buying new - why is it so bad?

boredjellybean

Hi there

I see lots of negative remarks on here about buying a new build - can someone please tell me why?? am I just being a bit blinkered here?

many thanks

BB

david29dpo

over priced and under quality is the norm.

nervousftb_3

it's usually because of the 'new car' analogy - once you have bought it and driven it off the forecourt, the price drops instantly! basically meaning that the second you move in you will be in negative equity.

other reasons i have heard are that new builds are usually lacking in space and/or storage, lack of character, badly thought out parking provisions, houses are badly built/finished....

however i am the proud owner of a new build, and have not found any of these to be a problem (got a discount on list price to try and avoid the instant negative equity trap...)

tek-monkey

All new builds I have seen have had small rooms, or been way to highly priced compared to older buildings. Having said that there are lots of old places with tiny rooms too! Its just easier to find a spacious building from 50 years ago than a newly built one.

LandyAndy

I bought a new build in 1985 (for £55k so it wasn't cheap). Although the layout and room sizes were good the standard of workmanship and materials was very patchy, and in places downright awful. The builders put all the faults right though.

Of course now it might be seen as a 'desirable older house'.:rolleyes:

You don't 'automatically go into negative equity' with a new build, particularly now when larger deposits are being demanded by lenders.

Bargain hard with the builders.

lowtidesurf

Currently purchasing a 3 bed new build. Its 15k below the asking price of an average 3 bed in the area. and nothing else on the market of the quality at this time. Its got bigger gardens then most the existing houses on the estate and more parking.

What im saying is yes new builds can have problems, but it depends what you can find. I agree new builds from large development companys normally are over priced and small and lack character, but this ethos should not be placed on all new builds.

Mine is from a small local development company who has a good rep.

GDB2222

The real issue is whether you lose money the moment you move in and make it a second-hand property. The answer to that seems to be yes, and it's said to be around 10% to 20% of the value of the property. That seems to me to be a lot to lose, but I have never bought a new property, so there may be compensations that I do not know about.

DKLS

I had a look at a development recently, and the sales bod was insulted when I asked did the firm use an architect or just buy a set of plans off ebay.

Soulless properties with no character or any interesting architectural features, small rooms and teeny gardens with a questionable build quality.

gabyjane

You will always find this on here and personally i never took any notice and bought one! my friend bought an older house and it has subsidence, cracking walls, a smaller garden than us, smaller everything actually i wont go into detail though!! i love our house and the town we live in a feel very lucky to have what i feel is a good sized house considering the place is mainly cottages etc..we have parking and a drive and semi detatched which again is a rare thing!

we have some features in our house which are not what most normal new builds have and are very happy with it.
Good luck x

GDB2222

gabyjane wrote: »

You will always find this on here and personally i never took any notice and bought one! my friend bought an older house and it has subsidence, cracking walls, a smaller garden than us, smaller everything actually

Did you pay the same for yours as your friend did for his? Are the locations comparable? It does sound like your friend bought a pup, though.

pinkshoes

I wanted a house with 2 double bedrooms with offstreet parking. Not a big wish list.

I then discovered that the words "house" and "fire place" commanded a 50% increase in price, and a 2 bed new build flat with more space was almost £100k less!! I could also forget the offstreet parking with the house.

So we bought the flat (2.5 years ago now), had many people on here told me they're over priced and rubbish, but we've just had it valued for re-mortgage at more than we've paid for it, despite the price crash, so it can't be that bad...

Newbuilds can be hit and miss, so check them all out individually (sound proofing, quality etc...), and never pay more for a newbuild than you would for an older property. Personally I'd go for one done by a small local builder rather than a mass production company.