About to buy a house

Bes

Bes

Bes

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
7,318
Location
Melbourne
Hi

I am looking for a house at the moment (First time buyer) Just wondering if anyone has any tips/ advice they would like to share?

Thanks
 
Bes said:
I am looking for a house at the moment (First time buyer) Just wondering if anyone has any tips/ advice they would like to share?
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Look round at least a dozen houses before putting an offer in.

Don't overstretch your budget.

Don't trust Estate Agents.

Don't accept finnancial advice from anyone associated with an Estate Agent.

Do take an impartial friend with you to viewings.

Do go back for a second viewing.

Do offer less than the asking price.

Do look round the area at various times of day if you don't know it already.

Don't buy new build.

Remember you are buying bricks and mortar. Not paint. Not furniture. Not carpets. Not wallpaper. Not paint. Not light fittings. Bricks and mortar. Everything else is alterable.

Think about buying a house that needs cosmetic work. I regret not doing so.

Compare lots of mortgages.

Best of luck.
 
Von Luck said:
Most new build houses don't tend to be as solidly built as older houses - plasterboard and woodframes rather than bricks + mortar.

Plot sizes will be smaller, you'll be more overlooked, roads tends to be thinner, garages not large enough to take a car, etc etc.

You pay for it being tarted up and ready to move in - there's no scope to add value by working on it yourself.

I wouldn't touch a new build myself - Victorian or 1930s give you far more for your money.
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what a load of rubbish, it all depends who built it and how it is built. to say all new built are done timber construction is rubbish. And to say all Pre-WW2 houses are better is also rubbish. I've built houses with timber frames and Brick/concrete blocks, I know how they are put together, i know the insulation used. If anything, modern Timber frame buildings have better insolution/U-Values than Victorian houses (some old victorian house does not have a cavity, using the solid blockwork itself to keep water out and heat in. This can cause problems with damp in some cases). As for garages not big enough to take a car, thats rubbish too. There are standard diamensions for garages, and width of roads. Everything has a minimum diamensions so that Cars/people can fit with ease.

As for plot size being smaller....buy a bigger plot?

Every property is different, there are no 2 identical. your analogy is just ... wrong !
 
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Hi, i have been looking at houses too, and with new houses, you will never pay the asking price if you are a first time buyer.

AS you are not in a chain, they give you discount, if you catch the market at the right time, i.e. the first to move on to the site, the last to move onto the site, end of month, end of a phase, end of targets for period, you will get discount. As you will have the money there, albeit a mortgage (most likely) or the cash ready, they can offer discount.

We went looking on saturday, with no intention to purchase, 5% deposit paid, carpets down throughout.

Last month we were looking, said we were first time buyers, they said, "we can knock over 5% off" straight away, no arguments nothing. so wouldnt discount new builds.



Good luck with your house hunting!! :)
 
Von Luck said:
Thought that might help you Raymond.

Anyway, with regard to garage sizes + road widths - perhaps the houses that you build are sized more generously, but I can assure you that I'm not imagining my friend's houses in both Thurrock (Chafford Hundred) and Chelmsford which sit on roads which are near to single-track width with garages that you cannot fit a family hatchback into without getting out first and then pushing it in.



For the same sum of money an older house will usually offer a larger, less overlooked plot.

Perhaps you could look up 'manners' in the dictionary as well, yours appear to be somewhat lacking. :)
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Thanks for correcting my grammer, but why do people always do that in a debate here?

Your example of where you live is just that, an example. It does not imply in anyway every other house in the country is built that way. Unless you have done some statistical survey on over 50% of the houses in the country, in both Pre and Post WW2 and compare diamensionsm plot size, value (index / inflation linked), then i can't see how you or I for that matter can comment whether older or new houses are better.*

as for older houses = money for value...Can't agree there either.

Older houses are generally near town center, which in turns cost more because of their location being near the town center (I am sure you have heard of the phase - Location Location Location). And if they have a bigger plot, it will also reflect in their prices. Estate Agents are not idiots, they don't mark older houses cheaper, if anything, they cost more as they deem to have "character". New builts are done in housing plots, which are design together with road width, access, gardens...etc in mind, and usually a little further away from the town center and because of their location, they are usually cheaper.

*Except that I have work experience as an Architect practice so I do know how old and new houses are built.
 
Hmm some useful stuff there... Saw one I liked today (viewed about 6) and am considering putting an offer in. I did see one fixer- upper and from a financial point of view it was the best house, but I just don't think I can see myself living in that area! (it was near a disused steel mill about 1 mile from Sheffield city centre). It was £129,500. Apparently the steel mill is being flattened and houses being built on it soon, but I am just not sure. :/ It is right next to a tram stop too which is handy.

The one I am seriously considering is near Hunter's Bar for anyone that knows sheffield, its 167,500 and in immaculate condition inside. The only thing that appears to be wrong with it is the cellar is slightly leaky. But obvioulsy if the survey says its a problem, I can negotiate a bigger discount.
 
Von Luck said:
Thought that might help you Raymond.
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I'm not here to argue over something i don't know the in's and out's on. But English isn't Raymonds first language, but you might not have guessed that because hes so damn good at it anyway. So a cheap dig at grammar and spelling in his well worded argument were far from needed. I'm sure he could blind you in about three different other dialects of one language :D.

Also he knows his stuff when it comes to his architecture, shame he's into law now though :p.
 
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