Question about Newbuilds

[Somanyquestions1984]

I am currently toying between buying an older property or succumbing for the shiny new build development on the edge of a lovely village. The new build development has just launched (2 weeks ago) and as of yet only one house is reserved. I was a bit shocked at the prices listed and was expecting these would be flying of the shelves (its a Redrow development and I understood these are quite popular). Should I wait a bit longer or do they drop the price? Nervous about reserving only to find prices lowered later down the line.

There is a new Redrow development in the small North West town where one of my best friends lives. The quality of the builds are shockingly bad for an average price of around 750 k. Be very careful before making a decision to proceed.

It depends on the popularity of the area and development really.
The price of the homes on our development didn't drop at all- the incentives just changed. For example, when the last couple of plots were available, they started to include things like "premium tile package" and "turfed lawn" but advertised prices never went down. I can't speak for what happened during private negotiations.

Something to also consider if you're planning to hold off is how many of the type of home you would like are available and where those plots are. For example, there may be 100+ homes, but there were only 3 of our type of house on the whole development. Each were on very different plots.

Plot wise consider things like views, parking, through roads, bin collection points, public footpaths, what the plans are for the road and surrounding roads on the development in future (bus stops, shops etc) What way will the garden face, where will you get light?
Look very carefully at what each plot offers. The best plots do tend to go quickly.

The reason we ultimately went for a new build was for the convenience of the sale. We needed to be moved in by a certain point and couldn't guarantee that if getting into a chain with an onward purchase.

We've had older properties (100 years+) newer properties (50's and 80's) and now a new build. We're enjoying the comfort of knowing any problems will be sorted and that everything is new so should last a good while and meet current regulations and energy efficiency guidelines. Older homes had many surprises for us (bodged DIY, unexpected things breaking etc). Our old, old house had character but was a lot of maintenance and work and horribly energy inefficient.

People do knock new builds but it does depend on the individual development and site manager as to the quality and finish. With that said, if you're planning to move within the next 5 years, definitely don't get a new build. It takes a while for the pricing to level out in most cases.

^^ That should have said "If you're planning to move AGAIN within the next 5 years.

They won’t reduce the sale but they will throw in extras such as kitchen fittings when they get desperate

Interesting points- thanks all for replies.
They have already offered a 10k price reduction hence my concern. They also insist on offering no incentives. @netofmums yes I have the same concerns about older properties.

Redrow usually don’t drop the price but will add in incentives. Their houses are very expensive, even compared to other builders.

Moved into our Redrow Cambridge 8-weeks ago, very impressed with the house and support from Redrow.
Yes they may be slightly more expensive than some other developers but they do appear to be worth it, development layout is good with plenty of space.
Process is long but I don't believe it is any different to other developers. Took nearly 12-months from start to finish but buying off-plan meant we had loads of time to work out what options we wanted (we went for a lot!).

Would love to know which development (is it the one I am thinking of about 20-miles from us?), PM me if you like. 😁

I’m in my third new build and it’s a Redrow, it’s a fantastic house. If you want one reserve now and secure the best plot you can afford. The prices will go up.
We didn’t get any money off but got a lot of extras, marble work tops, burglar alarm, ceramic floor tiles in the bathrooms, the patio made bigger, a fully landscaped garden with a really good gardener, downlighters, all switches are chrome, posher carpet, etc, etc.
I have a solar panel and low fuel bills. The house is always a lovely temperature and all the rooms a good size and in the right place.

Hi Dougieowner yes would prefer to pm, how does one do that?

I live in a ten year old redrow. We have had no problems at all, the house is built well and we had some things as standard that you have to pay extra for with other companies such as chrome plugs/light switches. We didn’t get turf at the back. We also didn’t carpet but we got tiles and all kitchen worktops- there was sooo much choice. You can upgrade and pay extra too for certain wardrobe/patio doors etc.

With new builds you need to be aware of the site- the site plans don’t show the elevation and some houses on our estate are really low down with the road and pavement directly above them and no privacy at all. We got lucky, ours is quite private as the back of our house has a house that’s facing to the side. New builds can be quite crammed in and overlooked.

I don’t think they’ll change their prices so if you want one i would get reserving especially as they might not have many of the house you like. With our estate, the price went up with every new phase they released.

I found their customer service to be very good. Only other thing is- with many new estates the roads are not adopted by the council and so you have to pay an annual charge for maintenance of the estate

I'm on a new build, they did a 'house of the month' with a discount of 5k when releasing properties.

I think in general they fix the house prices so as not to devalue their properties overall.

We live opposite a redrow estate, the houses look great, much more expensive than ours though for some reason!

I really love where we are, the only issue is house and garden size as they tend to be smaller than an older property of equivalent money. But it was wonderful moving into something brand spanking new, with warranties and builders able to come fix things quickly, for free in that first year or so.

And we p-exd which was again really worth it, and we actually ended up doing better money wise than if we had sold it ourselves which was a huge bit of right time, right place.

Probably worth also considering the EPC rating of a new build v EPC of a much older property.

Especially with the current cost of heating our homes.

Building regs are much tighter now regarding energy efficiency / carbon footprint etc.

Some mortgage companies also offer cash back incentives if you get a mortgage for a property with an EPC rating of A or B.

I’d personally be worried about buying at an early stage before knowing what the development would look like, though obviously if you’re early you get pick of the properties
I looked at two nearly finished developments recently. One was lovely and spacious with plenty of greenery clearly growing and wide paths for pedestrians and cyclists. I was impressed

The other (not Redrow Tbf) was a massive disappointment. Didn’t look anything like the brochure, all the greenery seemed to have been “cancelled”. And the car parking spaces between houses was clearly far too narrow so people who’d moved in with their not ridiculous Nissan Qashqais had to park them in the very narrow streets, no room for pedestrians or trees etc, horrid! PP makes a good point about elevation too.

I forgot to say one really good thing about Redrow houses is if you go for the bigger ones, normally Salisbury or equivalent and bigger the ceilings are high, not just for a for new builds but high compared to lots of houses. This doesn’t show in the plans so ask for this information. My ceilings are a foot higher than my neighbour's and it makes a massive difference, particularly in the hallway. Also the designs that have large windows in the hallways are really nice.

We haven’t lived in a redrow (previous house was a new build however and we had a fab experience and sold it after 4.5 years for £60k more than we paid). We have been round a lot of redrow sites however and have always been impressed by them and everyone we know who lives in one is very happy with it.

Hopefully Redrow are better than the rest then as there are numerous Facebook groups with long standing histories of shocking quality. Persimmon seems to feature the most

@MarieG10

Hopefully Redrow are better than the rest then as there are numerous Facebook groups with long standing histories of shocking quality. Persimmon seems to feature the most

My previous house was a persimmon. Never ever again. Utter cowboys

I know someone who lives in a Redrow home, they are gorgeous but they are certainly one of the most expensive house builders

You only have to read the issues on the Facebook page "Persimmon Unhappy Customers" to make you reel in shock and avoid buying one. What amazed me is the previous FB group about Persimmon was apparently taken over by Persimmon presumably to close it down and the long history of issues. I know a few years ago NTL (pre virgin media) too over after paying the website "NTHellworld.com to stop the publishing of stories.

There is a Bellway site near us and one person who bought a house near the entrance and show house couldn't get all the faults repaired and sorted so he paid for huge banners to be draped all around his house which created some amusement and panic in Bellway.

Unfortunately finding good new estate builders isn't easy as it is all about cutting cost and buying the cheapest materials

Thanks all for the replies

I am feeling fairly confident about Redrow as we have visited quite a few sites now and all have great layouts and driveways for their homes and are stunning. I think we will bite the bullet and go with the house type we want (Henley) which will stretch us but we are already paying so much in Rent and mortgage on old place which is being sold anyway.

We feel it would be an investment for the future and have salaries that rise year by year and my partner is currently not working to full potential anyway due to study.

In a redrow Warwick here, moved in four years ago. It is lovely and warm. Due to them using contractors there were loads of snagging issues but they were sorted really well. There was a good site manager who personally sorted issues.

Unfortunately we had a water leak in the en-suite, which made its way down to the sitting room. This was a slow leak due to badly fitted toilet. Sadly have to claim the damage on insurance.

Be very thorough about snagging in that two year period when they will sort it out.

Also situation, we are very overlooked at the back, so be aware of that.

A lot of green spaces in the estate, and roads and spaces got quickly adopted by the local council.

But, I would buy another redrow, they are well designed, high ceilings, good follow up customer care.

Neighbouring houses are being sold for way over the initial price, so they hold their price well.

Best of luck, do your research well and pursue them for snagging

My OH says she feels like a borrower in our Redrow what with the tall doors (7ft) and high ceilings!

Wow! What an amazing coincidence that all these satisfied Redrow buyers happened to come along!

Not really, people tend to comment on threads that are relevant to them.

Very good advice from @netofmums

I think you need to consider ultimately whether the house works for you. A lot of people knock new builds due to lack of character, often not prime locations and the box like nature of some of them. Which often ends up with them being worth less than equivalent older properties.

But if you are not concerned with the above, I say go for it.

Is anyone able to share how much their gas/electric bills for 4 bed newbuilds