Pro and Cons of buying a brand spanking new house...

[AmazingBouncingFerret]

against buying one that is, say 10/15 years old.

We went to see some new builds and they are very pretty and new and neat but I have no experience in buying brand new. Should I make it an option or not?

You need to check out the quality, but generally the quality of new builds has been increasing, so more recent houses are going to be better quality than older ones.

If you buy early on (off plan), you get choice of bathrooms/kitchens/fittings etc with a new build.

You know when you're cleaning and you discover some gross grime. The knowledge that that's your grime, not anyone else's from unknown time past. That's worth it!

(that, and round here they're practically giving new builds away free with phone contracts )

We are so warm in our new house! You can all shower at the same time without the water running hot or cold. We have no draughts and tight fitting, new windows. Everything shiny and new and clean. Smooth, virgin walls. Smaller bills for utilities. There are some good new build packages to be had at the moment so see what you can negotiate. We got our stamp duty paid, all white goods and carpets. We bought Croudace and are really happy with it.

The bad bits are having to start a garden from scratch and the fact that sat navs and post had trouble finding us for a while. Apart from that all good. New builds tend to attract lots of young families.

Round here new houses carry a premium so you'll get less space for your money, particularly outside space. On the positive side, you'll have very little maintenance.

Thanks for replying everyone. Underwater you made me with gross grime. The first things I do when moving into a newly bought house is scrub down all toilets with far too much bleach!

The idea of lower bills and new houses being more energy efficient is one to think about. My current house isnt old old, 1970's but it I can imagine I'd see a marked difference in bills and what not.

TBH less outside space wouldnt bother me too much, Our garden is huge and I rarely use the top end of it only go up there to pick up after the dog

I'm selling it to myself arn't I?

As everyone else has said it's clean and you know you are the first to use everything.
I also like the guarantee of new windows, new boiler etc and it comes with 10 yr build guarantee.
We are currently looking to buy a Taylor wimpey and they turf the garden for us which helps.
The only downside for me is you can't decorate for a couple of years or that's what they recommend so if you don't mind living with white or magnolia walls that will develop cracks then go for it, new houses take time to settle.

We bought a new build and have to say I didn't mind the no decorating for 12 months thing. Means we got to live here a good while and get a feel for the house before rushing into decorating too hastily and ending up making mistakes re colours/wallpaper etc.
And I like the fact that nobody used our toilets before we did!!

I would advise checking everything, switching all lights on and off, flushing all toilets, checking all taps run hot and cold and the water drains away ok. Add any undone bits and pieces to a 'snagging' list for the builders to sort out. Moving to a new close meant we got to know the neighbours as everyone was new at the same time. We aren't in and out of each others pockets, but we do take parcels in and hold spare keys which is very useful.

Croudace went through the whole house with us whilst we snagged every room and have also responded quickly to any small problem we had. Cant fault them.

Dozens of minor problems which really piss me off because you don't expect them.

You end up living on a building site for a while

If you need anything doing you can just walk out into the street and find a plasterer/electrician/carpenter etc.

You get to know your neighbours because everyone is new (not sure if this is good or not)

If you don't like any of the kitchens/tiles etc you feel like you can't change them because they are brand new.

You probably won't have any big expenses like a boiler or windows for 20 years.

Do all new builds now have metered water? This could be an advantage or disadvantage I suppose depending how much water you use.

I love the idea of a new house but am put off by the strange lack of pavements (why have builders started to build family sized homes in streets with little, sporadic or no pavements) and problems with parking on modern estates.

my first house was brand new and i'd love to have another brand new one TBH.

check for storage space inside. for some reason all the new builds i've been in have no storage space! not even for the hoover or ironing board. best idea would be to go round your current house having a look to see what storage you actually use and whether that's enough or too much, then when visiting new houses compare.

if you are buying off plans you get input WRT fittings, tiles etc, but you also get to do a snagging list after all the work is complete and the contractor has to put it right. remember though that houses take a good few years to 'settle' and if you have painted you may notice cracks starting to appear.

i'm quite jealous. i love my house really but it's a 1930's terrace and you can tell it's old. i want to renovate the whole lot (have no money to though)

I've seen a couple of TV programmes which put me off a bit. And also I read they use scaled down furniture in the show houses to make the rooms look bigger. But if the builder is a well established one with a good reputation and you love the house. Why not. But you might get a bargain on a house that has only been built a couple of years or so.

"And also I read they use scaled down furniture in the show houses to make the rooms look bigger."

i wouldn't really let that put me off, just bring a tape measure and a notebook when you go to view. the furniture used in the show home should never be used to decide whether the house is for you or not. it will never be like that when you move in.

Check your mortgage lenders criteria some have different loan to value criteria for new builds, we found this out to our cost and ended up scrabbling round for a mortgage!
Pros of new builds is that it is like having a landlord for the first two years, you see a 'snag' phone the developer and they send someone round to fix it. Whether this is an easy process depends on your developer, smaller developers tend to be better with this stuff than the big boys.
Thinner walls are a feature, but if you are in a 1970's anyway then you wouldn't notice!

We bought a new build seven years ago. The main problem we've had is the standard of the plasterwork which is poor and also the bathroom fittings are cheap and don't really fit properly. Also they tend to build them very close together, I.e. no driveway between the houses, just a little pathway. I wouldn't but another house by the builder who built ours but I suspect others are much better.

However, the rooms are a good size and I loved the fact that it was clean and new. We bought the show house so didn't get a choice of flooring, kitchen etc but did get it a bit cheaper. The carpet they put in is rubbish though, very cheap and poor quality.

Space is a big issue... New builds are officially getting smaller not bigger in terms of m2 partially because we buy by no of beds in this country rather than space and squeezing sizes down means more houses on an estate.
I would check parking spaces - no & size. Cars are getting bigger, housebuilders rarely increase the size and are still working on the minimum they can get away with. Fine if you have a small car but larger ones can struggle and end up overhanging into the road.
Snagging - lots of issues with quality in new builds, some developments are fine others shocking. Its good to find out from personal experience of estates to find if there are problems.
If it's a big estate resale may be difficult if there are new properties still being built as people will gravitate to the new ones rather than those selling. Fine if you are sure to stay for a while but could be a problem if like friends of ours circumstances change (they haven't been able sell and have luckily been able to rent when they had to move for work)

Just a word on new builds and "other peoples grime" I'm sorry to burst your bubble but my DH as a builder for years and worked on lots of new build estates the builders not only use your loo, but often take a dump on the floor in the houses if the plumbing isn't in yet, Chances are every corner in your house has been pee'd in. Its the site labourer's job to clean up after them. You wouldn't believe how gross people can be!

Also check in the show home that all the rooms have doors. I love a poke round a show home, but was shocked in the Barrrett homes that loads of rooms were missing doors, which would have taken up a huge part of the tiny corridors and rooms.

pesephone a friend also told me this WRT builders using the toilet (didn't know about the floor though- that's disgusting!!) as her DH is a builder.

why in God's name would a builder NOT use the loo in a house they were working on?