AIBU to ask would you buy a new build home?

[velveteenwabbit]

DH and I are looking to buy our first home at the moment we are in a rented flat. We have a daughter and need more space. I have always said I don't like new builds for he following reasons:

Don't like the look from the outside
Think they could be difficult to sell as lots the same
I love character in a home
Low ceilings
A bit boxy

However - over the past couple of days I've been searching Rightmove and have been tempted by a development of Taylor Wimpet homes in the area we are looking in. It just looks so easy. The homes are more affordable (about 50k cheaper than something not a new build for the equivalent) and I like the idea of having a high spec kitchen/ bathroom and being able to move straight into something immaculate.

Am I just being lazy though? Has anyone bought one of these homes and what do you think of it?

Our first home was a new build Taylor Wimpey home. It was great moving in and having everything clean and brand new and being able to pick out kitchen and bathroom suites. They are obviously just boxes with no character though, so if you don't like that then buy! Also be prepared that everything is extra. What you see in a showhome is the highest spec and can easily add £20k to the basic price of the house if you decide you want it all. For that reason we compromised and maybe only tiled half a wall in the bathroom rather than the whole thing.

When it came to selling, we did struggle a bit and had to market it for offers over less than we paid (we're in Scotland) to get the interest, although we did ultimately get more for it than we paid, but not much more.

Then don't buy!

Absolutely love our new build. It gave us the opportunity to part exchange so purchase time was really quick. We had a really small development with a good builder.

Watching with interest!!!

I had the same concerns as you re new build houses lacking character. We bought one 5 years ago as our first house, mainly because it seemed the best value for what we could afford and we wanted to use help to buy which is mainly available on new builds. I’ve absolutely no regrets, it’s been so easy and whilst friends have been spending a fortune on new roofs, dealing with damp issues, etc on their older houses we have spent more money on nice furniture that adds character and that we can take with us to the next house.

I think for me the quality and materials on those homes can be poor because they're contracted to finish whole developments in a certain time frame. I think you'd be paying a price for something that's likely to depreciate. I also prefer homes with character or features but that's just me

We bought a tiny new build when we had a young family. It meant that we could concentrate on our kids and our business rather than stressing about rennovations and DIY.

It was small but the space was well planned. And of course everything was bright and clean and new.

We then moved to a house that was 4 years old, and three years after that to our current house which was again a new build.

We have sold all our houses for far more than we paid for them (due in part to the market) and we have negotiated hard on things like stamp duty and extras.

And I will say that it doesn’t take long for everyone’s new build to look a bit different and it’s amazing how different they all look inside.

We live in a new build. I always vowed not to due to hearing so many horror stories!

Our previous house had been on the market for 11 months with minimal interest. It was on the market for £120k.

The new build company offered us £150k for our house on the condition we part exchange ASAP.

We now have a detached 4 bedroom house and £30k in our back pocket, so to speak.

For us, it worked out

DP is a civil engineer and he wouldn’t touch new builds with a barge pole, claims they are simply not built to last. We have a charming Victorian house.

Not a chance.
I live (rented) in a new build. In my experience they have a poor build quality, zero insulation so you hear everything your neighbour(s) do, rubbish parking, all crammed in etc. They might look nice - and I'm a minimal fan, but I would never buy one.
We're actually in the process of buying an older, properly built property and cannot wait.

No way. My ex dh worked on them and he always said never ever buy a new build. They are made as cheaply and quickly as possible. The rooms and gardens are all tiny as well.

I much prefer a character, solidly built older home but unfortunately when we sold our house, there were no properties that we liked available within budget. We ended up moving to a house 5 years old on a new estate, it is cheaper to run that old older smaller home, easier to clean and provides the space we needed. We haven't spent the time or money on necessary improvements that an older property would have needed, so whilst we didn't love it initially, we definitely love it now.

I was the same until I bought our new build after years of living in my Victorian flat and to be honest I haven’t looked back.

Redecorating is a dream, with straight walls and no fear of bits of wall coming off when pulling off old wallpaper.

It’s also insulated to within an inch of its life so no need to crank up the heat meaning that despite being in a much larger property the heating bills have reduced.

What I would advise is to research the house builder thoroughly as some are much better than others.

our first flat was a new build, we sold it after 3 years for 50% more than the purchase price. It was perfect for our needs and we loved the time we spent there

No. I don’t want to live on an estate and DP, who is a very keen cook, would always want to design his kitchen and choose fixtures, fittings & appliances to his own specifications, so we wouldn’t consider new build.

No, but just because it's not to my taste and where I live you get more space and bigger gardens in the older houses. We have a large Edwardian semi , it's creaky and quirky (curved walls anyone?!), It's also an absolute money pit, but I love it and we intend to be here a long time.

Not at are tiny with no parking! We have a huge drive with enough space for 6 cars, big garden meaning we can extend and all bedrooms can easily fit double beds. Main bedroom is huge!

Personally it's not my dream house but we had to move as we were out of space and it was all that was on the market.

Make sure you negotiate and get things like stamp duty thrown in if you can.

Not all are*

Any chance you could buy a site & build? It's the only way I'd do it

Oh I forgot the first ever property I bought was a new build flat, it was fine as a starter home and I lived there fine years, after which I was stuck of the parking, living on an estate even though it was a very nice small one, and the shoddy build quality. I made 35k on it though, and had five offers on the one open morning/viewing we held, so they're not always hard to sell (it was s teen minute walk from a station rust took 24 minutes to a London mainline terminal though so a young commuter's dream.

Never, overpriced, overcrowded, poor quality, unoriginal.

However they sell thousands of them every year so clearly lots of people feel differently.

The one I had was well insulated and very warm! But I could hear xfactor and all convos word for word from next door, and couldn’t hang pictures properly as it was all stud walls/there wasn’t a decent wall that could take a weight. It was four bed but you could hear people walking around all the rooms so it felt much smaller.

Wouldn’t buy one again.

Love it. Really well insulated. Underfloor heating.

I also personally prefer the layouts - nicely designed en suite bathrooms, all bedrooms a good size. No weirdnesses like tiny box rooms that you can't use for anything or only one bathroom in a family home (or one off the kitchen or something peculiar)

I hate gardening so a small garden is also a pro.

Personally I wouldn't as I've seen far too many dodgy new builds. I would especially avoid anything built by a well known developer beginning with "P" - avoid anything in the last decade by them.

The biggest problems are that houses and flats are now being built with an effective lifespan for major structure parts of less than 20 years, and the onsite management of most build projects is really, really poor.

I wouldn't unless I couldn't afford to buy without it I.e need help to buy or something. I like the look of them and the idea but I used to work for an interior designer who did show homes for lots of different developers. There were a couple of walls falling down due to heavy curtains! The show home is high spec but you really have to pay for that. Some of the beautiful tiles etc that we used weren't ones you could get from the developer, we brought them ourselves and the developer fitted. Just don't be fooled by show homes.

My mum has just moved into one and my step dad is a decorator and he is furious about the standard of the walls and paint work.