House buying yardsticks

[Property Admin]

At the moment I'm looking to buy a property - but something I've found useful is to pick a couple of key points of interest, and use them as yardsticks across all properties.

For example, my two big yardsticks are the lounge size and master bedroom - I already know the dimensions of my current property for these, so I can tell by these whether the house I'm looking at is larger or smaller in a glance.

Obviously, I'm prefering the larger property if I can.

The reason these two make good yardsticks for me is that generally builders focus on these two areas - and if these are generally small, you can bet most of the other rooms will be relatively small in comparison as well.

Anyway, anyone else got their own personal yardsticks when buying a property?

Especially with regards the individual dimensions of a property?

[brian]

Lounge and Master bedroom make up my personal yardsticks, but as I have kids, the size of garden is also very important. We need to let them run around outside and burn their energy off, but a lot of new builds tend to have pretty small back gardens - and tons of wasted green at the front.

[John]

I always consider potential when looking at a property. Although the master bedroom, lounge and garden give a good indicator as to the size of property, I will consider how things would look with a little rearrangement. Just because the previous owners have used a certain room as the lounge, there is no reason why I have to - what about if I knocked out a certain wall? Would that make a better use of the space? I find that a lot of properties have a lot of wasted or misused space and reshaping things can add a new dimension to what may have at first appeared a small property.

I agree on the garden front, though - unfortunately, new builds are very "carbon copy" and as such a poor initial use of garden space can soon spread throughout an entire estate.

[brian]

Agreed, I'm starting to look more at development potential with older properties. Much as thought I'm over-stretched on time, and probably on money when we do buy, there are a couple of properties that have come up that *initially* only require superficial changes, such as complete redecoration and modernisation, as opposed to physical correction of walls and foundations, etc (not that you'd properly know without a surveyors report). In such instances, it's tempting to consider such properties for the investment potential.

[vicki2]

I'm not a new build person at all ...there are things, if I were, which i would never find acceptable in a new build that I would in an older property. Give me some character and I'll compromise!

[OneofaKind]

Vicki in general terms you might be right. But if you search properly you might be surprised, my home is new build and it has a lot of character. It is also of a much higher quality than the regular new build.

[brian]

We were really against new builds at first - often come across as little more than boxes. My girlfriend used to refer to them as "lego houses".

But around Scotland at least there tends to be a good variation in property types, and we rented in a new build and were pretty impressed with it. We wouldn't be so against buying a new build when we finally buy, but - of course - the character properties are probably more preferable.

Trouble is, I think most people have that in mind - they seem to go pretty quickly.

[vicki2]

I know the new builds are getting better and better ...I just have a 'thing' for old and all the quirks which go a long with them. That said, if I could build something exactly like I wanted, I might think seriously about it!

[sweet_mayhem]

besides a big den and master bedroom, i also would love to have a large backyard or garden. that's it.