modern or old Houses!!! advice needed.

heavenly_heaven

i have had great info from this site so i am asking for info regards my situation.

i and my partner are searching all around for a house to start a family. the problem is my partner prefers modern houses while i prefer the old built houses aithough i am not into features as such.
so what i like to know is what are the pros and cons of buying either.
thanks for your response!(in advance)

Sapphire

Older properties (1930s and before) tend to be better built than new-builds, which often employ cheap materials and techniques. The soundproofing is very bad in many new-build flats. New-builds probably won't stand the text of time. Older properties have much more character than new-builds, which tend to look like hastily erected boxes. In London many new-builds are being built on flood plains.

For myself, I prefer period properties any day.

21castlehill

New builds are generally better insulated with lower running costs. You will have your 10 year NHBC guarantee to give you some peace of mind in case of building defects caused by shoddy workmanship. With the old houses you are on your own & will have much higher maintenance costs, you often find that the plumbing needs redone or central heating installed, wiring is likely to be past it's useful life. So you think I'm a new build fan, not at all I left a new build to move to a 1900 4 bed detached house & love it to death. You just need to be aware of what you are taking on. 8 years in it's almost how we want it, only the hall to replaster, some repairs in my sons bedroom, replace the broken gutter, the leak above the the bedroom window, crack in the coving, you get the idea. It's a never ending cycle

lynzpower

It really does depend what you mean. New build can mean a raft of things

It can be your 80s style barratt house on a new estate - of course detached or semi, or even terrace. Even brand new ones. Youll have a 10yr guarantee if its brand new. The good thing for me about these sort of homes, they are built with the modern needs inside- there might be space for a dryer and a dishwasher for example, there might be exterir garden taps. They may well have downstairs loo and ensuites. rooms tend to be squarer, and fit furnituire better some new builds have space for compurter area built in etc.

New build flats in city centre locations are not holding thier value in many locations, but if you are looking for somewhere to start a family then I dont think this is the sort of thing you are considering. on the plus of these tho, thy can be in central locations, and have lifts. which smaller older "mansion blok flats" dont have.

Older houses, well again what do you mean. You could be looking at a traditional 2 bed terrace. I like these sort of coronation st 2 up 2 down, but you may have neighbour noise if you are terraced, its quite common to hear next door going up & down stairs. SOmetimes if they are old they have the bathroom downstairs - as they were built without bathrooms ( even some larger victorian terrraces in london have these) theese tend to have small yards not gardens if they have outside space at all.

Period conversions ( ie a big old house converted into flats) canbe very noisy. Usually share gardens with other residents as a rule. Cos they are conversions rooms can be funny shapes or sizes.

Period conversions and period houses may have those "original features" that kirsty & phil go on about, round here theres loads, be it sash windows, fireplaces, victorian tiling on the front path and even inside in some cases.
All very nice, but taske time and money to maintain. I used to be an estate agent, and I couldnt for the life of me fathom why people would be willing to coo over a fireplace and spend 50-100k more for it!

My personal favourite sort of property is the ex-local /ex council house or maisionette.as they were built for large families they tend to have generous kitchens, gardens, and shed loads of storage space. Again sqaure rooms. well built, built to last. not a great dela of character, but you tend to get more square footage for your money. In some areas you might need to be careful of the nighbours, and there could be issues about major works ( the council charges for major overhauls in the estate - new windows etc) and this can run to more than20k in some cases. However, if you find one witohut major works or where they have just been done, this negates for about 8 years if i remember correctly.

noyk

i and my partner are searching all around for a house to start a family

Good luck with breeding houses, (though i would think you'd need 2 rather than one to do it successfully) i also hear it's going to be easier soon with lighter planning regulations!

homer_j_3

i tend to find that new builds are bad when it comes to resale time. Older properties seem to have more appeal.

I have lived in both and pros of newbuilds are that they are well designed in a sense to give you all mod cons but can be very poorly designed as rooms are smaller, roof heights lower, rooms built into roof spaces which gives no wardrobe space without getting built in ones.

Older properties are not perfect but will often be better space wise - bigger bedrooms etc for growing families. Yet you may find more hidden problems.

Gorgeous_George

Some newbuilds are built well, many are not.

I've never bought a newbuild but I have looked. They have always had smaller rooms than similar priced older properties.

The other thing to remember is that all the neighbours will be new to the area. I quite like living next door to people who have lived in the same house for 20 - 30 years. I guess it's like having a conversation with an old soldier rather than a soldier.



GG

Norma_Desmond

Our house is 200 years old and I admit it's not very energy saving etc. with it's draughty sash windows BUT it's actually not bad at all for maintenance costs.
The walls are 2.5 foot thick stone, the roof is Welsh slate and the rooms are huge (15' x 15' bathroom anyone?!). It would take a nuclear blast to shift it.
Also you just couldn't reproduce its features and quirks.
A relative of mine decorates new-builds and he says he wouldn't touch one with a barge pole; he leant against an interior wall once and his elbow went through it.
'Old' for me every time!

PabloNeruda

A properly built old house with 30% bigger rooms for the same price and proper walls, or a crappy new-build rabbit hutch with plasterboard partitions and no character? No contest.

stolt

our next house is a only 3.5 years old, whereas the one we have just sold is probably 40 years old, must admit that even though we haven't moved into the new house i'm looking forward to just decorating rather than all the stuff we had to do to the house we are currently in, windows needs replacing, leaks in roofs, pointing in chimmey stack shot to bits, the list is endless. plus as someone pointed out the new houses are catering for things such as en-suites, dishwashers.

Although saying that the house were buying has been built by countryside and they ensure that all there houses have wooden windows, something to do with the environment, i'm really not looking forward to sanding down and painting around 21 windows every 3 years.

i think new builds for me, although i can fully understand why people are going for old houses, you do get a lot more space and then you have some real character aswell.

roosterbean

One of the things that puts me off new builds is the postage stamp space outside that is the garden, but then I've got two boys and two dogs to consider!!