Is finding a house that ticks all the boxes realistic?

[jensaa]

We’ve been house hunting since November last year. We’re FTB so as we’re renting and settled waiting for our perfect house but I’m not sure if it even exists?! Are we being too picky and waiting for a unicorn?We’ve only viewed a hand full of properties that we really liked initially but even those had things about them that were not quite right and unable to change.

I’m going to list what we’re looking for so please tell me if this isn’t realistic to find all:

3/4 bed semi or detached house
Slightly older house with some character (personally not into newer builds)
Driveway for 2 cards
Quiet road or cul de sac
Needs some work (mainly cosmetic don’t mind needing new kitchen/bathroom etc)
Hallway with stairs (never knew how common it was for a house to not have an actual hallway)
Kitchen island or room for one
Room to extend if only 3 bed
Downstairs toilet
South facing garden or garden that at least isn’t north facing.
I personally want a house that needs some work and has potential to make our own although DP not so much.
Garage or outbuilding (needed for my job)
We have 3 particular areas that are ideal for us because of traffic and close enough for DC school.
A few others but these are our main non negotiables.

Top budget 600k but 550k ideally. We’re looking in the outskirts of London/Kent/Bexley area so have a decent enough budget I think for a 3-4 bed.

We found our “unicorn” house that ticked every box and more when we were first looking but the vendor took the house off the market, so we’ve been waiting for something that compares ever since.

Realistic or not? Are we going to have to compromise on one of our big things?

Driveway for 2 cards
Quiet road or cul de sac
Kitchen island or room for one

^ those are the three things I think will open up a whole host more properties to you if you compromise on them. I should know, I'm also a FTB, but I've been looking an awful lot longer than you.

Re: kitchen island, I seldom see kitchens big enough to have one that you could comfortably bend over in front of to get to other cabinets, so I've begun to come to terms with the idea that knocking down a wall/knocking through a kitchen/utility is the way to go, but on a FTB's budget, you also need the money above and beyond the asking price to do that work.

Essentially your FTB is a third stepper's house 'must have' list; I sympathise, because 'moving up the housing ladder' is a bit of a financial nonsense these days. Anyway, after my extensive searches, I think you'll have an easier time of it if you compromise on some or all of those three things.

I think you need to rank these things in order, including things like commuting distance to work and schools, and do a Kirsty and Phil style exercise looking at different places - ie you could move a mile further out and get the kitchen of your dreams and enough driveway space for an artic lorry, but with a long walk to the station and schools. Or closer to school but garden is north facing. Or...

In practice for most people there's a financial ceiling and a ring drawn because of school distances/catchments, and you make the best decision for you within those parameters.

The other thing to keep in mind is whether there's mainly one type of house in the area you're looking - ie are they all rows of Victorian terraces? If so you'll be waiting a long time for a semi with a garage.

£550k 3/4 bed semi/detached, drive for two cars, South facing garden, quiet road or cul de sac. Cosmetic improvements only required. In London/Kent/Bexley.

Unless you compromise on location or space, I think you will be renting until you have saved up another £200k. Possibly further into Kent.

I think it depends how long realistically you want to look for. Ultimately that list of requirements is long and you’re going to have to compromise somewhere. I’d rank the lists for essentials and then nice to have and look
at a wider range of houses. We’ve found that often pictures/floor plans don’t always do a house justice and seeing something in person gives you a much better idea of what would be possible.

You can have our house. Ticks all the boxes you have apart from driveway.

You'll find that the downstairs toilet would have been added only to houses which have been extended. And therefore most likely at the top of your price range if you also need a garage too

It then she would have to compromise?

I think that your list, while totally reasonable in terms of an example of a property with longevity, would be pretty difficult in reality to find as your first property in your own area.
If you can move areas to Scotland or Wales etc it might be possible.
We live in the S/E, so for example our FTB was a 2 bed 1 bathroom terrace, second a 3 bed, 1 bathroom semi - so gained a drive & garage. It took another move to get a downstairs loo etc
Unless a miracle happens such as winning the lottery, or a fantastic promotion, compromise is mandatory 😖

I would say you're probably not going to find it if you've been looking 7 months. I would rank in order of importance as a starting point. Be realistic on what you've seen, what did it lack that was so important. I find there's always something you have to give on if your budget just isn't quite high enough, which would suggest to be the case. That being said what is the market like with you, here it's pretty slow with not much coming on.

A kitchen island or room for one is really going to limit your options and seems so superficial. There are lots of great kitchen layouts that don't have this and rooms that although they are large can't accommodate this due to the dimensions.

Agreed. It’s quite a naive list, OP, especially if you’re restricted to three areas — a lot will depend on purely what kind of housing stock exists there. As a pp said, if you need a garage and a driveway for two cars, that’s not going to happen in an are of Victorian terraces. I think you need to rank your criteria in order of importance, and be realistic about the stuff at the bottom falling off.

Here it is - I think it’s got everything. Garden faces East but otherwise perfect? https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/162444173

I think,u could be missing out on some great properties and getting on with your life with that list. To put a kitchen island as one of your must have’s is not realistic. You have too many must haves on your list!!

You have to prioritize your unlikely to get everything you want.

We NEEDED 4 bedrooms more than anything so that was our top thing... but where aware we may need to alter a 3 bed to get that so looked at large 3 beds too.

I 'wanted' characterful Victorian but we have ended up with a 'plain box' no character at all but its big enough for what we need so we are just going to decorate it with character.

We ideally wanted it right next to the school as I can no longer drive or do the walk but that didn't work out, however we are still in the same area as currently so no further away than we where so no worse off.

I would have 'loved' it to be detached, with a conservatory and/or garden etc... but it was always very unlikely round here.

Took us 2 and a half years and 2 failed houses to get this far but we are nearly done and dusted with buying a house.

The fact you haven't found it in 7 months of looking means either you're not looking very well, or it's not realistic.

I think it's a very picky list for first timers, but then we literally looked at the cheapest 3 beds for sale.

You could try speaking to the estate agents and asking them to find something that is closest to meeting your requirements. I think the kitchen island needs to go, myself. Buy something that has a kitchen next to another room (which they pretty much all do) to knock through and figure something out from there.

Nope.

I live in a nice part of Kent and £550k will get you a 3 bed semi that hasn’t been extended.

You’d need £700/£750k for what you want where I am.

Crayford is an exceptionally uninspiring, depressing place to live. If the OP's only criteria is her house being wonderful and not the area in general, go for it, there's nothing wrong it, except to say I've not seen it improve in the 35+ years I've had family live there/briefly lived there myself.

It's basically a massive ring road that people drive through to get to far better places.

Oh! That’s that then.

Kitchen island = big kitchen = house bigger than 3/4 bedrooms

Unless you have a very large amount of money, you’ll be looking for a very long time to tick all those things off your wish list.

That's a big old "non negotiable" list and the length of time you've been looking pretty much answers your question. There will be houses you can make in to that list over time but virtually everybody compromises on something.

If you haven’t found anything after 12 months I would make more compromises such as:

• location. Consider further out/ other areas
• kitchen island. This can be put in yourself. If no room in the existing kitchen consider knocking a wall or adding an extension.
• consider a property with a driveway for one car and on street parking for a second
• you could add a garden pod for work if no garage or out building
• don’t rule out north facing, my mam has a small north east facing garden and it gets sun all day for some reason
• you could add a downstairs toilet
• i would consider newer houses if still looking after a year

the only thing I wouldn’t compromise is wanting a quiet road and not wanting a terraced house

I think your toughest criteria is the cul de sac. How important is that for you? If yes then I would spend some time on Google maps in your 3 areas identifying roads which meet that criteria. Then look at every house on those roads and see what you could change to make them fit your brief. 1930's houses would work well as often have a drive / front garden for parking. Often have lofts large enough to convert and big gardens to extend kitchens and add garden rooms.

Sounds like your budget is too low for what you want.