To ask if there’s anyone with house buying experience who can tell me if I’m about to make a financial mistake?!

[Muusings]

I own a nicely done up home circa 1970s, 3/4 bed with full bathroom upstairs and also downstairs. Large driveway and lots of lawn area surrounding the house. Paid 440 for it 3 years ago. Lovely village location.

I desperately want to move into a new build the other side of the village. It’s not as quaint and is essentially a small housing estate. I would be getting 200sq ft more but much smaller garden and basically a parking space for a drive (so no real drive). Asking price is 510 and I’ve been told mine is now worth max 500. I could find the money to bridge the 10k difference (I know there’s also other cost involved in moving).

My main worry is that I am a lone parent and had dd by ivf. I know nobody wants to make financial mistakes but I feel a lot is riding on this. I would like dd to have her own en-suite and she would have this in the new home. I also selfishly don’t want to have to renovate this current home in any way and in a few years the roof will need doing and garden is in a bit of a state etc. I can’t face it. But… I have read new builds are not a good investment and of course this new home would be more crammed in etc. I feel really stressed about what to do. Anyone with any experience I would be grateful to hear. TIA

Sorry that should say I paid 460 3 years ago!!!

New builds are like new cars in that you pay a premium because it’s new.

and depending on the developer there may be issues with quality

but it may be less stressful and more pleasant for you to live in

pros and cons

Go on YouTube, amd type the name of the builder you're buying from, followed by snagging, to see what sort of issues you will probably find on a new build

What's the parking like on the estate? I don't know how old your dd is but given the housing crisis in this country, you need to consider she may well have to live with you well into her adulthood. It doesn't sound the new house would have enough parking space for 2 cars if your dd also had a car. I'm not saying you should rule it out on this basis but take it into consideration.

@Boing98 thanks!

So you'd be moving for an extra 20m2, the equivalent of a 5x4 room, half of which would be eaten up by an en suite. There doesn't seen to be any other advantage and a lot of disadvantages.

Why don't you list all the pros and cons in columns and price them up, both in money and emotional costs and try to pull out what your priorities are?

This is MN, so your thread will be filled up be people saying “you couldn’t pay me to buy a new build”. New build snobbery is definitely a thing. But they forget that their “lovely 70s bungalow” or even Victorian townhouse was a new build not so long ago.

Depending on how much you have haggled for it, your new build will most likely dip in value 1-5% for the first year or two. However it will then (on average) recover by the 5 year point to the same as the rest of the market (as if there had not been a dip).

Do your homework at research the prices of similar new builds in the area, both at initial sale, and on resale over various periods of time.

Personally I would not do this, because of

• the new build premium
• build quality
• Smaller garden and less parking
• paying more for less

However, money isn’t everything. If the new house better suits your family for the next few years then that is an important factor. Also if you’re going to have to spend money on your current house anyway then buying a new build would just be effectively front loading those costs to give yourself less hassle in terms of having to arrange the works and so on.

Therefore I don’t think there is a right answer here. The question is, is the additional cost worth it to you in terms of the benefits you’d get from the new house?

Why do you want to move?

My experience of new build estates is this -

• Much smaller plots and houses all crammed in together. All have french doors, open in the summer, noise in the garden from other people all living too closely together - TVs blaring, trampolines, barbeques and flipping hot tubs. If peace is important to you - don't do it.
• Not much parking. Often drive for one car so small you can't open doors of car once parked. There aren't always pavements so you can find yourself standing in the road to get shopping or a pram out of the boot.
• People move in to new estates with small children. One drive, two cars. In future older children will get cars. One drive, four cars. Parking hell.
• Bigger square footage but designed by computer to max this out. No storage whatsoever anywhere.
• Unless it's a small, ethical developer the build quality will most likely be total shite. Poor snagging. Some of our bannister rails were put in upside down, doors wouldn't close, stonework damaged by builders, plumbing/electric/insulation done wrong. Paving needed relaying. Grass needed relaying as original had been laid over builders' rubble.
• Not low maintenence because of the above - but also Krend gets dirty, modern stone discolours, new front door faded in two years etc etc.

On the upside. Perhaps slightly better insulation but not guaranteed. Nah, nothing. They design these places to look modern and pretty and the show homes are WOW - but think where you'd store things, would you be able to get peace in summer with the windows open, could you cope with the narrow streets/no pavement/limited parking/teenagers en masse in 8 years? We have moved back to an older house...more space, quiet, built to last.

Also, you have two bathrooms - could you not make one your daughter's? Not en suite, but her own.

Could you pay for garden and decorating to be done so your pretty cottage is up to scratch. I would hate being on a new building estate. Too many cars and too crowded

Also adding … from what you have said I don’t understand the draw of the new place. Your current one sounds much better. But you say you “desperately want to move” so I assume there are good reasons for you.

If it just the investment aspect that is concerning you then researching the resale value over time should help for an informed decision.

Think ahead 10 years. What will matter more whether your DD has an en-suite or how much financial support you can give her as she gets older.
Have you factored in moving costs and stamp duty and compared them to the cost of a new roof and getting the garden done?

I am surprised you need a new roof - do you have problems. Our house is 1930 and we only replaced the roof 10 years ago when we did a loft extension.

Not snobbery from me but experience of the quality of build and the life to be had in a new build on a new build estate.

OP - also, if your current home needs work in the next few years potential buyers might think the same and ask for a price reduction accordingly.

Use the money you’ll save on stamp duty and moving costs, to do up your existing home.

Could you maybe use one of your current spare bedrooms to give your daughter her own en-suite bathroom and pay for a gardener/handyman to tidy up, then maintain the garden for you?
It would be cheaper than moving.

Tbh the moving costs would probably easily pay for the new roof on your current house.

all houses need maintenance and large cost issues occur every few years, you won’t avoid this with a new build.

your current property sounds like it would retain value better than the new one.
could you post a floor plan if your current place, perhaps an en suite could be incorporated?

as pp said, it’s nice for kids to have their own bathroom, it doesn’t have to be en suite though.

I live in a fairly new build estate, I got the house really cheaply so I am happy with what I've got, the space etc. However, I wouldn't swap in your situation for the drive and garden alone.

The parking is dreadful on my estate and is the same for other similar estates. It's only getting worse as the small children grow and have cars of their own.

Go with your gut instinct.

i bought an old cottage with large garden, lots of parking space after being in a new ish house, and some days i wish i was back there, but on the whole glad i’m not. Draw up a pros and cons list, it’ll help you decide.

Also parking restrictions get tighter. if theres free parking on the road, theres possibility that the council will impose restriction at some point in the future especially if its walking distance to town.

Your costs to move include stamp duty, legal fees, mortgage costs, removals etc. Adding these up, does it make difference to your sums?

I agree. And the roof needing doing will come up on a survey so you'd have to knock the money off anyway.

I live in a 10 year old townhouse and moved from a 1990s terrace which didn't have gas (so electric heating), and have no regrets, but if we were to move again it'd be to a massive 1950s semi with a garage!

This would be my suggestion. You’re looking at costs of about 20k, I think, for a house that price. You could do quite a lot with that, and it doesn’t sound as though the new house really has any advantages over the current one. Could you move a bedroom into the downstairs bathroom and put a new bathroom in upstairs? Or give your daughter the bedroom above the downstairs bathroom and get a staircase put in between them so it’s effectively an ensuite?

Check to see if the new estate has a Facebook group (ours do) and you’ll get a good insight into any issues buyers have had

We were in a similar situation to you and moved almost 2 years ago from a 1970’s link detached 3 bed house with a huge drive and large garden to a 4 bed 3 storey townhouse with only 1 parking space. Newer but not an actual new build.

Our situation was slightly more complex in that due to financial difficulties in the past we had ended up on an interest only mortgage but due to how long we had lived in the house had built up sizable equity so selling helped us to free up that equity, put a large deposit on new house and change mortgage to repayment.

our main motivators were that old house was very cold and draughty, likely needed new roof and windows, the garage was damp and to use the space we would have have to knock the garage down and start again but would have cost £££.

we needed more space as have 2 teens. The smallest bedroom was a box room and not big enough to study in.

we only had 1 bathroom/toilet and 4 of us in the house so we ideally wanted more bathrooms.

We couldn’t afford a large 4 bed detached with lots of parking but what we have now is big bedrooms for everyone and more bathroom space. Yes the parking is worse and actually smaller garden hasn’t bothered me.

what are you main motivators for wanting to move? If I could have stayed where we were but extended to get what we needed then I probably would have stayed but our reasons for moving were very specific.

definitely write a list of pros and cons. Not all new builds are awful but some seem to be less well constructed than others. Do you like the new area better or would that feel like a compromise? Do you have good neighbours now? Bear in mind if you move you might get amazing new neighbours but they could also be awful.

added bonuses have been lower elec/gas as house is better insulated and much warmer, we’ve moved to a different part of town, kids closer to school and work and our commute is much smaller plus the other side of town which used to be a nice place to live is getting a huge new build development which will cause lots of traffic and congestion issues

good luck whatever you decide to do

If I were you, I’d stay put.

In 3-4 years’ time, those new build houses on that estate will start coming up for sale again, and at a discount because they’ll no longer be new.

Buy one then instead.