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.

You haven’t got a clue what new builds are really like.

I just put my hoover under my single bed (that’s all we can get in our master bedroom). Also I just took the wheels off my car so nobody can use the parking space except me. It’s a ballache going anywhere but it’s worth it

i mean in reality we have tons of space and a garage with a 2 car drive but that doesn’t fit the wails of “I could NEVER live in a new build”

How old is old op?

I've done both. The new build was very low maintenance, lovely and new and fresh but not finished to a particularly high standard, cheap kitchen and bathroom. Very energy efficient. Moved into it out of necessity and it was perfect for what we needed at the time.

Then last year I viewed an old, run down converted property in need of renovation, fell in love with it on rightmove and made an offer before we'd left the driveway. It's been a slog, cost a fortune, energy bills are through the roof, but I love the house and it's quirks.

Head says newbuild, heart says reno 😅

Course you do. Chinny reckon 😂

Depends how on your budget, patience and how much of the work you are able/prepared to take on yourself. Older houses may have years of bodged diy to put right, damp, and countless other problems that you may not factor in until you discover it mid-renovation.
yes new builds can have their own issues, but good insulation shouldn’t be one of them.

I’ve lived in a 100yr old house, and that really needed taking back to brick given the issues we kept on uncovering. It was draughty, had some damp issues, the floors and walls weren’t level so fitting a kitchen was fun. On the plus side, it had character and the walls were solid. The new build we live in now is very well insulated, so we don’t pay ridiculous amounts for heating. Contrary to what some think, we have no issues handing cupboards and mirrors on our walls (just use the correct fixings), and snagging issues have been minor. We don’t have a massive garden - it’s enough for the kids to play in, but we don’t have time to maintain more than that anyway. The rooms are big enough, yes the ceilings aren’t that high but to me that just contributes to loss of heat anyway.

what I’m trying to say is that this is not a decision we can make for you- as long as you sit and work out the positives and negative of each property carefully, factor that into your decision along with your budget and ability to prioritise for big renovations, then make the best decision for you.

All homes will need upkeep. New builds - depends who built them and the specification, as not all developers are equal, so they could be the profit developer box, squeezed into a mixed tenure development, or a home built to a high spec, laid out well and fit for the future, - check, as the build date / price is not necessarily the best way to determine this. Older properties - again, how well have they been built, maintained, renovated and how good are at you at sorting out issues that otherwise will be a constant drain on your pockets from having to get someone in and I think a good builder does a better survey than a surveyor, as they'll have a good idea of what / when something will need doing and issues to be mindful of. Energy efficiency is also really worth checking alongside bills over a period of time, so if you can check a year's worth to get a more realistic picture of running costs then do so and new technologies are not always robust and can be expensive to fix. Just do the research and think about how the house fits your life and not making your life fit the house.

We had the same choice as you 4 years ago, we went for the older property.

Now, the the high energy bills and difficulties making it more energy efficient and the expense, I would go for the newer property

I think you choose based on other things. What services do you need? Are you happy to drive your child everywhere? Do you rely on takeaways and like bars and shops within walking distance. Older houses take more maintenance, so can you cope with that?

I went for the old house choice but because I loath towns and crowds, and need my own space. I don't want neighbours too close.

DS is the same and likes it here too, but I wish he had a few friends who were closer, and he wasn't so isolated. Although to be fair, he cycles everywhere now so if he wants to see his friends, he can, without my help.

Since I moved in to the older house, I've replaced all exterior door and windows, upgraded the loft insulation. had a new roof, a new boiler, installed a log burner and fixed the damp in the sitting room.

It's now a warm, efficient home, but still has the bigger garden, larger rooms and more parking.

The parking on new build estates would drive me insane too!

People really slate new builds, but it depends entirely on the builder. I'm the same way, an older house will not be of a better standard, particularly mid to late 20th C houses.

We had to buy a new build, as the help to buy scheme was the only way we could do it. We were disappointed at the time that we didn't have the choice of older properties.

I'm really glad we are in a new build though. Our house was built by a good local building company and everything is good quality. Their houses are about 10% more expensive than other big building firms, but luckily, they were our only option too.

Even decorating the DCs bedrooms has taken us ages, I'm really glad that we don't have any more than that to do. DH has made the garden a bit of a project and that is looking really good now. Heating system is new and under warranty, 2 year snagging guarantee and 10 year building guarantee.

We also have a really massive cupboard on the landing and an airing cupboard, understairs cupboard, utility room and garage. Storage depends on the builder too.

As opposed to all that ample, roomy parking available to the thousands of Victorian terraces across the country? 🤔

Horses for courses really, we've got friends who have only bought new builds whereas they were never on our radar, we like projects though so would always go older with potential to update.

I wouldn’t live in one of those either. Estate roads are particularly narrow.

You really need to go in with eyes wide open.
Renovation means so many things. The older property, while looking like a home, may in fact need a ‘roof off’ renovation, meaning you are basically buying a plot of land with a poor shell of a house, but worse as you have to pay thousands to strip it out.

Exactly. Not for “us” but if I was a single Mum starting again I’d probably pick a new build. We have gutted our place but had the money and resources. We also didn’t live there whilst it was being done.

Look carefully at builders as they aren’t all equal.

Yes, we are planning on having children and this being a long term option. I can see the benefit of both for children. The more rural area would be quite easy to get around by foot and has quite a few outdoorsy activities. Not so connected to other towns and cities though.

I think we would need to do them over time. I would expect we would end up spending the same amount of money overall by the time we would do up the older property.

The only thing the older property is in a housing estate too that is even more tightly packed in. The driveways and roads in the estate are even narrower. The overall area itself is more quiet though compared where the new build house is. That is the main appeal of the older property - more settled and less traffic.

If you are considering a new built make sure you also check whether there is a management/estate maintenance charge for the scheme and who the management company is.

Last week I saw a nice house on an estate built in 2016 and considered making an offer then I found out that homeowners are expected to pay a monthly maintenance charge for the upkeep of the the estate roads, green spaces, lighting and drain system as the council has not ''adopted'' the development.

There is no caps on these charges & the total ''management fees'' for the estate added to the actual repair bills can go into thousands of pounds every year for very little in return. The house builders add covenants to your deeds so they could have a claim to your home if you fail/are late to pay these charges and they can restrict what you do with your home. You need permission to build a conservatory for example and need to pay them an ''admin'' fee. They also ask people to pay for a pointless homeowner pack if you want to resale the property and again there is a fee for that.

A brief google search showed that 3 different residents on the estate I was looking at were disputing the charges and had already taken legal action.

This did not sound like a real freehold/home ownership to me, so I walked away from it. There are a lot of ''fleecehold'' horror stories out there and that is definitely something to check with new houses.

It seems to me that new builts come a variety of issues although I accept that some are better built than others and that in some cases the homeowners can manage the estate themselves so that issues with maintenance fees are less likely.

^I agree with this. And I live in a house that's classed as a new build.

I've just bought an older property from the 1960s, but I spent the best part of a year trawling the market. We had certain specific, quite unusual requirements, so we looked at so many different houses, both old and new.

I saw lots of lovely new houses, but none had the features, storage or space that an equivalent older house could offer. Of course, if you're comparing a new build to a Victorian terrace house with bugger all parking and all crammed in, then the new house will probably look much better and be the preferable choice! But a new build semi-detached compared to an older semi-detached - I'd go for the older property every time, generally speaking. They're built more solidly and usually to a higher standard. Luxury fittings and stylish interiors don't make up for high-quality construction. Modern houses are built at speed and for profit, with as many squeezed in as possible into the smallest possible area. There wasn't the same issue over space many decades ago, and property developers were far more generous with the plots. To me, the feeling of space and not being crowded really matters.

It really does depend on the properties though. As a generalisation, I'd always take the older house but depending on your priorities and the exact details of the two houses, you might end up preferring the new build. Really impossible to say for sure without being able to compare the two houses specifically. Which isn't much help really 😅