Mad to go for older house requiring renovations over an energy efficient new build?

[decisionschoices]

Hi everyone!

As the subject line says - would it be mad to go for an older house requiring renovations over a new build that's energy efficient? Especially in this day and age?

We like 2 houses that are in 2 different areas (and not located where we currently live). We are renting at the moment and this would be our first property.

The older house is in an area with more natural beauty and calmness, and less expensive. The new build is a more built up area (there's more in the way of high street shops and restaurants) and more expensive. They both have good schools nearby and allow us to commute to work.

Are you planning on having children and this being a long term option? If so the new one near shops etc. otherwise go for the country option

Depends how rich you're planning to be. We have an interesting' house. It costs an absolute bomb to keep it ticking over. That said, I take joy daily, from our location, the view, and how peaceful it is.

Can you afford the renovations needed?

I'd say go for the new build for the low energy bills and no stress of getting building work done.

I am currently living in a new build. The house is very low maintenance and our bills are comparatively low. However we have recently had our garage converted into an additional living space and just that small project has been enough to put me off ever moving to a property that needs work doing.

Waiting around for builders, plumbers and electricians. Not to mention the cost of it all.

One of the builders we used was saying that materials like bricks and wood have all doubled in price over the last couple of years and will likely keep rising for th next few years.

I’d go for the older house but simply because I’ve had horrible experience of new builds … small for what you’re paying; thin internal walls you can’t hang shelves or cupboards on, small gardens that are just poor turf laid on a skin of topsoil then all rubble beneath; inadequate storage space (too many bathrooms and nowhere to keep an ironing bored or your winter coats). And if it is very new there will be a load of redecorating required as it settles and cracks appear.

I don’t like new builds. I live in at 1800 build that we’ve renovated extensively. A property with character would always be my preference if we could afford it.

As usual, the "all newbuilds are rubbish" reply.
Some newbuilds may be like that but not all and probably not even most.

Been in our newbuild 11-months and not one of your issues applies.
Block internal walls, full height understairs storage cupboard in kitchen and similar sized cupboard for coats & shoes in hall, manageable sized garden with decent turf (survived last summer ok) and after the 3-month courtesy touch-up service, no further decoration required.

To get back to the OP's question.
If you have the time, money, experience & patience to have an older house brought up to spec then go for it if it ticks all your boxes. If however you are not very handy, have a tight budget and hate disruption then a newer house would probably bet best. Cheaper to run as well.
Had 1930's, 1950's & 1970's houses but our newbuild is by far the best. Agreed the garden is smaller than the 1950's one (but then again not many houses have a 250ft garden) but as we reach retiring age something a tad smaller is better.

I posted a thread similar to yours recently and got some interesting replies :)

I am concerned as well about taking on an older house because the various Victorian and cottage properties I have looked at so far in the seaside town where I live would need a lot of work just to move in and then I assume more maintenance issues would crop up and I am concerned about the cost of repairs to roof/bathrooms/boiler. But they definitely are bigger and more interesting.

I am still looking at both type of properties but if you are on small budget don't take on something that will require extensive renovations and costly maintenance.

I'd never buy a new build house. I'd take the older one every time.
New build houses and housing estates these days remind me of dolls houses. They are small, with not much storage space and have tiny, overlooked gardens.

I find new builds soulless, and I know lots of people who have had big problems with new builds, so personally I'd go for the period property every time if I could afford it.

depends what your budget for renovation is, and the timescale you have to make the house what you want it to be. It doesn't have to be an either or.

Renovating a house is the best time to make it energy efficient - its all about insulation and efficient heating primarily, as well as upgrading electrical systems etc as well as kitchens and bathrooms. You would ideally take a "shell" approach first
roof, watertight, and sound. loft insulation
walls - if not possible for cavity wall insulation, then either internal wall insulation as you renovate or EWI if that is possible
floors. As a minimum, insulation under wooden suspended floorboards
good quality double glazed windows - replacement tied into wall insulation
very good fitting external doors
draught proof - again easier when renovating.

I went to a house renovating/building event recently and at one session, they had speakers about energy efficiency and older houses, and the view was that you can get say about 80% efficiency improvement relatively easily - with diminishing returns after that in terms of cost and reduction in bills. Not saying that 80% is really cheap, just relatively cheap to achieving say, passive house standard

Have lived in both. Definitely the new build. Every time. The amount of time I spend in my current old dump trying to get repairs done is insane. everything is more expensive because of the materials/tradespeople you have to use, and yes, it’s beautiful to look at and look out of but it’s a money pit. And that’s before we get into heating it. Take the easy route unless you’re going to commit yourself and your free time to your house in a way that goes beyond merely living in it.

Yep as this poster says every single new build house is exactly the same.

except the ones that are spacious with private gardens on well designed estates - like mine.

Have a look at some of the energy threads where people are using 10kwph a month in gas opposed to others in older homes using 10kwph a week. The cost being 3/4x more so £300/400 a month rather than £100

if you can afford £4800 rather than pay £1200 a year, go for the older house

Go for the new build - energy efficient, modern, and being walking distance of shops and within easy reach of bigger shops and supermarkets cannot be underestimated. My first new build gained 25% in value between buying and selling it (couple of years).

Have lived in both. Definitely the new build. Wild horses couldn't drag me back to an older house, and I LOVED them.

You'll spend all your money on really boring stuff like roofing, gutters, electrics, windows, DAMP, in an old house.

In a new build the layouts are often better, and you can do the fun decorating rather than the depressing boring stuff.

Sounds like the new build is in a more interesting area too.

Not quite the same but I live in a older house that we brought from a building company that had been fully renovated. New roof, wiring, kitchen, bathroom everything. Load of insulation. Downside - No period features. Do I care about draughty fireplaces and ceiling roses ? NOPE.

It’s amazing every day, 10 years later ! All our changes are optional, we can take time to decide what needs to be done. The thought of living in a reno feels me with dread.

I would check the sound proofing of the new build and the parking as that seems to send people crazy - then go for the new build every time.

The other expense is fuel, if the new build is near amenities then you’ll be able to walk etc but if the older house is not, you’ll drive back and forth everywhere each time you leave the house

😆
Can't be true!
You know it is a FACT that all newbuilds are pokey, poorly built identical square boxes with paper-mache walls, insufficient storage space (for even a dustpan & brush), postage-stamp sized gardens that overlook each other while having poor quality turf laid over all sorts of builders rubble and a single parking-space serving twenty houses that results in fisticuffs every day.

Those of us who live in well designed & built houses on attractive developments with ample parking and gardens must be imagining it as they just don't exist. 😁

So many variables you need to write them all down and work out your priorities.

Firstly budget - is the new build definitely not going to need any money spent and do you have sensible costings for the work on the old house?

Renovation can mean anything from "redecorating" to "nearly rebuilding" - which is it? I wouldn't recommend the latter for a first timer.

What is your lifestyle and how rural is the rural house? Do you want shops/facilities on the doorstep and would you end up being a taxi service for growing children in the rural area?

Is this a "stage" house or a "house for life"? If you plan to be there for decades the economics look very different as in a long term house you will likely to a lot of remodeling anyway over the years. For a house expected to last five years before moving on - not so much.

If you buy the older house make sure you have the money and time to renovate it.

We moved into a Georgian house 2 years ago and have a baby and toddler, therefore no time or money. We thought we'd have had it renovated by now but I'm due back in work full time next month after an unplanned pregnancy and the house is worse than when we moved in. There's just so much to do and we're uncovering problem after problem due to bodging by the previous owner. All we've managed to do in 2 years is the main bathroom, the en-suite, the downstairs toilet and part of the kitchen.

Are you doing the work yourself? We've had the kitchen plastered by a tradesman and the heating system replaced (nightmare job) by a professional. Everything else we're doing ourselves including re-wiring.

This is such a good point. All these older houses will have been bodged by some diy enthusiast- whatever the surfaces issues are, it’ll be worse underneath. Hence best to just take it back to the brick and do it properly.

New build, especially if it has underfloor heating. We’re currently in our second and after staying at my parents 1950’s detached redbrick villa last week I was hugging the walls when I walked back in. I don’t recognise the description of bad quality, paper thin walls or not being able to hang heavy stuff on the walls etc, even with us having a timber frame property, but that is probably dependant on the builder. Even with my dad renovating their place within the last two years, including new double glazing and extra insulation in some areas, it was freezing when the heating was off. We have the heating on two hours a day and that’s sufficient to be comfortable the rest of the day apart from in really cold snaps.

We only moved in to this house last august and so our direct debit for the gas was based on average usage for this size of house. We’re now £800 in credit on the gas and need to sort out eroding that.

If you have the cash to spend on optimising the energy efficiency of the period property you might reconsider, but it would be a lot of work.

Lived in an old flat - listed, pretty, lots of character
then one that was about 5 years old

the difference in bills is huge, even in a one bed flat. I was barely home when I lived in the period flat and on winter days, it was often colder indoors than out, when I got home.

really heating money is key, I would have to be very wealthy before I lived in an old build again. Also, with high ceilings, you feel like the heat is up away from where you need it to be.

here, my heating bills are low but my air con is on a fair bit on summer. May not affect you in a house, but the flats are designed to keep in every scrap of heat.