What's an absolute "No" in your house search?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only the things you really cannot change were dealbreakers for us:
We wouldn’t live anywhere w:
-location not convenient to work or other things we needed to be close to
-Busy road and/or too much noise (busy flight path)
-Too much crime
-Not good school zone
-Bad neighbors (you cannot always know this before moving in of course but to the best of our abilities, we tried to make sure neighbors seemed friendly and maintained their home/yard to a certain extent)
-yard sloped toward the house (greater potential for flooding)
-toxic environment (living near toxic waste site, etc)

Then there were things we tried really hard to avoid but would’ve settled on if needed for the right house:
-major $$ repairs like cracked foundation, new roof, poorly insulated home that needs all new windows/doors, major pest control issue that needs to be addressed ASAP etc
-split level
-no off street parking
-no central AC
-small kitchen
-bad smell from previous owner (if smoker, pet owner, etc)

This is a great list.
I also do not like split levels

[Anonymous]

Now that I think about it. A small kitchen is great. No space to spend the day in the kitchen. Go do something else.
Change your lifestyle so you don't have to cook all the time. Just use it for ready meals, warm up food. Switch to frozen veggies

[Anonymous]

No house with bedrooms that can't fit a bed, dresser, nightstand, and desk. I hate it when you walk into a gorgeous model home and then realize after you've gone home that there was no place in the bedrooms for one's clothing.

[Anonymous]

The fireplace is in our family room, and is a central gathering area for our family. I happen to really enjoy TV and so does DH, so we have no issue with putting a TV above the mantle. Also there's no other place in the house that will accommodate our 65inch. But hey, different strokes for different folks. I just find it hard to believe this is an actual deal-breaker for anyone. The rest of the house is perfect, location and schools work. But OH NO only place for a TV is above the mantle...sorry it's off our list. That is just crazy talk and nonsensical.

That's great that you and your husband don't mind but it really isn't that crazy or nonsensical. I don't know that it would have a total deal breaker when we were looking but it was definitely a minus. It speaks to general poor layout and design in the house as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No house with bedrooms that can't fit a bed, dresser, nightstand, and desk. I hate it when you walk into a gorgeous model home and then realize after you've gone home that there was no place in the bedrooms for one's clothing.

How much clothing do you have?
I pack away my winter or summer clothes when it is not the season

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The fireplace is in our family room, and is a central gathering area for our family. I happen to really enjoy TV and so does DH, so we have no issue with putting a TV above the mantle. Also there's no other place in the house that will accommodate our 65inch. But hey, different strokes for different folks. I just find it hard to believe this is an actual deal-breaker for anyone. The rest of the house is perfect, location and schools work. But OH NO only place for a TV is above the mantle...sorry it's off our list. That is just crazy talk and nonsensical.

That's great that you and your husband don't mind but it really isn't that crazy or nonsensical. I don't know that it would have a total deal breaker when we were looking but it was definitely a minus. It speaks to general poor layout and design in the house as well.

Okay but the question was "what's an absolute "no"...." so I was speaking to the original question.

Again - To each their own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The fireplace is in our family room, and is a central gathering area for our family. I happen to really enjoy TV and so does DH, so we have no issue with putting a TV above the mantle. Also there's no other place in the house that will accommodate our 65inch. But hey, different strokes for different folks. I just find it hard to believe this is an actual deal-breaker for anyone. The rest of the house is perfect, location and schools work. But OH NO only place for a TV is above the mantle...sorry it's off our list. That is just crazy talk and nonsensical.

That's great that you and your husband don't mind but it really isn't that crazy or nonsensical. I don't know that it would have a total deal breaker when we were looking but it was definitely a minus. It speaks to general poor layout and design in the house as well.

Okay but the question was "what's an absolute "no"...." so I was speaking to the original question.

Again - To each their own.

PP, I think you were the one being more defensive in this exchange and I'm not sure why. We have one of those samsung frame TVs above our fireplace (that I then spent way too much money on to get one of those more hefty magnetic frames around it, haha) and like it just fine as well, but I that it could be a deal breaker for others--as you said, "to each their own," which means a strong preference not to have such a layout isn't "crazy talk."

[Anonymous]

A neighborhood that is religious or overly conservative. I just don't want to stick out that much

[Anonymous]

My wife had these deal breakers.

Must have two walk in closets master bedroom
Must have two vanities master bedroom
Must have flat backyard
Must have finished basement
Must have five bedrooms
Must have two car garage

Only must haves

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can overlook most issues if the price is right. Except for flooding. That’s my only dealbreaker.

+1

[Anonymous]

I think split levels get a bad rap as most are small. Splitting floors in half on a small house is terrible looking.

I once was at an open house on a rare 3,000 square foot split it looked great. But my 1,500 square foot split looked terrible.

I only had 500 square feet per level the larger one had 1,000 square feet per level.

The Brady bunch house was a split. But it was gigantic.

Sadly most splits are small and make no sense. I don’t like 99 percent of splits but a large one I would. In fact I dare to say a 6,000 square foot house might be better as a split than a colonial

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can overlook most issues if the price is right. Except for flooding. That’s my only dealbreaker.

+1

I owned two houses in a flood zone not a big thing, my think is next to large apartment building or office building with 100s of units looking into yard is creepy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The fireplace is in our family room, and is a central gathering area for our family. I happen to really enjoy TV and so does DH, so we have no issue with putting a TV above the mantle. Also there's no other place in the house that will accommodate our 65inch. But hey, different strokes for different folks. I just find it hard to believe this is an actual deal-breaker for anyone. The rest of the house is perfect, location and schools work. But OH NO only place for a TV is above the mantle...sorry it's off our list. That is just crazy talk and nonsensical.

That's great that you and your husband don't mind but it really isn't that crazy or nonsensical. I don't know that it would have a total deal breaker when we were looking but it was definitely a minus. It speaks to general poor layout and design in the house as well.

No it doesn’t “speak” to poor layout. It likely means your home isn’t a new McMansion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No house with bedrooms that can't fit a bed, dresser, nightstand, and desk. I hate it when you walk into a gorgeous model home and then realize after you've gone home that there was no place in the bedrooms for one's clothing.

DH would love a larger bedroom, but I feel like they are a waste of space. I'm barely in my bedroom, even when we've lived in houses where we had a larger bedroom. I go in there to sleep, so I'd rather have that square footage elsewhere in the house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My wife had these deal breakers.

Must have two walk in closets master bedroom
Must have two vanities master bedroom
Must have flat backyard
Must have finished basement
Must have five bedrooms
Must have two car garage

Only must haves

This feels like a lot of must haves. Are there really houses with two walk in closets in the master?