I DID buy a house with

[MonteStory]

Really enjoying reading the ‘I would NEVER buy a house with’ thread and all the different perspectives on objectively tricky situations as well as odd picky requirements people have.

So, which no-nos have you embraced or even actively chosen?

Our new house is:
off mains gas
has solar panels
on a private road (which we own)
has lots of trees
no shops etc in walking distance

We’re so excited to move in☺️

I think over the years we’ve had pretty much every horrible thing mentioned, except a corner bath.
And I have never bought a house without a chimney.
This house has only one bathroom, which I hope to change one day and, being an ex shop, opens straight on to the street at the front, which is also the village main street, so quite busy, for a village.
We’re next door to the village hall, which has a weekly youth club and regular events and functions, a twice weekly post office and a community shop. Sometimes things get lively, not too often.
We had a bedroom that you had to walk through to get to the bathroom, loo and another bedroom, so we just built a huge cupboard and put up bookshelves.
The village has no mains gas, so we have a mixture of oil and wood burner for the central heating, meaning that we get in vast supplies of wood to dry out, taking up a big shed, also full of spiders. Shudder.

I did buy a house

• with artificial grass (which honestly I like more than I thought as it’s hassle free and now covered with lots of pots with beautiful flowers!)
• North facing garden (hence the plastic grass being so great!)
• Living area away from kitchen and dining area (Big open plan lover here, and have knocked some walls down to change the layout)
• Lead pipes (this one caught me by surprise)
• Flat roof (that needs full replacing and I was not aware of as I was too cheap to pay for the roof survey)
• No garage. This one is really painful

We've extended so we now have got rid of what people seem to want.
No garage, absolutely no problems, never used the garage for anything other than old shit. Still have the driveway for our one car household and plenty of street parking if needed, teenage kids
No side access to garden - No problems, husband takes stuff through the house but seems to enjoy it ;-)

Opposite a church/churchyard
Opposite a primary school
On a ‘rat-run’ road
Open kitchen/utility/family room
Only one bathroom
Small garden
Large garden
North facing garden
With a gas Rayburn/Aga

All of the above were in various flats/houses over the years, they were all perfect for us at the time and we were perfectly happy there. Had building and garden work done in some of the properties.

Same! I don’t understand all the drama around a north facing garden unless it’s really tiny of course. Ours gets plenty of sun until around 7.30pm.
We had prospective viewings of our previous house cancelled when buyers found out it was north facing - bonkers!

Small North facing garden. Huge trees at the back all with TPOs.

We bought ours ten years ago with:

• north facing garden
• stairs in living room
• open plan dining and living room
• terraced

hoping to move soon and want:

• semi or detached
• double driveway (built this in to current house)
• stairs off a hallway
• extra living area

A north facing back garden.

It's not massive, and I will admit it is dark and dreary for 5 months of the year. But in the summer it's excellent as it's as sunny as any other orientation, and there is always a section along the back of the house which is in shade, where we can escape the sun when needed.

It also means the back of the house is relatively cool in the summer.

Only one bathroom/toilet - that one seems to be a common 'I would never...'!

My problem is Kitchen and lounge also at back of house. There is an under utilised dining room at the front.

But I’ve been here 10 years now so have sort of grown into the house. I do like the fact it’s cool in summer and you never have to close curtains to stop sunlight on the tv.

Our lounge is at the back too, with patio doors onto the garden. The darkness of the room annoys me sometimes, but in the summer it's nice to have a cooler room to escape to, especially where it's been 30° plus im recent years! Kitchen is dual aspect, with skylights too, so plenty of light in there.

Everything else about the house is pretty spot on, so I can't moan really 😅

Yes I’m fairly happy with it too now. every time someone mentions north facing gardens on here with absolute horror I wonder whether we will ever sell it if we want to/need to!

Oh I think we'll be fine selling. It will be a deal breaker to some, but everyone needs to compromise on something when buying a house - we did!

On a side note, my SIL is a keen gardener and bought a house with a small North facing garden surrounded by trees, and she still manages to make her garden look spectacular. I just wish I had her green fingers!

Yes there are always compromises. We need to do something with our garden as neither of us are interested or have the skills. I’m usually the one who initiates ideas on home improvements but haven’t done so with the garden yet. It’s clay soil and needs drainage or something😂. I just know it’s going to be v. expensive.

No mains sewerage
Private water supply
No mains gas
No garage (but a HUGE cellar for storage and our cars have never lived in anyway)
7ft bees nest in a chimney
Damp
Ancient complicated heating system
Overlooks church and churchyard (beautiful and my future home I hope)
Cob walls
Full-blown jungle outside
Woodburners (4)
Single glazing
Listed

Definitely chosen with heart rather than head, but once we sorted out the damp and cold everything cheered up and now it's snug, warm, dry, and smells of lavender rather than wet sisal. And it's beautiful. And loved.