HELP DESP NEEDED - Do You Lose Money on New Builds...?

jimpix12

SuzieSue wrote: »

How is the NHBC an advantage?

I expect you're going to cite some examples of NHBC not covering what it says it will, but for the most part, it seems to be a perk of being new. Or at least <10 years old.

SuzieSue

spunko2010 wrote: »

I expect you're going to cite some examples of NHBC not covering what it says it will, but for the most part, it seems to be a perk of being new. Or at least <10 years old.

Well, Watchdog have been highlighting the failings in the NHBC "guarantee" for at least 15 years and have interviewed their MD several times and each time he just wriggles out of everything. The NHBC does not act in the interests of purchaser as it is paid for by the housebuilders which offer it.

Ionkontrol

For the most part, new builds are featureless, windowless, badly built eyesores that will never age as gracefully or be as desired as an older property or maintain their supposed value. Riverside developments anyone? Before my father retired from the building game, he worked on many, many new builds and said they were at best 'bodged lashups', and that was 15 years ago, god knows what the quality is like now.

ManchegoMan

I was looking at new builds for a while because I went to a friends house and felt the wow factor. But thats where the enjoyment ended. Near where I live they've got a set of new houses on a very small development (3 detached 4 beds plus 2 x 3 bed semis). The 4 beds are asking 380k and the 3 bed semis 315k. With the 3 bed semi there are no carpets yet and it has 1 reception room, plus a kitchen/diner on ground floor. The dining area is actually a conservatory, not brick built and doesnt come with a garage. Overall sq footage is much smaller than you can find of similar old houses of the same price bracket.

Problem I've got is I really like a house thats on the market which is only 6 years old, but the asking price is not reflecting any depreciation made over those primary years even though they paid a premium to buy it back then.

Garudi

I personally wouldnt touch a new build.

Disadvantages:

Shabbily built
Small rooms
Premium price
Straw walls!
Building site
Social housing neighbours

Advantages:
It's new
More bathrooms
Up to date electrics / conforms to h&s rules

[Deleted User]

I love our new eco build on a very small village development, which has already gone up in value. Dd loves her new build on a smart estate, having sold her last new build at a decent `profit`, they are now in the cheapest house in an area of very expensive houses. It does depend on location and type of estate or development. New builds are warm and cosy and don`t cost much to run. I would say that a typical new build on a typical estate would be likely to lose value though

louisa_84

i disagree, its a sweeping statement. Do your research and you will find some are built far better than others, one we visited the upstairs banister wobbled! Not great with 3 young children. Check out a few and compare the standards.

Garudi wrote: »

I personally wouldnt touch a new build.

Disadvantages:

Shabbily built - ours is better than the 1930's semi we were in before!
Small rooms - rooms are huge here
Premium price - I dont think ours is over priced when comparing to houses of a similar size in the local area at all
Straw walls! - again, better than our old place where we could hear next door f*rt!
Building site - not if you buy at the end of the development
Social housing neighbours - non here, a small amount of shared ownership type apartments [6 in the building] but no HA rented out houses

Advantages:
It's new
More bathrooms
Up to date electrics / conforms to h&s rules

lincroft1710

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

The Victorians knew how to build properly. Often new-builds are thrown together from the cheapest materials possible. Plus, just take a look at ceiling-height and room dimensions. Some new-builds I've seen are too small to get any normal, family-sized furniture in easily. And they're often open-plan downstairs for a reason.

I've seen some rather poorly built, low ceilinged, cramped Victorian houses. Most large towns/cities had many, many examples of these, the majority of which were demolished in the great wave of slum clearance in the 1960s/70s. Quite a few still remain though.

mcduff16

New builds= sardines in a can

Some new built houses are built with the garage and driveway at the rear of the house, however you`ll find that everyone will still park their cars at the front of the house causing obstructions all over the place.

Houses i`ve seen- the rooms are tiny compared to older houses in the same area and the back gardens are ridiculously small!

jimpix12

I agree that a lot of new builds are tiny, and overlooked which is a big no-no for me, but they aren't all bad.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/new-homes/property-30696409.html?premiumA=true
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/new-homes/property-19291419.html

I'm sure a lot of the posters here in non-new homes could easily live in these.