Want to sell my house to buy a new build

[Hometimeyet]

We moved into our current home during pandemic and had 2 DC since. Our house is 70s detached house, originally 3 bed but previous owners built extension with additional downstairs bedroom, toilet, additional living room and a utility. Insulation isn't the best and extension feels colder. There 's no radiator in utility.
We did lots of work on the house, replaced the old kitchen, got new kitchen of our taste, new driveway, patio, changed windows, radiators, decorated the whole house and put smart heating system etc. we have been here 4 years now and there are good primary schools around us as well as good shops, surgery and walking distance to my workplace along with DC nursery. It saves me time and money as no commute, but, still for some reason I keep dreaming about selling this house and moving to a new build house in a town which is 20 mins away on train.
It would mean lots of additional cost on stamp duty, moving cost, hassle of packing but it would be a new build house, hopefully warm and more insulation. Also, that town has grammar schools.
However my DC are very young still in nursery and I don't drive yet so travelling to work would be a juggle along with finding new nursery etc.
I just don't know what's the right thing to do!

Also, at the current house we have only 150k mortgage left which we are hoping to close in next 5-6 years but if we move, we will need additional mortgage which would take us longer to repay.

The amount you pay in stamp duty etc you could spend on your current home changing the layout. Location is the most important thing imo. Moving further away from work is a really bad idea.

I love my new build, it was cheaper than my old house, not falling apart and my bills are less because it is well insulated. I paid for a professional to snag it and they only found small problems like the paint not being neat. I have however heard bad things about persimmon and the quality, but people love to slate new builds so it could be true but it could just be them having a moan.

@Hometimeyet avoid Persimmon been there done that, the build quality is shocking to the point of being dangerous I don’t even know how our last house passed the inspection. There is a reason their houses are cheaper than a lot of other developers.

We now live in another new build built by a different developer (I did a lot of research) and this one is well built, warm, eco friendly and we love it. My advice would be do your research on the developer and the land the estate is built on.

Persimmon is one of the housebuilders that people who work in construction /property always say they wouldn't ever buy a house from (I am often in discussions about this as I work in a related sector)

About the extension being cold, I know someone who had a cold converted garage extension redone to give it a second skin of brickwork, proper insulation and windows; the house is now much warmer. I am wondering about the construction and composition of your extension - was it brick, when was it built and do you know if it has a certificate of building standards compliance, have you seen the building plans and planning permission, and how much or what method of insulation was used or did they cut corners to save costs and could you remedy the cold instead of incurring the costs of moving and buying and selling?

Could you not insulate better? And a downstairs bedroom is not too bad considering the ones you all use are actually upstairs. I don’t know…It just seems like a lot of hassle for just this…wasting more time and money on commuting, not to mention the cost and stress of moving. We are just going through the process of buying and selling and let me tell you, it’s no walk in the park. Every house will have a few things you will not love anyway. Will it be worth it?

I’d swap my 5 year old persimmon home for your absolutely any day of the week

Some new build developers offer incentives like paying stamp duty for you so that’s something to look into.

I would second this. I almost bought two different Victorian houses but they both came back with bad surveys. I bought my house when it was three years old so maybe any problems would have been sorted out by the previous owner. I can’t imagine moving now, I love it and am spending time putting my own stamp on it. My adult daughter loves to criticise new builds and lives in a period property. However, whenever I suggest visiting her instead of her coming over to mine she always says she would rather visit me because my home is so cosy and cute😊

I could have written this!😁

There is a trend to tar all NB's with the same brush but if you do your homework and choose your developer & development wisely they can get great.

I once bought a new build, never again.

I think we had 3 new front doors, none of which fitted, issues with the gas installation, no grass and had to add grass to the garden, plenty of cracks due to house movement, and then living on a building site for months.

My new build is just a money pit. Within 2 months of moving in, a major water leak which flooded and ruined downstairs.
two windows are now blown and need sorting.

cracks and redecorating needed where it’s settled etc. garden is small and not even level as so many bricks and building rubbish buried in it.

we had no choice as it’s shared ownership but the build quality is poor. How they get the houses signed off I don’t know.

you would be better spending the money on insulating current house. Also new build houses are small and built on top of neighbours

parking is a nightmare as new estates tend to attract young families. Now those kids have grown up but can’t afford to move out so there are more cars than bedrooms and work vans etc.

Can you do anything more to improve your current home?
Moving is really expensive.

Insulation isn't the best and extension feels colder.
What can you do to change that?

We sold our 80’s house which was grey, cold and had an odd layout thanks to previous owners extensions. We redid kitchen and bathroom but in the end sold and bought a 5 bed new build for the same price. It’s warm, bills have halved as we have solar panels and water recycling system, layout is perfect for modern living. Best decision ever. We owned a new build years ago and loved that too but moved out of the area.

I have relatives that work on different sites in various trades and none of them would buy a new build, they’ve all brought older houses and renovated to a high standard because they’ve seen the corners that are cut in the build etc
Having said that my sister has a new build, it did have a long snagging list of faults that she picked up when they moved in which had to be rectified, which took a bit of a battle and some extended time but she’s super happy with it now.
Have you had someone look at the extension to see if it can be insulated better and a radiator added?
Our current house wasn’t working for us as it was, we looked into moving but decided that it would be better in the long run to knock down a small extension that was old and rebuild a better two storey one to give us all room.
It may be worth getting someone to come and have a look at your options if the layout is the only reason to move.
We don’t have grammar schools close by but lots of children take the 11+ and then travel the 40 minute journey by bus, some definitely wouldn’t move in that basis as it doesn’t always depend on catchment.

Is ‘never being satisfied’ a bit of a trait of yours?
If so, try working on that - gratitude for what you have, appreciation of the good things in your life etc. Moving home is a very expensive way of scratching an itch.

If you are usually quite a happy sort, then go with your gut and start exploring the practicalities of a move. I find homes very emotive, and am either happy where I am or not. Been in my current very happy home for 23 years! Sometimes it doesn’t matter how ‘perfect’ a home may seem, if you’re not happy there, you’re just not.

Good luck! x

I think you have to step out the show home for a minute, take the rose coloured glasses off and visit a permission estate that’s more than a few years old. They always look nice at the time but from what I’ve seen permission houses don’t look the best quality.

I bought a new build from a high end house builder and it’s on a small development of large detached houses. It’s worlds apart from the horror stories that get trotted out about new builds. I love it and it was the best decision we could have made.

However, the horror stories from smaller pass produced huge housing estates would put me
off anything like that, so it depends on what size and builder you’re considering. Both experiences (mine and the more common one) can be true.

I have heard HORROR stories about Persimmon. I wouldn’t move to one if I was paid to.

We're the second owners of a recent (5 years) new build, we'd assumed all snags would be resolved by then. People around us had endless issues when they moved in, and a couple of them had to move out for repairs to be undertaken.

Some new build problems will take years to come to light. So in a 5 year old house we've had a leak from the shower, a leak from the bath and a leak from the hot water tank. Poor fitting and cheap components may take time to appear.

I did buy one brand new house. Came home from work one day to find a strong smell of gas and a haze in the living room. A gas connection hadn't been fitted properly. That could have killed us

Also, bear in mind with grammar schools that if your children don't get into that school then the other school is likely to be the "sink" school ( this is why I disagree with grammar schools- but that's a different thread) So you need to do your school research very carefully.

As PP said, if you are going to move then don't before your children start school.

You can move for any reason but bear in mind your moving costs may be say, £20,000 minimum, and you will be paying an extra £50,000 for the house. I wonder if it would be wiser to stay put and look to improve the insulation and layout of your current home? Given it’s got the size and location that would be what I would do.

All new builds are not equal. Research thoroughly. We bought an almost new build (7 years old) and it's mostly ok. As for the heating though - it seems like it's either too hot or too cold, not matter what we do. I think that may be partly the design of though as no door between long hallway and stairs.

I wouldn't buy a Persimmon new build.

We've been in our new build for 18 months and I love it.

I know exactly what you mean about a cold extension OP, we had the same in our previous Victorian. It was beautiful but the kitchen dinner was unusable in winter unless you had the oven on.