Buying a brand new house

Jonbvn

Guy_Montag wrote: »

Can I add my tuppence ha'penny worth?

Well I will, my folks bought a new build (& indeed I work in a brand new building) & I would say that a few hundred £ spent on a professional snagger would be well worth it. & make sure the snags are fixed before you take possession, if at all possible.

My folks waited months for things to be fixed, though almost all were eventually.

Endorse the above. Have a look at www.snagging.org for more details and some horror stories.

bylromarha

I am on my 2nd new house. The first rose significantly over and above the market in the area.

Can't speak for this house as only 1 house on the estate has sold since purchase. All the rest of us are staying put for now.

OP-if you like the house negotiate hard, like you would with any other purchase. Offer at the tail end of the month in case sales figures are trying to be boosted. If the larger gardened house was selling at the same price and is the same model, then yes, use it as a negotiating point. Also emphasize how quickly you can move and go from there.

All the best.

terrierlady

Have a look at www.snagging.org for more details and some horror stories.


just make sure the snagger looks at house specification , they make us smile..... no shelves in the airing cupboard..... no one fits them anymore their now called cylinder cupboards, unless you have brought a bespoke home new builds are mass produced and only as good as the last tradesmen THERe WILL BE SNAGS, MAKE NO MISTAKE, the trick is how quick the developer does the repair or snag, make the site manager your friend and dont go into the sales center and slag off the girls, they didnt build it but will try to make sure you get what you pay for and act as go between.

poppy10_2

aj9648 wrote: »

Also is there a tendencey for house prices for new builds to fluctuate more than other houses?

No, they don't fluctuate, they just go one way - down!:j

lexie55_2

Would not buy a Persimmon property. We have been dealing with their Customer Service (Peterborough) for the past two years. They are absolutely hopeless - on one occasion was told that they could not speak to me as on way to Dentist.... We gave up after that...

SquatNow

Offer 200k. If they accept it, withdraw the offer and offer £150k.

Persimon and getting butt****ed at the moment and are desperate for cash.

oh... and don't expect their warranty to be worth the paper it's printed on.... their share price is going through the floor... they could easily fold.

Also, get a map and check where the property is in relation to rivers/streams. The current trend is to build on floodplains ni the summer then sell before they flood next spring.

Jonbvn

SquatNow wrote: »

oh... and don't expect their warranty to be worth the paper it's printed on.... their share price is going through the floor... they could easily fold.

Some misinformation from our communist/anarchist friend.

1. Persimmon are the largest builder of residential property in the UK. If they go bust, then the last person out of the UK, please turn off the lights! More likely would be a buy out.
2. The warranty is backed by NHBC for 10 years (2 yrs for snags), regardless of whether Persimmon go bust or not. NHBC are somewhat of a toothless tiger, but in the case where a builder goes bust the warranty remains valid.

lelole

Hi

I hope you don't mind me jumping in on this thread!

We are looking at moving in the first part of next year and have been interested in a new build by George Wimpey.

The home we are looking at is one of the first to be built in the development - and althought the 2nd phase does not contain the same house type the sales lady told me there will be a price rise on the next phase.

Is this likely to happen? Are the first ones cheaper? And what are the bargaining possibilities if they are the first ones - presumably they are less desperate to sell them than the last few?

Also I was surprised to hear about prices tending to fall - I had been led to believe they tend to rise immediately?

Thanks

lelole

wymondham

Intersting thread on the old/new house scenario so thought I'd add my point as we have experience of both ends...

Our first house was a new Wilcon house (10 years ago). We liked it on the whole, but moved out for several reasons:
1. With it being a terrace type the soundproof between the houses was non-existent - we could hear next door hunting to put their key in the door and find the socket with a plug etc!!
2. All the wood in the house bowed. The window sill ended up with a 2" gap where we could see daylight through! the stairs bowed and split away from the wall completely..
3. Garage was way too small for anything other than the smallest car! - we had to use it for storage in the end as our Fiesta was too big!
4. The garden was ..... non existent and best not mentioned.

NHBC was a joke, as was the builder, once we had the keys we were on our own - we formed a residents committe who all had the same issues..

If i had to buy a new house I would always buy detached and try to buy the showhome as it's aged a bit and will show signs of these points before moving in.

We now live in a 1970's house with large rooms and thick walls - never hear the neighbour at all! The garden is bigger and we can fit a car in the garage! This seemed to be built in an era when the builder seemed to care over the product and craftmanship and land must have been cheaper as you get much more of it?

What we sold the one bedroomed Wilcon home for we got a three bedroomed semi for the same price - read into this what you will....

Dithering_Dad

wymondham wrote: »

If i had to buy a new house I would always buy detached and try to buy the showhome as it's aged a bit and will show signs of these points before moving in.....

We bought our house when it was three years old. All of the new-build niggly issues had been ironed out by the previous owners, plus they had dug out a lot of the half-bricks, roof tiles, discarded cement & tarmac, kerb stones and other crap the builders hide under 10cm of top soil and turf in the "garden".

I don't know of anyone who has ever moved into a new build and not had a series of plumbing, roof, window, kitchen fittings, central heating, garden or electrical problems. Perhaps now the housing boom is ending, the builders will have to concentrate on building a quality product in order to sell it, instead of throwing up a load of rubbish ASAP and then running off to the next building site. I somehow doubt it though.

Rant over