To think new builds are a bit ridiculous?

[Thehonestbadger]

In terms of wait times?

Turns out it around 12 months from reservation to move in around here and you can’t reserve until you’ve already sold your home which means your buyer wants you out.

They don’t put completion date estimates on rightmove and as soon as you call to ask they’re just determined to get you in the office, then act really surprised when you point out you can’t really hand over all your money and sit homeless waiting 12 months for it to be ready

• they suggest going into rented


• I pull out my phone and show them the zero results within a 5 mile radius of our town


• They say something will surely come up


• I point out that even if it does we’ll not get it, we have two rowdy toddlers and a cat which will almost certainly be banned (Pets generally are around here) no landlord chooses us over all the competition for rentals atm.


• They act like you’re being intentionally difficult and have wasted their time.

I’ve been doing this same dance over and over, honestly think it would be so much easier if they just put expected completion dates on rightmove. All we want to do is move house I never dreamed it would be so hard.

can only assume I’m either missing something or they’re primarily selling to first time buyers.

I bought a new-build in 1989. To the best of my recollection, it was exactly like buying any other property, I completed on buying it on the same day my previous property was sold.

you can’t reserve until you’ve already sold your home

What is the reason for this?

I bought a new-build .....To the best of my recollection, it was exactly like buying any other property, I completed on buying it on the same day my previous property was sold

Me too - was no different to any other house purchase I've made (except we were spare the seller dropping out!)

my part of east london is being swamped with new build flats...but many are still unsold after about 3 years.....meanwhile, the victorian purpose built 2 bed flats with a small garden are still going to sealed bids and ridiculous money....people will pay whatever for one of those....

To offer both sides - we love our new build. Have been very lucky with developers; good sized rooms, great neighbours in a lovely new village with lots of nature and green space around us. New windows, insulated ridiculously well (too well on the hot days!) and much better than any of the shoddy old houses we saw hiding away all kinds of horrors. For us at least, buying was pretty simple and took about six months for the house to be finished - we were already in a rental so worked for us.

I'm in a new build (a basic 2 bed) and the rooms are huge! The master bedroom is massive and has two double windows.
Zero quality issues and not one single snag.

I beg your pardon?! I, along with 5 others on this development are housing association and we ALL look after our homes beautifully! The house next to me was £600k and I get along with them very well and they're very happy with their home, as am I. I'm in this housing association home because I've become severely disabled after a car crash which also killed my husband and left my child without a father and me as a disabled single parent. How DARE you stereotype so wildly

I hang plenty of heavy things on my new build walls You need to find the studs/joists and drill holes, use wall plugs & heavy duty screws. Just like any other wall - studs/joists are the same in any house!

I think they make it harder. I also think they do what they want.

I went into a new build show home with my DH and we couldn't put a deposit down there and then as they said they were not taking deposits just yet but would call me as soon as they were. Assured me we were first in the list for that particular house.

Kept in contact every month which they said to do. I rang every month just as they said I should. Had the deposit ready.

I'd been in about three times to show my mum, then my dad., along with our first visit and the monthly calls.

Took my sister in just before we were going to pay the deposit and there was a women in there talking about buying the house we had our name down for.

I said when the other lady left, we've had our name down for this for months and she couldn't find my details. Apparently didn't have any record of me at all. So we just left it and said it wasn't meant to be. We were gutted at the time.

So we lost it.

The agent called me about three months later and said the sale had fell through and were we still interested. I just said I thought you didn't have my details? She said they'd just found them and I said sorry we just paid cash for another house with another developer.

Fuckers. I have to drive past that house every day.

I'd never buy a new build now because I'd worry it would happen again.

My Dd and her partner bought a new build flat 2 years ago, I was amazed it's beautiful big rooms, lots of storage floor to ceiling windows..They are selling this year and they will make a profit as the new ones being built are selling for 100k more than they paid. Mind you it's not one of the bigger companies

TBF OP my dad works as H&S for a very well known housing developer and he said he wouldn’t touch a new build with a 10 foot barge pole.

YANBU.

New builds are too small anyway. Ten per cent over-priced, badly built, tiny gardens, not enough parking and cheek by jowl with the neighbours.

Personally I'd stick to 1950s and tatty. No less hassle in terms of redecoration but at least the end result is much more liveable.

Not all new builds are rubbish- we bought one (needed to buy a house quickly as we had a baby on the way and were FTB) and we’ve had minimal issues. Any issues we had in the first few weeks were sorted out quickly (ie we rang the site manager and a day later someone was at the door to fix, and they were minor issues).

I think it’s very much down to the buyer to do their research and be sensible about what their home needs to offer them and buy a house that works for them.

Ours is a three bed semi. The third bedroom is small but it works well as a nursery for our youngest (we will move in a few years but this house was always a stop gap). We have a 2 car driveway but the development is quiet so there’s loads of parking around the place if you have visitors, as well as a car park. Our house faces onto a large green. It’s literally 2 miles away from 4 schools, and a walking distance from local shops, as well as a large supermarket. Our garden is big enough for a shed, patio area, 10 foot trampoline and a treehouse. We have a sunroom so basically two living rooms/living room and playroom/living room and dining room depending on how you want to use the space. Decent amount of storage space, too.

Some new builds are shit, but a small new build would be fine for a single person or a couple who don’t plan on having kids/kids any time soon.

It suited us because we moved in, had DD1 a month later and didn’t need to worry about decorating or renovating anything. It won’t suit everyone but it suits a lot of people, and it’s down to the buyer to be realistic about what they actually need from a house.

And regarding the value, in the few years we’ve been here, the value of the house has gone up by 23%. A few homes have came up for sale on the development and they’ve all sold within a month, maximum.

It depends very much on what and where you buy.

Oh and our neighbours on both sides have been fab as well. Similar age to us, one is a single man who is rarely home and the other is a young couple. Both are very friendly, respectful and quiet. We often feel quite guilty because we have two toddlers and we’re probably the “nightmare” neighbours out of the three when the kids go into the garden.

But obviously we bring the kids in if they’re being too loud and try not to spend the entire day in the garden so they can enjoy some peace and quiet. The neighbours over the road are lovely as well- one helped my partner with his car and the other one is a lovely lady who brought us some plants as she saw we were adding some flowers to our garden. We genuinely don’t have a single arsehole neighbour anywhere near us.

Arseholes are everywhere.

I’m sorry you had to read such utter tripe.

Yeah there's always someone who comes along and says exactly what you've just said "I know somebody who works for them and they said they wouldn't touch them with a 10 foot barge pole" but as many on this thread have also said, the new build I live in is pristine. Zero snags. Beautiful build quality. Huge garden. Huge master bedroom with two windows. Lots of lovely touches such as very nice internal doors, composite front door, drawers within drawers in the kitchen and lots of kitchen cupboard space, very long driveway, long hallway and general good, solid build quality.

I've been here 3 years and despite one of the little screws on the toilet roll holder in the bathroom needing tightening, I've not had one single issue! Not one!
My housing association sent a snagging man round shortly after I moved in and he couldn't find a single thing and believe me - he searched for over an hour!

@BirdyWoof Thank you

@BirdyWoof

@BirdyWoof @ThePumpkinPatch

Why do you think they don't make estates of just housing association homes but instead mix them in with bought homes? Because they'd turn into sink estates full of run down houses and crime, areas which people would have to avoid.

They rarely build estates entirely of social housing because there isn't enough funding for it. Councils often include a requirement for some social housing in planning permission for new estates in an attempt to meet the chronic shortage of housing and provide desperately needed homes for those who aren't in a position to buy.

Owning a property doesn't automatically make someone a good neighbour, and you're just as likely to get bad neighbours in a property owned by a BTL landlord.

Your attitude to HA tenants stinks, frankly.

I feel so unlucky living in a new build after reading this, with its large rooms, excellent insulation, triple paned windows and french doors, glass walled dining area overlooking the garden, no damp, no bodged DIY jobs to fix, heavy metal framed pictures hanging on the wall, built in wardrobes in spacious master bedroom, purpose built utility, parking drive, garage, overlooking protected woodland. Oh and it has increased in value. I would have thought it would be worth about 25p by now. Oh dear…

There's going to be lots of new builds constructed near me at some point in the future, on the site of the 1980s Liverpool Garden Festival site. Which, as every local knows, is reclaimed land next to the river, and was originally a landfill (aka the tip/town dump) site.

Bet they won't be cheap though.

I live in a new build on an estate that is still being completed.
A few days before each lot is completed, people start camping ( yes literally camping with tents) outside in the gardens of the showroom to be the first in the queue on release day

I have bought both .
New build when I was young and it was all I could afford .
As soon as I had the funds to choose I went Edwardian.

I actually feel sad that our legacy to architecture is new build developments. Historically we have Edwardian, Victorian, arts n crafts , Tudor etc and what do we leave , the Barrett house . Mind you they probably won't be standing in 100 years the way corners are cut and they are thrown up .

ohlookout

Just so you are aware, I am one of many housing association (council) tenants in a new build home. The situation you describe of us not looking after our properties properly, isn't true. We are very strictly monitored, and rightly so as they can't sell homes if some streets or properties and their gardens on the estate, aren't properly maintained.

We aren't allowed work vans to be parked here, nothing but small planters outside our front doors, repairs have to be reported to our HA swiftly. There is a big list.

Also in order to be offered a new build property on our estate, we were required to be credit checked, have previous landlord references, and be in full time work.