Massive 50% falls in Flats spreading fast across Britain

baby_boomer

hethmar wrote: »

As long as you knock the price of the new build down Big, I cant see why anyone should think you are mad

I agre. Make sure you play hard ball like you've never done before on the price.

One issue you might consider is that new builds could become the new social housing and some of these "opportunities" might be taken up by your local council or housing association who could then choose your neighbours.

SouthCoast

I live in an area with a lot of recent build second/holiday home flats that are rarely used.
As the recession bites I expect more of these to come on the market as folks will not be able to afford to run two homes.

epz_2

BigBumpaGirl wrote: »

I agree, i am a first time buyer and am looking to buy a new build apartment. I fully understand that they are often overpriced, hence I will be putting down a large deposit to hopefully avoid falling into negative equity. I work full time and would not know where to start with regards to doing up a house. Due to my lifestyle I do not want to have a garden to maintain, as I do not have the time. I do not intend to move anytime soon as I have just secured a really good promotion at work.

Are there any first time buyers out there who have purchased new builds who agree with me, or am I simply mad?

If the comparison between an older flat and new build was simply the case that the new build had better fittings then yes i could see your logic.

There is a flaw there though, a LOT of new builds are VERY poorly built these days and I am not talking about minor things like poor finish but the actual fabric of the buildings. I know a reasonable amount of people who have bough new builds, some were top end developments and most still had problems, 2 had faulty plumbing that was leaking for over a year before spotted meaning their floorboards needed replaced.

A big advantage of an existing property is all the bedding in problems have been spotted and you know what your neighbours will be like.

FYI I reckon most building trades will be pretty cheap at the moment since they dont have any work so if you do buy a place you can just pick up a phone and get the place modelled to your specification pretty cheaply.

GracieP

hethmar wrote: »

As long as you knock the price of the new build down Big, I cant see why anyone should think you are mad Our first house was a Victorian terrace, surrounded by couples with kids and the noise was horrendous in the house as stairs ran up the joining walls. I was frightened of even going to the loo as I imagined as we could hear them, they could hear us - lol. Then there was a lot of curtain twitching and tutting all the time as we were the only young couple in the street.

Our old house was a large-ish victorian terrace and the noise from the family next-door was phenomenal. A woman who had 7 children lived there, not all of them lived with her, but they were always there. And a number of her children had children. And as the house was fairly big all her extended family were always there and every birthday/anniversary was celebrated in her house. The noise used to drive us completely mad.

At the same time some friends of ours had bought a g.floor apartment and told us they were lucky as their upstairs neighbours were really quiet. We went over there for dinner one night and the noise was unbelievable. Their upstairs neighbours going about their normal business was so much worse than our incredibly loud neighbours. As loud as you think things may be in a terrace having people walk around above you is generally louder and much more invasive. Obviously good sound-proofing will prevent this, but most new build apartment buildings appear to have been made as cheaply as possible and have no sound-proofing whatsoever.

lostinrates

Re noise from apartments....it varies tremendously. I find it strnage that in a worl where regulation of door width and window size tc etc is so important we don't har as much about noise regulation.

In Italy terrazo floors etc are almost universally in flats. Hearing people above, even on these loud floors, was less of a problem. In London our single elderly neighbour got me listning to Radio 4...if your cannot beat them join them, lol.

BigBumpaGirl

FYI I reckon most building trades will be pretty cheap at the moment since they dont have any work so if you do buy a place you can just pick up a phone and get the place modelled to your specification pretty cheaply.[/quote]

Are you able to provide further information as to how this would work? Say for example I purchased a second hand property and wanted it completely decorated. Could I just pay someone to do all (design + decorate) of this for me? If so what are the time scales, as the only way I would consider this as an option would be if the work could be done in a reasonable amount of time as I would not move in until it was complete.

BigBumpaGirl

hethmar wrote: »

As long as you knock the price of the new build down Big, I cant see why anyone should think you are mad

I intend to knock as much off the property as humanly possible. I have noticed that the developers have some blocks completely full bar one apartment and have reduced the price by 10% to encourage a quick sell. The prices so far haven’t budged on the blocks that are empty; the properties are built, but not yet finished. There is also a second phase that has been put on hold... I should have my full deposit by summer 2009 at which point depending on how far prices may have come down; I still intend to ask for a further reduction. I live in an area (Milton Keynes) where there is no shortage of new builds. I was drawn to the Redrow development as I would be getting a lot more for my money than I would at other local developments. The other new builds I have looked at are a lot smaller, on much bigger developments c300 flats and are priced much higher due to having a slightly higher level of interior finishing.
Overall I am in no rush, am in a good place financially and if I don’t get what I consider to be a good price I will continue renting (and saving) until I do!

GracieP

lostinrates wrote: »

Re noise from apartments....it varies tremendously. I find it strnage that in a worl where regulation of door width and window size tc etc is so important we don't har as much about noise regulation.

Our first flat was in an older building. I don't know exactly how old it was, but I'd guess it was 40+. It was a pretty ugly building, in the utilitarian style of the time, but we very, very rarely heard our upstairs neighbour. It also had really good-sized rooms. Unfortunately we also had a terrible flatmate so only stayed there 8 months. We moved into a lovely looking newish build flat, which was so poorly built, I could lie in bed and listen to my upstairs neighbours take a wee. And come winter our bedroom was desperately damp and mouldy.

If I was ever going to buy a flat I'd choose one from the post war era over anything built in the last 20 years. It might be ugly, but at least it would be decent build quality.

lostinrates

GracieP wrote: »

Our first flat was in an older building. I don't know exactly how old it was, but I'd guess it was 40+. It was a pretty ugly building, in the utilitarian style of the time, but we very, very rarely heard our upstairs neighbour. It also had really good-sized rooms. Unfortunately we also had a terrible flatmate so only stayed there 8 months. We moved into a lovely looking newish build flat, which was so poorly built, I could lie in bed and listen to my upstairs neighbours take a wee. And come winter our bedroom was desperately damp and mouldy.

If I was ever going to buy a flat I'd choose one from the post war era over anything built in the last 20 years. It might be ugly, but at least it would be decent build quality.

I lived in one studio near La Scala that was late 17th/early 18th century conversion and developement on Foundations that stem from 7th century! And it was silent! Blissfully so. In London our Edwardian? conversion was the Radio 4 listening era, and a top two floor 'duplex' converted in the early sixties. Very little attention to insulating against sound. My father did live in a very good 1980s convrsion about 10 years ago, no sound from other flats, bu lot of road noise. I think its about more than date but rather conversion/renovation or build quality. If I were paying dvelopment prices it would be attention to sound insulation rather than kitchen fittings that would part me with my money.

chucky

brit1234 wrote: »

West London.

Isleworth, Twickenham, Ealing, Brentford type area.

Its good there are already prices in my range, unthinkable 12 months ago.

Lets see whatt the next 12 months brings

I can see you being able to buy in Islewortha and Brentford but can't see you buying in Ealing. If you say borough we can say Greenford or somewhere on the A40, but the nicer places are around the Common and Ealing Broadway - so don't think you'll be picking up the 50% bargains there. would be nice though!!

but there are definately bargains to be had - as you know not everyone is dropping their prices but with those who do they're good opportunities to take.

good luck in what you find and hope that you get yourself a nice place.