modern or old Houses!!! advice needed.

ixwood

Old every time for me.

The main problem with new builds is greedy developers. Why pay more for smaller, cheaply constructed and characterless rabbit hutches, possibly built on sub prime land (flooding etc)?

And as well as that, they have the cheek to sell at a premium.

Regarding the maintanence and running costs, it varies by house. Once modernised (if not already), it shouldn't really be much differnet. Sash windows aside.

I have a old stone cottage, built in 1830 and the running and maintance costs are on a par, if not better than modern houses. They didn't have central heating back then, so knew how to build them to be efficient. It's south facing, with all but 2 windows on the south side. With 2` walls.

You really do appreciate the craft, skill and ingenuity that went into building it.

How many new modern cardboard houses will be standing in 170 odd years time?

ixwood

It's all marketing with new houses. "Town house" means terrace, but of course they wouldn't say that. They make it look sweet and "ideal home" like and people buy mostly for the image/"lifestyle".

Detached houses that are 6 inches apart are similar. Why bother? It'd just so snobby people can keep up with the jones. Yeah, they have a 3 bed detached, but what's use is 3 tiny bedrooms, a non existant garden and a garage that will only fit a 2cv? Then to make it worse, you find out it's made of cardboard.

And find a new build that's not overlooked. Lots.

ixwood

I'd also be worried about other future new builds. Especially with greedy gordon promising to try and sort out the housing problem he created by buidling 2 guzzillon new houses (he could just tell the BOE to stop printing money like it's going out of fashion, but that would be far too easy).

Spain anyone?

Poppy9

My OH and I have lived in:

a 200 year old house - rented but never again as plagued by damp and cold.
a 100 year old terrace. Chose over a 2 bed modern house as for the same money we had a 4 bed. After installing a damp course, central heating and rewiring it was very cheap to heat and maintain. No noise from neighbours. Downside was no driveway but we did have a rear garage accessed by a lane.
50 year old - current one 4 bed semi. We chose over a 4 bed brand new Redrow detached house. Reasons, more rooms and all much bigger, ceilings higher, walls brick built, gorgeous round bay windows to lounge and bedroom plus oak parquet flooring through out downstairs. I have a large lounge, a large dining room which has been extended to be a lounge/diner, a large kitchen diner. We have a downstairs loo and 3 double bedrooms and one single. We have a large front garden and a drive way with parking for 6 cars. Detached garage with a purpose built garden store to the rear. Large rear garden and we bought the extra plot behind for £500 from the council. We have had to rewire, install new windows, put in a new kitchen and bathroom. Downside - no ensuite and difficult to lose room off one bedroom to install and no utility room. The new house had an ok size lounge a dinning room that wouldn't take my table and 6 chairs, a small kitchen/diner only one true double bedroom 3 other small ones. The walls were paper thin. Also 2 years after they were built Redrow finally admitted there was faults with the pointing - it crumbled.

Recently visited my SIL in Northamptonshire who has a brand new house. We couldn't use the downstairs loo as it blocks and they are having a lot of hassle getting it fixed under guarantee. Also problems with skirting boards coming away from the wall and the bannisters are wobbly. Rooms tiny and lots of houses crammed into the estate.

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

I found it a lot harder to sell a newbuild ,where as a period property went so quickly.There are so many of the same, newbuilds on estate agents books.Also cost wise you seem to get so much more in a period property.

kingkano

I think perhaps some definition is needed between old and ancient lol. 1800s is vastly different to 1920s/1950s.

I personally would take all of them over newbuild though. My particular problem is plasterboard walls just dont absorb any sound at all! Not all of them have small rooms but it seems the norm now. ANd most have no garden

By the same token ancient houses do have some problems, sometimes small rooms or few rooms (kitchens etc not invented), downstairs bathrooms, no driveways (people didnt have vehicles) and sometimes small gardens with workers cottages etc. They do have charm and stuff though.

For me its in the middle 1920s and 1950s type houses. Still built to last with proper brick, tile and wood. Reasonable sized rooms and gardens, usually a decent sized driveway or garage. Not as much quirkyness or charm quite often but ah well.

Pinklepurr

I would buy only new build if it was a detached property.

My experience with a mid terrace new build built by Crest Homes (it was built around 1990) was terrible. Thin walls, single glazing, rotting window frames and no access to the back garden excpet through the house - not great when you want to lay a patio!

I went on to buy new build again but it was detached. It's perfect for our growing family as it is low maintainance again, reasonably cheap to run and when you have young children, you don't have the time to be doing DIY every weekend.

The down-side is that the rooms are small and lack character.

Next time, I would like an older property. We'll wait until the kids are a little older and when we would have more time, and money to keep it maintained.

beachbeth

We live in a 1930's semi and I we are about to move into a detached built in the 1980's. The things I hate about our present house are the uneven walls, steep stairs (that people have fallen down!) the fact that we can hear our neighbour's dog howling all the time and also can hear them running up and down their stairs. When we bought it the only thing that had been done to it was re-wiring. We had to damp proof it, install gas central heating, get rid of woodworm, replace floors and I have always felt that it is very uneconomical for heating.

In the winter when the heating is on, the dining room is warm, the lounge is a little cooler, the kitchen is chilly and the smallest bedroom is too hot! The wall between the kid's bedrooms is paper thin.

Some new builds are better built than others. Ive been to new houses where all the walls are extremely thin and you can see they have been very cheaply put together. However, we looked around some other houses that a local builder with a good reputation had built and all the internal walls were brick and you got a feeling of a house well built. The house we are buying is the same.

I will let you know in a few years whether an old house or newer house is the best but I can tell you that Im so looking forward to having a much newer house with perfectly plastered walls and cavity wall insulation!

heavenly_heaven

thanks all like to mention a few names, but everyone from A to Z has given me something to think about i welcome more input.
i am leaning towards the the old meaning something built around 1930, but i must admit the modern looks attractive but i am looking for something i could live in for years to come without worry. houses are flying off the market in my choice of Dartford.
once again thanks all!

CB1979_2

yep period all day long for me, my mates have 2 bed "apartments" from mid nineties and they are so boring, both internally & externally.

my 2 bed edwardian/victorian (can't remember which! lol) is so much bigger, higher ceilings and looks so much nicer from the outside, granted it doesn't have parking (like the mass carparks the new builds have) but it's got a nice big shared garden out the back.

this is a big four storey building though split up into 8 flats, so it's nice and imposing really, looks quite grand!