Buying a Barratt home in St Neots

charlotteM_2

Hi,

My partner and I are looking to a buy a new build Barratt home in St Neots. I guess my first question is, are Barratt homes any good? I'm reading quite a few mixed reviews at the moment.

In addition I am new to the area and wondered if any one had any reviews. The house I am looking to buy is on the Love's farm development.

Thanks

Charlotte

Procrastinator333

Do you realise it is next to a high speed rail line?

charlotteM_2

Yes need it to be. Partner works in London. Besides you really can't hear it!

brit1234

Barratts is well known for being over priced, poor quality and very small rooms. Apart from that they are great.

Are you planning to use one of their dodgy schemes to buy?

charlotteM_2

yes we were looking at their deposit match scheme? not a good idea?

sharpee

We live in a Barrets home (Renting) and have to say the quality is poor and has put us off buying a New build. Its 5 years old now and well if we owned it we wouldn't be happy.

ItMightBeUsefulOneDay

charlotteM wrote: »

yes we were looking at their deposit match scheme? not a good idea?

No.

No.

and No.

Many new build show homes are larger and better spec'ed out than the actual house you receive so be very careful (kitchens several feet narrower and no internal doors to disguise the fact that bedroom 3 is actually a cupboard are all tricks I've seen).

Added to this is the builder's best money spinner - selling financial services (aka ripping you off for as much money as they can squeeze out of you). What they want to do is know the absolute maximum you can afford, add on a bit and sell you the house at that price.

Added to this is the instant depreciation you get when buying a new home (vs a "second hand" one) and the fact that you don't know if they're about to sell 50% of the remaining unsold stock on the estate to the DHSS.

So if you really love the house and its location, tread carefully. Don't give them ANY financial information about yourself - use an independant advisor. Make sure the price you offer is so low it makes them cry, then negotiate hard for quality extras that you would actually put in yourself. It's a buyers market, you hold nearly all the cards so make the most of each one.

Kyrae

My partner and I bought a Barratts home last year and we're very pleased with it. I agree that their rooms do tend to be on the small side though, so look carefully at the measurements on the house plans rather than judging it from the show home... as yup they do take all the doors off and use tiny furniture and glass furniture to make it look bigger!! We used the assisted sale option... where they arranged an estate agent for us and paid our estate agent fees to sell our old home, and that worked well for us though we did put the house price higher than their recommendation (guessing they try and make you price it low to sell it quicker). Was nice saving some money on not having to pay estate agent and HIP pack fees though!! Quality of our house seems to be fine, and the couple of small problems we had were fixed quickly by the builders without fuss. Make sure you haggle and try to get some freebies, like carpets etc, and don't forget to check how much previous houses on the estate have sold for to give you an idea of how much to offer

geoffky

i had one....never ever again.. very poor quality...heard noises from next door i should never have heard..often.

claire16c

I live in a Barratt house and love it. Its a mid terrace and we can only hear our neighbours if they were to blast really loud music, which thankfully they dont. but I guess that would be similar to any terrace. I never hear a peep out of them ,apart from once I think one neighbours was drilling into a wall.

Weve got nice big windows so have a really sunny kitchen. It was the only 2 bed house we looked at, where both bedrooms can easily fit a double bed, and room for furniture and both have built in wardrobes, so loads of storage space. Weve also got a huge cupboard under the stairs. It was the most spacious house wed looked at for the price.

MatyMoo

Does it have to be a new build? There are other more established estates in St Neots close to the Railway Station.