The UK's dream home revealed

Updated
15th Century Dunguaire Castle at sunset, Kinvara, Co. Galway
15th Century Dunguaire Castle at sunset, Kinvara, Co. Galway



If you could have any home that you dreamed of, what would you opt for? A penthouse in central London? A huge rural estate? Or perhaps a castle by the sea?

Apparently, none of the above.

According to the Leeds Building Society, the UK's dream home is said to be a detached house with three bedrooms and two bathrooms - which sounds distinctly more like settling for the suburbs than reaching for the stars.

On closer inspection, however, there's a chance that we're dreamers disguised as practical bores. We say we're after a detached property - but while that might have overtones of boring boxes on Acacia Avenue, there's nothing to say the survey wasn't completed by people who were thinking of something even more detached - with turrets and a moat - beside a loch.
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Likewise when asked about the number of bedrooms, three bedrooms was a popular option - but the most popular was 'three bedrooms as a minimum'. This presumably also includes those people who would be most at home in a place where each member of the family can have their own wing.

It means we're not after that London penthouse, but we may still be pining for a rural estate, a castle by the sea, or even a futuristic concrete and glass structure in amongst the city's hippest hipsters.

Useful advice

Of course, in reality, nobody really gets their dream home - unless they've just won the lottery. The rest of us have a series of compromises to make, regarding the location, size of the property, and the budget.

The survey also asked people for their top priorities when they are house-hunting. The most popular answer was the location, followed by property size, the garden, the property layout and off-street parking. Bizarrely nobody mentioned the budget, but we can presume that it goes without saying that this is at the top of the list.

When asked about the things people would be prepared to compromise on, the most common answer was that people would be prepared to put up with poor decoration, followed by a lack of period features, old kitchens and bathrooms, no fireplaces, and a layout that would need changing.

None of these answers are going to come as a huge surprise, but they do highlight a particularly useful approach that could be invaluable at the beginning of the house-hunting process.

Before you go anywhere near an estate agent, it's worth writing down all the attributes of your dream home, and then outlining your order of priorities. If you are buying with someone else, you both need to do this, and then discuss your lists until you are roughly in agreement about what you are looking for.

That way, when you go on each viewing, you can have a checklist of all your priorities. If, for example, you have decided that location is more important than property size, you can target your search in the best areas, and forbid anyone from moaning about the size of the spare room. Alternatively, if you know garden size is key, you can spare yourself the wasted effort of looking at houses which are otherwise perfect but only have a small outdoor space.

If you put a bit of work in beforehand, you'll find it much easier to make decisions throughout the process. And while it won't guarantee you can afford your dream home - it should spare you from some of the potential nightmares of house-hunting.

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