Secondhand houses

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Read the mysterious 'service charge' thread and had a Google - I found a thread on another forum where they were discussing council service charges on freehold properties, and there were some really strong opinions about houses which weren't new builds (not necessarily old or character, just not new) e.g.

"...some people don't want someone else's seconds. It's slightly demeaning isn't it? It's second only to renting. The place may never really feel as though it is yours."

and

"...don't like the thought of using secondhand soiled goods"

I've never thought of houses like this - as something which becomes 'used' or 'secondhand'. Not trying to stir up a 'how could you possibly live in a new/old house' barney - it's all about layout and position for me. Just wondered if I'm in the minority re. this 'secondhand' view.

How bizarre!

My house was built in 1900 so I guess it's a lot more than second hand! I don't think of other people using it though how weird. I mean I'm well aware that other people have lived here, slept in my bedroom etc but I think with it being so old and much different than it will have been when it was built, but I don't find it weird I find it interesting thinking about who might have lived here!

The electoral roll will tell you who lived in your house previously.

The rolls for some areas have been scanned by family history sites like Ancestry.

As a PP said, the actual censuses can't be released until they are 100 years old, so the most recently available is 1911 (also on Ancestry, etc). But on the outbreak of war in 1939 a detailed register of everyone in the country was created, which covers much of the same information as the census, and the England & Wales parts are available at www.findmypast.co.uk/1939register

All of these are subscription sites, but your local library or archive will probably have the original electoral rolls and may well have phone books and their precursor, street directories, which are also extremely useful

Some of the street directories are online (free) at Leicester University
specialcollections.le.ac.uk/cdm/landingpage/collection/p16445coll4

and at National Libraries of Scotland (also free)
digital.nls.uk/directories/

My house had only ever been lived in by one family before, it took about six months for it to feel "mine". It might have been second hand but we have replaced everything in it from internal doors to kitchens to bathrooms etc twice over and had 3 extensions.

First house was built in 1890, was well used! loved that hosue as much as this.

Ideally I would love a Georgian detached with period features and wouldn't care how second, third or 100th hand it was. All those little nooks and crannies and chips and scratches that have been shared and caused by the people that have lived there.

I am going on Rightmove now, have a real urge for a second hand house!

so all the stately homes should be knocked down & replaced with new builds? I'm sure the Queen feels demeaned by living in Sandringham, Buck Pal, Windsor etc etc.

There's normally enornous snob value in a "period" house isn't there? So perhaps its a kind of reverse snobbery...

Very old houses are often massively impractical and expensive to run (my parents spend five times as much heating their 300 year old house lived in by 2 people as we do heating our 50 year old house lived in by 5 people...) but new builds are not usually great value for money... Very old and very new houses usually have tiny rooms (unless stately homes or Grand Designs) so 1950s houses are often the most spacious... but not "fashionable" because they don't usually look either shiny and new or "period" and special...

Each to their own I guess - I'd never buy a really old house despite them being status symbols as they are such a lot of work and often money pits.

I don't think I would want to live in a new build. The noddy houses offered by the volume builders just aren't for me, and that is all I could afford. I was brought up in a huge Georgian flat in Edinburgh, with a flag stone hall, very gracious, high-ceilinged rooms with cornices and dado rails. I now live in a late Victorian tenement, again with high ceilings, a big kitchen (a tiny bathroom though) and fantastic views over the city skyline. Not bad for what is probably a fifth, or sixth or seventh-hand home.

For once I feel sorry for the queen. Poor old dear, second hand palaces, pre-worn crowns, thrones that have been previously sat in by corpulent old men.

Maybe they don't want to have to remove someone else's god awful feature wallpaper, they love a bit of that shite in a new build.

As always, both has pros and cons. we live in a 1950s built mid-terrace. Haven't ever heard the neighbours as we have double walls on both sides, and the kitchen is hughe which we loce. Friends live mid-terrace in a newbuilt, tiny kitchen which they like, can hear every word from the neighbours, but their bathroom is awsome (ours really needs an update - togetger with the complete heating system!).

Next thread:

"I could never, ever contemplate having a second hand car. Imagine all those bums that might have sat on those seats before you. Those unwashed hands on the door handles and steering wheel. Ugh, it would just feel so wrong. "

I used to live in a new build flat, now I'm in a 150 year old cottage so god knows how many people have lived here before me.

I can sort of see something in the idea of not wanting a second hand new build though. I lived in my new build flat for seven years, over that time it went from being shiny and well...new looking, to becoming a bit shabby and scruffy. The flat was part of a large new build estate of flats and houses, and the whole thing is looking grubby and run down now. Over time the managing agents changed, maintenance work went from jobs being done straight away to being left for weeks or months until the damage became serious and the lack of quality materials used to construct the place started to show. In contrast my new old home is very solid, no plaster board walls or laminate flooring to deteriorate.

I'd much, much rather live in a nice older house with period features than a soulless, identikit new-build on one of those weird estates where everyone has a manicured lawn and washes their car every Sunday.

My mum lives in a lovely countryside cottage that her mother lived for years after being given by her aunt, who had lived there for 30+ years! I'd love to live there when I'm older. History!

Ours is a new build. We've been here three years and I LOVE it. I don't think I'll buy a 'second hand' house again.

We love it because it's huge, shiny and new, it's detached and in a lovely development of fewer than 40 houses.

Our last house was 1960's and the previous owners had it from new. We had to rip out almost everything, they had bodged so much of it over the years. Redecorating over artex and layers and layers of wallpaper nearly ended me.

The whole moving process was so much smoother, the snagging was minimal and expertly done, and the house and garden was (obviously) a blank canvas.

If we ever move it will be to another new build.

HOWEVER that's just us, and it's a bit batshit to be snobbish or sneery about any style of house that's not yours. My friend lives in a beautiful Edwardian semi and it's gorgeous, it's just wouldn't suit us.

I used to know someone like this at work - she REFUSED to live in a house anyone had already lived in and made daddy but her new flats. Personally I massively prefer living in houses built before 1900. Strokes for folks I suppose. I guess it's a good thing we're not all the same!

edit: didn't mean "you people", I mistyped. Was a wonky sort of "people in general" you people, having literally just had an argument with a higher rate tax payer.

Still. Wow.

Build quality of many new homes is shocking compared to older houses though.

How many of today's new builds will still be around in 50, 100, 200 years time?

I get that there have always been hovels, houses that weren't built to last and so haven't lasted.

But I don't get why is "second only to renting" to buy a house that's proven it's ability to stand the test of time, rather than something that comes with a 10 year guarantee.

how weird! I loved going through the deeds of each of our houses when we bought them. Surely it makes a house interesting?

How far do you take the attitude - other people have walked on the ground you've walked on (a lot, if you live in the UK!), we share everything with the people who have been before us, and the people who are to come after us. That attitude about new builds smacks of people-hating, I think.

I'd like a new build, but the ones round here are pretty crap. Tiny, overlooked gardens because they're all jammed in on top of each other, rooms are odd shapes due to the developer trying to cram in a study, dining room, kitchen, ensuites etc into a house that really isn't big enough for it. Plus the rooms are tiny because the 4-5 bedroom houses would have been 3-4 bedrooms 20 years ago.

How very odd.....

My parents bought our family home in the 70's, but it was built in the 1800's, I still love all the quirks. We researched the history as soon as the internet came in. Yes there are pain points, the walls are so solid you have to be in the same room as the router, but you look at things and wonder.

Our first place was a new build, so sterile, no soul.

What an odd view. I don't think I've ever come across anyone who thinks like this.

I know some people have a preference for new builds, and that's fine and normal, but to think an older property is 'soiled' because someone has lived there before is downright odd! Do they never stay in hotels or stay in other accommodation on holiday?! Are those 'soiled' too?!

I think there is an element of 'new = better' prevalent in some cultures though. Certainly my DP's Indian family would only ever buy brand new houses or cars - but they don't judge people who don't!

I wouldn't swap my old house for a new build, I've seen them put them up, flimsy things.
You can get so many problems too.
Friends garden had building rubbish under their top soil. The plaster cracked, that's why they presumed they were told not to decorate for a year.
You make it your own after years of living there, it starts to become home the minute you move your family in.
Oh, and home is where the heart is

KickAssAngel I was just going to say that. Poor Queenie, so demeaned

I don't know what they'd make of my house, it's ex-council. Not only used, but used by [whispers] people who couldn't afford a house! I expect they'd keel over and die at the very idea.

I worked with someone with this attitude to houses that weren't new builds. She eventually paid more for a tiny newbuild flat on the fringes of a dodgy area than she would have for a 3 bed Edwardian terrace in the middle of an established community because she hated the idea of a house that someone else had live in. Bonkers.

I really, really dislike new builds. Not for me. I'd love everyone else to hate the idea of second hand houses so I could afford a gorgeous period property!

Poor old Queen, having to live in that fifth hand pile at the end of the Mall.