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?

A 21 year-old 'new build' isn't new

@Nanny0gg it isn't new now obviously but it was brand new when we moved into it, and not even built when we bought it.

But I bet it was better built than many of today's houses

I had a new build flat in my 20's and it was amazing. Large open plan living space, full height windows, fab insulation (super quiet and I barely turned the heating on).

Other new properties are a mixed bag. Some amazing and some ugly and pokey.

One thing I would say is that new builds attract a massive premium. If you think a new build is 50k cheaper than an older home, then your comparison is way off. It could be the location or it could be that you're comparing the number of bedrooms but not the sq footage- some new builds are ridiculously small and those houses for 50k more will be double the sq footage. And probably have a much bigger garden.

I think it a lot of it depends on who the builder is as to whether the houses and the development are any good.

I live in a new build - bought off plan it 4 years ago - in a fairly large development.

The houses vary in size from 2 bedrooms up to 5 bedrooms. The houses are not all the same, obviously, and though the smaller ones are a bit boxy many of them are very attractive buildings.

They all have reasonable gardens, obviously the 5 bedrooms have much larger gardens than the 2 bedrooms, but I think the whole area works really well and the houses are no more on top on one another than they would be in any other residential setting. And the insulation is fine as far as I can tell. Never hear anything through the walls from my neighbours.

This is actually the second new build I've bought over the years. I love that everything is new and fresh and no one has lived here before.

I think the main drawback for many people living on the same estate as me is the parking, which isn't a problem for me as I have a garage and my own parking space and I live on my own, but it can be a problem for people with more than one car in the family. However, that can apply to a lot of places full of older houses as well. Where I used to live I would frequently have to park as much as four streets away from my Victoria terrace as I had no off street parking and the street parking was a nightmare.

Like a lot of things, it's horses for courses, some people love new builds some hate them.

I liked my Victorian house, but my god it needed a lot of upkeep. And if you want to know about bad insulation try living in a Victorian terrace, particularly one that was built with no proper foundations.

I have lived in both and would definitely go for my current new build again. Well insulated, good layout, plenty of room, light airy rooms and lovely modern kitchen and bathrooms . The Victorian house I used to live in was damp, cold a completely money pit with no parking. If it’s the best house you can get go for it.
Dh still prefers older houses but me & kids love it here.

No, no and thrice no.

I moved our first Barratts home. Ít was a bit boxy and the ceilings were lowish thigh I've seen lower.

But it was all very good quality. Had the usual new build problems... You get the odd crack and the movement did cause a slight plumbing leak. However the house came with a 5yr warrantee so it cost us zero to fix it. They got to it pretty quick.

It was harder to sell although we'd only been living there 3 years before having to move.

It's nice having a brand new glide without any issues left behind by previous owners. All the fittings are good quality i thought for ours. Sound proofing is amazing. You could have held an all rave and no one would be the wiser.

Would i but a new build again? Yup. But they are more expensive, depending on area. Good for a first time purchase though with the htb.

We bought a 'second hand' new built flat 2 years ago, the building having been built by a well-known developer in the late 2000s. I was skeptical because of all the bad press new builds get, but very happy so far. Prior to this we lived in a 100+ years old tenement flat where we could hear everything from upstairs, here we barely hear anything which has pleasantly surprised me. Ceilings are low which I dislike, but at least it warms up quickly. I was, and still am, slightly worried about how it will stand the test of time, but it's not unlikely we'll move in another 5 years or so, so it's a also not a major concern. One downside of being the second owner is that not all the fittings are to my liking, but as they're only 10 years old and fully functional I can't justify the cost of replacing them.

3 -4 million? Our 5 bed large new build cost under £400! They are also selling for more than what people paid.

We do live in a small market town with good commuter links in the Midlands.

Our first house was a Victorian terrace and it was awful. It looked ok at viewing but when we moved we found botched DIY by a previous owner. all the walls were crumbling and bumpy, covered up with textured wallpaper . Two ceilings fell down when we lived there. There was terrible condensation and black mould as the chimneys has been blocked. It was really poky-rooms long but narrow. No off street parking and no garage or space for a shed.
I have lived in 2 modern houses since which have been absolutely great, although both built by small independent builders.
My parents had a huge freezing cold Edwardian money pit which they sold and moved to a Charles Church (before they were acquired by persimmon) newbuild again no regrets.

I'd never buy new. I live in an 1820s cottage and adore it. New builds aren't my thing.

I felt the same as you op. We went from an 1800s mid terrace to a 3 year old new build on a big estate.

I absolutely love it. It's warm, dry, no damp, no crumbling plaster. It's easy to keep clean and decorate. It's very well soundproofed and I never hear the ndns.

With regards to character unless you buy some kind of chocolate box cottage you can create it with your decor. We've turned a tiny back garden into a seasidey garden with decking and paint and my tiny front strip of a garden into a riot of flowers and shrubs in pots.

I don't really get why "boxy" is a problem? Isn't it more convenient to have a regular shape to fit furniture and fixings in than nooks and crannies? What am I missing?

LOVE my new build. Spacious, warm, clean etc. I think you have to do research on builders and check out the estate/area first to get a feel for it - everywhere is different! Ours is Morris Homes and quality is fab, and snags get fixed pretty quickly by them. Plenty of parking too!

I worked for customer service at BOVIS for a while - never in a million years would I buy a new build.

We are thinking of trading our 2 bed 70s semi for a new build however we would have to go for a 4 bed to get a massive increase in space. The 3 beds are almost the same square footage as the one we have now!

The thought of no decorating, no hassle and a part ex are very appealing though.

I work in conveyancing and have always said I'd never touch a flat or a new build because of the stories I've come across in my time.

I'm sure not all are bad but I don't trust developers at all. Most just want to throw them up as quickly as possible to get to the cash.

I'm actually working on a development at the moment which is falling apart (not literally) because of things starting to go wrong, planning permissions being breached etc...

We bought a newbuild in 2010 when DS was a year old. We bought it using the developer's help to buy-type scheme because we didn't have a very large deposit. It did immediately lose value but we sold it 7 years later for a good profit because the development had become extremely popular, mainly due to the new schools that had been built within it. If we hadn't bought it we would still not be on the housing ladder now.

We only sold because we wanted to move to a different location, I would happily have taken the house with me if I could. It was so easy to live in. I have lived in charming Victorian houses and really liked them but I didn't like the lack of right angles, the rotting sash windows, the nonexistent parking or the 100 years of bodged DIY by previous owners.

Having said that, if I could choose between a Victorian house with character and a newbuild in the same location I would choose the Victorian one. Because I'm fickle like that

You can negotiate with developers for the extras, we didn't have much leeway because we were using their scheme but we did manage to get all the carpets and other floorings included. Other neighbours were able to get additional fitted wardrobes and things like that, and one even managed to arrange for some rooms to be remodelled before they moved in.

@IceniSky

I meant £375K! not million! My bad typing!

Small, dark rooms, no parking, no insulation, no soundproofing, tiny garden, look the same - hello people we are describing every mass produced accommodation EVER built through the ages.

It’s not a ‘new’ build thing. It’s a ‘let’s get shit loads of housing up here as cheap as possible’ thing.

I have lived:

House on a 70s estate - zero insulation or sound proofing and small garden. Did have good views though and a garage. Very small rooms. When the wind blew it rattled through the house.

Beautiful architect designed and built individual house (70s) - fucking delicious. So much light and space. Big garage and drive. Big garden. Still no insulation though!

We had it gutted and renovated after living there 25 years and modernised with insulation and new heating system, made a massive difference.

Various Victorian terraces:
Have you lived in Victorian terraces thrown up quickly for workers? Yeah, that are shit. Fucking freezing. Dark back rooms. Ongoing maintenance that costs a fortune. And again, you can always hear next door - the chimneys are sound conduits. No parking. Tiny yard out the ‘back alley’. Exactly the same as every other house for a 2 mile radius.

I mean, I kind of loved my last one, it was beautiful and my home for some really formative years, but so cold in winter and so expensive to maintain. Really needed a £100k job on it taking it back to brick and re-song everything. Roof was bad too. Sold it to avoid doing that (roof came up on the survey - I didn’t scam anyone!)

Beautiful 2000s built flat in a small development - spectacular. Warm. Quiet. So much sound proofing. Serious amount of light. Well designed space and good storage. Best ever. No parking at all (London Z1).

Late 50s terrace - drive, big rooms, nice layout, poor insulation and soundproofing. Looks the same as all the other houses on the street. Seriously shitty build quality. Basically mass produced housing chucked up after the war in bombed areas.

I wouldn't! I like character and really don't like the look of them from that point of view. Also everyone I know who works in the industry (including on the specific schemes) advise against it as they are so poorly built!

Three friends I know who have bought new have had issue after issue. That said my cousin has one which she loves (but does have money and expensive taste so I would imagine she got the best of the best package if that makes sense)

They are just not for me but everyone if different. buy what you feel is right for you

I don't really get why "boxy" is a problem? Isn't it more convenient to have a regular shape to fit furniture and fixings in than nooks and crannies? What am I missing?

I think it is a personal taste thing. I don't like boxy square (boring imo) rooms. I like quite quirky properties with more "character" however one of my best friends is the opposite! She likes clean smooth lines, everything fitting perfectly and lookin....."just so" I suppose. I love a wee random nook or cranny to "style" a bit.

They’re cheaper because they’re poor quality builds with cheap fixtures and fittings. I would add the following cons to your list:

• very small rooms
• very small gardens
• thin walls that you can hear everything through
• overlooked by
• often large estates with no facilities within walking distance (shops, pubs etc) so you have to drive everywhere
• issues with leases (this has been in the news a lot lately so make sure you read the small print)

• overlooked by neighbours