Benefits of a 10 yr old house?

[DuckSongRocks]

On the move and almost always look at older properties, not new builds as just personal preference.

However 10 yr old property just came up that ticks almost all the other boxes, so tell me the pros/cons please :). If it's builder warranty has now expired should I be concerned in anyway as I hear the 10-20 yr mark is when lots of stuff needs fixing/replacing. I would obviously get a survey just interested to hear opinions.

TIA

I live in a 14-year-old house, it was 11 when we bought it :)

We've had no real issues at all, the only things we've had done are repainting the inside, and replacing the ensuite shower screen because it was leaking. Other than that, everything works fine, and being a new build it is well insulated and cheap to heat! In my imagination I live in a gorgeOus period home but this is a very low maintenance home which has a lot to be said for it!

Cons - I think that when a house is still 'new' to the owners, they don't do much, so you might have a bit of work to do in the next 10 years.

The Pro of that though, is that it is hopefully not too dated and it will likely just be decorating and cosmetic work.

And major work such as new kitchen/boiler/central heating/rewire/windows etc are a long way off.

My last six houses have been 100ish + years old. My present one is 20 years old. It needed quite a bit doing but what needed doing was more cosmetic. We did substantially rewire, replaced kitchen and bathroom and redecorated.

Structurally it was good - no big bills. Boiler had been replaced, majority radiators fine, insulation pretty good, doorways and windows standard sizes so cheap to replace to our taste. Things like fencing were rotten and garden needs an overhaul.

I feel that in the first 5-10 years you'd most likely see major structural things like settlement, build faults. With a full survey you should see any big issues and going in with a clear head to view should enable you to list the other costs like redecorating.

I find taking a camera helps for sitting down and mentally pricing everything you want to change when you get home.

Thanks lady's :). We live in a Victorian property currently and whilst nice features, whenever something needs doing its a major undertaking as nothing is 'standard' and inevitably leads to uncovering other issues and insulation not great etc. In that sense, a newer property does seem attractive. I think perhaps I read horror stories but at 10 yrs old and a survey it should be fine.

It's warm! We moved into a 10 yr old house after a 150 yr old (bought after renting). Windows and doors seal better, it is just much warmer. Not as attractive though, has had some problems eg, all windows needed to be painted. Previous owner has not kept up maintenance and all bathrooms had leaked. Was cosmetically awful also, so we needed to replace all bathrooms. Kitchen also replaced. House was of a very cheap build quality, walls thin. Apparently not much stud work and that las lead to more crack than usual, especially after renovation work (small rooms that we have opened up).

Importantly, it is also very cheap to heat compared to our previous home.

This isn't our forever home. We eventually will settle back to our home country. There, we would probably stump up for an older property but set aside a small pot of money to get the house to the same specifications (heating, insulation etc) as our current property.

Good luck!

We have just sold a 13 year old house. One of many reasons for selling was it would have needed money spending that we wouldn't have recouped - new boiler, kitchen/bathrooms dated and worn, few double glazing panels starting to go.

Compared to new build we have bought it was a lot less energy efficient.

It depends if the previous owners have done anything to it, ours hadn't. So ours still has the gold and terracotta theme that was cutting edge when it was built in 1999. Ours is the old show home but we only moved in 3 years ago.

We are slowly redecorating and replacing things like the kitchen with its faux marble worktop, fireplace, bathrooms have gold taps etc.

The boiler is fine, not as energy efficient as it could be but to recoup the cost of a new boiler would take years so we are leaving it for now, it does get serviced every year.

Electrics are all fine, had those checked too and a window has started to mist so windows will need replacing in a few years.