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…

Because I couldn’t afford to repair a period property.

Solar panels save you money, so why wouldn’t you have them? Because of aesthetics?

I work in a specially built summerhouse. It’s completely insulted with underfloor heating. It’s peaceful and the view is calming and relaxing, so I can concentrate without any distractions.

Totally agree about the cars.

@Reallyneedsaholiday Fair enough. Older houses can be money pits especially if they've been neglected by previous owners and remedial work is needed. Victorian and Edwardian houses were often really solidly built though, and possibly easier and cheaper to maintain than newer builds as a result

Solar panels save you money, so why wouldn’t you have them? Because of aesthetics?

I know. It's bonkers isn't it?
We have paid out less in energy bills so far this year than our solar panels have generated, so we are £46 in pocket (gas and electricity from the same supplier). We both WFH and have our thermostat set at 20 degrees, and the heating comes on when it drops below that during the daytime.

So glad to read this because it's exactly what I'm on the verge of doing (moving) and wondering if I'm silly. But it's completely true what you say, I'm always treking from the other side of the island or the sink round to the fridge in the corner.

On a busy road
No parking
No utility room

A galley kitchen would be my idea of a nightmare with young dcs running about. I also do a lot of cooking, and baking, and like space around me.
A thin kitchen works really well for dm who lives alone and is less abled, though.

Completely agree, everywhere else is 'allowed' to be patriotic, except England. It is about all cultures coming together and celebrating our country. If people think that is racist than they're mistaken, and maybe the racist ones?
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

My builder son would disagree with you on that 😂
He’s threatened me to ever buy a really old house 😂

@Reallyneedsaholiday Maybe I'm blinded by lovely thick walls, proper masonry and actual wood joinery. I lived in mid to late 20th century military quarters for 20+ years and those houses were shocking . My home is really old (600 years) and although it has to be maintained, it's still here, snug and dry. No disrespect to your son, but I doubt the same could be said for any of today's new builds. Good building materials are so expensive, apart from anything else.

Yeah this. ^ Funny thing is, the people who bang on about England flags being flown, and slate and berate the people who fly them, are almost ALWAYS English/living in England/born in England. Amazing how some people loathe their own country (and its flag) so much.

The anti-English posts from some on here is shocking. I don't think I know any other country that is loathed so much by (some of) its own citizens. Especially when said citizens are so privileged. (And they ARE privileged - to be living in England/the UK!)

I can't agree on the idea that older houses are more expensive to maintain. I've just bought a 2007 house which is already knackered. It's no cheaper to replace a boiler in a 2007 house than in a 1907 house. The heating system in this property was no older than the one in my previous house which was built in 1919, but the one here was broken with rusted radiators, damaged TRVs etc. The one in my old house still looked and worked like new. The difference is that slobs lived in this house before who didn't clean or maintain anything. Proper maintenance and care is what stops a property becoming a money pit - and that applies to all properties new or old.

Doesn't it depend on the house?
Our last house was a 200 year old solid stone built farmhouse with 3ft thick walls.

It was a complete money pit to heat in spite of having extra loft insulation installed. We also had damp and woodwork to deal with.

Our current house was built in 1996 to a high specification by its original owner and has been much easier to look after and much cheaper to heat.

I dunno. We have a very lovely and well constructed 1910 arts and crafts house. In the 6 years we have been here we have had to;

replace the sewers (tree roots)

replace all the wiring (it had knob and tube which is illegal under current code so nobody will repair it and it was unsafe)

replace a bathroom because water was coming through the ceiling and there was no access hatch for the plumbing

pave the yard which was all concrete and was not draining; that issue itself was a relic of a previous owner having to strengthen the ancient retaining wall behind the house so the hillside didn't collapse on it

de-mold the cellar and install an industrial strength humidifier

repair the chimney

I think all of these are related to the age of the house in some way. The previous owners had replaced all the windows or we would have had to do that as well.

it is expensive to heat and cool but I think that's mostly because it's big, it holds temperature quite well.

Hope you had a good survey, @Aria999!

lol we had a survey but apparently you can't sue your surveyors...

we knew about the tree roots but were told it had been that way for years and might last years more (it didn't.).

he completely missed the knob and tube (the sellers had said there wasn't any but they were incredibly nice helpful people so they probably didn't realize it themselves).

Yes, ours was like the proverbial chocolate fire guard. We paid a premium for a supposed historic buildings specialist but he couldn't reach any actual conclusions or recommendations.

Is actually easier imo because there is no space to run about 😂I hated having to watch young children in a huge kitchen when I was trying to cook or bake. In my long galley kitchen running about is not possible so less stressful.

Anything which really can’t be fixed - so a bad location, next to a pub, mechanic’s workshop etc where there’s likely to be noise. Re: the interior, again, anything which can’t be fixed. So lack of a bath wouldn’t bother me so long as there was room to put one in. A small kitchen wouldn’t bother me if I could knock through and reconfigure. But something like a bathroom which can only be accessed through a bedroom (and no way of reconfiguring) would be a no no.

tbh, most things can be worked around, fake grass can be taken up etc, and if the house was in the ideal location I could overlook things like that. So basically, only the totally non fixable things would be a no for me

I guess you are

love open plan so no small kitchens separate dining rooms for me. If we can open it up and other things tick the box, we have budget etc then ok.
No new developments - generally no new houses - unless a barn and designed it myself.

Odd initial comment about solar panels. We have them and they generate electricity that we store in batteries. From most angles the roof is viewed they aren’t very obvious. Our electricity bills for a big house are low though. We charge our electric car for very little. Why would a buyer want expensive heating (we have no gas) and not take advantage of what we’ve paid to install? Seems ludicrous to me.

You have survivor bias. You can’t judge all modern stock by rhs standards of what remains from a particular era.

To stay standing for 600 years, you’re living in the best built version of that era as poorer builds will have been ripped down.

The same goes for Victorian hosing. The Victorians were remarkably haphazard builders and a lot was shoddily constructed. Lots of their efforts were ripped down in the slum clearances as they weren’t very good. What is standing now is the best of that era.

@pinkfloralcurtains I see the logic of what you're saying about every era having cheap and shoddy buildings that don't last, alongside better-constructed ones that do; but my house is built from cob, as was very common prior to the 1800s. If I look around my small Devon village at least 30% are pre-1700 and several are from the 16th Century, all cob construction. It's a village that had a significant historical event in 1549 so there are good records. The local farmhouses are similarly ancient for the most part- some were dressed up in the 19th with new facades or windows but underneath they are medieval or Tudor cob on rubble. As long as it's got 'hat and boots' to keep the wet out from above and below, the stuff is virtually indestructible.

@FairlyFarleighThere are very few cob buildings in the uk. I’m also guessing you have never been in a well built modern house? Some of us do have them and my windows, roof, insulation, eco credentials and build quality will be as good as yours. Not all modern construction is typical housing estate low cost construction.

The Ship Inn had a pretty big cob wall problem in Devon! Like most buildings, of any era, taking care of them matters. Cob requires suitable maintenance with appropriate materials. Not doing the right maintenance is very costly!