To hate new builds?

[Sello]

This will likely be controversial, but my brother and his partner moved into a new build and now my parents are also moving into one.

I find there is something soulless about them.

The one my parents are moving into is in the process of being built and so they’ve put an offer in and been accepted, even though they’ve never seen it, only the plans.

Our house is Victorian and although it does have some problems with damp and insulation, I loved the character as soon as we walked in.
My in laws house is around 500 years old, it’s an old farmhouse and it has so much charm and character.

I know it’s each to their own, but I just feel like they’re uninviting, like Lego houses and like a hotel or something.

Exactly this.

People sneer at new builds which is ridiculous IMO.

People will try and find the best house for them and sometimes they're the best option.

People in this country are so absolutely snobby and judgmental about homes it is unbelievable.

I worked as a viewer for an estate agent .. some new builds are amazing !!!

We have a new build and it's so well insulated that we have not needed switch on the heating at all! Pros and cons, pros and cons...

Sorry OP, posts like this always come across as sneering. I’m sure you weren’t expecting that this thread would suddenly change your mind about them?

I don’t like old properties. The maintenance issues, damp, draughty, cold, years of bodge diy jobs and of course the cost of all of the above.

Buying a house off plan is a separate issue entirely! Our new build was fully ready for us to move into so not all are like your parent’s house.

I know what you mean however there and good and bad examples.

Before I had kids i would have never considered living in one however they are so convenient! Utility rooms, en suite bathrooms etc etc and brand new stuff that's easy to keep clean.

So we looked round a few when we moved but they all had such low ceilings compared to our period place. I do see the appeal though.

Many people don't like new builds. I think stats show that only a small % of house-hunters bother to view them. But in times of scarcity, like now, more people consider them out of necessity.

I live in an old house but can certainly see the appeal in smooth walls, working plumbing, better insulation and a more manageable garden.

I guess some people are also seduced by the thought of there being no upward chain, various deals that make it easy to buy them, being able to move straight into a perfect home that doesn't need any work at all.

New development look horrible for a bit but generally mature as people make them more individual, gardens start growing etc.

The one near me only gives each property two parking spaces - now I don't understand that. As soon as people have workmen, visitors, teenage kids with cars the streets will start filling up with parked cars. I'm amazed people are paying £700k for them tbh.

There are only so many "characterful" homes available, OP. Not everyone can have one, even if we all wanted them, so it's rather rude to sneer at them when it's the most that many can ever hope to own. People do all sorts of things that I can't understand and would never want for myself, but I know that my life wouldn't suit everyone, either. Live how and where you want and let others do the same.

I almost felt bad selling on our 10 year old new build. It was a piece of shit that was falling apart. The curtain pole fell off the wall the Week before we left.
They are disgustingly awful. I am so happy in our 30 year old house that is actually built well

I used to think this but then we moved in to one and I'm a convert. Ours is a small development and an eco build. Our bills are less in our 4 bed new build than our 2 bed 1930s house, maintenance much easier, easier to clean, lots of storage, better lay out for our lifestyle. I dont feel ours is soulless however my brother had a badly built cheap starter home so i get your point of view but not all new builds are the same.

I also think there are some developers who build better quality houses than others, so not all badly built.

Yeah what’s a bit of damp and poor insulation ehh? Not when you have dark rooms and ugly old walls, oh sorry I meant character.

YABU each to their own

in these times I would not chose to purchase a damp and badly insulated home, are you suggesting I’m unreasonable for holding that opinion?

This post is really snobby. People have different tastes, aspirations and budgets.

I don’t like the way many new builds are built so close together, with tiny gardens, difficult parking and small rooms. However, they are not all like it and they do all come out it’s brand new appliances and undoubtedly have many content owners.

I live in a late 60s house and I hate it, mainly because I’m no good at DIY and it needs work. It is quirky though and I love the area but currently saving to move to probably a new build or a renovated house because I don’t want to go have to worry about what needs doing for a while.

It’s just so small minded.

As if all new builds are the same! As if all old houses are the same!

Making huge generalisations is what racist and sexist people do.

They're only soulless because they're new. Give a few years for brickwork to wear and the gardens to grow and they'll get some character. Also they're generally energy efficient which means much smaller bills.

It’s not goady or sneering

Actually, it's both.

But for some reason they’ve gone for this new build

Perhaps because they want to? A new build house can be perfect for an older couple, especially if it has a good community around it.

I've live in a new build on a modern estate. It's a fantastic place to bring up children - with good schools, shops, parks etc all nearby. The town centre is walking distance and is full of medieval history, so we've go the best of both worlds. Our estate has all sorts of people living on it - singles, couples, families, retired people. It has a real community of it's own, which is very friendly. The children as they grew up always had friends on the doorstep. We are lucky, and are not at all overlooked.

While I can see the appeal of an older house visually and for space, for us a new build was perfect. No big energy bills, well insulated, no shock repairs, easy to decorate ourselves, manageable garden, plenty of parking (admittedly unusual on a newer estate), large garage.

I live in a new build, it's not small and pokey, everyone says how massive the rooms are. It's not badly built, I saw it being built and it is solid! It has a lovely feature staircase too.

I have a massive driveway and the estate is well designed.

It's not an expensive home by new build standards either.

Not all new builds are shit. YABU to make sweeping generalisations.

When you say you don’t like New Builds…. Do you mean houses built in 2022?

as most houses were New Builds once upon a time weren’t they.
We live on an estate of ‘New builds’ from 1999. So would you think these are soul-less and can’t understand why we bought it??

I have two words for you:

Energy Efficiency

The older stock have abysmally bad insulation, which makes them very expensive to heat during the winter.

The new builds are far superior in this regard, and will be much cheaper to heat.

YANBU… I feel exactly the same. I love a brick built house. My house is warm in winter, cool in summer & I can easily access areas if something goes wrong with waterworks.
Everyone I know who lives in a new build complains all summer because their house is like living a sauna, they have leaks appearing all the time that they can’t find to fix without pulling ceilings down or walls off, their fixtures & fittings are failing or coming away from the walls, garden is water logged etc etc & don’t get me started on bathrooms with no windows that get mouldy because the noisy & annoying air vent goes nowhere or doesn’t do it’s job & toilets next to the front door 🙄
At the end of the day if people are happy in them I am happy for them but I will always live in solid, old, brick build houses.

I've bought a house off a plan before. Yes, it's a bit odd to buy a house that doesn't even exist (yet), and obviously you can't tour it beforehand, so there's something of a leap of faith involved. We were able to form some idea of what it would be like, by visiting other similar homes, and because ours was made to order, we could make changes to ours to better suit our wishes (extended the kitchen and utility slightly, removed a door, added a closet and a window, for example).

It doesn't have the historical character of an older home, but it has a character of its own, which is developing over time.

They started building a huge estate in my local village so we went to have a nosy around a 3bed semi show house.

You could see all the tricks they used to make it seem bigger. Small furniture, doors not hung, no wardrobes in the bedroom etc etc. Where you'd keep a vacuum cleaner I have no idea. No understairs cupboard or any other built in storage. The garden looked quite a reasonable size though until you realised that they hadn't put up the dividing fence from next door.

It was also about £50K more than one of the many 3 bed Victorian terraces around which offered much more space and a lot more garden.

I know which I prefer much as I might complain about my rambling Georgian cottage.

I find that most new builds are open plan which I don't like open plan and to over looked sometimes by neighbors and tbh I think that new builds are built to quickly I have a flat an old build i think it's 1960s but I like it plus old builds are more homely to me Im really not in to modern homes