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?

Living the sweeping generalisations. First flat -new build. It's still standing
Second house - detached 4bed, garage drive for four cars. Decent garden front and back. Still own it. Still standing. Jo issues.
Current house - new build 5 bed detached house. Massive plot with parking for 7 cars. Trees and greenery everywhere. Incredibly well insulated (I like my warmth)

Not all new builds are pokey boxes. Look at the plot. Check out the builders. If you like it but it. If you don't like it move on.

Please, before even thinking of buying a new build. You need to ask if it is Freehold, Leasehold or Fleecehold! If it's leasehold you will never own the house you are just paying all the "rent" up front for xx amount of years. If it's Fleecehold it's even worse, you'll own the freehold of the house but they'll get you with estate/management charges for the communal areas on the estate. These are uncapped and unregulated so they can basically ask for any amount of money and if you don't pay they'll take your house.
Please look at National Leasehold Campaign and educate yourself before buying new.
I bought a Taylor Wimpy home 15 years ago, I wasn't educated what leasehold really meant. I can't extend without paying to get permission (£750!) I was told I could buy my lease for £2,000 after 2 years but the builders sold it on after 6 months and the new owners want £23,000.
I now can't sell as all this makes it unsellable and I've had 3 sales fall through.
Run away... fast!

New build buyer here. Our house was already built so we could view it before committing. We have a lovely wide road, a decent front garden and a driveway for three cars plus a garage for our crap. Semi detached but really well insulated so we slept through our neighbours house party with no idea it was going on. There are houses on the 'posher end' of the estate I wouldn't live in (on top of each other, no front garden). I'd say dont rule a new build out and view each house on its merits.

I also think you often get tiny gardens with new build as greedy developers want to fit in as many tiny boxes as they can.

We looked but parking was bad on the estates we saw, not much storage, too close to neighbours and a bit soulless. We bought a 70s house on the estate next door which is much bigger (both 4 bed houses), loads of storage including a loft, more established garden and lots of parking.

Such a lot of myths about new builds. They don’t all have boxy rooms, they don’t all fall apart immediately, they don’t all have only one parking space. Ours has a garage and two parking spaces, large rooms, a decent sized garden and is as far away from boxy as you can get. Not all developers build to a format or have to get them finished as soon as possible. There are large volume builders that I wouldn’t go near, but there are some higher end and smaller ones who have higher standards and aren’t shoddy.

Most Victorian houses are terraced and have no off street parking at all. Some require extensive and on going maintenance. In the end you choose what suits you, your family, lifestyle and budget.

There are a number of different sizes and styles of house where we are. Rows of terrace houses are all going to look the same. So are thirties semis.

All our new builds have room for 3 cars. 5 on the bigger houses. And a few visitor spaces. No parking disputes here.

We’re in a 10 year old “new build”
Have been here for 4 years .
No major problems just some past shoddy workmanship when we were updating the kitchen and bathroom.
I liked that by the time we bought it , it had settled , the snagging had been done years before but it was still a nice modern house.
It’s well insulated so heating costs are low and no maintenance fees either .
Only issue round here is parking !

Maybe it’s just where I live but new builds seem to have less land space unless they are at top end of market
I have reasonable size gardens front and back - garage and driveway parking for 5/6 cars
An equivalent land space new build would be double the price

Foxyy I suppose it depends where you live.
Where I am, they ARE as I described. All of them:((

I bought a new build leasehold flat in a gated development quite a few years ago. The usual issues with build quality, noise, plasterboard walls etc but nothing too bad. Rooms are a reasonable size apart from my kitchen which is TINY. Eventually we were able to buy the freehold and now ownership is shared between 90% of the flat owners. We set up our own management company (the board that runs it is elected at our AGM every year) and people who live here really care about the development. We have communal gardens (with communal BBQs) and water features and plenty of parking and bike racks. The nearest shop is a good 30 seconds walk away, 45 seconds if you want a 24 hour shop.

The flats are in massive demand. People very rarely sell them. If they move, they tend to keep the flat as an investment and rent it out instead. Property prices have increased by over 400% since I bought (and that's a conservative estimate). We have recently increased the service charge in order to fund some major works covering a new roof, new windows and replacement of the intercom system. It's annoying but the work needs to be done as the previous freeholder did a poor job of maintaining the existing infrastructure (he was the original property developer and just took the money). A new Crossrail station is right outside so property prices will continue to increase so it's worth making the investment. There are approx 100 flats in the development but it's very green and leafy. Visitors describe it as an "oasis of calm". And just on the edge of London's zone 1. I wanted to buy a second flat here a few years ago but they just don't come on the market. Even rental flats are hard to find as they tend to be rented out quickly by word of mouth.

Buying my flat was probably the best thing I ever did. It's my home but also my safety net, and quite possibly my pension! I do wish I had proper walls but I've learned to live with the plasterboard.

Strongle I imagine you are talking about. High end houses there with space for 5 cars?

Not your usual 3 bed house?

@ ohjustboreoff I don’t think people realise how serious Fleecehold is. This is a new cost that didn’t exist 10 years ago, this is an extra cost that is added on to the home owner which you have no control over

It always amazes me on these threads that the new build haters have detailed knowledge of every single new build.

I wanted a period property. We couldn't afford one so we have a new build. It has large rooms, lots of built in storage, parking for 4 cars and a large garden. We aren't overlooked in anyway and nothing can be built behind our plot. We hear kids playing in the street but nothing from the neighbours (we are detached though).

We've barely spent a penny on it, other than basic decorating and landscaping. It's ridiculously energy efficient and cheap to heat.

Is it my dream property? No. But it's a wonderful family home for now.

I'm in a 3 bedroom. The larger houses have room for 5.

My garden is quite small but that's what I wanted. I don't have children and I don't want to maintain a big garden.

The point is that new builds, like other houses, vary. It's difficult to generalise about them because they vary so much in terms of size, garden, parking etc

My 3 bedroom has space for 3 standard cars.

I work on building sites...

I wouldn’t touch a new build with a barge pole! Some of the stuff I’ve seen is enough to put me off forever!!

So no I wouldn’t!

Should add I’ve seen different developers and some and worse than other but Nopes...never ever

We have been in our new build for nearly a year. I don't regret it for a second. I love it. We bought off plan, but it's identical to the show home, which was actually really useful as I popped in to measure up when needed. We got a part exchange and they gave us more than our old house eventually sold for. The garden is big and not overlooked and I was very careful to study the site plan to make sure we'd be in a nice spacious, area, which it is as we have a private cul-de-sac with a path and a swale between us and the houses opposite. We are two minutes walk from the new co-,op and a new play area. The house is spacious, we have a massive garage and a decent sized garden.
We finally gave a big enough kitchen to eat in all at once. I'm not saying we haven't had niggles, but they have been moderately minor and nothing like the horror stories I've read.
Of course there are some boxy poky ones out there, but as non doer- uppers we now have a house we are happy with.

My Victorian house had no parking, cars parked both sides of street, damp, roof needed repairing, no double glazing etc and just got worse as the years went on. Tiny back yard. My DH 1980s house was boring, boxy but lovely garden. We vowed never to buy new build.

We live in a lovely large new build, with double garage, large airy rooms, beautiful staircase and sloped ceilings. Good storage, and en suites of a good size. Ours is via a dressing room with bath, shower and two sinks. Parking 3 cars. Reasonable garden. Faces onto miles of woodland.

The only issue I have is the low fences between neighbours, but I've planted tall shrubs and like our NDNs and the walls are tricky to hang things on. Cant have everything perfect.

We will downsize in 15 years and move to somewhere with lots of land and smaller house.

No. I find new builds soulless - I prefer my houses to have history and to have been lived in.

And I’ve known too many people have horrendous issues with snagging/poor quality build to ever risk buying a new-build, even if I did want everything new and shiny.

Generally new builds cost more per sq metre than older properties in similar areas, it's worth making sure you are comparing like with like price wise

I'm an architect and wouldn't touch one from a major housebuilder. I would possibly consider one from a smaller housebuilder but would be very careful over quality, design and quality.

There are well documented issues with quality with a lot of big housebuilders, and they can be quite hard to rectify or get sorted. There are problems with some even meeting building regulations (they are assessed differently from individual builds)

I personally find them mean, even the ones which have big floorplans tend to be disproportionate to the space. The windows are often mean, so they are darker than they should be and they also put too many en-suites in at the expense of decent sized rooms and storage. They rarely have decent storage.

Most of the decent stuff is an extra and it's staged to sell it to you. The show home is set up with smaller furniture to make it feel larger, you are induced with deals but when you come to sell you don't have those inducements for your buyers but you will be competing with houses that do.

I also personally find the main housebuilders rather dull, the same houses copied and pasted up and down the country. I find large new build estates disorientating due to their planning (not often well thought out)
It's not for me but I know it doesn't bother everyone.

There are some smaller estates by smaller developers that are better quality, nicely thought out and proportioned and they can be more interesting.

@Gin96 I've just been reading this thread and NO ONE is mentioning Ground Rents or Maintenance Charges. So I guess all these new builds are true freehold with council adopted roads and grassy area

Have bought new builds twice, it helped us get on the property ladder and meant any issues we rang the builder to sort. Having said that we are now buying an older property!
Had no trouble selling either property