What is important in choosing a house?

Tomorrow DH and I are going to view two flats in the same small development in the small town we live in. We are not in a position to buy yet, our house is not even on the market. DH wants to get a feel for a smaller place as we will be downsizing when he retires next year. I could live anywhere so I will leave the decision making up to him. The only thing I ask is that we don't buy another east facing property, as this house always feels cold in the winter since we don't have any sunshine in the lounge after mid morning.

I once lived in a flat with a large south facing kitchen window. For 3 months of the year it was too hot to use in the evening. I have lived in 2 houses since with east/ north easterly windows in the kitchen. So the aspect of the kitchen is the most important feature for me. However my late husband always looked for a large garage - the living accommodation was totally unimportant!

I think we are at a stage when for most young people its any house they can get or afford and if its got bedrooms for the children and a bit of a garden then go for it if you can afford it. Needing room to park two cars and a caravan is so typically middle class and for new first time buyers a distant dream.
We were renting and were given notice and bought what was literally only a hole in the ground and crane near by. We had the paper plans to look at and the result has been a nice house in a row with views from most windows.
You grow to love a house if its your own over the years, and I appreciate mine because its well insulated against noise from neighbours and its warm, and has a nice little supermarket 5 minutes walk away. I never considered those things when we moved in 35 years ago.

We all have different requirements/dreams/expectations. I know the time will come when I have to downsize and all the decisions will be mine, sadly. I keep a list of what I would like in my next home, to which I keep adding. I know I won't achieve the whole list but my priorities are : character property, 3 bedrooms - 1 en suite, off street parking and garage, underfloor heating, large kitchen/living/dining room, 1 other reception room, small garden/courtyard and probably a village location near sea/river, neighbours but not too close and to-die-for views. Don't want much really . I already have most of my requirements in my present home - just too many of them!

When we were house hunting I visited this house on my own as my husband was working away at the time. It was a complete shambles, BUT it had all the rooms we needed and we could just about scrape the money together. So I reported to my husband that I'd found the house we needed and he returned with me and we put in an offer that was accepted. There was no wow factor, just affordability and potential.
Now, I really, really like my house and have no plans to ever leave it. (Well, until the inevitable. )

I'm afraid our main criterion has always been "Can we afford it?" The cottage we had when the children were young was too small for anything but had two acres of land and was the closest we've come to buying a dream home. Sadly it was repossessed in the 90's recession. DH bought our current home without me seeing it after we'd lost another house on the same estate. When I eventually saw it I was delighted to find a pergola and outdoor lights in the very pretty garden. DH had never even noticed the garden!

Sorry rosesarered- but it is not nonsense. Totally aware that in many cases, financial, etc, restraints will make the 'wow' factor- whatever that is- and often it has little to do with money, a posh kitchen, etc, but a 'feel good factor'- not a priority. Totally get that.

But for many downsizing means after selling a long-owned house also means releasing a bit of money, and the positive side of downsizing means being able to choose something you really love and have always dreamed off- and if you can, why not? Many move away from more expensive areas, and can then afford more 'quality' in cheaper places.

We all have different criteria when choosing a house, mostly it's 'can we afford it' !For us anyway. Also our needs change with age.Would not want a big garden [now].Location location really isn't it? A nice view if possible.Amenities not too far away. More than one loo.Don't want anything dark and poky where you need the lights on during the day either. Don't want twisty steep stairs.Other than that, just look at houses that you can afford, all this WOW factor stuff is nonsense.

I moved here less than a year ago after my divorce. I has enough bedrooms (3) for children and grandchildren to all visit together but not too big for me on my own. Downstairs loo always a must for me, easy maintained garden and drive for off road parking enough room for my car and daughters when she visits. It's rented as I intend to buy near children when I retire. But despite all these pluses it just felt really right for me and had a lovely welcoming feel to it so that was the clincher. A bonus is lovely neighbours on the one side,( neighbours that ignore me when I speak to them on the other side, ) you can't have everything at least they are quiet as well.

Downstairs loo, off road parking/garage, potential for a bedroom/bathroom downstairs at some future time if needed. It would be lovely to have a walk in pantry/larder (what is the difference between a pantry and as larder?). A garden which is not overlooked.
I am sowing the seeds of downsizing with DH at present and have my eye on a few properties in the village which may be suitable. This house is great but it is at the bottom of a very steep hill and the garden is too big.

We didn't want to move so we extended and rebuilt until we got the house we wanted. We are lucky to have the same neighbours as when we moved here 43 years ago, we had our children at the same time and we are all grandparents now.
When the children were young it wasn't important to have a study but now with computers and printers we needed somewhere to store them.
Important to have more than one bathroom and a second room for sitting in away from the TV.
A large kitchen with lots of storage, I gave up my utility to enlarge the kitchen.

We've had all that (including a permanently high DJ who did his mixes at 4am when he got back from work), so gradually over the years a detached house became a priority. We started off with wonderful neighbours here, but currently the male on one side is a total arse. Sadly I think he is here for ever as his mum lives up the lane.

I am very tempted to move to a small city as we get older and have a flat, perhaps a groundfloor one, or at least something with a balcony. But noise from neighbours would have to be eliminated and I have come to realise why older people tend to move to retirement blocks. I can cope very happily with screams and yells from my own GCs, but if I am having a quiet moment in my garden the sound of the three year old twins next door shrieking and playing is as unbearable as rap played at full volume in a park or at the beach.

It sounds as if I am wishing deafness upon myself.

Lona

I'm much quieter now

Neighbours certainly can be hell! I could hear one bloke vomiting in his bathroom, in the middle of the night, quite regularly!
It was a rented house with a high turnover of tenants, mainly ok ones.

Not going to mention the noisy sex!

Gosh, what a lot of thought you all put into choosing houses. We tend to work on the basis of: Is it old and does it need renovation?

Grannyknot, I know! The house next door is rented out as the owners are living abroad at the moment and although most of the tenants have been fine to have as neighbours, a couple have not!

I suppose a lot of things about a house/area won't show themselves or become clear until after you've moved in.

Surely most things can be discerned before you actually go to look at a house: number of rooms, utility, sun direction etc etc. The main thing for me is if it feels 'right'.

When we bought this house it had been repossessed, was boarded up and the electricity had been disconnected. Despite that, we all felt its rightness. As we looked round in January, we didn't realise how much light there would be flooding into what is a largely open plan house and that was an added bonus when the first sunny days came.

ana but neighbours change! We used to have such nice neighbours and now we have (almost) neighbours from hell. Like the smart alec who tried to tell me the other day when she was parked in front of our garage, that the parking arrangements are "first come, first served"

This thread has made me think - when we first arrived here, we were so dazzled by the fact that we were actually living in London, that everything was a novelty and all our "normal" criteria went out the window. One thing husband did insist on is that the house was south facing.

The one beginning with K? Yes, a lovely place too.

And I forgot, a South, South-West facing garden is an absolute must.

When DH retires next year we are thinking of downsizing to a flat in our nearby town. DH has never live in a town. He was raised on a farm. At present we live on the edge of a large village. We are thinking of looking at flats so that he can get a feel for something smaller. Our wishes for this new home are that it has some sort of garden. It also must have a light and fairly spacious living room. We have quite big furniture which we can't afford to replace. I would like a fairly big kitchen, but I could manage with a smaller one at a pinch.

I know you said disregard the number of rooms, but that's been my priority when choosing a house. Even when we had only a three bedroomed house and three children we still found ourselves giving a home to waifs and strays so each house since then has had to have plenty of rooms.
This house is perfect as there are six bedrooms and several other rooms that can be used flexibly. Parking in a seaside town is often difficult so we're very glad of our garage and carport too. An en-suite is a must for the master bedroom and I do like to have a woodburner and a utility room.

My priority is, like others on here, plenty of light and a feeling of space.

I think, added to a house that you feel comfortable in, is an area where you feel comfortable. Some areas have a more friendly feel than others.

Number of bedrooms, state of repair, all though we don't mind 'putting our stamp on it' location and outside space.

I've always looked for a South facing garden if possible, open light rooms with a biggish kitchen. Being in London never need to worry about transport links or shops being too far away. I usually know an area well before I've considered moving there so its always come down to that 'feeling' you get when you walk in and everything seems to slot into place...
Now we are older I think we'll have to rethink our priorities as we don't have space downstairs for a bathroom/toilet so that will be a priority if we ever move again..