Mortgage Rate Rises

kitkat9933 said:
Compare that to the horrors of older buildings where if you discover something post purchase you didn’t before and you’re out of luck.

There’s bad new builds and bad older buildings too. Both have pros and cons to consider.
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A good survey should pick up serious issues though and the rest is up to you to check with your eyes or get someone else in to look at. When I talk about buying a new build, I don't mean one from 5-10 years ago, I mean, buying a new build that hasn't been finished yet.

Jono8 said:
But you are sort of making out that every old house that isn't a new build was built perfectly.

Everything was a new build once, and there are no doubt loads of really awfully built older houses too.

I agree that you have to accept that even though it's new, it won't be perfect and you'll still have issues just like any property.
However you can at least get them fixed for free on a new build.
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No, plenty of older houses were built poorly too but if you get a **** developer you will have an absolute nightmare.
 
adam cool dude said:
When we bought we looked at plenty of new builds but the plots they were all on generally leave a lot to be desired. This new fad of building houses 3 stories high is not great either as it blocks out all of the sun on your garden too.
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Town Houses are not a new thing
 
fez said:
A good survey should pick up serious issues though and the rest is up to you to check with your eyes or get someone else in to look at. When I talk about buying a new build, I don't mean one from 5-10 years ago, I mean, buying a new build that hasn't been finished yet.



No, plenty of older houses were built poorly too but if you get a **** developer you will have an absolute nightmare.
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A good surveyor will help as will using your own eyes but they can only report on what they can see. Older houses can have nasties very well hidden…

Eg my parents house (1860s build) had an external wall held up by render.. when they went to re-render, half a bedroom wall and window came down..

There’s just good and bad on both new and old.
 
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Hedge said:
They have been on trend more on recent years judging by the developments I've seen near me though.

The point is fair about them blocking out sun on what tend to be small gardens anyway.
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When we were buying a while ago, we visited one development that had these really tall thin/long three story buildings, and the driveways were just a narrow passage between each house. It was horrible standing in the driveway with two of those monstrosities either side.

Needless to say we didn't go for one of those.
 
New Builds do cost buttons to heat mind you compared to older properties.



Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
The optimum is probably something like a 60s house that you can afford to basically semi demolish and modernise the insulation in, triple glaze (because they had large windows), etc
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I read a report a couple of months ago where a glazing manufacturer has, or is very close to releasing, a triple glazed unit that will fit in modern double glazing frames so all you need to do it swap the glass units out rather than whole new windows as, generally, modern frames are well insulated so no need to change the frames out.

Thats a BIG cost saving and also time saving as it takes minutes to swap glazing units out compared to whole frames.
 
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Richie said:
I read a report a couple of months ago where a glazing manufacturer has, or is very close to releasing, a triple glazed unit that will fit in modern double glazing frames so all you need to do it swap the glass units out rather than whole new windows as, generally, modern frames are well insulated so no need to change the frames out.

Thats a BIG cost saving and also time saving as it takes minutes to swap glazing units out compared to whole frames.
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The cost of the frames are peanuts though, and you are still talking the last 20 years. Anything over 20 years will be garbage compared to modern cold-bridge defeating, hermetically sealed units with built in vents.
 
dlockers said:
The cost of the frames are peanuts though, and you are still talking the last 20 years. Anything over 20 years will be garbage compared to modern cold-bridge defeating, hermetically sealed units with built in vents.
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I'm nearly sure our windows are to blame for the substantial heat bill. They are indeed 23 years old. New glass wouldn't cut it. New seals may help. But the cost of new windows is so so expensive it's just not worth doing unless you're in house years and years.


We've discussed before that this is a problem with middle stock houses where people don't spend the money on the big stuff as you don't live there long enough
 
413x said:
I'm nearly sure our windows are to blame for the substantial heat bill. They are indeed 23 years old. New glass wouldn't cut it. New seals may help. But the cost of new windows is so so expensive it's just not worth doing unless you're in house years and years.


We've discussed before that this is a problem with middle stock houses where people don't spend the money on the big stuff as you don't live there long enough
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They are super inexpensive to make if you can shop around. I paid £2k cash for 4 and they are game changer to the "feel" of the room. You need to work in buckets of 4-6 windows as most of the cost is labour x2 people.
 
Jono8 said:
When we were buying a while ago, we visited one development that had these really tall thin/long three story buildings, and the driveways were just a narrow passage between each house. It was horrible standing in the driveway with two of those monstrosities either side.

Needless to say we didn't go for one of those.
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Sounds like you visited the earlier phases of my development, thankfully in my section things are spaced out better.
 
413x said:
I'm nearly sure our windows are to blame for the substantial heat bill. They are indeed 23 years old. New glass wouldn't cut it. New seals may help. But the cost of new windows is so so expensive it's just not worth doing unless you're in house years and years.


We've discussed before that this is a problem with middle stock houses where people don't spend the money on the big stuff as you don't live there long enough
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And the government want people to spend 5 figures on heatpumps lol
 
413x said:
But the cost of new windows is so so expensive it's just not worth doing unless you're in house years and years.
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Windows have got to be one of the biggest rackets going. Partner knows someone who runs a double glazing manufacturing firm. We got our entire house (3 bed semi) re done including all windows and doors for £5k cash. Now obviously that wasn't going through the books etc however he must've been making some sort of profit. Shows the sort of mark up they must have as I doubt I would've had much change out of 20 grand if I'd gone elsewhere
 
EH75 said:
Windows have got to be one of the biggest rackets going. Partner knows someone who runs a double glazing manufacturing firm. We got our entire house (3 bed semi) re done including all windows and doors for £5k cash. Now obviously that wasn't going through the books etc however he must've been making some sort of profit. Shows the sort of mark up they must have as I doubt I would've had much change out of 20 grand if I'd gone elsewhere
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The lad most voted to go to prison at high school now runs his own window business. Easy money if you can get into it.
 
EH75 said:
Windows have got to be one of the biggest rackets going. Partner knows someone who runs a double glazing manufacturing firm. We got our entire house (3 bed semi) re done including all windows and doors for £5k cash. Now obviously that wasn't going through the books etc however he must've been making some sort of profit. Shows the sort of mark up they must have as I doubt I would've had much change out of 20 grand if I'd gone elsewhere
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People and governments/organisations need to just stop paying such exorbitant prices for trades work.

Everyone wants complete lol money for everything these days, even rolling emulsion onto walls.
 
Done the townhouse thing, big dislike from me, i found it unbearable on top floor for getting too hot
If you close all your doors would be less of an issue but my other half never will

People blame developers for housing density, incorrectly, its defined by the local council. They have to come up with a plan, including the density and make sure they get land available to support required future housing.

I agree in regards that plots generally have shrunk. I know plenty who complained in the past about big plots, lots of fencing to come down, lots of grass to mow. Not everyone wants / needs a large plot. Its a personal choice thing.

I have a wide road near me, I saw near as I do not face the road, I am set back around 20 meters, but its certainly "main road" type width, whilst near me houses built at that same time have narrower roads. Also the 60-70s housing near me has narrow roads so I think generalisations are just that.
 
Jono8 said:
People and governments/organisations need to just stop paying such exorbitant prices for trades work.

Everyone wants complete lol money for everything these days, even rolling emulsion onto walls.
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The problem is that people want dirt cheap but then bang on about retiring early, pension, sick leave, cost of insurance, warranty etc. So yes £100 for a days labour is OK cash, but once you've added the rest on, it isn't worth getting out of bed for.
 
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