly parents and pupils)

No proper shower (seen some beautifully done cottages with a hand-held thing over a gorgeous bath - only OK if there's a shower elsewhere)

Grey kitchen/carpets (don't mind repainting but those are pricey)

A separate dining area with a tiny kitchen. I like an open plan dining kitchen where you can have meals in it. A second separate dining room is fine, if next to the kitchen and you're not walking food across other rooms. I would however still have to have a large open plan dining kitchen too, and would probably end up converting separate dining room into something else.
I dislike downstairs enclosed little rooms. The only room I like enclosed is the living room, and I also like a closed hallway and the front door to open into the entrance way/hallway.

I meant how are normal roof tiles particularly attractive?

Anyway our house would sell so fast it wouldn't even get on Right Move, so you wouldn't have a chance to pass it over. They usually sell in this street before a board can go up. Especially any with lower energy costs.

Please tell me you just made that up! 😱

of course it would 🤣

Our previous house sold in two days, so I probably know a bit more about that than you, @Wyr

We had a house with stairs in the living room and I loved it. We moved up to Surrey and were on a tightish budget. The house was beautifullt designed to fit on a tiny plot and it felt really cosy.

A concrete garden
Fake grass
Thatch
Listing
A wood burner
An ensuite
More bathrooms than bedrooms
Open lan ground floor

Good to hear! Happy for you 😁

Sorry, that should say WITHOUT double glazing! I rented a house without years ago. Bloody freezing!

We once went to view a lovely house, but to get to it we had to go through an estate(!) where almost every house had a huge flag hanging out the window and bunting across the fronts Nah! I don't think so

UPVC windows unless the price reflected the cost to restore sashes or if more modern replace with low profile metal casements designed by someone with eyes who understands symmetry and proportion.

Neighbours who think it's ok to impose their musical tastes on everyone else . I would literally ask all the neighbouring houses about this before offering, it's such a big quality of life thing for me. (Also probably neighbours with a hot tub as they seem to go hand in hand on here lol).

A faux-Victorian new build or any new build that was pretending to be something it wasn't. Don't mind a modern house or flat if well designed and good quality bricks.

Interesting I'd like a garden office but our garden is nearly 120ft so it wouldn't dominate it. I'd also like solar panels DHs aunt and uncle have then and their electricity bill is so low.

I also don't care about anything decorative, I'm not a fan of grey either but surely you decorate most of the time when you move anyway

The only things I couldn't be without is a driveway and an upstairs bathroom. I do also prefer a period house , but if necessary could add character with furniture and decorating to something newer.

I'd avoid a house that had no fireplace.
Also open-plan (I like having individual rooms - I had an open-plan house and it was a nightmare to heat when it was winter).
Glossy tiled floors in the sitting room (again, feels and looks cold to me).

Yes tiled floor in living spaces nightmare for slippy doggy paws too