New Builds?

[Vita]

We are looking to relocate. With a budget of around £400k we have been struggling to find the ideal house so far. We have decided to move to the midlands, mainly the east to be a little closer to family and to downsize some what.

Now on my house hunting I’ve seen plenty of new builds for sale, some where the vendors have only lived 2 years and are selling, and some where the developers are still selling the plots to build upon.

The thing which attracts me to new builds is that they’re a reasonable size (well some), and the possibly the result of low energy costs.

I’ve done plenty of research and it seems that a lot of new builds have snags, maintenance fees (uncapped?), and other little niggles + possibly paying the developer for planning to extend in the future?

It seems FB is littered with groups regarding issues with them and people generally say to avoid?

Before I make a act of desperation as it seems easier to find an ideal new build rather than a older property.

Are they actually worth the money?

 

[ChrisD.]

I bought a 'new' new build in 2014 and had very little issues. I've just moved into a 'used' new build and again, the house is fine. Just make sure that you get a front garden and really look into parking and maintenance fees as you say. A lot of them will also have clauses where you aren't able to convert the garage or loft, so that's worth checking as well.

 

[Abyss]

I live in a David Wilson new build in the east Midlands and absolutely love it. We bought new in 2018 on a now completed development called Hollygate Park. The development has becoming a lovely community and the house is fantastic. We didn't originally see this as our forever home but the combination of it being such a nice community and decent plot means we will likely never move.

We had a few snags but all were sorted out and certainly far less hassle than dealing with poor quality DIY by previous owners. We haven't experienced any of the horror stories posted online. We had one bigger issue with a water leak and some questionable quality plumbing that seems to be a theme across the estate but all was sorted out.

We pay a management fee for the maintenance of the estate, in theory it's uncapped but all owners are members of the management company and I believe can ultimately agree to go elsewhere if the service / cost isn't acceptable. The benefit is the estate is very well maintained to a far better standard than council land.

It'd be worth looking at the development in Bingham, currently on site and on the edge of a nice town with decent rail/bus links, good links to the A1/M1 and a nice market town centre with pretty much everything you'd need.

 

[Buffman]

I think it very much depends on both the developer and specific site.

In terms of "value" I found that generally older houses are cheaper for the same square footage etc. Square footage isn't be all and end all as some can be terribly laid out!

I also found that new builds were generally more out of town / not the best locations (for obvious reasons)

 

[Derek W]

I'll throw in a curve ball (albeit not great timing).

Have you had a thought about buying a plot and building a house you want instead of buying 'off the shelf' I know that if you're looking to move you'd need to find a stop gap between selling up, builidng and moving in but is that a possible option?

 

[Vita]

I'll throw in a curve ball (albeit not great timing).

Have you had a thought about buying a plot and building a house you want instead of buying 'off the shelf' I know that if you're looking to move you'd need to find a stop gap between selling up, builidng and moving in but is that a possible option?

We are in a position to buy first then sell our existing home.

Ideally I need something with low maintenance gardens/bills. Our current house is somewhat large for us and due to this the bills can also be somewhat rather large. Build wise it’s solid, and I guess that’s what worries me about new builds having read and saw photos of cracks, snags etc etc on them.

Plot wise I’m not sure, we could probably have one built but we are looking to move fairly quick tbh.

 

[MassiveJim]

i thought the general consensus was that new builds do not come with very big gardens, that certainly seems to be the case with the ones I have seen.
And worse still as you are usually buying off plan you cant see the garden until it is built and you normally have to agree to buy a long time before that happens.

 

[Delvis]

You need to go see them.

I have a new build, probably found surplus of 200+ snags myself, that's without a professional company coming in....but then I'm a picky git.

Often I've asked for stuff to be rectified, they've bodged it and the fix has been just as naff ...to being told a cupboard door is meant to be crooked, water not being tested to appliances and blood on door handles after a deep clean was meant to be done during the height of a global Pandemic.

But yeah, as someone else posted above who also had a DWH home (like ours) it depends who the trades people are. So go look at them, check parking, check the neighbourhood as some people are scallywags, and check for everything basically.

 

[Delvis]

i thought the general consensus was that new builds do not come with very big gardens, that certainly seems to be the case with the ones I have seen.
And worse still as you are usually buying off plan you cant see the garden until it is built and you normally have to agree to buy a long time before that happens.

Depends on the plot, we have an end terrace (2bed) with parking on the side, so the garden as such is that much bigger. Again, look up the house and find the plot plans.

 

[ChrisD.]

i thought the general consensus was that new builds do not come with very big gardens, that certainly seems to be the case with the ones I have seen.
And worse still as you are usually buying off plan you cant see the garden until it is built and you normally have to agree to buy a long time before that happens.

Depends entirely on the plot and you can see the sizes long in advance.

 

[Delvis]

Depends entirely on the plot and you can see the sizes long in advance.

Yup

 

[Vita]

Would it make more sense to buy a “old” new build where the snags etc should have been fixed? Houses should have also settled mostly?

 

[Richie]

I always find it strange when people say to buy an older house as new builds are all full of snags and faults.

You really think the older house was snag free when built? It's just had 10+ years to sort them out.

 

[Blackjack Davy]

Older houses generally have larger plots, theres a housing development in the works here which is in the local paper the plans have gone from 14 houses to to 17 with so called gardens someone described as a back yard for all the space it'll have, nowhere for the kids to kick a ball about etc. Talk about cramming them in

 

[Delvis]

Would it make more sense to buy a “old” new build where the snags etc should have been fixed? Houses should have also settled mostly?

Technically yes.

Guess the difference is an 'old' house you get what you pay for.

 

[chroniclard]

New or old, houses have snags.

 

[Azza]

New or old, houses have snags.

Older houses have 'character'.

 

[Delvis]

New or old, houses have snags.

Point is they're new, so shouldn't have snags anyway.

Half the stuff I pointed out could have been resolved if I looked at the house a week before going in.

 

[Abyss]

I'll throw in a curve ball (albeit not great timing).

Have you had a thought about buying a plot and building a house you want instead of buying 'off the shelf' I know that if you're looking to move you'd need to find a stop gap between selling up, builidng and moving in but is that a possible option ?

Now is definitely not the time to be considering a self build. There's significant materials shortages across the whole construction industry and the cost of materials are going through the roof. Trades are also very busy with many of the good ones booked 12 months in advance. You could easily be a position where a self build comes to a complete standstill due to lack of materials / labour or costs rise significantly.

I'd agree with others about plot size. We got in early and decided on the plot we wanted from the planning drawings. It took a lot of effort to then secure that exact plot but we have an 8+ car driveway, decent back garden for a new build (circa 15m x 12m) and decent front garden (circa 5m x 12m).

 

[Derek W]

Now is definitely not the time to be considering a self build. There's significant materials shortages across the whole construction industry and the cost of materials are going through the roof. Trades are also very busy with many of the good ones booked 12 months in advance. You could easily be a position where a self build comes to a complete standstill due to lack of materials / labour or costs rise significantly.

That's why I put not great timing on my post.

Depending on the OPs downsizing issue have kids flown the nest, just him and his partner / just him? I would have thought that with a 400k budget there could be room for a decent enough property for now plus a plot budget for a new build if that was the route he wanted to go down. Could be something to consider for the future as the costs are sky high just now and shortages all over the shop.[/QUOTE]