"It's a shame you can't get a new build"

[itscominghomeee]

I am mid-twenties and single. I have worked hard to save up a deposit to buy a house and now have enough of a deposit, and a not-huge-but-reasonable salary in my first managerial post, to make offers on houses. None of my similarly aged friends are at the stage of buying a house yet. I am looking at typical first time buyer houses: terraces or even some semi-detached, but my mum and her sister have commented a couple of times that it's a shame that I can't buy a new build.

I went yesterday to see a house with my mum and the current owner has refurbished downstairs and put a new kitchen in and installed a downstairs toilet within the last two years. Upstairs is in good condition too, but my mum said afterwards, "from downstairs you almost think it's new, but when you go upstairs you remember that it's a very old house".

My mum also told me yesterday that her sister had said to her again recently, "couldn't itscominghomeee get a new build? There are lots of new builds being built in that area".

AIBU to feel upset by these comments? Of course a new build would be lovely, but it's unrealistic for the vast majority of people in my age bracket and stage of career, especially those who are single. The comments feel like they're undermining my hard work saving up and like my mum/aunt are saying that the houses I can afford aren't good enough.

I loathe new builds.

Yes, my previous home, a Victorian terrace had damp in the walls and all sorts. Also high energy bills due to the very high ceilings and it was impossible to keep warm really

Wouldn’t touch a new build with a barge pole!!

hmm, at least with a new build you get 10 years warranty as standard. tighter building regs too. no asbestos etc

These comments are funny. I've just sold my slightly older than ten year new build. It was a spacious detached house with a garage and large driveway. Tiny bills for the size and no mould, in fact when people talk about needing dehumidifiers I've been baffled.

It may be a "MMC", Modern Method of Construction, but no surveyor would refer to it as a new build.

If you "do mortgages for a living" then you'll understand that what I said was "lend against 100% of the purchase price". As in, they haircut it, then decide on the LTV, not give you a 100% mortgage. Maybe you'd like to re-read my post.

I also have spent many years "doing mortgages for a living", except I worked in the teams who decided on the pricing and criteria, doing a lot of analysis of values and competitor criteria.

New build are made of spit and tissues.
Do not buy a new build!!!!!!!!!! Ever. So many stories about endlees snags, water issues, etc. And they are as ugly as fuck, particularly the 'top end' one that are beloved of Omaze, WaGs and the nouveau riche
Do not buy a new build!!!!
Getvthe home you want. Tell you family to mind their own sodding business

I have a new build and although I love the underfloor heating - we have had so many problems! I really think the Victorians did know how to build houses that last and not sure I would buy a new build now. Would much rather buy Victorian and modernize over time.

I meant NHBC lol! I'd been typing HMRC all day so think my brain had overheated. Any of the 10 yr warranty type arrangements.

Still built from spit and tissue. Faux shite. Why not buy the real thing?

New builds can be a total pain. Snagging, poor quality and incomplete environments can be horrible. On-going builds, dust, noise etc

I know of one very expensive 4 bed new build where the dish washer drain had been mis-plumbed. Dirty water was pumping out the back and soaking up into the units for weeks before the smell started. It then involved 6 weeks of ripping out a whole kitchen, waiting for the plaster to dry and then installing a new kitchen.

Another where the buyers had to move into an hotel because the house had been built on the site of a tannery and the developers hadn't removed all the polluted soil. It took months for them to strip all the soil away down to the base of the foundations, replace with unpolluted topsoil, re-landscape, get buildings approval etc.

Your relatives don't have much experience. Well-renovated older houses are usually much better built, are in established communities, and don't have any of the snagging issues of houses on vast estates, because they have been in use for decades. Ignore your silly SIL.

I said make not do, if you’re going to quote me, quote properly, make means product design and development.

I am struggling to understand what you mean, the lenders I know (specialist and high street) take the valuation of the property to decide LTV at Remo/ switch. At origination they take purchase price.

ive found a small variation generally in the valuation for the market and for a mortgage, but honestly that’s on all properties

The lenders I know take the valuation/purchase price and apply haircuts to reduce their risk, then decide the LTV against the value minus the haircuts. Essentially lowering the LTV they're happy to lend.

Ok so that’s in essence the same as I said a discrepancy between valuation for mortgage and market, so the bank put your property at 340 but the estate agent or surveyor you hired put it at 350 (for instance) but this isn’t exclusive to new builds.

that post made it seem like new builds fall into negative equity which isn’t true, it’s scare
mongering on new homes which have their place, especially given the lack of homes in the uk and the poor quality stock in the rental sector. We need new build homes, but there is merit in saying we ( as consumers and thr government) need to hold developers to higher standards, and also stop them holding onto land they aren’t building on. Even HTB equity loan has its place (as someone in mortgages you’ll know it inflates property prices so it’s not all good) but it does give first time buyers equity to move to another property. BUT it has to be managed carefully

This.
Most the comments in this threat are bandwagon uninformed bollucks.

New builds are built to specific standards, including minimum space standards, the walls are brick-insulation-breeze block-insulation-plasterboard. The insulation is therefore excellent and as you say bills are negligible.

Not all homes are "tiny" either. Different developers build to different spec sizes and finishes depending on their model. Bespoke houses are generally larger, volume builders generally on the standard.

I love my new build. Very low bills, everything new and working. And there is character. Again it depends on the estate you look at.
A lot of the comments.... Christ alive get a grip. Op will benefit from not paying stamp, negotiate a discount, everything new, low bills. Miserable mumnetters strike again...

I would not rule out a new build (we were open to everything) but I think people at a certain price point get wooed by the idea of four bedrooms and detached when the actual square footage of the property is tiny. The lack of established trees and foliage puts me off - a lot of estates look so crowded and hot. We don’t really have any where I am as they tend to be on the outskirts of the city and not very well connected / not in great areas; most of our houses in my area are 1930s and slightly older.

Give me a solidly built 30s home with high ceilings, big windows and lots of space on a tree-lined avenue! Our house is costly to heat but it’s lovely and cool in the summer!

My first house was a new build 2 bedroom house and it was fine tbh. I'm now in a ex council house which is bigger and has a decent garden which I also love.

The new build was small with a small garden but it was relatively cheap to heat and had low running costs.

My current house is more expensive to heat and to run but we love the garden, it's so lovely to have so much space. My kids have their own bedrooms and we have a spare room. But the best thing about it is its location, close to town and both the schools my kids went to. We probably wouldn't get that on a new estate.

I am sure OP is intelligent enough to know people are just talking about their personal preferences and experiences here.

yes some new builds are lovely - and particularly is you like to be ‘in fashion’ they are excellent. They will be decorated in todays colour scheme (which some builders still think is grey!), they will have new kitchens, new bathrooms, new heating systems, new roofs.

I have friends who will only ever buy a new build and who are horrified by my older home - but we have different tastes and styles.

in my personal experience I had more trouble with the new build. Shoddy drainage, poorly installed en-suite (that leaked no matter what I did), tiny garden, insufficient parking. The builder forgot to put in phone lines🫣.

yes my older house needed a new kitchen - but that was priced in to what I offered.

I moved from one semi to another - in my new older house I cannot hear the neighbours at all which is amazing. I used to heat toilets flushing, washing machines going, TV, even people peeing and farting🤢.

As others have said, new builds are absolute garbage if you actually want to get into the bricks and mortar of it. They're really just starter homes until you can buy something else in my opinion as they're cheaply made, the rooms are tiny and they are normally packed on top of each other to fit as many homes into a development as possible.

My I'm laws live in a very old house which looks small from the front but the amount of space inside is insane.

On the other hand, the number of 20 somethings posting their unique but somehow identically magnolia tiny houses on Instagram to brag is growing daily.

If new builds were so great, the price difference between them and older houses wouldnt be as big as it is on average with newer houses being much cheaper.

Compared to older houses on average they are smaller. It's a fact whether you like it or not. I worked in the building trade for long enough to say new builds are nowhere near as well built as older houses and the number of complaints being raised about new builds would support this. But you do you.

As for the sizes being regulated, all that means is they're as small as the developers can get away with. And new houses being well insulated. Just not true at all.

What are you talking about, new builds are cheaper, they most certainly aren’t. New builds at purchase are priced higher.

there is such a housing shortage that at resale they tend to do fairly well also. There are benefits and draw backs to new houses

god this thread is full of snobbery and ignorance

I think people buying new builds are nuts. You pay over the odds generally and then the value drops the instant you move in. Snagging lists to deal with. So many horror stories about poor quality build.

New builds certainly aren't more expensive. And snobbery is nothing to do with low quality craftsmanship.

If you have a new build then good for you but please don't try and pretend they're built anywhere near as well as older houses. That's simply a lie proven time and time again.

People buy based on appearance but unfortunately new builds are plasterboard and cheap construction.

That's fine as they're still liveable, but to pretend a new build is built as well as an older house, from the victorian era for example, is absolute garbage.

It's something like 1 in 3 people who had had a new build when surveyed said they are poor quality.

The new build snobs still think they're better than everyone else when the experts have shown otherwise time and time again but the fact is we need houses built to keep up with demand and they will be put up as quickly and as cheaply as possible as today is all about profit margins for these companies.