What do you wish you'd considered/asked before you bought your home?
March 20, 2015 6:02 AM Subscribe
We're in the process of buying our first home! Yay! We've seen a lot of places and are ready to pick one. (We're in London, if that matters -- but I think the question is location-specific necessarily.) I am the kind of person that tends to think of drawbacks only after I've signed on the dotted line. What do YOU wish you'd thought of/checked out, etc. before you bought your house? In case it matters, we are a couple with a toddler.
How much sunlight does it get? Do streetlights shine brightly through the bedroom windows? Is there a park within a couple of blocks? Are there other young children in the neighborhood? Is there lead paint on interior woodwork? Are the rooms big enough to accommodate furniture already owned? (Rooms can look bigger when they're empty.)
posted by mareli at 6:09 AM on March 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by mareli at 6:09 AM on March 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
Convenience: Having a mud room, especially with kids, is awesome. It is nice to have an entry door with space for kicking off shoes/boots, shedding coats, backpacks, sports stuff etc, without it being in a visible part of the house (like front foyer, living room).
Safety: If there are basements there, an exit door.
posted by maxg94 at 6:09 AM on March 20, 2015
Safety: If there are basements there, an exit door.
posted by maxg94 at 6:09 AM on March 20, 2015
Can you tell us what factors you are considering? That would help us fill in the gaps.
posted by Too-Ticky at 6:10 AM on March 20, 2015
posted by Too-Ticky at 6:10 AM on March 20, 2015
A slightly different answer: there is always going to be something (hopefully relatively inconsequential) that you "missed" or forgot or didn't consider.
Don't beat yourself up when that happens. Everyone has some detail they wish they had thought of after a major transaction like a house purchase.
posted by kuanes at 6:13 AM on March 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
Don't beat yourself up when that happens. Everyone has some detail they wish they had thought of after a major transaction like a house purchase.
posted by kuanes at 6:13 AM on March 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
What sort of people walk through the neighborhood at different times of the day?
posted by corb at 6:13 AM on March 20, 2015
posted by corb at 6:13 AM on March 20, 2015
Noisy neighbours.
posted by Grunyon at 6:18 AM on March 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Grunyon at 6:18 AM on March 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
In Britain? General dampness and mould. Bad isolation; too-tight isolation that has started rot.
Noise from the outside; deep-down rumble from trains or tube. Nighttime noises.
Nasty neigbors.
General safety of the area, and yes: escape routes from the house itself.
Distance to shops and decent takeaway places; public transport.
Also, ALWAYS, try to get to know about ALL refurbs/rebuilds, especially those that have been [made nice afterwards =] patched over. OK, some curious drywall-hidden old door is maybe less of a concern. Handiman-with-two-left-thumbs-style electrical work or plumbing is what you especially should be looking for; you almost always find some stuff in that category (It took me years to find out about all the things 'I would have done differently' in this house...in my case, nothing quite that bad, but still...)
The state of the roof and drains. A leak is expensive, and a roof is expensive to fix.
The state of whatever heating there is in the house (also expensive to fix).
You may end up buying a house with issues anyway, but it's good to put necessary repairs right on top of the buying price in your mind.
posted by Namlit at 6:25 AM on March 20, 2015
Noise from the outside; deep-down rumble from trains or tube. Nighttime noises.
Nasty neigbors.
General safety of the area, and yes: escape routes from the house itself.
Distance to shops and decent takeaway places; public transport.
Also, ALWAYS, try to get to know about ALL refurbs/rebuilds, especially those that have been [made nice afterwards =] patched over. OK, some curious drywall-hidden old door is maybe less of a concern. Handiman-with-two-left-thumbs-style electrical work or plumbing is what you especially should be looking for; you almost always find some stuff in that category (It took me years to find out about all the things 'I would have done differently' in this house...in my case, nothing quite that bad, but still...)
The state of the roof and drains. A leak is expensive, and a roof is expensive to fix.
The state of whatever heating there is in the house (also expensive to fix).
You may end up buying a house with issues anyway, but it's good to put necessary repairs right on top of the buying price in your mind.
posted by Namlit at 6:25 AM on March 20, 2015
I wish I had really thought about how I want to use my kitchen, especially in its relation to the backyard. I own a townhouse, and the kitchen is in the front. You walk in the door and the first thing you see is the kitchen. You walk alongside the kitchen, and come to a little dining area, then the living room, then the slider into the backyard. I've found several problems with having the kitchen in front:
1. If I have a dinner party, the first thing my guests see is the mess in the kitchen.
2. If I want to eat on the patio outside, I have to carry everything through the livingroom.
3. If I want to grill, I have to carry everything through the livingroom (and traipse back and forth through the livingroom to get to the kitchen for stuff -- another drink, an extra fork, a clean plate to put the cooked food on, etc.)
For you, the kitchen might not be the central room in your home. So to generalize -- think about what room is really important to you, and how you want to use it, and how it relates to the other rooms in your house. That might shake loose some thoughts about things to look for before you buy.
posted by OrangeDisk at 6:27 AM on March 20, 2015
1. If I have a dinner party, the first thing my guests see is the mess in the kitchen.
2. If I want to eat on the patio outside, I have to carry everything through the livingroom.
3. If I want to grill, I have to carry everything through the livingroom (and traipse back and forth through the livingroom to get to the kitchen for stuff -- another drink, an extra fork, a clean plate to put the cooked food on, etc.)
For you, the kitchen might not be the central room in your home. So to generalize -- think about what room is really important to you, and how you want to use it, and how it relates to the other rooms in your house. That might shake loose some thoughts about things to look for before you buy.
posted by OrangeDisk at 6:27 AM on March 20, 2015
Response by poster: I won't threadsit, but some stuff we have considered: schools (though they seem to change all the time -- what's considered a good school five years ago is now bad, and vice versa, so we may have to gamble on that one); extra bedroom (do we get a really nice 2 bed, or a less nice 3 bed for guests/in case we have more kids); yard/garden (is it worth the extra money); commute (we work from home now, but what if we get real jobs that require a commute?); buzz (we want a family-friendly area, but not a dull one).
Also leasehold/share of freehold (UK specific) -- no idea how much it matters.
Stuff like noisy neighbors is definitely interesting -- in one place we looked at, the downstairs neighbor's garden was an absolute wreck (trash, etc.) which gave me pause.
posted by EtTuHealy at 6:28 AM on March 20, 2015
Also leasehold/share of freehold (UK specific) -- no idea how much it matters.
Stuff like noisy neighbors is definitely interesting -- in one place we looked at, the downstairs neighbor's garden was an absolute wreck (trash, etc.) which gave me pause.
posted by EtTuHealy at 6:28 AM on March 20, 2015
Is it common to do a building inspection before purchase in the UK? We hired a licensed inspector from a reputable company before we bought our place and it put a lot of my concerns to rest (conversely, he also brought up some points that are now slowly becoming issues we need to fix, so we did go into it knowing what we were in for).
The only thing we didn't really do that I kind of wish we had done was meet the neighbors. We bought a condo in a two-family home (we're on the first floor, the other unit is above us), and it would have been nice to know that they had two young kids that we could hear through the ceiling. They turned out to be great neighbors otherwise, but we also didn't know that they weren't planning on staying for long and now we have new, less-great neighbors. Honestly, I'm not sure how that would have factored into our decision, but it would have been nice to know.
We had already been living in the neighborhood for five years before we bought our place, though, so a lot of the "environmental" factors we were already well aware of.
posted by backseatpilot at 6:34 AM on March 20, 2015
The only thing we didn't really do that I kind of wish we had done was meet the neighbors. We bought a condo in a two-family home (we're on the first floor, the other unit is above us), and it would have been nice to know that they had two young kids that we could hear through the ceiling. They turned out to be great neighbors otherwise, but we also didn't know that they weren't planning on staying for long and now we have new, less-great neighbors. Honestly, I'm not sure how that would have factored into our decision, but it would have been nice to know.
We had already been living in the neighborhood for five years before we bought our place, though, so a lot of the "environmental" factors we were already well aware of.
posted by backseatpilot at 6:34 AM on March 20, 2015
Noises, yes, but also smells. We almost bought a house next to a snack bar and the place reeked of frying oil, depending on weather.
Make sure to visit the area not just once but a few times, at different times of the day and in different weather! That's helpful for many things: traffic, noise, smells.
posted by Too-Ticky at 6:42 AM on March 20, 2015
Make sure to visit the area not just once but a few times, at different times of the day and in different weather! That's helpful for many things: traffic, noise, smells.
posted by Too-Ticky at 6:42 AM on March 20, 2015
We're considering buying in London too, so will watch this thread closely. Check for subsidence.
Friends who have recently bought here have very good advice: there is no stone left unturned, there's no undiscovered area left, so it's not worth chasing the next area to turn.
If you go for ex-local authority check if major works are scheduled. Private buyers often have to chip in a lot more of these costs. Has made us wary of going that way although you get much more space for your money.
posted by wingless_angel at 6:44 AM on March 20, 2015
Friends who have recently bought here have very good advice: there is no stone left unturned, there's no undiscovered area left, so it's not worth chasing the next area to turn.
If you go for ex-local authority check if major works are scheduled. Private buyers often have to chip in a lot more of these costs. Has made us wary of going that way although you get much more space for your money.
posted by wingless_angel at 6:44 AM on March 20, 2015
in one place we looked at, the downstairs neighbor's garden was an absolute wreck (trash, etc.) which gave me pause.
This gave us pause, too, when we were looking at houses in the US. Absolute wreck yards can be sources of rats and mice. In the US, they can also harbor animals that carry rabies, like our delightful North American raccoon and possums. They can also be a breeding ground for mosquitoes, which are unpleasant when they aren't straight-up disease vectors.
Other things: is there a street lamp shining into one of the rooms, so that you'll need black-out curtains for all the windows on that side? Is there a neighborhood festival close by? Do emergency vehicles access the neighborhood through the street outside (i.e., are there going to be lots of sirens at all hours of the night)? Is the biggest bathtub bigger than the water heater?
posted by joyceanmachine at 6:47 AM on March 20, 2015
This gave us pause, too, when we were looking at houses in the US. Absolute wreck yards can be sources of rats and mice. In the US, they can also harbor animals that carry rabies, like our delightful North American raccoon and possums. They can also be a breeding ground for mosquitoes, which are unpleasant when they aren't straight-up disease vectors.
Other things: is there a street lamp shining into one of the rooms, so that you'll need black-out curtains for all the windows on that side? Is there a neighborhood festival close by? Do emergency vehicles access the neighborhood through the street outside (i.e., are there going to be lots of sirens at all hours of the night)? Is the biggest bathtub bigger than the water heater?
posted by joyceanmachine at 6:47 AM on March 20, 2015
How old are the appliances. When we bought our house, everything in it was 10 years old. Over the next few years, every appliance, major and minor, needed replacing. Every damn one of them broke. Cost us a small fortune.
posted by Fleebnork at 6:48 AM on March 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Fleebnork at 6:48 AM on March 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
Our roof slopes East/West. That makes it less efficient for solar panels than a north/south slope (south is key), PLUS we lost the $2500 in subsidies that we'd get with a south-facing room. Certainly never thought that would be relevant.
posted by Slinga at 6:50 AM on March 20, 2015
posted by Slinga at 6:50 AM on March 20, 2015
Yes smells! And flight paths.
Insulation. Do doors and windows have good seals.
Accessibility if God forbid anything happens to make you less mobile (even a temporary broken leg is fine in some houses and impossible in others.)
If the kitchen/heating currently isn't gas, is the street at least connected to gas in case you want to change this?
Internet speed.
Number of power points. Where the phone lines and cable connections are. You can change these things, of course, but it's easier not to have to.
Is the house old enough that you need to worry about asbestos and lead paint if you renovate?
posted by lollusc at 6:50 AM on March 20, 2015
Insulation. Do doors and windows have good seals.
Accessibility if God forbid anything happens to make you less mobile (even a temporary broken leg is fine in some houses and impossible in others.)
If the kitchen/heating currently isn't gas, is the street at least connected to gas in case you want to change this?
Internet speed.
Number of power points. Where the phone lines and cable connections are. You can change these things, of course, but it's easier not to have to.
Is the house old enough that you need to worry about asbestos and lead paint if you renovate?
posted by lollusc at 6:50 AM on March 20, 2015
Oh and water pressure. Turn on the shower and test this. Don't be shy!
posted by lollusc at 6:53 AM on March 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by lollusc at 6:53 AM on March 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
A few things...
- light switches and electrical outlets....ours are all in the WRONG places and it has made furniture placement difficult for us, and we've had to have an electrician move a few because they just don't work for us. Definitely not a reason to not buy an otherwise great house, but think about how much you might have to rearrange your life.
- water drainage.....not inside the house, but outside. Is the grading correct? Are there places where water is pooling? Are there trees that might have wrecked the pipes? Flooding is an expensive surprise!
- also, if your home inspection does turn up some issues that might lead you to renegotiate your offer, always take cash and don't let the homeowner try to "fix" the issues themselves (ask me how I know!)
posted by Mrs. Rattery at 6:57 AM on March 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
- light switches and electrical outlets....ours are all in the WRONG places and it has made furniture placement difficult for us, and we've had to have an electrician move a few because they just don't work for us. Definitely not a reason to not buy an otherwise great house, but think about how much you might have to rearrange your life.
- water drainage.....not inside the house, but outside. Is the grading correct? Are there places where water is pooling? Are there trees that might have wrecked the pipes? Flooding is an expensive surprise!
- also, if your home inspection does turn up some issues that might lead you to renegotiate your offer, always take cash and don't let the homeowner try to "fix" the issues themselves (ask me how I know!)
posted by Mrs. Rattery at 6:57 AM on March 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'd avoid high vaulted ceilings, even though they can look dramatic and interesting. There has been a trend lately, here, to construct living rooms, entries, and other spaces with very high vaulted ceilings. I'd avoid that, since, in winter, the warm air rises up to the top and it can be very cold down where the people are. Yes, you can use an electric fan to circulate the air, or just run the heat a lot, but that's really not optimal -- and, in my experience, it's _always_ cold at sitting level, no matter how much you try to compensate.
posted by amtho at 6:57 AM on March 20, 2015
posted by amtho at 6:57 AM on March 20, 2015
This might sound a bit creepy, but you definitely want to scout out your neighbors at different times of the day. You won't have any idea if you are buying next to a college party house if you only swing by at 3 in the afternoon. Check the place out for noise levels, parking levels (so much stress knowing you have to race home to get a parking spot near your front door), and the general bearing of potential neighbors. You can change anything inside your new house that's wrong or doesn't work, but you can't change your neighbors.
Rental rates matter too. We bought a house in a nice neighborhood with a bunch of old ladies about. Sadly, those old ladies have all passed on and their kids, rather than restocking with another old lady abducted from the Sizzler parking lot, have instead filled the house with apartments and those apartments with college kids. This causes problems when a new batch moves in and suddenly learns that they are surrounded by young families who don't put up with 2am street football games.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 7:33 AM on March 20, 2015
Rental rates matter too. We bought a house in a nice neighborhood with a bunch of old ladies about. Sadly, those old ladies have all passed on and their kids, rather than restocking with another old lady abducted from the Sizzler parking lot, have instead filled the house with apartments and those apartments with college kids. This causes problems when a new batch moves in and suddenly learns that they are surrounded by young families who don't put up with 2am street football games.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 7:33 AM on March 20, 2015
Pay a lot of attention to location. How easy is it to get to public transport? To get groceries? To grab an easy meal on the way home? To get a drink? Don't trust maps or distance calculations for these things easier; the grocery store .2 miles away may be on the other side of a busy road that is tough to cross, or it might be a shabby store with just a few things on the shelves. Or it might mean a walk down a shady alleyway. If you're zeroing in on a few places, walk (or drive or bike, however you will be transporting yourself) all over the neighborhood to get a sense for what it takes to get things done there.
posted by craven_morhead at 8:08 AM on March 20, 2015
posted by craven_morhead at 8:08 AM on March 20, 2015
Do the neighbors smoke?
posted by postel's law at 8:09 AM on March 20, 2015
posted by postel's law at 8:09 AM on March 20, 2015
Noise and acoustics is pretty major in my estimation. It's really hard to tell when you are looking at a place (even if you check it out several times, if it's always the same time of day) what the ambient sounds are like during the day from a given location. One place we lived had a school nearby that was like a megaphone directed towards us, and there were several times a day every weekday when the sound was sort of overwhelming (kids arriving at school, kids at recess, kids leaving school, as well as some noisy school functions on occasional weekends – but if you didn't catch those times, it seemed totally nice and quiet.
Another place was on a hill, and the noise from vehicles (especially motorbikes) accelerating to go up the hill on the street outside was nervewracking to me. For example, if we were watching TV, the noise would be loud enough that we couldn't hear the TV for the 30 seconds or whatever it was for the power-challenged vehicle to get up the hill, and of course entirely random, so hard to tune out as a "regular" noise.
Also different areas in your home can be better or worse. For example, there is one room of our place that is like leaning up against the wall with a glass to your ear in terms of hearing EVERYTHING from the (perfectly nice) family in a flat next door, in another building. It's because of a peculiarity in the formation between the two buildings, but wow. (luckily for us, it's just the bathroom, so it's not like we spend hours in that room, but it's bizarre in comparison to the rest of our place which is way quieter than we could expect given the proximity of other neighbors.)
Also experienced: an area where there was constant new building / demolition / remodeling with noisy noisy power tools; a neighbor with some hobby that was apparently power-sawing vast amounts amounts of metal for unknown purposes for an hour or two pretty much every day; twice-a-week or so extended major screaming (and slamming doors, stomping, breaking crockery etc.) fights from close neighbors.
And I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff. Loud barking dogs (what can you do? this is not controllable, but you can maybe avoid the semi-animal hoarder types who keep a bunch of dogs that they don't walk or train so the poor animals are going nuts from boredom and neglect); a rooster (in the middle of Athens? weird!) that WAS SO SO SO LOUD for a couple of months until he suddenly disappeared (we have no idea if it was because of city officials finally ejecting him, or a suspicious Coq Au Vin meal enjoyed by other neighbors).
Also animal-related: we never really had much loud cat-related activity until our next-door neighbor moved and the new neighbor began feeding some neighborhood strays in her yard, and now it's out of control. We are cat hub central and the amazing amount of cat fighting, sexing, screeching, yowling etc., is incredibly loud and upsetting, frequently waking us from a sound sleep, and just sort of generally hellish because it seriously sounds like something from a horror film (and I love cats and have had several adored felines myself).
And believe it or not, I'm actually kind of laid back about noise, and have lived in cities forever, so don't expect a perfectly quiet atmosphere. The worst to me was the hill with noisy motorbikes/trucks accelerating, the fighting neighbors that made us worry there might actually be physical violence, and the banshee cats.
posted by taz at 8:22 AM on March 20, 2015
Another place was on a hill, and the noise from vehicles (especially motorbikes) accelerating to go up the hill on the street outside was nervewracking to me. For example, if we were watching TV, the noise would be loud enough that we couldn't hear the TV for the 30 seconds or whatever it was for the power-challenged vehicle to get up the hill, and of course entirely random, so hard to tune out as a "regular" noise.
Also different areas in your home can be better or worse. For example, there is one room of our place that is like leaning up against the wall with a glass to your ear in terms of hearing EVERYTHING from the (perfectly nice) family in a flat next door, in another building. It's because of a peculiarity in the formation between the two buildings, but wow. (luckily for us, it's just the bathroom, so it's not like we spend hours in that room, but it's bizarre in comparison to the rest of our place which is way quieter than we could expect given the proximity of other neighbors.)
Also experienced: an area where there was constant new building / demolition / remodeling with noisy noisy power tools; a neighbor with some hobby that was apparently power-sawing vast amounts amounts of metal for unknown purposes for an hour or two pretty much every day; twice-a-week or so extended major screaming (and slamming doors, stomping, breaking crockery etc.) fights from close neighbors.
And I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff. Loud barking dogs (what can you do? this is not controllable, but you can maybe avoid the semi-animal hoarder types who keep a bunch of dogs that they don't walk or train so the poor animals are going nuts from boredom and neglect); a rooster (in the middle of Athens? weird!) that WAS SO SO SO LOUD for a couple of months until he suddenly disappeared (we have no idea if it was because of city officials finally ejecting him, or a suspicious Coq Au Vin meal enjoyed by other neighbors).
Also animal-related: we never really had much loud cat-related activity until our next-door neighbor moved and the new neighbor began feeding some neighborhood strays in her yard, and now it's out of control. We are cat hub central and the amazing amount of cat fighting, sexing, screeching, yowling etc., is incredibly loud and upsetting, frequently waking us from a sound sleep, and just sort of generally hellish because it seriously sounds like something from a horror film (and I love cats and have had several adored felines myself).
And believe it or not, I'm actually kind of laid back about noise, and have lived in cities forever, so don't expect a perfectly quiet atmosphere. The worst to me was the hill with noisy motorbikes/trucks accelerating, the fighting neighbors that made us worry there might actually be physical violence, and the banshee cats.
posted by taz at 8:22 AM on March 20, 2015
In London: Why is it so expensive? What was the selling price the last time it changed hands? What is the average price for the street? Given that prices in London are now falling, how much under asking price should we be offering?
posted by el_presidente at 8:22 AM on March 20, 2015
posted by el_presidente at 8:22 AM on March 20, 2015
We bought a house that had been beautifully renovated, so we haven't really had problems, but I really wish that we had asked about:
1. Names / Contact information for the people who had done the work. We have since had a little more work done, and while it turned out well, we would have loved to have had the same people do it, as they did such an amazing job the first time around.
2. Paint Colors - we loved the paint the previous owners had chosen (still do), but we had an incredibly difficult time finding a good match for it when it came time to do some touch ups. It would have been so nice to have had specific information about the brand / sheen / etc. of the original paint.
3. Which services / stores they used. With so many choices available, the current owners might very well be able to save you a lot of time by recommending (or warning against) things like cable providers, trash services, dry cleaners, etc. I ended up having a TERRIBLE experience with the local hardware store, and it turns out they're well-known for being terrible; I'm sure the previous owners would have warned me if I'd thought to ask.
posted by richmondparker at 8:46 AM on March 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
1. Names / Contact information for the people who had done the work. We have since had a little more work done, and while it turned out well, we would have loved to have had the same people do it, as they did such an amazing job the first time around.
2. Paint Colors - we loved the paint the previous owners had chosen (still do), but we had an incredibly difficult time finding a good match for it when it came time to do some touch ups. It would have been so nice to have had specific information about the brand / sheen / etc. of the original paint.
3. Which services / stores they used. With so many choices available, the current owners might very well be able to save you a lot of time by recommending (or warning against) things like cable providers, trash services, dry cleaners, etc. I ended up having a TERRIBLE experience with the local hardware store, and it turns out they're well-known for being terrible; I'm sure the previous owners would have warned me if I'd thought to ask.
posted by richmondparker at 8:46 AM on March 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
Asking would NOT have helped, but running all fawcets, the tub, and shower for at least five minutes would have pointed out the leak in the 2nd-story drain plumbing that the owner probably never discovered (basically, I take longer and more frequent showers). It's a stress test that many, but not all (not mine), home inspectors do.
posted by IAmBroom at 9:19 AM on March 20, 2015
posted by IAmBroom at 9:19 AM on March 20, 2015
If it was built relatively recently, by who? If it was by Village Homes or some other suburb factory outfit, I'd walk away. I've seen the green wood they often build with, and if they're cutting that corner, then what else?
posted by cmoj at 9:26 AM on March 20, 2015
posted by cmoj at 9:26 AM on March 20, 2015
I wish I had spent more time checking out the neighborhood.
posted by boilermonster at 10:03 AM on March 20, 2015
posted by boilermonster at 10:03 AM on March 20, 2015
I won't threadsit, but some stuff we have considered: schools (though they seem to change all the time -- what's considered a good school five years ago is now bad, and vice versa, so we may have to gamble on that one); extra bedroom (do we get a really nice 2 bed, or a less nice 3 bed for guests/in case we have more kids); yard/garden (is it worth the extra money); commute (we work from home now, but what if we get real jobs that require a commute?); buzz (we want a family-friendly area, but not a dull one).
Woah. If you both work from home, and you want a bedroom for yourselves and a bedroom for the putative tot, then I don't see how you can't have a 3rd bedroom to use as an office. Like, if you think you're both going to work in the main lounge/living area and your infant/toddler/primary schooler will somehow not totally invade what is, to be fair, family space...
You have to be able to shut a door to work with small children in the house.
For the same reasons of family-friendliness when your family works from home, I think some outdoor space is important as well.
in one place we looked at, the downstairs neighbor's garden was...
Please clarify if you are looking at flats or maisonettes and not your standard semi. Because I am a huge fan of raising kids in city apartments but the criteria for what makes a successful family apartment are very different to a successful family house!
posted by DarlingBri at 10:39 AM on March 20, 2015
Woah. If you both work from home, and you want a bedroom for yourselves and a bedroom for the putative tot, then I don't see how you can't have a 3rd bedroom to use as an office. Like, if you think you're both going to work in the main lounge/living area and your infant/toddler/primary schooler will somehow not totally invade what is, to be fair, family space...
You have to be able to shut a door to work with small children in the house.
For the same reasons of family-friendliness when your family works from home, I think some outdoor space is important as well.
in one place we looked at, the downstairs neighbor's garden was...
Please clarify if you are looking at flats or maisonettes and not your standard semi. Because I am a huge fan of raising kids in city apartments but the criteria for what makes a successful family apartment are very different to a successful family house!
posted by DarlingBri at 10:39 AM on March 20, 2015
I wish I had bought a house with a big front porch, or covered back porch/deck. I miss hanging out outside under covering.
Also, determine which way the sun will rise and set on your house. This will tell you what rooms you will have sunlight in at what time of day, and if the front/back of the house will be shady in the morning or afternoon. Important if you like to be outside a lot.
I wish I had opted for a ceiling fan in the bedroom.
posted by Falwless at 12:54 PM on March 20, 2015
Also, determine which way the sun will rise and set on your house. This will tell you what rooms you will have sunlight in at what time of day, and if the front/back of the house will be shady in the morning or afternoon. Important if you like to be outside a lot.
I wish I had opted for a ceiling fan in the bedroom.
posted by Falwless at 12:54 PM on March 20, 2015
Things I've learned the hard way about English property:
There can be all manner of problems (damp, dodgy wiring, roof issues, subsidence), especially with older houses. Definitely get a survey - a homebuyer's report, not just the valuation survey the bank will insist on. I've been advised that you can kill two birds with one stone by getting a homebuyer's report through the bank: you get the details you need and the bank gets the assurance of the house's worth, and it's cheaper for you than getting the two surveys separately.
Party walls vary massively in their sound opacity. Cheaply built houses of any age are likely to have little or no sound insulation between (or indeed within) them.
You probably want gas heating, and it's easier to manage efficiently if there's a room thermostat somewhere so you don't have to go and turn up/down every radiator in the house as needed. Fixable once the place is yours, but a thing to bear in mind.
Similarly, you probably want double glazing, for warmth and for quiet.
Having no upstairs bathroom is surprisingly annoying - it makes it harder to get up in the morning (especially on cold mornings, as downstairs is usually colder than up), more of a nuisance if you need the loo in the night, and actually difficult if you have a bout of food poisoning/norovirus because there's so much farther to go from bed to toilet.
If there's a garden and none of the windows look out into it, it's a burden rather than a pleasure for the part of the year when the weather precludes being out in it.
Carpets can harbour cat fleas, mould spores, a generation's worth of dust, the smell of cigarette smoke... ask me how I know. Think carefully when they ask if you want to keep them.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 1:35 PM on March 20, 2015
There can be all manner of problems (damp, dodgy wiring, roof issues, subsidence), especially with older houses. Definitely get a survey - a homebuyer's report, not just the valuation survey the bank will insist on. I've been advised that you can kill two birds with one stone by getting a homebuyer's report through the bank: you get the details you need and the bank gets the assurance of the house's worth, and it's cheaper for you than getting the two surveys separately.
Party walls vary massively in their sound opacity. Cheaply built houses of any age are likely to have little or no sound insulation between (or indeed within) them.
You probably want gas heating, and it's easier to manage efficiently if there's a room thermostat somewhere so you don't have to go and turn up/down every radiator in the house as needed. Fixable once the place is yours, but a thing to bear in mind.
Similarly, you probably want double glazing, for warmth and for quiet.
Having no upstairs bathroom is surprisingly annoying - it makes it harder to get up in the morning (especially on cold mornings, as downstairs is usually colder than up), more of a nuisance if you need the loo in the night, and actually difficult if you have a bout of food poisoning/norovirus because there's so much farther to go from bed to toilet.
If there's a garden and none of the windows look out into it, it's a burden rather than a pleasure for the part of the year when the weather precludes being out in it.
Carpets can harbour cat fleas, mould spores, a generation's worth of dust, the smell of cigarette smoke... ask me how I know. Think carefully when they ask if you want to keep them.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 1:35 PM on March 20, 2015
Ask the neighbors how the internet services in the area are. Especially if you are going to work from home.
Look around the house and test the various jacks- Finding out that some/all of the phone jacks or cable jacks are disconnected would be better know sooner than later. Think about where you'll need connections & power. Same with GFCI/ electrical wiring. You can buy a simple plug that tells you if an electrical outlet is wired correctly- use that to test all the outlets.
Talk to the neighbors- did the previous owner have any habits that you should aware of (selling drugs, renting out rooms, etc.) that might cause problems for a new owner.
Test out the thermostat- does it actually heat to the specified temperature? How old are is the furnace/radiators, etc? When was it last cleaned/serviced?
Where will the sun shine in the windows in the winter/summer? Will some rooms get hot in the morning/evening?
How is the yard drainage?
posted by Four Flavors at 2:27 PM on March 20, 2015
Look around the house and test the various jacks- Finding out that some/all of the phone jacks or cable jacks are disconnected would be better know sooner than later. Think about where you'll need connections & power. Same with GFCI/ electrical wiring. You can buy a simple plug that tells you if an electrical outlet is wired correctly- use that to test all the outlets.
Talk to the neighbors- did the previous owner have any habits that you should aware of (selling drugs, renting out rooms, etc.) that might cause problems for a new owner.
Test out the thermostat- does it actually heat to the specified temperature? How old are is the furnace/radiators, etc? When was it last cleaned/serviced?
Where will the sun shine in the windows in the winter/summer? Will some rooms get hot in the morning/evening?
How is the yard drainage?
posted by Four Flavors at 2:27 PM on March 20, 2015
I don't know if you have a car or anything, but here it would be if you have to make a left turn to leave or get into the neighborhood or deal with a difficult intersection or anything like that. A really crummy, busy intersection can add five minutes to your commute each way during rush hour.
posted by anaelith at 5:10 PM on March 20, 2015
posted by anaelith at 5:10 PM on March 20, 2015
I wish I'd had electrical inspected by an electrician and plumbing by a plumber, and thoroughly. Our house looked okay but it turned out that someone who didn't know what they were doing did a bunch of shoddy work.
Look for signs that things were covered up (why is there a patched hole in the wall?) and investigate.
If you're up for such things, talk to your potential neighbors about the neighborhood, what its like to live there and the people who used to live in your new home.
Also, Google your new address and see if was mentioned in the news or anything.
posted by DrumsIntheDeep at 8:19 PM on March 20, 2015
Look for signs that things were covered up (why is there a patched hole in the wall?) and investigate.
If you're up for such things, talk to your potential neighbors about the neighborhood, what its like to live there and the people who used to live in your new home.
Also, Google your new address and see if was mentioned in the news or anything.
posted by DrumsIntheDeep at 8:19 PM on March 20, 2015
anaelith: left turns are the easy ones in the UK ☺
I'll second everyone who mentioned damp. There's a weird mythology around "rising damp" in this country–a concept that does not exist anywhere else in the world. The model people will sell you on is that bricks wick up moisture from the ground, and rot. In truth, what I believe to be the real situation is that moisture in the bricks settles to the bottom.
Add to this a tendency to pebble-dash or paint over brick in the post-war period, and an end to fireplaces heating the bricks to help them dry out, and you've got a whole country full of overly sweaty buildings. Make sure you can control ventillation, and that sufficient provision exists to remove damp from the bathrooms (primary source of steam, so worth overdoing the extrator fans there) and the kitchen (kettles, saucepans, etc).
You will want to have someone lift floorboards and pry behind walls to see if any dry rot has set into wooden beams. You may need to overhaul the path of air through the superstructure entirely, adding vents and rennovating drains and gutters to aim rainwater away from vulnerable walls.
We have humidistat-driven ventillator fans in our new kitchen/bathroom. These run quietly blowing air out of these rooms at a low rate until humidity reaches a certain point. Then they crank into high gear. We also have a dehumidifier that we run in the bathroom after particularly foggy showers on damp days, and we run the kitchen hob's hood fan somewhat religiously even to catch steam from boiling water.
But don't let a "damp expert" spin you a line about "rising damp". They'll charge you thousands to do bizarre things to your walls, all based on a myth that is unique in the world.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 2:07 AM on March 21, 2015
I'll second everyone who mentioned damp. There's a weird mythology around "rising damp" in this country–a concept that does not exist anywhere else in the world. The model people will sell you on is that bricks wick up moisture from the ground, and rot. In truth, what I believe to be the real situation is that moisture in the bricks settles to the bottom.
Add to this a tendency to pebble-dash or paint over brick in the post-war period, and an end to fireplaces heating the bricks to help them dry out, and you've got a whole country full of overly sweaty buildings. Make sure you can control ventillation, and that sufficient provision exists to remove damp from the bathrooms (primary source of steam, so worth overdoing the extrator fans there) and the kitchen (kettles, saucepans, etc).
You will want to have someone lift floorboards and pry behind walls to see if any dry rot has set into wooden beams. You may need to overhaul the path of air through the superstructure entirely, adding vents and rennovating drains and gutters to aim rainwater away from vulnerable walls.
We have humidistat-driven ventillator fans in our new kitchen/bathroom. These run quietly blowing air out of these rooms at a low rate until humidity reaches a certain point. Then they crank into high gear. We also have a dehumidifier that we run in the bathroom after particularly foggy showers on damp days, and we run the kitchen hob's hood fan somewhat religiously even to catch steam from boiling water.
But don't let a "damp expert" spin you a line about "rising damp". They'll charge you thousands to do bizarre things to your walls, all based on a myth that is unique in the world.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 2:07 AM on March 21, 2015
rum-soaked space hobo, having lived in terrace housing, in Australia, with crumbling brick walls and mould creeping 6 foot up from the floor, severe enough to force the plaster off, I can assure you that rising damp is indeed a thing and not a mass hallucination limited to the UK. Brick walls need to be built with damp coursing for a reason, and the slate they used 100+ years ago is just not up to the job.
So yeah, I'd run from any old brick house with a noticeable damp smell.
posted by arha at 2:46 PM on March 21, 2015
So yeah, I'd run from any old brick house with a noticeable damp smell.
posted by arha at 2:46 PM on March 21, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by crocomancer at 6:07 AM on March 20, 2015