Buying a house - advice please!

tulipz

Hi All,
We've been planning to buy a home for quite sometime now. We've seen this lovely new home in Trinity Village (Bromley Common). Its a new 3 bed (all three are doubles) terraced house within a gated community (of proposed 500 homes in the next 5 yrs) ... Its priced at 355,000.... do you think its overpriced? What premium do new properties command ? This is our first home and we'll be buying it on mortgage...so any advice is welcome. Pour in your thoughts please!

This is the property http://www.wardhomes.co.uk/Find-A-Home/New-Developments/H5132-Trinity-Village/

Thank you,
Tulipz

hazyjo

No real details on that link - and I don't want to register with them. Out of interest, do you have room sizes handy? What developers class as double bedrooms aren't necessarily what buyers (now and in the future) would... What sort of living space is there?

Jx

womble12345

tulipz wrote: »

What premium do new properties command ?

This will vary from place to place so have a look for yourself, search the land registry for recent sales within 2 miles of similar sized properties and there will be your answer. Also try rightmove but bear in mind they are asking prices on there. I expect you can get a 3 bed terrace for less than that locally and it would be nearer Bromley South station which is far better for commuting, Bromley Common doesnt have as good transport links.
Personally I wouldnt buy a new build for the same reason I wouldnt buy a brand new car, I would rather someone else took the initial price drop. However some people like buying new cars so its horses for courses.
You do hear stories of developers overvaluing their new builds and the buyers struggling to get a mortgage after their mortgage valuation comes up as less than the price you have agreed to pay.

tulipz

Thank you for the reply. Looks like the type of property we are interested in is not listed there.

Total area 1211 sft - Terraced house

Small kitchen, good size living area + conservatory

First floor - 2 double bedrooms and a bathroom (both doubles are 13' x 11')

Second floor - Master bedroom (13' x 12') + dressing room+ bathroom.

1 allocated parking (not garage), 30 ft rear garden

£170 a year - estate fee to maintain communal areas.

Connectivity : less than 10 min by bus to either Bromley South or petts woods stations (both have trains taking into central London in 20-30 mins)

The one they launched now is phase 1. Handful of properties. Just 2 properties of the type we liked. One booked, one available. To be delivered in Nov this year. Phase 2 yet to be launched - proposed to complete in June 2012. The lady at the sales office says prices for the same property in Phase2 could be higher (hyping it up a bit??)

People, we really loved the property. But we dont want to buy an overpriced property. The price is an absolute stretch of our budget. This is our first home and we are tired of renting. I am being careful not to land in an overpriced deal becasue we are desperate to have our own nest. We are first time buyers and have no clue on property prices. I've been doing some research on rightmove, zoopla etc... but I am still as clueless....

Advice/opinions on this property or prices in general in Bromley Common area are highly appreciated.

Doozergirl

Three storey houses tend to provide better value for money than two storey houses. As new builds go, for me they'd be the better buy as you don't get many older three storey houses.

If you have a look through the area, look for properties that you think might be comparable (or indeed any second hand houses that you might have viewed or considered viewing) with floor plans that detail the square footage and then divide the asking price by the square footage.

The asking price per square foot of the house you describe is £293. Do the exercise - London is pretty much the only place you can do it because square footage seems to be more important to people there. I find it incredibly valuable as it levels the playing field. You can then work out which houses are actually more expensive for the space on offer. Whilst they will have different features, you can work out whether you feel that more expensive houses justify the cost - whether they have bigger gardens, need no work, garage, better location whatever. I did it for friends on the 14 houses they viewed. You can instantly tell when something is overpriced, even when you like it.

I'm sure there is negotiation to be done on the house. What's your position?

C_Mababejive

If your spending that sort of money,wouldnt you like a detached??

I wouldnt go for a new build. They are poor value for money and new build construction techniques are poor IMHO.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-15365862.html

Doozergirl

This house is SSTC. Asking price per square foot was £277 and you presume that they agreed a lower price. Bear in mind that it needs some love but it should be more expensive per square foot than a three storey in the same location. It's a semi, it has a big garden...
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-17450364.html

Over three levels, square footage isn't stated but I worked it out to 1331 square feet. Makes the asking price £270 per square foot. Not sold yet, though it doesn't appear to have been on the market long.
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-30084559.html?premiumA=true

Typical optimistic developer asking more than everyone else per square foot but it's slightly smaller and I'd expect that sort of price range to be more hotly contested. Asking prices per square foot tend to drop as houses get bigger and less people can afford them, iyswim. SSTC, asking price £306psf.
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-18633069.html?premiumA=true

£289 per square foot
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-17144538.html

Doozergirl

C_Mababejive wrote: »

If your spending that sort of money,wouldnt you like a detached??

I wouldnt go for a new build. They are poor value for money and new build construction techniques are poor IMHO.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-15365862.html

That's been on the market for over 14 months. Dropped it from £379k down to £348k and now they've put it up again?!. Wonder why people aren't going for it...

10 May 2011 13:27:54

• Price changed: Offers in Region of £348,000 £358,000

21 September 2010 15:38:07

• Price changed: Fixed Price £358,000 Offers in Region of £348,000

06 August 2010 17:03:19

• Price changed: Fixed Price £358,000 (Fixed Price)

26 July 2010 17:39:55

• Price changed: Offers in Region of £365,000 £358,000 (Fixed Price)

01 June 2010 12:56:39

• Price changed: Offers in Region of £375,000 £365,000

05 May 2010 09:12:01

• Price changed: Offers in Region of £379,995 £375,000

09 April 2010 11:11:04

• Price changed: Offers in Region of £379,995

08 April 2010 20:10:42

• Price found: £379,995
• Status found: Available
• Subtitle found: 3 bedroom detached house

poppysarah

tulipz wrote: »

People, we really loved the property

Why?

Sort that bit out first.

Doozergirl

So, my conclusion is that it's expensive, which is no surprise. I presume they are including the conservatory in that suare footage as well, which is cheeky as it won't be liveable all year and is therefore less valuable per square foot. Three storeys should be cheaper than two. A mid terrace house should be cheaper than a semi which in turn should be cheaper than a detached house if they are all the same size.


Showhomes are shiny, I think they're pretty. Even I get sucked in and want one, but the house you get isn't a show home. It has magnolia walls and you'll pay a lot extra (more than they actually cost) to have the sorts of fittings that a show home contains.

Are you sure you want a mid-terraced house with one parking space squidged out the front more than a semi detached house with a proper drive, garage, bigger garden and space and privacy from the neighbours? Are you being sucked in to the apparent lifestyle which won't really exist when you move in and people are fighting over visitor spaces because people have more than one car and there isn't actually space for visitors? There will be building going on on three sides of that block for some time yet. You won't have a proper road until the entire development is finished.

A north facing garden that small with a house that tall is going to be dull, dull, dull. Even the South facing gardens on the other side, I'd worry would be overshadowed in part by a three storey house opposite. Garden direction and proximity is important on a house with a small garden.

tulipz

Thanks for your inputs friends, you certianly got me thinking!

One question - can energy performance rating be improved for a property? if yes, can someone give me an idea of the costs involved please? I've seen a couple of reasonably priced properties in the area that have pathetic EPC ratings (E or even F).. should this be a factor in considering/rejecting a property?