Dilemma - new vs old, expensive vs cheaper!

Merlin's_Beard

deeboy12 said:

I would always go for a period home as I simply don't like modern houses and love the character if older properties. (I viewed a 90s townhouse when looking for my latest property which was perfect on paper, but I just couldn't bring myself to buy it!)

The only thing I would say is that older houses need a lot more maintenance - and that means both time and budget! I do wonder, if you aren't fussed either way, whether you would start to resent the time and money that an older house would create for you?

Older = 60s and 70s built, definitely nothing fancy and period!

Noneforit999

We are currently in a new build and apart from paint, we have barely spent a penny on it other than what it cost to buy. 

We are now buying a 1960s house and have spent three full days getting the wallpaper off two bedrooms to discover the walls need skimming so £500 per room. 

The electrics are fairly old so consumer unit upgrade needed at least, kitchen and bathroom need replacing, hot water takes about 3 hours to get hot in the kitchen sink (I jest but it ages). The loft insulation looks like it barely works so that needs replacing. All in all we are likely to pump £30k+ into it in order to bring it up to a new build standard in terms of fixtures and fittings and decorating etc.

New builds are not perfect but older houses need money spending on them which is fine if you can get them cheaper but in many places, you are still paying top end 

[Deleted User]

Give me older any day of the week , warts and all .

They have a feeling about them, they seem to wrap themselves around you whereas new just are the same as everyone else in the road just with a different colour scheme ,  well unless it's grey, wood strips between the bed or some other fad that is on social media 

Merlin's_Beard

Noneforit999 said:

We are currently in a new build and apart from paint, we have barely spent a penny on it other than what it cost to buy. 

We are now buying a 1960s house and have spent three full days getting the wallpaper off two bedrooms to discover the walls need skimming so £500 per room. 

The electrics are fairly old so consumer unit upgrade needed at least, kitchen and bathroom need replacing, hot water takes about 3 hours to get hot in the kitchen sink (I jest but it ages). The loft insulation looks like it barely works so that needs replacing. All in all we are likely to pump £30k+ into it in order to bring it up to a new build standard in terms of fixtures and fittings and decorating etc.

New builds are not perfect but older houses need money spending on them which is fine if you can get them cheaper but in many places, you are still paying top end 

Can I ask, did your new build hold its price when you came to sell it? (appreciate that what house prices are doing now may not be reflective of actual normal times)

carrotstick_2

Old for me, but having said that we consider the plot (south facing garden, size of garden, parking spaces, size of house) generally find that new builds don't offer what we want with these so we have avoided. 

RelievedSheff

We have lived in houses from most periods over the years and the favourite by far is our current new build that we bought brand new 3 years ago.

It is such an easy house to live with, is cheap to run and just suits us better than any of the older houses previous.

If we ever move again,  which we don't plan to do, we would go new build again.

People claim that new builds are boring or bland. But that is part of the fun. Taking an out of the box house and turning it into your unique and individual home.

We were concerned about losing money when we bought this house but in the 3 years we have been here the value has gone up £70-80k. 

Noneforit999

Merlin's_Beard said:

Noneforit999 said:

We are currently in a new build and apart from paint, we have barely spent a penny on it other than what it cost to buy. 

We are now buying a 1960s house and have spent three full days getting the wallpaper off two bedrooms to discover the walls need skimming so £500 per room. 

The electrics are fairly old so consumer unit upgrade needed at least, kitchen and bathroom need replacing, hot water takes about 3 hours to get hot in the kitchen sink (I jest but it ages). The loft insulation looks like it barely works so that needs replacing. All in all we are likely to pump £30k+ into it in order to bring it up to a new build standard in terms of fixtures and fittings and decorating etc.

New builds are not perfect but older houses need money spending on them which is fine if you can get them cheaper but in many places, you are still paying top end 

Can I ask, did your new build hold its price when you came to sell it? (appreciate that what house prices are doing now may not be reflective of actual normal times)

Well it has increased by £150k in six and a half years. Just sold for £30k over asking. Seventeen viewings booked in 48 hours of listing.

Buying an actual new new build is off putting for anybody other than a FTB due to usually needing to live elsewhere while it’s being build as your buyer is unlikely to want to wait 9 months but a six year old house like ours just needs painting to your taste and the flooring replaced if you wanted to do it appeals to many

jonnydeppiwish!

Older all the time for me. Usually bigger properties, bigger plots and a lot less limitations on what you can do to them with fewer covenants. Also, probably no services charges for roads etc

krusty101

We’re 1 year in a new build. It was never my preferred type of house, but it was what persuaded my partner to move to a new town (he likes modern, white walls, etc). And I actually love it. I love the kitchen/ diner at the back - it works for our lifestyle and if we’d moved to an older house (mostly) we’d have to have had work done to it to get it to this point. It’s super warm (too warm?) and just easy. My advice, don’t under estimate that. 

tealady

Make two lists
Must have and nice to have
That's how I (as a non driver) ended up with a small South facing house with a drive rather than a larger North facing house with no parking.
Took me years to save for the kitchen and bathroom I wanted.
My house is cheaper to run than my North facing neighbours opposite AND my garden isn't too hot in summer.
You pays your money............