buying new - why is it so bad?

tek-monkey

pinkshoes wrote: »

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.

Maybe its a local thing, but round here the houses have all the space but the flats cost as much. They get marketed as executive apartments, when they're just small flats! They built one right next to a railway line, literally feet from the track, and wonder why nobody wants them. Although luckily for the builder some BTL'ers bought them all now can't rent them out.

Dinah93

Depends on the area. Where we are looking to buy we can get a large 3 bed semi with big garden for £145k, across the road (literally)the smallest 3 bed terraced in the world (no hall, 10ft x 12ft lounge, 3rd "bedroom" 8ft x 6ft) is £189k. There are two on the estate already back up for sale, one at £149k and one at £162k, and neither of them have sold and its been three months +. If you are looking at an area with a lot of new builds there is nothing to set your bland but functional house apart from anyone elses except the price, so when you come to sell you have to be good value to get people to come through the door as a lot of people will look at the details for a nice looking house with kerb appeal, but not even notice a modern house. You will also be fighting against new new builds when you resell, and I'd rather get a brand new one where I can pick the kitchen and bathroom, carpets etc, developer incentives can add up to a fair bit than a 'used' new build which is 5 years old and I have none of these. To buy a used new build I would expect it to be at least 10-15% cheaper than a new new build.

poppysarah

One of the things I've noticed about new builds is the lack of space between them. Like the word detached means 1/4" apart rather than anything more practical.
And new build estates where you pay someone a management fee on top of the council tax seems like a con.
And the tiny rooms. And bizarre layouts over three floors.

Jewel_2

I think it's what suits you - I live in a 1850s cottage and would really like a new build at the moment because the doors are relatively rectangular and you can close the windows properly (or maybe not!).

I love character properties but my 10 year old is all for a new house - more toilets!!!!

Oh, and have a 360 ft garden which is really difficult and expensive to maintain. I just want an easy life.

The only thing with new builds is that everyone on the street is the same, the people I mean. Around here you get all sorts of characters!

p00hsticks

Apart from what strikes me as poor value, the other things that puts me off new builds are some of the things I hear about on this site - for example, having to put down non-refundable deposits to reserve houses off plan, having to exchange contracts with no fixed completion date and then wait indefinitely, being left on half completed estates with unadopted roads etc etc....

matty17r

My son and girlfriend bought a new build 3 storey town house in Feb of this year. I have not seen anything better value around here (south east)
since. Their bedrooms are huge (even bigger than our in a detached house) and downstairs is a good size compared to other properties in a similar price band. There are 3 toilets (most houses have one in upstairs bathroom in this price range - 160k). The garden is a reasonable size and not too overlooked. I think they have got a bargain compared to other houses in the area. My daughter and boyfriend have just started looking and hope they get such a good buy as the new build.

themanbearpig

Tiny rooms, tiny plots, poorly built, rubbish sound insulation, overpriced, the list goes on.

If you have a choice, avoid them like the plague. I don't quite understand why people buy them. If no one did, developers might have to resort to improving the quality of what they build, instead of trying to cut every corner for profits.
They are only built to last 25 years. The government should regulate the rubbish they produce.

Doozergirl

matty17r wrote: »

My son and girlfriend bought a new build 3 storey town house in Feb of this year. I have not seen anything better value around here (south east)
since. Their bedrooms are huge (even bigger than our in a detached house) and downstairs is a good size compared to other properties in a similar price band. There are 3 toilets (most houses have one in upstairs bathroom in this price range - 160k). The garden is a reasonable size and not too overlooked. I think they have got a bargain compared to other houses in the area. My daughter and boyfriend have just started looking and hope they get such a good buy as the new build.

If you can cope with the layout, three storey houses do provide decent value for money when you consider the square footage inside them. I'm not keen on the the ones with integral garages and some layouts are odd, but I like them, I've owned one with a perfect layout for us, which I loved, and rented another. For an extra £20,000 you'd get 50% more floor space than people across the road in a two storey. Makes sense if you want a big house on a budget.

franklee

I like some of the new builds in this area, depending on who built them. My favourites are the three story as it gives flexible space, I'd use at least of one the bedrooms as an office. My gripe is the density is too much. In favour is the lack of maintenance and they haven't been mucked about. I'd probably consider one in future if I could get one on a good plot but only if it was well along to being finished so as to avoid the long wait between exchange and completion. Here, I do wish they had more green space round them.

pingu2209

I have lived in 2 new build properties. They do tend to be a lot more expensive than '2nd hand' ones. Also, smaller gardens, lack of storage, really close together, and very overlooked.