Advise on first time buyers in 2023 - preferably NEW BUILDS

Ksw3

We just bought a 1960s house, boiler is 4 years old, as are the bathroom and kitchen. It was £80k cheaper than the new builds at the end of the road with much more parking and three times the garden space.

If you had to compromise what would you most be willing to put up with? Parking would likely be a constant annoyance but you could live with a functional if ugly bathroom until you got around to having it done. 

SiliconChip

Ehi said:

SiliconChip said:

There's a huge gap between houses that require renovation and new builds. Many houses require no more than cosmetic work (decorating, maybe carpets) when you move in, and many don't need anything doing depending on how picky you are. By only looking at new builds you are excluding many potential homes that are likely to be better value than new builds.

The most I've ever done on moving into a new home is to rip out filthy carpets and put down laminate flooring, my current house (builty in the 1930s) the only thing I did in the first year after moving in was to have blinds fitted in two rooms that had no curtains left behind by the sellers.

True, but the decent ones are quite expensive and not far off in price from a new build.

But the point is that the value of an older house is genuinely what it's worth whereas a new build is very likely to be worth less than the developer demands that you pay for it. If you want brand new everything then yes, new build will have that, and to get it in an older house will require significant additional cost and upheaval, but there are many older houses that are already in immaculate condition, or not far off. Saying that you need a new kitchen the moment you move in is either hyperbole or you're so OCD that you may as well bite the bullet with a new build (although of course you'll then have to deal with months or even years of snagging problems, most of which will have been resolved years ago in an older house).

MobileSaver

Ehi said:

if I get an older house, I would definitely have to spend half or 3/4 of the amount above, if not more ....

Change all the flooring/carpets, change the entire kitchen and bathrooms, paint the entire house (inside) and petty things like finishings, maybe change the boiler and radiators within the next 5+ years and expect other issues. Which should cost me a good sum.

If you want everything brand spanking new then yes you'll have to do all that but that will be the same with a new build in five years time. That's more to do with your lifestyle choice as most people would not do those things every five years in which case you may as well pay the 15% to 20% premium now for a new build.

The irony is that with the current race to the bottom on prices and lack of quality, you probably will have to replace your new-build boiler and radiators in five years time whereas my 100 year old house has a 40 year old boiler that's still going strong and the central heating radiators in some rooms are at least 60 years old and work perfectly...

silvercar

As others have said, there is a premium on new builds. My son bought in 2022, he chose a 2 year old flat over a new build. He saved about 10-15% of the price of equivalent new builds. His extra costs were fixing 2 loose handles, one squeeky tap and having the property deep cleaned. He gained curtain poles throughout, some door hooks and a couple of other accessories. The block had some issues as a new build when people were moving in that had all been dealt with before he bought. 

Ehi

MobileSaver said:

The irony is that with the current race to the bottom on prices and lack of quality, you probably will have to replace your new-build boiler and radiators in five years time whereas my 100 year old house has a 40 year old boiler that's still going strong and the central heating radiators in some rooms are at least 60 years old and work perfectly...

Impressive, what type of boiler do you have ?

@Grumpelstiltskin

Grumpelstiltskin said:

Well similar sized new builds in Newark are much more expensive.

New homes for sale at The Foresters at Middlebeck, Newark on Trent by Bellway

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 I wouldnt say so. 

The one you sent was £280. 
A similar one by Barrat Homes is 284, and they give you £10 deposit contribution and incentives up to £17 for 2 years as a mortgate contribution which takes it down to about 270 and a 10 year guarantee, which the one you sent doesnt.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/125486528#/?channel=RES_NEW

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION^977&amp;minBedrooms=3&amp;sortType=1&amp;propertyTypes=detached,semi-detached,terraced&amp;includeSSTC=false&amp;mustHave=garden,parking,newHome&amp;dontShow=&amp;furnishTypes=&amp;keywords=

p00hsticks said:

It sounds like your friend took on a really old home that was listed and/or in a conservation area.

As others have pointed out you seem to be looking at the situation as black or white  - new build on one hand or vast decaying mansion that needs completely gutting on the other - when in reality there are any number of shades of grey in between. People who buy older houses (or ones that were new when they bought them but have then lived in them for fifty years) generally tend to update and maintain them rather than just leave them untouched and preserved in aspic. So just because a house was built fifty years ago doesn;t necessarily mean it will need a lot of time and money spent on it redecorating and replacing stuff like kitchen, bathroom, boiler etc.

I know it was 11 years ago, he took the home and he now runs a B&B as he had to quit his job as a gardener and revamp the house full time, he has done a wonderful job. As I am in touch with him, but the sad thing is that its never finished

Ehi

Does anyone know what replaced the HELP TO BUY SCHEME ? 

I am told it has ended and there is a new one. I asked 2 builders locally to me, and they said they dont know. the only one available was for key workers, which I dont qualify

TripleH

We have a new build. It is about to be significantly 'refurbished' because the developer ballsed up the tiled flooring amongst other things and it is disintegrating.

My first flat was 10 years old when I moved in. I only removed the carpet in the bathroom, maybe extend your search to newer homes?

The Trans Penine express is even more incompetent than Liz Truss so I'd look to go a little further east than Hull (unless you can get direct trains to London).

_Penny_Dreadful

Ehi said:

Does anyone know what replaced the HELP TO BUY SCHEME ? 

I am told it has ended and there is a new one. I asked 2 builders locally to me, and they said they dont know. the only one available was for key workers, which I dont qualify

Nothing is replacing the HTB Equity Loan scheme.  The first builder you spoke with might be offering some kind of similar scheme themselves but that's off their own bat, there isn't another government scheme.  The only government scheme I know of, other than the ISA, is HTB Shared Ownership which appears to still be available. 

RelievedSheff

We bought a new build house three years ago and it is a fantastic house. We had a few snags but nothing detrimental to the property.

Despite what we were told it has not lost money, far from it in fact. Its probably worth a good £80k more than we paid for it in 2019.

It has been a brilliant house so far and we have no intention to move buy if we ever do then we would consider another new build. 

MobileSaver

Ehi said:

MobileSaver said:

The irony is that with the current race to the bottom on prices and lack of quality, you probably will have to replace your new-build boiler and radiators in five years time whereas my 100 year old house has a 40 year old boiler that's still going strong and the central heating radiators in some rooms are at least 60 years old and work perfectly...

Impressive, what type of boiler do you have ?

It's a floor-standing oil fuel Worcester (now Worcester Bosch).

In the ten years I've been here I've had to have it repaired twice at a cost of around £150 each time. Some years ago I had a heating engineer do an efficiency test on it and it wasn't that much different to the efficiency of a modern brand new boiler.