Why do people buy new builds??

Lord_Baltimore

There are pluses and minuses to new builds and older properties. Having lived in both and enjoyed the merits of each, I'd say you pays your money and takes your choice.

It's less about the house than it is your time of life: an FTB may choose a cheap new build by necessity and a mover may choose an older place that has character or charm to 'stamp' their own personality on it. Older people might prefer the problem-free up-to-date appeal of a new build or they might prefer a quaint old bungalow with a rustic garden.

We all make our choices on what best suits us; new or old,it isn't a competition

moneyistooshorttomention

ging84 wrote: »

Why do people write such rubbish about new builds, very little of this is true, but absolutely none of it has anything to do with a building being a new build, it is simply one person's subjective perception of modern homes.

1. Tiny plot sizes
land is at a massive premium, so the average plot size now in most areas will be smaller, it doesn't mean you can't get a decent size property, or that all properties in the past were decent sizes.

6. Upvc with 20 yr lifetime
this sounds like a good thing, 20+year maintenance free why is this a negative thing? Why would so many people with older properties have replaced their old windows and doors with modern upvc ones if it's such a terrible thing?
.

One thing is subjective perception here I would say. In that maybe a younger agegroup would be less likely to think at a tiny plot size and think "That's ridiculously small...fancy expecting people to put up with that". Those of us who are older (well into middle-age in my case) will remember as a norm many "ordinary person in the street" people they knew having houses on decent plots and we simply won't be convinced that we should "budge up and put up" with smaller plot sizes. I've certainly made sure, first and foremost, that the house I recently swopped to has a "normal" plot size in my generations terms (ie would be considered generous these days by some...but I know it isn't...its just "normal").

Re the upvc windows...I swopped all the windows in my last house to upvc and honestly thought "That's that....windows dealt with now for ever more and I'll never have to touch them again except to clean them". (cue naïve smilie). Well...in my defence yer honour...we were all told that these windows are "maintenance free" and many of us took them exactly at their word and hence thought they would literally last a lifetime. Part of why we swopped to upvc was precisely in order to never have to even think about the windows ever again. BY the time I left the house some years later I had been annoyed to find that two of them needed replacing again by the look of it.

seven-day-weekend

We have had two very old houses (An 1857 Victorian Terrace here in the UK and a traditional village house in Spain which was about 100 years old). Both of these were full of character and quirky and people remark on this when they enter. We still live in the terraced house.

Our son has a 1970s purpose-built flat which is on a nice development and has large rooms, large windows and French windows onto a Juliet balcony.

Without exception, every one of these older properties requires maintenance. Our terraced house has been rewired and replumbed, it has had about three new kitchens and bathrooms since we bought it in 1976 (but that is due to the length of time we have owned it, any house that you own for nearly forty years will have this). Some of the windows have also been replaced twice (I too thought the UPVC ones were for life

Our son's flat has needed a rewire and the heating updated, and whilst the large windows are nice, they have all had to be replaced by double-glazed ones otherwise the place would be freezing. He has also had some (free) cavity wall insulation which has made a huge difference. Due to the construction of the property, it is very prone to mould from condensation and he is facing an everlasting battle against it.

(The Spanish house was endless maintenance, it had 122 exposed chestnut beams that needed treating every year against carpenter bees and wooden doors and windows that needed treating every year against the sun. Also a roof terrace that leaked when it rained, straight into the electricity box. However none of those need concern us here ).

Now a newbuild would not have any of these problems. It would have an up-to-date heating system and be insulated, would not need a new kitchen or bathroom, it would not go mouldy. BUT it would on the whole be smaller and not so characterful, nor have the nice big windows of my son's flat (nor in fact a garage which he also has). Nor would it have the period features and quirkyness of our house.

So it's horses for courses really. I can see attractions in both.

horngkai

People need to open their eyes to new build rather than just having a set mindset against it. As mentioned, there are massive loads of differences in the interior design and one should of course buy a design that suits them.

Saying newbuild have a small bedroom is pretty much just generalisation. I just moved into a newbuild and my master bedroom is about 400 square feet in itself. the other 2 bedroom is a good 3m x 4m size as well, more than enough to put a double bed, wardrobe, and desk/chair.


Newbuild warranty covers emergency repair as well, hence no need for emergency home insurance for as long as the warranty last. With solar panel already built-in, my electricity is essentially free after feed-in tariff being taken into consideration. It also need less gas to heat the property up. In fact, its using less gas to heat than my previous 2-bedroom flat (which was a newbuild as well and hence, the insulation should be pretty good to start with).


This newbuild vs oldbuild is just a stupid debate. One should buy a house to suit their own taste. If you don't like newbuild, stay away from it. There is no need to come onto a forum and say I don't understand why people buy newbuild bla bla bla. That is just plain ignorance. Rant over....

moneyistooshorttomention

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought upvc windows were "for life". I guess we weren't told in so many words that they were...but that message was conveyed to us..and we believed it:o

Re replacing kitchens and bathrooms...I guess, with any age house, that it depends on the quality they are and they can be poor quality in any age house.

I had a new kitchen fitted in my last house when I bought it. No promises of "forever" there...but, as far as I was concerned, that's how long a kitchen lasts. It didn't occur to me that some people change kitchens because of changing fashions and it certainly didn't occur to me that a poor-quality kitchen could/would wear out. Until I had one....I bought an MFI one (with real wood doors, instead of veneer or the like). I did think veneer would start pulling off at some point...hence the real wood doors. Anyways...by the time I came to sell the house the kitchen was "shot to pieces" and needed replacement fast and the house had to be priced accordingly:(.

This time round, when I replace the kitchen here, I am going to buy Quality and expect it to last me (well) a lifetime. Guess that means I'm talking around £10,000 mark for the units? It certainly won't be around £3,000 mark.

Prothet_of_Doom

My current house was built by whimpey* in 1966. The plot size would make an average 2013 new build look positively farm like. It's Tiny. And the Front garden is bigger than the back. And the stupid stupid shared driveways. With Garage in the back garden, and a grumpy neighbour, who whines if you leave a car on the drive for 10 mins (they have no car...but hey)

*They made better Burgers than Houses I think.

fivetide

Currently living in a 1950's semi I can say that 'character' isn't really something the last 60 years have provided. It is as chracterful as the owner wants to make it. All 'old' properties were new build at one point and people probably moaned about the same things.


The only random thing I find with new build is the obbsession of filling the house with toilets. Saw a two bed place with a downstairs loo, an upstairs 'shared' lavvy and an en-suite. That's basically a toilet each. Where is the need?

Dukesy

horngkai wrote: »

This newbuild vs oldbuild is just a stupid debate. One should buy a house to suit their own taste. If you don't like newbuild, stay away from it. There is no need to come onto a forum and say I don't understand why people buy newbuild bla bla bla. That is just plain ignorance. Rant over....

Agreed. I personally couldn't live in a newbuild - I just can't stand them. I'd much rather live in my little stone cottage, despite that meaning we've had to spend every spare minute for the last two years gutting and renovating it whilst living in it with a baby! It just has so much character and history, and I love that. However, whilst I love my little cottage, I know that a fair few of our friends don't like it at all. Do I care? No! It's my home and it suits me, just as their newbuilds are their homes and suit them.

somethingcorporate

makeyourdaddyproud wrote: »

The cheapest Victorian house in its day will always be better than the cheapest newbuild today, with respect to earnings.

With newbuilds...

1. Tiny plot sizes
2. Thin walls
3. Chipboard everywhere, except
4. Where there's plasterboard
5. Thin roofing timbers
6. Upvc with 20 yr lifetime
7. Claustrophobic Low ceilings
8. No character.
9. Few round features - nearly everything is square. Builders can't understand PI
10. Selling on. Older and wiser buyers wont be interested, only young ftbs
11. Cheap bricks that are likely to spall over time
12. And then some

All in return for...

1. Warmer rooms

What a load of tosh.
IF this is true you best tell our developer to come back and:

1. Take away a large part of our plot
2. Put some thin walls in
3. put chipboard everywhere
4. put plasterboard everywhere
5. Take away our wood windows
7. take out our high ceilings
8. take out all the character and features
9. Take out all the round stuff.
10. Take out the expensive bricks, roof tiles, cast iron guttering and down pipes.

And then some of what you are saying about ALL new builds might be true.

Stop trying to justify your choice to live in an old house by tarring every single new build with your blinkered view. I've lived in both over the last few years and our £300k new build is ten times the house our similar priced Victorian terrace was and almost twice the size with decent sized gardens. Then again, we did some research, looked at options and picked a good developer.

System

I could never live in a new build. I would want a property with period features and character.

On the other hand, we moved into our current home 2.5 years ago. While it had new windows, roof, electrics, plumbing, CH etc recently, we did have to have the fencing done and then had the garden redone and will now have to spend a few thousand on flooring and a few adjustments and then the drive late next year. We moved just before our son was born and now have a 4 month old daughter too so my wife has been on maternity or part time. As a result, it always seems that while we have our 'reserves' savings put aside, that every time we save some we spend it. I know we will get it all back when we sell but we also have other friends that bought new builds haven't really spent a penny on them. While they did pay a premium up front, they do kind of see a benefit to that premium too.

Plus around here in Berks (the South Bucks/Slough borders) you really don't get much nice in terms of new build in FTB or mid market territory.