@Psycho Sonny has spoken. The matter is closed; there is no need for any further discourse. Mods, you may close the thread. You have Psycho Sonny's permission.
House prices rose 7.3% this year, average now almost £250k
- Thread starter HACO
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someone mentioned that mps were debating the stamp duty petition today
they did, it's here: https://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/59ae7998-e498-4077-bbaa-5be1e74b1c82
yes it's basically a waste of time watching it, they say exactly what we've all already said.
they did, it's here: https://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/59ae7998-e498-4077-bbaa-5be1e74b1c82
yes it's basically a waste of time watching it, they say exactly what we've all already said.
I said it in another thread a long time ago
People tend to rate and compare new builds to older homes around the number and severity of any snags.
I think they forget that the home that's now 20 years old likely had snags and faults when built but it has had 20 years to rectify all the snags.
People tend to rate and compare new builds to older homes around the number and severity of any snags.
I think they forget that the home that's now 20 years old likely had snags and faults when built but it has had 20 years to rectify all the snags.
So far you've posted 138 times in 113 days (more than once a day!) to share your wisdom with the rest of us. I'd say you're gonna miss this thread
Generally when people believe that way about a thread, they stop reading/contributing and move on. Your ever-presence here would suggest otherwise.
When Sonny says he thinks it's time to shut this down what he really means that after 138 posts, he's said all he has to say, and obviously, nobody else has anything to say so everyone else should also just shut up.
A lot of it is survivorship bias. Old builds that continue to exist now are the ones that survived this long, and their issues were fixed. However, it means that buying them is quite safe, unlike new builds unless you know what to look for.
My personal experience was one of very limited options at anything other than four beds but my overall impressions of three beds were: third was basically a study at best, not even fit for a childs room once a bed was put in. Master bedroom just regular sized with zero options on where to place furniture because of unnecessary on-suite bathroom (now admittedly this may be fantastic for some but was a total waste of space for us, just a small toilet underneath staircase or in entrance is fine for second toilet), small living room, tiny dining area. Just small small small but at premium prices.
We figured that by the time we'd actually put furniture inside we'd not be much better off than her 1 bed flat for spare space.
In the end we went with a mid 70's, four bed that had a wall taken out to make it three (now that's a master bedroom), huge living room. Dining area is not the largest I'll admit.
It needed a few thousand in maintenance as the previous owners couldn't be bothered with basic upkeep. Replaced all the windows after a couple of years.
Yes it's not super insulated eco whatever but the cost of paying extra heating bills would never come close to the hundreds of thousands we would have paid for the equivalent new build, plus many more years of interest payments. Can walk to train station in 15 minutes.
My dream is to sell up, move from Essex back to my home town town up north, work from home (COVID has proven it's totally possible for our company) and have a house built from scratch to our spec. Or move to Germany with my misses where houses can be built to a custom spec as a norm, as I've seen with her brother's incredible place.
We figured that by the time we'd actually put furniture inside we'd not be much better off than her 1 bed flat for spare space.
In the end we went with a mid 70's, four bed that had a wall taken out to make it three (now that's a master bedroom), huge living room. Dining area is not the largest I'll admit.
It needed a few thousand in maintenance as the previous owners couldn't be bothered with basic upkeep. Replaced all the windows after a couple of years.
Yes it's not super insulated eco whatever but the cost of paying extra heating bills would never come close to the hundreds of thousands we would have paid for the equivalent new build, plus many more years of interest payments. Can walk to train station in 15 minutes.
My dream is to sell up, move from Essex back to my home town town up north, work from home (COVID has proven it's totally possible for our company) and have a house built from scratch to our spec. Or move to Germany with my misses where houses can be built to a custom spec as a norm, as I've seen with her brother's incredible place.
I think its quite telling that my old mortgage provider First Direct wont give you a mortgage if it is a new build.
No amount of snagging is going to make the rooms & garden bigger and the walls thicker.
In my opinion 50-80s is around the sweet spot. Relatively modern, but still solidly built and with decent sized rooms/garden. Before we bought our current house (50s build), we rented a newish build (~2000). We could hear pretty much every word from the neighbours, the bedrooms were tiny, and the garden was a postage stamp of paving slabs.
The other thing I've noticed about new builds is they seem to start to look tatty very quickly (I guess this is due to being built to cost rather than built to last).
So much new build nonsense in here..
Firstly, a quick check tells you first direct will absolutely give you a mortgage but only 80% LTV which seems to make sense to me, it's far more likely due to the slightly unknown nature of the value than anything to do with the construction.
80s being the sweet spot? Are you mad? There was plenty of junk built in the 70 and 80s etc just as there is now. There are good builds and bad builds.
I agree new build estates can often look tatty quite quickly. Because they've been new, are no longer new and haven't had time to age. Those "well built" 80s houses also went through that, my first job in the 90s was wandering round these estates hassling people into having quotes for replacements for the new either rotten wood or **** yellow UPVC windows etc. They were awful.
I've owned a flat built in the 60s, the windows were knackered and there was a looming threat of a new roof and no parking if you didn't have a garage that was made out of prefab concrete panels and falling apart. I sold it for £150k, it was tiny.
I now live in a 1910 house, yes I have a big garden. I also have a suspended wooden floor in the front room which is freezing, no wall insulation, none of the walls are flat, the roof leaks and I can hear the neighbours like we live in the same house, but I love it.
I also was one of the first people to move into a new build on a new estate and yes we had a small garden which was overlooked but I never heard the neighbours and it was so well insulated it cost buttons to heat with the brand new heating system.
It's just lazy snobbishness/confirmation bias.
Firstly, a quick check tells you first direct will absolutely give you a mortgage but only 80% LTV which seems to make sense to me, it's far more likely due to the slightly unknown nature of the value than anything to do with the construction.
80s being the sweet spot? Are you mad? There was plenty of junk built in the 70 and 80s etc just as there is now. There are good builds and bad builds.
I agree new build estates can often look tatty quite quickly. Because they've been new, are no longer new and haven't had time to age. Those "well built" 80s houses also went through that, my first job in the 90s was wandering round these estates hassling people into having quotes for replacements for the new either rotten wood or **** yellow UPVC windows etc. They were awful.
I've owned a flat built in the 60s, the windows were knackered and there was a looming threat of a new roof and no parking if you didn't have a garage that was made out of prefab concrete panels and falling apart. I sold it for £150k, it was tiny.
I now live in a 1910 house, yes I have a big garden. I also have a suspended wooden floor in the front room which is freezing, no wall insulation, none of the walls are flat, the roof leaks and I can hear the neighbours like we live in the same house, but I love it.
I also was one of the first people to move into a new build on a new estate and yes we had a small garden which was overlooked but I never heard the neighbours and it was so well insulated it cost buttons to heat with the brand new heating system.
It's just lazy snobbishness/confirmation bias.
My only gripe with our new build is the interior walls being thin, plasterboard affairs.
Thankfully we have our en suite and the staircase splitting the middle, so one of the bedrooms has breathing room in that regard.
We have a good sized lounge, nice big open plan kitchen/dining combo, a big enough back yard (I hate mowing any way) and a detached garage.
However, the first point is why we under no circumstances entertained the idea of a semi or terrace, and did everything we could to secure one of the limited detached houses in the development.
2 years in April, and no massive snagging issues thankfully.
Thankfully we have our en suite and the staircase splitting the middle, so one of the bedrooms has breathing room in that regard.
We have a good sized lounge, nice big open plan kitchen/dining combo, a big enough back yard (I hate mowing any way) and a detached garage.
However, the first point is why we under no circumstances entertained the idea of a semi or terrace, and did everything we could to secure one of the limited detached houses in the development.
2 years in April, and no massive snagging issues thankfully.
The thin walls aren't nice.
I certainly wouldn't want a family in this house. The plasterboard let's all sound though. Basically it's OK between each side of the house. But on same side. The sound just carries. This is a 20 year old house.
Yeah, I grew up in South Africa, and every wall of our house was brick. I could close my bedroom door and blast music and it would be barely audible in my brother's room.
I'm actually surprised you're anti that.
From what i've read of your replies, the basis of your complaint is about lack of affordable housing in your local area.
Building 40 terraced houses, of probably 3 bed, with small gardens versus 12 detached houses of probably 4/5 bed, with big gardens. The latter being on the more unaffordable end of the scale for locals.
If the land can fit 40 houses, are you honestly expecting them to build 12 small detached 3 bedroom houses (with big gardens) just because? They stopped building houses like that a good 20 or so years ago. You just don't get new "affordable" housing with big spacious gardens.
But we're talking zero or almost zero gardens, and everything built to the cheapest spec possible.
It's yet another symptom of housing being a profit-making vehicle. Of leaving housing purely to market forces.
Housing isn't disposable. What we build blots the landscape for years to come. And right now we're building some pretty awful crap (although I'm sure there are exceptions). It can't be much fun to live in a tiny house with a tiny garden (or none), with no parking and no space to swing a toy cat.
The trouble is we're not at all focused on making people happy (happy people are more productive, I'm sure everybody knows this by now). We're simply focused on allowed developers and their shareholders to make as much return as possible. And the (central) govt doesn't want houses built by public bodies, because of their private-sector-is-best ideology.
We're going to end up like Japan, where everybody lives in a shoe-box, and there are huge mental health issues with the younger generations. But here, nobody will care. The "I'm alright, Jack" classes will just continue breaching "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps", and nothing will change.
I don't disagree with the sentiment.
But there are minimal standards for room sizing, and it's not as small as you make out. But the fact is that if you want bigger rooms, it's going to cost you more.
Most new builds i've seen have at least parking for 1 car, and an adequately sized garden - enough room that you could at least put out a patio table, a swing + paddling pool and a BBQ. How much space do you actually need?
How much profit margin to the developers and their shareholders actually need? At least down here we've had developers ask for council subsidies to break ground
Guess they think they've got us by the balls if they think they can make such demands.In general, I'm always going to side with the betterment of society rather than the enrichment of the few.
Having good quality housing is something that will benefit society. Building the smallest, cheapest, nastiest possible to maximise developer and shareholder returns does the opposite.
Deleted User 298457
Deleted User 298457
Get off your high horse. I'm in a half mill 600 sq/ft terrace and I am perfectly happy as a starter home.How much profit margin to the developers and their shareholders actually need? At least down here we've had developers ask for council subsidies to break ground
In general, I'm always going to side with the betterment of society rather than the enrichment of the few.
Having good quality housing is something that will benefit society. Building the smallest, cheapest, nastiest possible to maximise developer and shareholder returns does the opposite.
This.
Where do you live?
Half a mil for 600 sq/ft? So £833 per sq/ft? Only a handful fo London boroughs are more expensive ***removed***
I was generally planning for £600 per sq/ft for my starter home.
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It's like a new kind of humble brag. Look how much money i can waste on a **** house.Where do you live?
Half a mil for 600 sq/ft? So £833 per sq/ft? Only a handful fo London boroughs are more expensive
I was generally planning for £600 per sq/ft for my starter home.
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