New build properties

I think this is like anything in life.
Some people have good experiences with a new build some don't, same as with buying a car.
Main thing is, do your research, then make the choice you are happy with.
 
maccapacca said:
I don't know where this golden age of house construction is, if someone could point me too it that would be great.
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The stone constructed cottages which my village in the cotswolds consists of are all beautiful. Absolutely nothing like these godawful newbuild developments you get these days.

Nice houses are built these days, but they only seem to be built in very small developments. There are a couple of nice new houses in the village for example, but they were one off's built into the grounds of farms.
 
We were pretty close to moving into a new build house but change our minds and went for something bigger and cheaper and we are very happy we made that decision.

New builds do have that shiny, modern sparkle to them but even after completion of the final build the area is a constant building site. Roads unfinished, diggers and trucks constantly moving around etc. Who needs that !!!
 
SDK^ said:
We were pretty close to moving into a new build house but change our minds and went for something bigger and cheaper and we are very happy we made that decision.

New builds do have that shiny, modern sparkle to them but even after completion of the final build the area is a constant building site. Roads unfinished, diggers and trucks constantly moving around etc. Who needs that !!!
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There's something quite appealing about only having the JCB's for neighbours :p


I could get them to build me a moat around the house
 
A lot will depend on the builder, some have good reps and others don't and even then some estates will be poorer than others due to local sub-contractors used.

We did a part exchange with Bellway 3 years ago, it worked out really well for us. My flat had been on the market for 14 months with very little interest, Bellway took the flat for £65k (was on market for £69k) and subsequently they finally managed to sell it nearly 2 years later for £40k!

They've been quick to attend all the minor snags we've had and haven't quibbled over any of them. The sub-contractors who have attended have also all said (At least in Scotland) that Bellway are one of the better builders they work for.

Things to look out for:

Most new builds don't come with light fixtures/carpeting and in some cases turf. These are either left to you to spec up and pay for or for you to arrange yourself if you wish. We bought a viewhome (like a showhome but not furnished) at the end of the construction phase which meant we got all our carpeting, lights, upgraded kitchen and turf included. Construction quality is overall pretty good, we have never heard our next door neighbour (semi-detached) and insulation between rooms is pretty good but not as good in the roof/floor so you can hear someone walking upstairs.

Some (NOT ALL as someone indicated above) estates have to have a social housing allowance with a certain number of properties constructed to service that and that could lead to undesirables in the neighbourhood. From memory I think it depends on the size of the estate, smaller ones don't require to have social housing provided.

We have a really large back garden and a reasonable size front garden, downside for us was parking with only one assigned parking space however our front garden is big enough to accommodate a driveway with space for one car which will only take out 1/4 of the grass (it's wide but not very long). I don't think i'd consider a terraced new build, looking at the ones on our estate the rooms are tiny, with very little space in living room etc whereas we have a large living room with plenty of space for 2 3 seater couches, bookcase, coffee table, tv cabinet etc etc and plenty of floor space left over.

In all it depends a lot on your circumstances, ultimately we want to eventually get an older semi-detached property maybe 5-8 years down the line. The new build part-exchange got us out of the flat without having to take a massive hit on the value (£4k compared to the £29k loss it eventually sold at!).

The estate is nice, very family friendly and is mostly young professionals/young families and older couples without kids.
 
On new build estates, only look at the plots on the corner, they often have land beyond the fence line and slightly more garden overall. Sometimes they are only overlooked by one other house at an angle. Ask for the site layout, you may spot a plot at the edges which had extra land that couldn't be utilised or backs onto greenspace.
The corner plot sometimes gives you enough space to extend the drive allowing two car parking.

A relative of mine spotted one with a long side garden, she plonked a few sheds on it which compensated for having tiny rooms in the main house (effectively doubling the floor space).

Small houses aren't such a bad thing, I only use a third of my house :/
 
Some nice generalisations in this thread ;)

In process of buying a new build at the moment, part exchanging our current place (which was only 2 years old when we bought it so pretty new).

Getting a good price for ours and a good deal on the one we're buying as it was off plan, 30k less than what the latest ones released are up for. So even taking into account an expected 10k discount they'll offer on them, along with stamp duty paid, we're still getting a decent deal (and by far the best plot).

Plot is key along with the development, ours is small and purely 3,4,and 5 bed detached, no social, all with off road parking for 2 cars minimum. We get a driveway that's about 7 x 11 metres plus double garage.

Small garden and as said not really much out front, although enough to have a walled area in front of the property (not a fan of the ones that are just directly on the pavement).

Also picked a plot that backs on to existing established housing, and even luckier for us the place that backs on to our garden is a bungalow so only person overlooking our garden is one of the houses next door, the other side has the garage in between.

My parents have bought a few new builds over the years to live in as well as older properties (think they move on average once a year or something silly) and have never had any issues with build quality, over paying, or losing money when selling.

Funny that their business involves selling a lot of old properties (proper old) and they prefer newer builds lol.

But going on the comments in the thread seems this sort of thing is by no means the norm and everyone is different.

In an ideal world I'd have something elsem and am under no illusion that the new build will be palatial and built by the hands of gods out of solid lumps of granite, but then I don't have the money for that ;)
 
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I've just bought my first house, which is a new build. I completed last Friday, moving in this weekend.

I've been there and back a lot recently as I'm slowly moving stuff there from my parents. I'm really happy with it so far. Not had any issues so far, of course I can't comment on the longevity issues etc yet, time will tell that.

Not had any snagging issues yet either. Some splashes of paint here and there, but that's easily tidied up. Nothing major yet that I've seen.

The area isn't super crowded, or even remotely crowded I'd say. Nicely laid out in my opinion.

The fact I can just move in, with no building work needed, or redecorating anything was a big plus for me.
 
Windle said:
Things to look out for:

Most new builds don't come with light fixtures/carpeting and in some cases turf. These are either left to you to spec up and pay for or for you to arrange yourself if you wish.
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This is a good point worth noting. We were looking at another £15k to the purchase price, for the essential stuff, which couldn't be added onto the mortgage.
 
Gilly said:
They are better than they were and gave good finance options available at the moment.

They've been interesting me too, though we're not ready to move yet.
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We are looking at a new build, the finish in the show homes is pretty good, obviously as you expect.

I visit lots of new builds, many of the big developers and some of the workmanship I see is pretty poor, some developers are better than others.
 
I have moved into a new build 8 weeks ago. We needed to get rid of a flat quite quickly and was surprised how good they were in taking it off our hands.

We have been quite lucky with our new build, it has been built on an old school and is in a really quiet area. We have a south facing house, so the sun hits the back garden all day long. We have 4 bedrooms, and 3 are more than doubles and we have a box room, which is ideal for our little one.

Our snagging list has been minimal as well, just a few finger cracks in the plaster and paint marks on a few of the walls.
 
New build properties can be more expensive than older properties, but repair bills can be kept to a minimum initially, and no need to worry about asbestos survey & removal (on older properties, where applicable) if you plan on doing any major works.

My new build is pretty energy efficient and so far gas & electric is costing me about 71% the initial estimate from my supplier based on similar sized properties, so while my initial mortgage payments are higher I can at least offset some of this (admitedly a small amount) by savings.

The fact that there are deals out there to help purchase a new build property with a smaller deposit makes it easier to get a higher mortgage, and in my opinion artificially raises the price of new build properties by making it easier for buyers to compete in this area but not in the more traditional build market. Despite this the mortgage payments on my new build is only slightly higher than private rent on a flat (same number of bedrooms) in the vicinity, and should fall once the fixed term ends.

My new build is smaller than some equivelently priced older houses but then I hardly need a massive amount of space. I would have liked a bigger back back garden for future expansion (conservatory) but it's still reasonably private & good for sitting out in the summer.

My main reason for getting a new build was ease of getting a mortgage and the fact my froend bought the same model house from the same builder a few years ago so I knew what I was getting into :) And, despite the higher price it's cheaper than some of the private rented properties I was considering, and is unlikely to come with some of the repair bills of older properties.
 
Shadowness said:
I've just bought my first house, which is a new build. I completed last Friday, moving in this weekend.

I've been there and back a lot recently as I'm slowly moving stuff there from my parents. I'm really happy with it so far. Not had any issues so far, of course I can't comment on the longevity issues etc yet, time will tell that.

Not had any snagging issues yet either. Some splashes of paint here and there, but that's easily tidied up. Nothing major yet that I've seen.

The area isn't super crowded, or even remotely crowded I'd say. Nicely laid out in my opinion.

The fact I can just move in, with no building work needed, or redecorating anything was a big plus for me.
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Which developer was it?

ours was Bloor in a Gloucester development and we had our fair share of issues.

the wall around our garden was still being built when they handed us the keys we had no road access to the property when we were handed the keys

luckyily they ended up compensating us for the issues we had (cheque for carpets and giving us turf)
 
As someone who has built one house, and just started groundwork on a second the main benefit I would say of a new build is the energy efficiency, and in my case to bring it up to spec solar pannels fitted, heatpump and more than enough insulation installed. On top of this the 10 year guarantee you will most likely get which issued by a structural engineering firm with every aspect of the build checked and advised along the way. The finish quality depends on the firm, however I guess smaller one off or family run companies would be better.

So you will pay more for less however building costs are up, more specs to achieve but a cheaper to run home and guaranteed for 10 years against a variety of issues, but check for that.

A lot of work to build your own if you decide to go that route, especially if you are actually doing the building work, with lots of pitfalls waiting to cost you money. Trees being one of them, requiring in our case to have 2.5m deep, possibly more or pile, foundations. Which is often ott, the house next door is 200 years old and hasn't moved and is built on about 1 foot of nothing. On the upshot you get your ideal house, so long as the planners agree, and should make a profit on the build.
 
I've just purchased a new property, and I'm wondering about solar panels myself.

I don't really want full on roof solar panels at the moment, but can you get some that sit on the top of the doorway, like a mini installation? costs less, generates less power etc, but could keep a trickle of power coming in to balance out small usages of power.

I've included a picture of the area I mean above my front door below. The property is south facing so should get fairly good sunlight coverage.

http://i.imgur.com/FvFoj2q.jpg
 
New builds, just like older properties, are variable in quality.

We bought a new build house quite recently. It was built by a small-ish developer and the quality is excellent. Really good finish to the kitchen/bathrooms, excellent sound-proofing, excellent insulation, solar panels on the roof, heated floors, already wired for ethernet, built-in speakers in the main rooms... great. The developer assigned a liaison officer who we can phone whenever we have any problems.

Downsides so far have been:
- PITA getting bills/insurance originally as our house wasn't recognised in post code databases
- The use of space is very efficient which is good in some ways (four bedrooms big enough for a double bed, wardrobes and a desk) but bad in others. The stairs are narrow, meaning that our sofas wouldn't fit down into the lower ground living room. We've had to order new ones.
- Every bedroom is en-suite, which is great in some ways but not for council tax properties. We're on the same Camden council tax band as Thierry Henry and his four-storey fish tank house in Hampstead. :mad:
- The developers didn't put a phone line in 'so that we could choose who to go with'. :rolleyes: BT have sent seven engineers to our property so far and none of them have been qualified to actually install a line between our front door and the joint box in the street. :rolleyes: :(
 
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