Old property vs. new build

cogrady

I am currently deciding between two potential homes to live long-term. Both are the same price and are in the same town I currently live in Scotland. 

Home 1: is a character three bedroom detached stone cottage (bungalow). Outside it has mature south/east/north facing gardens and large seating areas, detached garage/workshop, glasshouse, summer house, garden shed, driveway, and protected woodland behind (good for privacy). Inside are suspended hardwood floors (creaky, needs to be addressed), en-suite master, large second bedroom, third small bedroom, large kitchen dining area, large living room with gas stove and bay window, and family bathroom. Both bathrooms and kitchen fitted within the last 6-8 years and all appliances in the kitchen are less than a year old. Gas boiler is about 3 years old. Has roof insulation, but no floor insulation. Elderly lady living on her own currently owns the property and has no pets. Cottage is situated close to the town centre. Total floor area is 123.6 Sq.M. 

Home 2: is a new build detached five bed with internal double garage. Outside is a double driveway (1 car length) and to the rear is a small north facing garden overlooked by another property in the development on a higher elevation. Lawns are all turfed. Inside on the first level is a decent sized living room with bay window and plumping for gas or electric fireplace, downstairs toilet, large open plan kitchen, dining, second living area, utility room with access to the garage and rear garden. Upstairs are 3 decent sized rooms, Master bedroom with huge en-suite, small bedroom/baby room, large family bathroom. LBTT is paid and includes carpets/vinyl. Has a trick modern heating system too. Factoring approx. £450 per annum. Has a council tax band one higher than the cottage. This property is located on the outskirts of the town, but a new shopping centre and school is being built in the vicinity. Total floor area is not specified, but roughly 1.75 times the size of the cottage I would say. 

My current situation is that I have a house that is under offer, engaged and no kids or pets. Using the sale of my current home to purchase my new house. I'm hoping to have perhaps 1-2 kids in the future, and my girlfriend and I won't have pets as she is highly allergic. 

Which house would you choose and why? 

ProDave

Neither. Buy a decent sized plat and build your own.

Old house may look lovely and have a lovely garden but will cost a fortune to heat or cost a bigger fortune to bring it up to standard.

New developer house is on far to small plot with neighbours way too close and overlooking, and may not be built to the standard you want.

A self build on a decent plot will get you the house you want in the location you want.

eidand

that's not a lot of detail, I would look at room sizes, overall size, location, general layout, price, maintenance fees for the new build etc.
However, even based on this info, I would still choose the old one. You've got privacy, protected woodland is great, meaning it more than likely won't disappear. If the garden is big enough, you can more than likely extend to accommodate growing needs.
However, do your own research, make sure you're clear what fees the new build attracts, ask about the maintenance company, ask about road and green spaces and who's maintaining those. For me it's a no brainer.

I'd be interested to see the total area in sqm of each of those properties.

blue_max_3

Older one all day long. No interest in new build. Had one back in the mid 80's and couldn't get rid quick enough.
I'm sure there are exceptions to the rule, but I don't see the value myself.

cogrady

ProDave said:

Neither. Buy a decent sized plat and build your own.

Old house may look lovely and have a lovely garden but will cost a fortune to heat or cost a bigger fortune to bring it up to standard.

New developer house is on far to small plot with neighbours way too close and overlooking, and may not be built to the standard you want.

A self build on a decent plot will get you the house you want in the location you want.

If only that was an option for me. I have been looking at plots also, but they are hard to come by where I live.

sst1234

Personally I’d steer well clear of the older cottage. Will be cold as the arctic in the winter so high heating bills. These properties need a lot of maintenance become a drain on finances no matter how well looked after and the layout is usually lot functional with lots of small poky rooms rather than spaces suited to modern living. The new build doesn’t sound amazing but the stone cottage would be not be practical for me. 

cogrady

eidand said:

that's not a lot of detail, I would look at room sizes, overall size, location, general layout, price, maintenance fees for the new build etc.
However, even based on this info, I would still choose the old one. You've got privacy, protected woodland is great, meaning it more than likely won't disappear. If the garden is big enough, you can more than likely extend to accommodate growing needs.
However, do your own research, make sure you're clear what fees the new build attracts, ask about the maintenance company, ask about road and green spaces and who's maintaining those. For me it's a no brainer.

I'd be interested to see the total area in sqm of each of those properties.

Updated my OP to answer a few of your questions

Doozergirl

Older house. 

Size is perfectly adequate for a family, character wins and it's near town. 

These things promised for new build estates never seem to appear.  On a big estate nearest us, the land ear marked for local shops and a playground sat overgrown for several years and is now, of course, more houses.  There must be well over thousand and everyone has to drive to ANY shop.  

North facing new build size garden would be miserable.  🤐. Cheaply built, overly priced, fights over visitor parking and a car journey anywhere.  Nah.  

RelievedSheff

For us it would be the new build every time. The reduced running costs, easy maintenance, layouts designed for modern living are all worth far more too us then the orientation of the garden.

GixerKate

its a difficult one and you will got a lot of mixed opinions here, a lot of people feel strongly against new builds!

The older house sounds lovely and the outdoor sounds great but is likely to have higher bills, personally I hate being cold so would have to pay quite a lot in heating bills.  Any double-glazing?  That would be a deal breaker for me unless could get something knocked off the price.

The new build sounds practical and would be economic to run, is the playground planned and baked into the documentation for the site?  Likely to actually appear if so.  With the new build there is the 10 year warranty and everything is new so should be less to go wrong and can fix if needed.  The garden is not great though.

Depends on what you want really, if you have lots going on (eg busy jobs, social life, kids on the horizon) then the new build should be less stressful and easier to maintain but at the same time the stone cottage does sound nice.

freesha

Neither. Get a decent house, aged between the two, with the best features of the others