New Builds buying your house?

monquixote

I'm pondering moving house.

I'm not really that interested in a new build, but where I live there seems to be a lot more housing stock available in new builds.

I've noticed some of them are offering to buy your house from you in order to move into a new house.

Is this a genuinely good offer, or is it some kind of "We buy any car" service where they offer you 50% of the value hoping you are too lazy to know what your house is worth.

This would potentially allow me to beat the stamp duty holiday so even if it was a bit down it might be worth it.

fretmeister

I'd never buy a new build.
Let someone else discover the problems.

Far too many new build issues these days, from roads that haven't been adopted by the LA, to sewerage issues etc etc. And the developers are crap at dealing with them quickly.

monquixote

fretmeister said:

I'd never buy a new build.
Let someone else discover the problems.

Far too many new build issues these days, from roads that haven't been adopted by the LA, to sewerage issues etc etc. And the developers are crap at dealing with them quickly.

Yeah, that's very much how my wife feels about it.

We've looked at a few ex new builds a few years down the line and they always look shagged out.

EricTheWeary

we are looking at moving including potentially new builds. The locations are a bit odd at times, hundreds of houses and nowhere to buy a pint of milk or schools in walking distance ( not currently an issue for us but these estates attract a lot of young families).

Anyway, the last one we spoke to would give us up to 70% of the cost of a new house against our old one. Two independent people valuing it, help to sell it. It didn't feel like a rip off but we are looking at more of a sideways move so we'd have to sacrifice £10ks to make that work or buy a much more expensive house than we need.

There are sometimes issues with utilities - the developers get deals with gas, electric, broadband suppliers for new properties which again makes life simpler but are long term contracts so you can be tied into more expensive providers than you'd like.

monquixote said:

fretmeister said:

I'd never buy a new build.
Let someone else discover the problems.

Far too many new build issues these days, from roads that haven't been adopted by the LA, to sewerage issues etc etc. And the developers are crap at dealing with them quickly.

Yeah, that's very much how my wife feels about it.

We've looked at a few ex new builds a few years down the line and they always look shagged out.

      I think the last time we went around a show home the house was £30k more than the value of our house. For which we would get a roughly comparable house but with a new kitchen, bathroom, etc. So in a few years time when the shine had gone off those things the house would be worth no more than our existing one.  

monquixote

In our case we would be looking to move to something significantly more expensive than our current property so that wouldn't be a problem.

EricTheWeary

monquixote said:

In our case we would be looking to move to something significantly more expensive than our current property so that wouldn't be a problem.

I think you have to look at the fine print but it could work for you. I know people complain about the tatting issues but someone should do them eventually whereas buying an old house you may have a list of DIY jobs that never get done or you need to find someone to do. A friend of mine bought a show home so it was all decorated etc and said it was brilliant having no jobs at all to do on the house. IIRC the developers had given it a deep clean so they didn't even have dirty carpets from the people who had walked through.     

WiresDreamDisasters

I think we got extremely lucky with our previous flat. We bought off-plan, and for 5 years it was a great place to live. Nice and warm, I could make a ton of noise, we had a garden and a patio, nice sized rooms, plenty of light, opposite a police station so it was quiet and low crime. 5 minutes in the other direction people were getting merked, and 5 minutes in the other direction were high-rise posh arsehole flats that were double what ours cost us.

A friend we have moved into a flat by the same developer, about 20minutes away from us, and they're having all sorts of problems with getting cladding replaced and fire safety and all that. Their flat is basically worth nothing right now until all of that gets sorted.

We've moved since then into a 3-bed semi, and it's okay. But not as warm as the flat, and the area isn't as nice. Not much to do either. But I do have a cool home studio room I've built.

I still wish we had more room though.

Iamnobody

EricTheWeary said:

monquixote said:

In our case we would be looking to move to something significantly more expensive than our current property so that wouldn't be a problem.

I think you have to look at the fine print but it could work for you. I know people complain about the tatting issues but someone should do them eventually whereas buying an old house you may have a list of DIY jobs that never get done or you need to find someone to do. A friend of mine bought a show home so it was all decorated etc and said it was brilliant having no jobs at all to do on the house. IIRC the developers had given it a deep clean so they didn't even have dirty carpets from the people who had walked through.     

That’s a good point, everyone moans about the snagging in a new house but there are mechanisms in place to help get them sorted. Albeit you hear so many stories of slow response and in some cases no response from the developer. You’ll also benefit from a 10 year guarantee on major structural parts. 

My gaff is getting on for 100 years old and there will always be something to do in terms of maintenance even if it’s not immediate the list is ongoing. For example I doubt my roof will see out another 10 years...the bottom few courses of bricks needs repointing, the windows we haven’t already replaced need doing. Chimneys will need flaunching at some point, wooden garage door sanding/painting or replaced with composite etc. The driveway needs doing. There’s more I’m sure...

Swings and roundabouts...there’s a lot to be said for not having a never ending list of home maintenance! 

The rooms tend to be too small in new builds and badly configured for our needs though and they are generally situated in inconvenient locations. 

roundthebend

We did this with our current house. It was a really good deal for us - we offered to buy the new build at full asking price, but only if the builder bought ours at a slightly higher than market rate price. The alternative was that they paid a fair price for ours and we haggled with them to get a net result that was no different. However, the benefit of this approach was that we then had more cash for our deposit - so could more easily get a good mortgage deal. Sure, we're now lumbered with a higher mortgage, but the difference has been swallowed up by the lower interest rate and the fact that we managed to get into a much nicer home than what we had at the time.

To put numbers on that, in case it didn't make any sense....

Imagine our house was worth £150k on the market and we had a mortgage of £120k outstanding, and we wanted to buy a house on the market for £300k. That would give us £30k (10%) deposit towards the new build, in simple terms.

Now, the builder might talk us down to £145k, which dents our deposit down to £25k which would be 8.3%. If we haggled their price down to £295k, our deposit would still only be 8.5%.

Alternatively, we could offer £305k for the new build, and ask for £155k for our house. That would give us 11.5% deposit.

In our case, the numbers moved us from about 5% deposit to 15%. Nice.

As long as both valuations agreed that the property was worth it, then the finances all stacked up.

What I'm saying is, explore the option with an open mind.

BahHumbug

A mate of mine bought a new build, in the £500k range, with a few bespoke modifications to the spec.  It’s a really nice place, but there was/is snagging and it hasn’t been sorted yet over 5 years later.  There are mechanisms in place, from his story they don’t work.  The developers don’t want to deal with issues, the LHBC or whatever it’s called is just an insurance organisation that doesn’t t want to pay out, and therefore tends to side with the developer.

EricTheWeary

Iamnobody said:

EricTheWeary said:

monquixote said:

In our case we would be looking to move to something significantly more expensive than our current property so that wouldn't be a problem.

I think you have to look at the fine print but it could work for you. I know people complain about the tatting issues but someone should do them eventually whereas buying an old house you may have a list of DIY jobs that never get done or you need to find someone to do. A friend of mine bought a show home so it was all decorated etc and said it was brilliant having no jobs at all to do on the house. IIRC the developers had given it a deep clean so they didn't even have dirty carpets from the people who had walked through.     

That’s a good point, everyone moans about the snagging in a new house but there are mechanisms in place to help get them sorted. Albeit you hear so many stories of slow response and in some cases no response from the developer. You’ll also benefit from a 10 year guarantee on major structural parts. 

My gaff is getting on for 100 years old and there will always be something to do in terms of maintenance even if it’s not immediate the list is ongoing. For example I doubt my roof will see out another 10 years...the bottom few courses of bricks needs repointing, the windows we haven’t already replaced need doing. Chimneys will need flaunching at some point, wooden garage door sanding/painting or replaced with composite etc. The driveway needs doing. There’s more I’m sure...

Swings and roundabouts...there’s a lot to be said for not having a never ending list of home maintenance! 

The rooms tend to be too small in new builds and badly configured for our needs though and they are generally situated in inconvenient locations. 

I was watching that home development thing last night where they put on VR goggles and the architects want to make everything look like an accountant's waiting room and when they were doing up an old house in Margate it included £20k to fix a previously undiagnosed damp problem added to the costs. FFS my heart would have sunk with that.   

On the other hand I now know what @chillidoggy looks like

https://images.app.goo.gl/zCKYG3QJ49idF4Ns7

ThePrettyDamned

To add a bit of balance, I've moved into a new build and it's fantastic. The walls are over 2 feet thick, and great insulation, developer has fixed our problems (mostly in good time) and tbh we've had relatively few. 

It's a lovely area, and there is loads of green space, play areas etc built in which is also great.

The catch? Well, I'm in a flat. This means the developer actually owns the building, I just own the bit inside I live in. So I guess the developer has a stake in looking after it!

Ultra fast fibre Internet, too. 

boogieman

You also need to watch out for potential issues with the ground rent and lease on new builds. Some developers sell the rights on after a couple of years and you can get stung with huge increases. 

monquixote

boogieman said:

You also need to watch out for potential issues with the ground rent and lease on new builds. Some developers sell the rights on after a couple of years and you can get stung with huge increases. 

What does this entail.

I'm kind of assuming you buy a house and it's your house?

TTony

monquixote said:

I'm pondering moving house.

I thought you were going to extend downwards next - put in a basement pool or something?

New builds work for some people, not so well for others, it all depends on what your priorities and tolerance levels are.

Major downside is generally space.  Plot sizes are small, small, small.  Land is too expensive to waste it on gardens.  Combine that with the fact that they're really well insulated (which is a definite upside!) and internal dimensions of rooms tend to be small too.  Look out for the 3/4 size beds in show houses (etc) to trick your eyes and the lack of any sort of storage space.  Including the absence of a loft on the 3 storey designs!   

There won't be a lot of privacy from neighbours (sight or sound) and when everyone has moved in, parking is generally a problem (garages are too small for anything bigger than a mower and most/all properties will have at least 2 cars to find space for).

Plus, you won't know how the neighbourhood "feels" until after everyone is moved in and made themselves comfortable, including the guy nextdoor who mends old vans in his spare time ("sure, I'll clear this junk off the driveway at the weekend, it's not really in your way, is it?"), or the people opposite who love having parties.    Every weekend.  So, you're buying into a bit of the unknown.

Wouldn't work for me - but then I don't like people.  Where we are is a bit too busy ....

Axe_meister

monquixote said:

boogieman said:

You also need to watch out for potential issues with the ground rent and lease on new builds. Some developers sell the rights on after a couple of years and you can get stung with huge increases. 

What does this entail.

I'm kind of assuming you buy a house and it's your house?

Depends on if it's a lease hold or not.

Rob1742

Happy to chat by DM on this if you wanted.

I have purchased over 30 houses in the last five years, I would say two thirds of these have been new builds.

New builds come with less problems than older houses that is for sure. People selling their houses tend to have made the decision a while back and so will leave you with all their problems. Windows that don’t open, plumbing problems, poor electricity circuits etc. Yet new builds are brand new to standard and even if there are faults they will come out to sort.

So yes they sometimes come with problems, I actually had an horrendous new build myself 20 years ago, however in general they come pretty decent and it’s easier getting things fixed with a builder that has built the house rather than privately.

The incentive is a good thing too. If you wanted to do it another way then you could bag a discount. Yes you may lose a few grand with them buying your house, but the ease is often worth the few grand. But if you wanted to do it by selling it yourself then there are incentives you could ask for. It’s just whatever you want.

I have purchased from mainly Barratts and Wilson’s. You can get a dog like the one we purchased 20 years ago, but the ones I have purchased to rent out have been decent in the main. The bad one was all sorted by the builder. Plumbing issues mainly, but it was all out right in the end and quickly. 

Rob1742

Sometimes they charge a management fees to look after the green areas. You need to look out for that. Basically you all pay maybe £100 for maintenance to the local green rather than the council doing it. It’s a pain in the arse, unethical in my mind but I must have half a dozen of these and it isn’t exactly a deal breaker.

Also I prefer to buy those that are almost built so you can see the street layout etc, being overlooked etc.

I nearly purchase one for ourselves to live in that when we looked later on had the tiniest of gardens. I nearly got caught out again a bit later but got lucky on both counts. This is a big one to look at as you could end up committing to something that you don’t like the position of when built. So I would tend to buy when the footings are down and you can see the garden etc.

Its great being able to choose kitchen, flooring etc. 

boogieman

monquixote said:

boogieman said:

You also need to watch out for potential issues with the ground rent and lease on new builds. Some developers sell the rights on after a couple of years and you can get stung with huge increases. 

What does this entail.

I'm kind of assuming you buy a house and it's your house?

Yeah if it’s bought as freehold but quite a few new builds are sold as leasehold. Then you can get problems. 

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-54023631