When looking at 'used' houses, what things do you care about?

Hi all,

Just curious about other people's opinions on this.


I'm mooching on Daft regularly enough. Looking at houses in my general area, and some of the prices and the properties, don't make a lot of sense to me. Got me thinking about what people consider when looking at 'used' houses.

I know the obvious priorities are the general area, commute distance, number of bedrooms, etc. but when you get beyond that, do people care much about other things?

For example, do people pay more for a house that has been extended? Or is it the kinda thing that you won't really get any extra money selling it, but the extension will make it more desirable, so it might sell faster?

Same with renovations.. If the house has had a new kitchen and bathroom in the last few years, do you like that? Does it give you comfort that you don't have to worry about it, or are you more along the lines of thinking that it doesn't matter what's there, you'll be tearing it out to put your own stamp on the place, anyway?


Friend bought a house recently, and although you could live in the house as it was, he immediately got another loan (on top of the mortgage) and started pulling the place apart to get what he wanted done to it. Some big stuff, but lots of expensive smaller things like getting the bathroom re-done, despite it being fine as it was, for example.


A different friend of mine, bought a house that looked like it had been revamped in the last decade, and was still fresh and clean and he paid particular interest to that because he wanted the peace of mind of not having to concern himself with builders and extra expenses, so he got that house and hasn't really touched it.

Just wondering what the general attitude to this kind of thing is on boards? (for clarity, I'm talking about houses you could actually get a mortgage on - not derelict houses with no roofs or missing walls, etc.)


Cheers

Baby01032012

Peoples attitude which I guess you mean opinions will be as varied as the type construction and condition of every house out there. Not sure what you are expecting in terms of answers.

Some will gut some will extend some will do nothing but furnish and everything in between. Everyone is different.

65535

The things they don't tell you like
'Broadband' or Eir only

ted1

Price, Location , location, location, size, orientation

If the price is right condition doesn’t matter to much.
e.g a 500k house with good windows , plumbing and wiring. Would mean I’d pay 450k for the same house that needed the 3

An extension extension would be of benefit providing it’s done right . The price of doing it yourself will always be more.

Padre_Pio

Check the roof and look for signs of subsidence.
Good broadband.
House orientation for sunshine.

The state of your neighbours houses and their cars

Cuddlesworth

Location was the most important to me, as it is for most people.

I looked for a finished house because in the Irish market its just better value by a mile. You can have two houses on a road, one without having a penny spent in 50 years and another with 150k put into it, the selling price is usually within 20-30k. At least in Dublin where I was looking. I think a large part of it is a older generation advising younger buyers, who don't really understand the real costs involved in renovation these days and are basing their advise on their experiences which are far removed from the current reality.

Only caveat to that is almost everybody I know has bought to the max of what they could afford, meaning very few actually bought renovated.

Other things that I looked for,
House orientation was on the list., always worked out where the Sun rose and fell and where in the house got Sun and when. There are houses out there that never really get sun and they are miserable places to be in.
Good broadband is a must.
Not having a main sewer access in the garden is another, that can really bite you in the ass in older estates, where the new neighbor flushing nappies down the toilet becomes your problem and cost.
Not being beside a large undeveloped area. Better the devil you know, then the devil you don't. Quite a few houses end up with apartment blocks looking in on them.
Privacy where possible. Eg, I really don't like some modern estates and having your kitchen window next to a path in which anybody can park or stand.

pummice

65535 wrote: »

The things they don't tell you like
'Broadband' or Eir only

What do you mean?

Zaney

Also important to look at how developed the area is. Also house hunting. Saw what looked like a bargain. A little digging showed that there was a planning application of a 6 storey apartment block behind it.

Problem I have is that my husband and I disagree on some fundamentals. I’d take a smaller house on a larger plot but he is all about the house.

Work wouldn’t scare us and whilst the economics would suggest you are better off buying a fully retrofitted house, we are looking for a home and would probably be happy to spend money to have things the way we want them (if we can agree that is)

stampydmonkey

location, location, price, location, size, state of the place, potential, aspect, garden,

shane b

Baby01032012 wrote:

Some will gut some will extend some will do nothing but furnish and everything in between. Everyone is different.

I'd agree with this idea just from my personal experience. A lot also depends on the buyers financial position.
We bought at the top end of our budget so we needed somewhere that was modern and ready to live in fairly straight away. Other than paint and furniture we didnt change anything initially. We have invested in better insulation and other cosmetic improvements since.
A guy I worked with bought his house 2 years later, he gutted it, spent 4-5 months renovating before he and the fiancee moved in. They had quite a bit saved so they went with a smaller deposit and larger but still manageable mortgage.

punisher5112

Close to roads, main roads, motorway, new development in future, neighbours which is very important and if next to a rental can be a big issue.
Out near entrance to estate or in near the back is a big thing for noise and cul de sac would be best.
Closeness to public transport, shops, doctor and schools for example......

BrokenArrows

Depends.

We bought our current house last year and the priorities were the area, garden and public transport. We planned to renovate fully so condition internally wasn't a big deal.

We are now purchasing a cheap 1 bed apartment as an investment. This priority was cost, rental income, condition and public transport.

slavetothegrind

neighbours. If they are a problem that will trump all else.
I would like distant neighbours, almost over the horizon.......

barneygumble99

Buying out in the countryside. Second hand house. It had things we took for granted, fully tarmaced driveway, large detached garage, finished garden, entrance wall and gates, these things really finish a house on the outside and plenty of house’s don’t have them and would cost over €50k to get done.

Smiley11

Now I'm a parent, I have several must haves. There were a lot more bit in this market, I've learned we're going to have to compromise.

Still must haves are:
Good, flat garden
Driveway
Aspect

Used to be must haves but now are just desirables:
Location (little to nothing suitable coming on in our top spots)
Not on a main road (Kids, noise)
Good sized house (We'll extend if its got the good garden)
No big works to be done (budget dependent)

I have lots more on the list but those are the most important to me. You have to do your due diligence on any house you're going to potentially purchase. Talk to locals, check for any future developments, drive by at different times of day or check the work commute etc.

Location, most important.
Orientation of the house. South/West rear.
Access to rear, don't mind a terrace, so long as there is access, like a lane behind.
General area, neighbours.
Don't care about extensions, don't need one.
If the wiring, plumbing and heating are done recently, big bonus.

bertsmom

I can see im totally in the minority in that my garden doesn't get much evening sunshine except down at the back wall (average semi d garden) and it really doesn't matter (to me) I thought it would but I am actually fine with it.

ted1

bertsmom wrote: »

I can see im totally in the minority in that my garden doesn't get much evening sunshine except down at the back wall (average semi d garden) and it really doesn't matter (to me) I thought it would but I am actually fine with it.

Clearly you don’t use it but if you had sun in the garden you’d miss it.

bertsmom

Oh yes I agree Ted1 I wouldn't say no to a sunny garden and to be honest it's sunny at the height of summer until around 4pm. Its just something I (it was myself and a partner then) didn't consider much at the time.
I liked that it was a 4bed semi in a cul de sac in an estate I liked. I do laugh now though at how little I thought of certain things we just came had a look, liked it, put an offer in was accepted an hr later and that was that we bought a house!
That was 2005 I was in my early 20s and so excited.
I thought after we split up a few years ago that we would sell it and go our separate ways but I've come to realise I love this place, its definitely in need of tlc (haven't done much since I thought it would be going on the market) but I have had such happy times here and great memories and myself and my ex have decided I will just get the mortgage put in my own name in a year or two when that's possible but I guess I'm lucky my ex wasn't an asshole and I don't associate this place with bad times.
If I could give anyone buying a word of advice in buying a home id just say do you see yourself there in a happy home because thats all that really matters (and neighbours not being a nuisance)
Buy a home to live a happy life in not an investment to cash in down the line

Cash_Q

We sold our first home because the neighbours were absolutely awful. Three sets of them either side of us on a terrace. We drove up there at all hours of the day and night and nothing could have told us what was in store. Not sure how anyone can really predict what the neighbours will be like, but definitely google the address for news articles. Look at the condition of the neighbouring houses. Look at google maps street view and satellite view. Still not entirely revealing but a help.

When we bought this house lots of things appealed to us including:
Tidy, paved driveway
Additional parking for visitors freely available
New wiring
New heating system
New external insulation
Good flooring throughout downstairs
New flooring throughout upstairs
New bathroom upstairs
Lots of fitted storage
Good double glazed windows
Huge south facing back garden
Extension - in our case the layout of the downstairs is fine but it is not ideal and eventually we will remove some internal partitions and install a bigger back door but this will be much cheaper than building the same space from scratch

We walked and drove past this house as often as possible to get a sense of the area which was always quiet. This house and the last are both terraced but the difference between them is priceless in terms of sound insulation and build. Both built around the same time 1950s/60s but the current house is a former council house and the build seems far superior. Rooms and windows a bit smaller than the last house but the extension makes up for that.

bertsmom

bertsmom wrote: »

I can see im totally in the minority in that my garden doesn't get much evening sunshine except down at the back wall (average semi d garden) and it really doesn't matter (to me) I thought it would but I am actually fine with it.

I like getting the sun into the house, the house I'm in now, back faces north. Never get a bit of sun coming into the rear at all. It's where the kitchen and dining/living area are. The sitting room is at the front and has sun streaming in the window all day, I don't appreciate it one bit!

JimmyVik

I look for basketball hoops and trampolines out the front of the other houses in the estate.
If i see them I drive straight back out.
Nothing says inconsiderate neighbours more than these things.

Also I look for a low BER rating. That seems to put most bidders off, but is easily rectified for a fraction of the money you save in the purchase price.

People dont actually think about aspect properly either

If its a bungalow then actually a north sided back garden gives you the chance to actually look out at plants and flowers as the shadow wont be long. Sometimes a south sided back garden means you have to put your plants in the middle or right beside the house and cant look out at them.

If its two storey house then the shadow might extend to the end of the garden if its on the north side and thats bad, but if its a bungalow its actually an advantage. Again, bidders (who cant get this into their heads) disappear as soon as they hear north facing.

Look for the things that knock bidders out of the running due to their lack of proper analysis or imagination.

JimmyVik

JimmyVik wrote: »

Again, bidders (who cant get this into their heads) disappear as soon as they hear north facing.

Look for the things that knock bidders out of the running due to their lack of proper analysis or imagination.

Or maybe those bidders know exactly what they want from experience over the years and know what they don't want.

65535

pummice wrote: »

What do you mean?

Question: When looking at 'used' houses, what things do you care about ?


Answer: Broadband preferably 'Broad' Band not DSL from Eir
Get Fibre if you can or Virgin Media

JimmyVik

bubblypop wrote: »

Or maybe those bidders know exactly what they want from experience over the years and know what they don't want.

Well having bought and sold a number (double figures) of properties over the years I can see that people in general put too much value on some of these things.
Now most of the properties we did some other renovations as well, but we bought and sold one within a few months and all we did was put a patio, table and chairs and some flowers and lights down at the end of the garden to make an outside seating area. The garden was north facing. It was a Bungalow. Even in winter the shade in the garden didnt reach the patio and it was only about 35ft long, but the patio showed this off and a lot of bidders bid on it and drove the price up.

It cost €1500 to do and the house was sold for €65k more than we paid for it.


Same with BERs. You would be surprised how little it costs to take a e or f house up to a C or a B and what value it adds to the house. Multiples of the amount it cost to bring it up. Taking it to an A is a waste of money and effort.

JimmyVik

JimmyVik wrote: »

Well having bought and sold a number (double figures) of properties over the years I can see that people in general put too much value on some of these things.
Now most of the properties we did some other renovations as well, but we bought and sold one within a few months and all we did was put a patio, table and chairs and some flowers and lights down at the end of the garden to make an outside seating area. The garden was north facing. It was a Bungalow. Even in winter the shade in the garden didnt reach the patio and it was only about 35ft long, but the patio showed this off and a lot of bidders bid on it and drove the price up.

It cost €1500 to do and the house was sold for €65k more than we paid for it.


Same with BERs. You would be surprised how little it costs to take a e or f house up to a C or a B and what value it adds to the house. Multiples of the amount it cost to bring it up. Taking it to an A is a waste of money and effort.

Good for you, some people don't mind.
But putting people down saying they have no imagination is just insulting people.

I have lived in many many houses & apartments over my 40 something years and I know exactly what I want in my own house at this stage. As do most people I would imagine.

JimmyVik

bubblypop wrote: »

Good for you, some people don't mind.
But putting people down saying they have no imagination is just insulting people.

I have lived in many many houses & apartments over my 40 something years and I know exactly what I want in my own house at this stage. As do most people I would imagine.

I dont think you are getting my point.
Its the amount of bidders bidding against you that i am talking about.



If you want a house with a high BER for €50k more than one with a lower BER that only costs €10K to bring up then thats your business. But you probably wont be bidding on the same E rated house that others, who can see the issue, are, which takes you out of the competition and is better for them.
Same for the people who see that a north facing garden on a bungalow is actually a good thing, and at least not the shady garden that it is on a 2 story house. Those who cant see past that wont be bidding against those who do, making the competition less for the ones who did their homework.
They will be bidding on the south facing one across the road and bidding it up higher.

K.Hawksworth

As someone currently in the market to buy, given the supply shortage I wish I had the choice to be worrying about stuff like garden aspect. At this stage I would take anything so long as it's

1. In Dublin
2. Near schools
3. 4 walls, windows and a roof, electricity and plumbing

Insulation/kitchen/painting etc can be done slowly over the years.

Claw Hammer

One thing to look for is how close the convenience stores are. I like to have a convenience shop within a couple of hundred metres. I think there is nothing worse than having to trael a long distance for small items such as milk or a newspaper.

Cuddlesworth

Claw Hammer wrote: »

One thing to look for is how close the convenience stores are. I like to have a convenience shop within a couple of hundred metres. I think there is nothing worse than having to trael a long distance for small items such as milk or a newspaper.

Used to live down the road from a corner shop, chipper and chinese. Used to fill a black bag once a week with the rubbish thrown into the garden. I now like a bit of distance.

GreeBo

JimmyVik wrote: »

It cost €1500 to do and the house was sold for €65k more than we paid for it.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say you would have reached the same sale price without spending €1500 on the patio.

mrslancaster

gardens front & back were a must for us as well as neighbouring houses at the back. It might not be a consideration in some places around the country but having open fields or empty space at the back of any house in Dublin will likely have apartments built there at some stage. Not a problem for some people but it will mean overlooking.

Any updates or refurbishment can be done in stages as budgets allow & to your own taste. also some kind of rear access is very useful if you need to do any building, maintenance or gardening work at the back of house.

Height of attic space in case you want to convert attic in future.

Zaney

K.Hawksworth wrote: »

As someone currently in the market to buy, given the supply shortage I wish I had the choice to be worrying about stuff like garden aspect. At this stage I would take anything so long as it's

1. In Dublin
2. Near schools
3. 4 walls, windows and a roof, electricity and plumbing

Insulation/kitchen/painting etc can be done slowly over the years.

I can relate, but still some red lines for me. I’d definitely add as a must:
4. Off street parking so I can have a homecharger for an electric car or secure parking for an electric cargo bike, good access for bikes.
5. Public transport or cycle distance to most places we want to get to.

JimmyVik

GreeBo wrote: »

I'm going to go out on a limb and say you would have reached the same sale price without spending €1500 on the patio.

Dont know.

But what I do know is that tarting up a house pays off big time in the price you get for it.

It certainly increased the number of bidders. We were bidding against one other when we bought it. A Few months later there were 6 bidders.

Zaney

The housing market is a funny game. When my sister bought there were two houses near identical for sale very near each other, one with a low asking price the other with a high one. She bid on both. There followed a bidding war with numerous bidders on the low priced house that soon exceeded the high asking price property.

She was the only bidder on the high asking price property, bid less than asking price and got it for a lot less than what the low asking price house ultimately sold for.

We’re only starting our property search and I’m dreading it.

KBH2020

K.Hawksworth wrote: »

As someone currently in the market to buy, given the supply shortage I wish I had the choice to be worrying about stuff like garden aspect. At this stage I would take anything so long as it's

1. In Dublin
2. Near schools
3. 4 walls, windows and a roof, electricity and plumbing

Insulation/kitchen/painting etc can be done slowly over the years.

I feel your pain. I started off with a list of requirements and I am now looking at a house on daft that has had no work done on it in decades and thinking "this looks nice..it has four walls, a front door.."!!

I would love to know how much it costs to renovate a standard 3 bed semi d e.g. rewiring, repave driveway, external/internal insulation, knocking a partition wall/extending, new kitchen, new windows, new bathroom, new front door, new floors and walls painted. The answer is probably how long is a piece of string but I would be interested if anyone could hazard a guess or if they did any similar work how much it cost...

stampydmonkey

KBH2020 wrote: »

I feel your pain. I started off with a list of requirements and I am now looking at a house on daft that has had no work done on it in decades and thinking "this looks nice..it has four walls, a front door.."!!

I would love to know how much it costs to renovate a standard 3 bed semi d e.g. rewiring, repave driveway, external/internal insulation, knocking a partition wall/extending, new kitchen, new windows, new bathroom, new front door, new floors and walls painted. The answer is probably how long is a piece of string but I would be interested if anyone could hazard a guess or if they did any similar work how much it cost...

We are at €120-130k for this bar extension. 1 quote so far

Lia_lia

KBH2020 wrote: »

I feel your pain. I started off with a list of requirements and I am now looking at a house on daft that has had no work done on it in decades and thinking "this looks nice..it has four walls, a front door.."!!

I would love to know how much it costs to renovate a standard 3 bed semi d e.g. rewiring, repave driveway, external/internal insulation, knocking a partition wall/extending, new kitchen, new windows, new bathroom, new front door, new floors and walls painted. The answer is probably how long is a piece of string but I would be interested if anyone could hazard a guess or if they did any similar work how much it cost...

Friend of mine getting this done at the moment plus a new bedroom. Costing over 200k.

the_syco

Stuff that may not be visable until you move in, so you need to look out for telltale signs.

Examples; mold & bad neighbours.

These two things may also be the reason the seller is trying to leave!

KBH2020

KBH2020 wrote: »

The answer is probably how long is a piece of string but I would be interested if anyone could hazard a guess or if they did any similar work how much it cost...

I did a ground floor L shape ('wraparound', back and side) extension, re-paved back garden, renovated all rooms and currently doing a bathroom (added a bathroom in the extension, too) and will be re-dashing some external wall where the pebble-dashing came off. (I also have a snag list of sorts, and a few smaller details to do).


By the time I'm done, I reckon I'll have renovated and extended a full 3 bed semi d in Louth, for, give or take, 90k.


Shopping around, playing quotes against each other, and using smaller operators is the magic ingredient, in my experience. I'm currently doing a bathroom and a chap quoted almost 7k. Knocked the best part of a grand off it with some haggling and back and forth, without sacrificing anything of worth.

JustAThought

Apart from all the obvious already listed here

- no so called management company estates
- no allocated parking or shared parking areas
- nowhere without proper front gardens to keep cars, kids and bins in
- preferably no bloody neighbours!!!
-nowhere that is going to be part of the bus transport and have their gardens CPO’d and mature trees cut down
-no mixed estates/social & affordable/large or SW filled appartments with or without bins & parking

-somewhere on two reliable public transport routes or more with more than one bus scheduled an hour

shtpEdthePlum

We have the options of either staying where we are and doing up an old house we love, or we can buy somewhere new.

A new build is appealing but the location is top notch here and the bones of this place are solid. I love this cold ancient hole of a house. If we even got ten or fifteen years out of it, I think it would be worth a fairly large investment for me, even though it probably won't add on much value if we sell down the line.

The renovations required are rewiring the whole place, dry lining throughout, knocking the back wall and a wall between two living rooms, tacking on conservatory, extend and replace kitchen and upstairs bathroom, install a ground floor bathroom under the stairs, seal three chimneys and restore one.

Any thoughts on if we would be completely mad to do that? We're fully replacing 2 rooms out of the current seven (kitchen and bathroom), merging two existing living rooms and adding on two new rooms (bathroom and conservatory). It appears to me that it might cost as much as a new build.

Cuddlesworth

shtpEdthePlum wrote: »

It appears to me that it might cost as much as a new build.

Because it's effectively the same thing depending on the age of the property. And it's near impossible logistically or financially to do it piecemeal.

Hontou

1. Neighbours
2. Own parking
3. If house has a septic tank, does it meet all requirements / has it caused trouble in the past
4. Damp....and the source of it
5. Is it walkable to services and is that walk safe in terms of traffic. When/if you have children, you will spend your life in a car otherwise

punisher5112

South facing rear garden is a must....

jrosen

Once the obvious location, access to schools and number of bedrooms nothing else was a huge issue.

In no particular order. Possibility of converting the attic was a plus, utility with external access, driveway to fit 2 cars min, didnt want to be too close to any common green space, cul-de-sac, sunshine at some point of the day, enough space to have a patio, open plan living space and separate living room, home office.

They were things we were looking.

Ultimately price ran the show. I wasn't prepared to pay top of our budget for a property with a kitchen we didn't like if we didnt have the money after buying to change it.

ec_pc

We are in the countryside surrounded by green fields and had different requirements compared to people living in urban locations.

Our key items were :

Zoning for surrounding land
Any significant crime or break ins in the area on regular basis
Mains water
Decent broadband (still waiting on that)
Large garden with sunny aspect.
Walking distance of the town
Potential for renovation

the_syco

Hontou wrote: »

4. Damp....and the source of it

On this, like when renting, fresh paint can be a sign of covering up something. Easiest way to get rid of damp for a few months is painting over it. By which time, house is sold, and no longer the sellers problem.

mrslancaster

ec_pc wrote: »

....Any significant crime or break ins in the area on regular basis
.....

How can buyers find this info?

Caranica

mrslancaster wrote: »

How can buyers find this info?

Google/neighbours/Gardai

MilaM

For example, do people pay more for a house that has been extended? Or is it the kinda thing that you won't really get any extra money selling it, but the extension will make it more desirable, so it might sell faster?

It depends, once extended so much there was no garden left and what was gained by the extention was dinning room without lights.

Location location location location for us
followed by regular transport and nice place we can walk to
not too far from the sea - really paid off for us. We bought January 2020 after searching for one year and during the lockdowns we truly appreciated the areas
Light in the house. We have seen some sought facing houses but terraced with small windows and a lot of trees in neighbors garden - the house still felt dark. We end up buying detached house with a lot of windows and while the garden is north west facing there are no dark rooms in the house. Even things as windows between the stairs make such great difference

If the kitchen is too small and no room to extend it was no go for us too, I don't have my dream kitchen yet but I will in the next year hopefully.
?
But ultimately it was location, potential to be the dream home even if it's not right now, structurally sound.

if I have X amount of money do I
Get very well refurbed house in ok area?
Get house in great area that will need slow update - doer upper but in good condition

The location won. house interior will look aged in 15 years no matter what and upgrades are ongoing thing. Great house in so so area in 15 years will feel tired, and will never be dream home. A good house in great location with potential to do up slowly has the path to dream home. Within limits as it had to be livable

ideally I will have all the money and I won't have to choose, but this is not how it is for most people