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.

I was brought up in a very, very old and very large detached house which had interesting nooks and crannies and was good for hide and seek but made scary noises in the night and costs my parents a small mortgage to keep running and still has plants growing through the roof... Since then I have lived in all sorts of homes of my own including big 1950s ex local authority city flat, tiny Victorian terrace and sparkly new build semi. Now I am living in a big but slightly shabby and cluttered with kids stuff 1960s semi.

My dream for after the kids move out is to have one of those little shoebox kit weehouses with almost no possessions, on its own in a field within easy walking distance of a lovely little town... I like the idea of it being still and quiet and very, very low maintenance... I cba with walls that are cold to the touch and rising damp and ancient woodworm and 70 year old wiring and mice in the skirting boards and needing a new roof and not being allowed double glazing becuase of being listed and tiny, narrow, steep stair cases and untraceable drafts...

Nothing to do with second hand really, but about having nothing you have to do...

We only the second family to live in our 1800s house. It was a farm labourer's cottage, he and his wife had 13 children here with no bathroom and cooking on an open fire in the kitchen

The eldest son went on to live in the house, and it passed on to his daughter. She then had a son, again born here and it was from him that we bought the house when she went into a home.

It is too small for us really, but it feels like home. Others who come in for the first time comment on what a special feel it has. We will be the first family here not to give birth to a child in one of the rooms (assuming #3 plays ball ).

I love History. I love that the son carved his name into one of the redbricks out the back, and that the magnolia was a 70yh birthday present to his mother, etc etc.

Old houses aren't for everyone, but I've always lived in one. Unless complainers intend on 'disposable houses' they had better get used to the idea of 'used' ones.

And we're embarking on moving, this year. Still doing our research while we sort out our current house. We've changed our mind about the area we want to look at, in the process of doing all this. We had a few in mind, but the ones we preferred meant that only newbuilds would meet our needs. There's been massive compromises to make in every one that we've seen, within budget, though and most of the 4 bed houses have less living space than our 2 up 2 down terrace. We looked at another area we had in mind and realised that it's full of those 1960s semis with big windows and huge plots and loads of potential for extension. Some have been extended already and something as simple as a new bedroom or two above the garage and a garden room and/or utility (often bigger than our current kitchen, so actually useful!) added to the back pushes it up to a 1500 square foot house with all the necessary space for autistic teens in need of peace and privacy, plus visiting parents, plus regular buses from the end of the road for said teens as they reach adulthood.

I love some new builds, I love some old houses.

The idea of 'second hand' as far as a house go is very peculiar!

What twats some people are!

Our first property was actually a new build flat, but I have much preferred the two "used" or second hand houses we have lived in for the last twenty years.

Surely it is the trade in second hand (perhaps pre-owned is a better word?) properties that mostly drives the housing market.

I would never buy a new house. horses for courses...

Good grief, people do have strange ideas don't they?

Quite honestly, I could live in a new build or an older house. We moved from a 1980's build to a small terraced cottage which was built in 1898. I loved our old house and love this one, for different reasons. I love the sense of history that this one has got, and intend to do some research to see if I can find out who has lived here before us.

Not overly long ago we visited friends of friends who have what I suppose would be termed an "executive home" on quite an exclusive estate not far from us. Previously owned, although still relatively new and had been remodelled to previous owner's spec I believe. Now that was soulless. Cavernous downstairs rooms with acres of wasted space and yet upstairs they'd seemed to cram in too many bedrooms and bathrooms. I would have been itching to take out a few walls and a loo or two....

Wow, that's an odd attitude. Could you imagine how even more fucked up the housing situation in this country would be if more people took that attitude?!!!

People are horrified I'm not concerned that the old owner died in our house, it's not as if the family left the body when we bought it ffs

That's utterly nutterly. I have a Georgian fireplace with a little stand to warm the kettle on in the iron grate.

It's a thing of great beauty. Imagine missing that for 'perfect' boxes.

I live in an old Victorian two up, two down terrace, so the place has had a lot of people own the place and live here before me!

The only one of those owners I care about is the one who lived here before me, and that's only because I know them as friends of friends so if/when I need to fix stuff in the house or need information about when something was last done, I can get hold of them to ask.

I love my house far more than the new builds we looked around because while they had more space, they were all "formulaic" - every house was the same boxy magnolia rooms, paper thin walls etc - whereas my house is full of nooks and crannies, a random step up from the living room to the kitchen, which you access by walking under the stairs, weirdly shaped rooms to fit round old fireplaces, stained glass windows etc.

Very strange. I know some people don't like second hand stuff in general (I'm definitely not one of them) but I never thought this would extend to houses. There are pros and cons to old and new houses but that is just really bizarre.

There's a difference with "second hand" though isn't there? Are we talking about living with other peoples' furnishings etc?

I agree it's not nice living with someone else's carpets, curtains, wallpaper, etc., but all that can be changed and then your house is as "good as new". If you want you can go further and change fixtures and fittings, such as light fittings, but right up to kitchens and bathrooms.

I wouldn't want to live somewhere for long and not do much to it, but with my current "second hand" house, there's very little visible left of previous owners (if anything). Basically just the bricks & mortar walls, internal wiring and pipework. Everything you can actually see is new including most doors and windows. So to me, that's a new house.

It never even crosses my mind about previous owners. Except of course the do-it-yourself numpty who did loads of bodged jobs to the electrics and pipework that we have to live with. If we'd known, we'd have had it fully rewired and re-plumbed but it's too late now.

I would rather boil my head in a vat of boiling hot fat than buy a new-build.

Maybe that's what you should say to anyone who slags off previously owned properties OP.

People do think like that, that is why people love to overpay for shite small new build boxes!

Our last home was a few hundred years old, the only thing that bothered me was the bills!

My house is over 100 years old, the rooms are huge with lovely high ceilings. New builds don't usually offer this amount of space.
Should we just knock down buildings after the first family in it wants to move?
Odd that these people think it's demeaning to live in a second-hand house when, if you are into that sort of thing, the Queen and the most titled families in the country live in old inherited houses / castles with horror of horror second hand priceless furniture / paintings / ceramics etc. I find it amusing that people who have paid well over the odds for shoe box sized new builds would look down on the Queen.

Jesus if we all lived in new builds it would cost the country a fortune

What a weird perspective on house buying???

but technically, unless the occupants designed and built the house, it is second hand. The builders and property developers have been in and through it until it was handed over and sold to an estate agent. Sure no one as far as they know has lived in it, but definitely in Canada, some of the builders stay over night in the property to ward off squatters etc on the estates.

But really, who cares? there's a war going on

How privileged would you have to be to hold such a view? God, the bulk of people in the world would KILL for a secondhand home, of any kind.

I've never heard that simplist view before OP. Personally the older the house the better for me. I have no desire to live in a brand new house at all.

Unfortunately it's a zombie thread on the other forum, else I'd have to go over there, register and reiterate PPs re. the poor Queen!

I've lived in new and 'secondhand' houses - in an ideal world, I'd probably snap up some enormous barn and convert it into my dream new/old/secondhand/previously-soiled-by-cows home.

I would have scoffed at this before buying a very old house. I now totally get it as I am now having to live with the dubious maintenance decisions of the previous tenants and really wishing I wasn't!

I have some experience of this, I think it may be connected to budget.

Before I had any experience of home ownership, I mostly preferred characterful old houses. The sort that are several rungs up the property ladder and have actual features connected with their age, be it architecture, mature garden, fires, etc.

Starting at the bottom of the property ladder, I would get a new build every time - because a cheaper new build will be fully newly decorated in a neutral way throughout, have a new kitchen and carpets, a guarantee on the wiring and plumbing and roof.
In contrast a cheaper older house is probably not old enough to be particularly exciting, but just about old enough to be starting to get a bit shabby and have three or four sets of amateur DIY/repaints that left a big patch behind the wardrobe undone/boilers that haven't been serviced in ten years/etc to live with.