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?

No thin walls here. I don't hear a squeak out of my neighbour unless they're working on the dividing wall then I'll hear something but otherwise not a sound.

Never! My partner builds them and says he wouldn't buy one with stolen money. Death traps waiting to happen.

rows and rows of identical Victorian terraces with no parking, no garages, tiny gardens exist in almost every town!
They often come with issues of poor ventilation, single glazing, joined up loft spaces and poor lighting.
We had a detached Victorian property - huge rooms (some too big for practical 21c living, high ceilings and tonnes of architectural ‘features’, lovely turned staircase and tiled hallway etc.
It cost a fortune to heat, furnish and decorate and the upkeep seemed endless as restoring or repairing ‘features’ is never cheap.
Our old 18c cottage had low ceilings, beams in abundance, so many quirky features to count and huge inglenook fireplace. It was also dark as windows were tiny, cold if no heating was on (no windows big enough to bring in the benefit of free sunshine heat) and damp from condensation - unless a dehumidifier was running.
Old isn’t always better.
OP - weigh up pros and cons carefully and factor in not just what you will pay for your house, but how much you want to pay to keep it running in comfort.

@BlueSkiesLies
The difference between the ones you describe with no insulation is that they weren't supposed to have any so I would expect to put it in - current new builds are supposed to have it and often it's inadequate or poorly fitted so I would resent paying to have it fixed when it was supposed to be there in the first place.
I work in the industry and I hear of appalling practice regularly. I was only speaking to a builder last week who took down a wall to add an extension to a 3yo house (major housebuilder) and found there was no insulation in the exterior walls at all. Clearly against building regs but the householder is not getting anywhere fast getting it sorted.
My mum is in a 'detached' new build but is so close to her neighbours and has such poor build quality (Charles church) you can hear the neighbours in their kitchen!

I wouldn’t! I prefer to see where I’m going to be living first.
The more recent new developments by us are estates with houses crammed in on top of eachother. I love the idea of a new home but my brother has bought one, the house is lovely but it’s really dark and feels a bit claustrophobic.

I live in a modern build (20 years old) and it’s much more open plan, the estate is lovely and not overcrowded.

I like the get a feel for the area, you can do that buying off a plan. But I do get the appeal of not having to do anything to the house xx

I've noticed a few people saying that they live in "modern" properties, for example:-

I live in a modern build (20 years old)

We have been in our new build (bought off plan) for 21yrs now.

I'm sorry, but 20 year old properties are very different indeed from what new builds are generally like today.

Personally, I think the best combination of size/price/quality and value for money are those houses built between the 1960s and the 1990s.

I bought a new build Bellway home couple of years ago and I am really happy with the house and its size with all of the bedrooms able to accommodate double beds with wardrobes etc. I can see this being my forever home and although new builds don't have much character you can add character/homely feeling with the way you decorate it.

Other houses on my Bellway development are having no problems selling for more than they were purchased for and they don't stay on the market for long. Although I have known of other new build developments where people would struggle to sell.

I had previously purchased a Persimmon home 14 years ago and it was to a terrible standard and the room sizes were poor. I also visited some Tailor Wimpey homes before my most recent purchase and they were tiny so I could never live in them.

Does anyone know what a lease back scheme is on new builds?

If I was single, yes, maybe, due to the simplicity. But not one of the mass estate ones, more the small individual developments from niche builders.

Friends of ours did, it looked fab, looked over fields big corner plot. Now they are desperate to move as literally over the last few years hundreds, and hundreds of houses have been built round it and it's now a mammoth busy estate. The house itself has been fine though.

I think it's dangerous to tar all new build properties with the same brush. Yes, there are some which are poorly compromised in both design and construction, but others are actually designed for how real families live in the 21st century and are bang up-to-date with insulation and so on.

I'm on my third new build in a row, built in 2017. The only time I hear the neighbours is if a football hits my wall, we've got a 100 square metre garden, double width driveway plus a garage we can fit a full size luxury car in, enough toilets and showers, plenty of storage. The walls are plasterboard on insulation blocks so hanging things on the wall simply requires longer screws. The insulation is second to none and we even have things like waste water heat exchangers to improve efficiency; despite being 50% bigger than the last house (bought new in 2001) our energy use has fallen. We were able to spec out the kitchen and bathrooms the way we wanted.

As for "character" - well, we add that ourselves.

You only get small rooms/gardens if that is what you choose to buy. We bought from new about 13 years ago. The house isnt perfect, no house ever is, but over the years we have made alterations to accommodate our changing needs.

I grew up in a 1920s house with ill fitting windows, 'quirky' central heating and a front door with gaps all round so that the hallway was arctic.

We have renovated 1930s, 1960s and 1970s homes and had to remedy wood worm, dodgy diy of all descriptions, lack of central heating, ill fitted central heating, rubbish plaster work.

Poor building standards are not the preserve of new builds

Personally, I think the best combination of size/price/quality and value for money are those houses built between the 1960s and the 1990s

Yep. My old 1970s build semi had a good sized kitchen and diner and the living room was adequate. Bedrooms had rooms for both beds and wardrobes. A lot seem to be either/or these days.

You only get small rooms/gardens if that is what you choose to buy

Where I live, a new 2 bed is £275K+ (please don't bring your cat; there's no room to swing it) 3 bed £350K+ with no storage and tiny, tiny kitchens.