New vs Old

rosyw

Until I bought my current house I'd always bought older properties, the "newest" begin Victorian the oldest was 17th century. I much prefer older houses, rooms tend to be larger, decent gardens etc.
My current house was new when I bought it almost 8 years ago, but is non estate, a "one off" with lovely big rooms and a good garden, the only reason I bought new was the maintenance. It's a chalet, I can do all the outside jobs myself, windows, gutters etc., without having to go more than 3 steps up a ladder!
I would never buy a new build on an estate, the rooms are tiny, as are the gardens, and even though I'm on my own I'd need a 4 bed with separate dining room to get the space I want!
Buy a house you want to live in, whether it's new or older is my way of thinking, no point spending money on something just because it might make a bigger profit in a few years if you don't enjoy living in it in the meantime!

NaughtiusMaximus

airandwater wrote: »

It seems like you have a lovely house. We we were in the market for our first house, a 4 bed, we really struggled to find a decent older house. Even some refurbished ones only had one bathroom that was either upstairs or through the kitchen which was utterly unacceptable to us.

We were lucky enough to be in a position where we could rent (from close family so there were no fees or deposit, rent was competitive and we only needed to give a month's notice to leave) in between selling our old property and buying the current one. We were also VERY picky as this is our 'forever' home, we had been looking at Right Move daily for about 6 months before we were in a position to buy across a relatively large area of Birmingham and the Black Country, we must have looked at over 1000 house listings in that time and there were no more than 20-30 we'd have seriously considered putting an offer in for.

For anyone who's in the market for their forever home (and if you can afford it), I would strongly recommend the short term rent option to allow time to find the house that's right for you.

airandwater

rosyw wrote: »

I would never buy a new build on an estate, the rooms are tiny, as are the gardens, and even though I'm on my own I'd need a 4 bed with separate dining room to get the space I want!

Some older houses only have big rooms because the only bathroom in the house is downstairs through the kitchen. It's functionality vs. space and many older houses aren't designed for the way we live today.

I would certainly not trade my two upstairs bathrooms for more space. Some new builds with "small" rooms even have three upstairs bathrooms. One main bathroom and one ensuite which is exceptionally rare in older properties.

Secondly, big rooms can be very expensive to heat. I used to rent a big double floor period plat and keeping all the rooms nice and tosty during a cold winters day cost me £189 once.

It's very easy to find new builds with big rooms and large gardens. Just visit Berkeley, RedRow or Dandara's website and you'll find plenty of developments with large plots and even double garages.

Both my lounge and kitchen are greater than 6m in lenght and are very bright.

lookstraightahead wrote: »

I would look at area above anything else. I wouldn't live in a new house on a new estate as they tend to attract a narrow demographic

My new build estate has a lovely sense of community. I know and personally spoken to more than 12 neighbours - even those on different street. We even have a facebook group where people socialise, ask questions and borrow things from one another.

It's night and day different from when I lived in Zone 2 London. There, you can be dead in the home for weeks and none of the neighbours would wonder about your whereabouts.

NaughtiusMaximus wrote: »

For anyone who's in the market for their forever home (and if you can afford it), I would strongly recommend the short term rent option to allow time to find the house that's right for you.

I wholeheartedly agree. I know a number of people who have bought a three bed but barely a year later after their first child has arrived they want a four bed.

A friend of mine is planning to have a child with her partner in the next 12-24. I told them not to rush buying a house together but rent through the baby's first 6-12 months and then choose a house and neighbourhood that suit their livestyle.

gettingtheresometime

New builds ....aka shake & bake houses

lookstraightahead

Put me in the middle of old houses and you can't get beyond 4x4s, wellies and labradors. Put me in the middle of a new estate and I feel that I'm in a box of Lego without an up to date map to get out of it. Now put me in a tent by the sea and I'm blissfully happy.

Depends what you want out of life. A house can destruct to rubble in an instant.

NaughtiusMaximus

lookstraightahead wrote: »

Put me in the middle of old houses and you can't get beyond 4x4s, wellies and labradors. Put me in the middle of a new estate and I feel that I'm in a box of Lego without an up to date map to get out of it. Now put me in a tent by the sea and I'm blissfully happy.

Depends what you want out of life. A house can destruct to rubble in an instant.

Nothing wrong at all with being surrounded by labradors

lookstraightahead

NaughtiusMaximus wrote: »

Nothing wrong at all with being surrounded by labradors

Absolutely agree. I'm just sweepingly generalising.

airandwater

trailingspouse wrote: »

Before we bought the house we're currently in, we looked at 4 properties on the same day, all asking prices within £5,000 of each other. Three were relatively new and all three were turnkey properties - you could have just moved in, nothing needed doing. All three were tiny.

The 4th property was just over 100 years old, had been badly updated in the 1990s, and needed everything doing to it - but it was huge. We went for the 4th property. We've done the work, and recently had to have it valued - in 4 years it had increased from the £225,000 we paid for it to £350,000+. A 55% increase. And we certainly didn't spend £125,000 on the renovation work.
We didn't buy it as an investment - we bought it because it met our needs (large family need large house) and we knew we would be able to renovate it the way we wanted it. But it does give us a nice warm glow to know we've added value. I doubt if we could have added anything like that much to the more modern houses.

You can make profit or loss on any type of house regardless if age. One my my neighbours bought one of the few double garage homes in the development. Listed it after 18 month. It sold in just two weeks at £150,000 profit. He had bought it for £400,000.