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11 minutes ago, Swan Lesta said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.ilivehere.co.uk/glen-parva.html

 

 

I don't know which two pubs have been burnt down as I can only recall their only being one pub. The County Arms (beefeater) and that stood empty for many a years. 

 

The school I can't remember being burnt down I know it got knocked down for new houses to be built on. 

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Got the keys to my first house at the end of March. We bought it with the intention to change the layout of downstairs. It was originally 1 long living room / diner, which we didn't like. Then a small kitchen and a second living room. We knocked two walls down and put a stud wall up to turn it into an L shaped kitchen / diner and a small living room. Chuffed with how it's turned out, would be interested to know if we'd added any value by doing it.

 

What I would say about buying a house is don't fall in love with any house you view. We had originally found one in Birstall that we loved. Didn't need a whole lot doing to it, but turned out it wasn't a clear cut sale and due to a divorce etc it got very messy. We had an offer accepted only to find out it wasn't actually on the market. We waited for this house for months and got quite close to one of the owners, but it in the end we found this place in Syston and gave up on Birstall. Best decision we could have made, the house still isn't sold. We also found that when we went back for the third and fourth time to try and figure out what was going on, we started to notice other problems with the house in terms of structure etc. We wouldn't have noticed this had we just dove right in.

 

Another tip I would suggest is if you feel like you have the time, go back for a second viewing with parents / friends who you can trust. We gained some valuable information because they asked questions that we wouldn't.

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22 minutes ago, Simi said:

Got the keys to my first house at the end of March. We bought it with the intention to change the layout of downstairs. It was originally 1 long living room / diner, which we didn't like. Then a small kitchen and a second living room. We knocked two walls down and put a stud wall up to turn it into an L shaped kitchen / diner and a small living room. Chuffed with how it's turned out, would be interested to know if we'd added any value by doing it.

 

What I would say about buying a house is don't fall in love with any house you view. We had originally found one in Birstall that we loved. Didn't need a whole lot doing to it, but turned out it wasn't a clear cut sale and due to a divorce etc it got very messy. We had an offer accepted only to find out it wasn't actually on the market. We waited for this house for months and got quite close to one of the owners, but it in the end we found this place in Syston and gave up on Birstall. Best decision we could have made, the house still isn't sold. We also found that when we went back for the third and fourth time to try and figure out what was going on, we started to notice other problems with the house in terms of structure etc. We wouldn't have noticed this had we just dove right in.

 

Another tip I would suggest is if you feel like you have the time, go back for a second viewing with parents / friends who you can trust. We gained some valuable information because they asked questions that we wouldn't.

I have took my parents along with all viewings we've had so far. They own 3 properties so they definitely know more than we do. They've been helping us knowledge-wise no end.

 

Another question for you all. I've just looked at a house and it's been on the market since October 2016. My immediate thought is "What's wrong with it?", as it's been on Zoopla for so long. But surely I cannot/should not think like that. I know the price might be a factor, but what else could make a house be on the market for so long?

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15 hours ago, syston_fox said:

Our house went on the market on Tuesday and general expectation was that it would be snapped up very quickly. Now Sunday evening and not had a single viewing. So frustrating as we've found a house we like but seller has confirmed that she won't accept any offers until we've accepted an offer on ours. 

 

in my opinion we've gotta see out a fortnight with it at the current price and then possibly reduce if still no interest. It's a cracking house but unfortunately it's one of those ones where the photos on rightmove do not do it justice at all. I remember when we bought it, I didn't want to view it initially but as soon as we stepped in we were shocked by how big it was inside and I'm confident that if people come through the door, it will quickly go.... it's jus getting them in here!!

 

fingers crossed for some interest this week! 

I would not get discouraged, its holiday season so its the last thing on peoples minds at the moment.

 

Traditionally the best times of year to sell are in Q1 and September to November in addition this is where the market see's extra traction. Often a busy September to November period will cause a rise in the following 3 months leading into the Q1 sweet spot.

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I also see a lot of chat about new builds.

 

Honestly i would not touch one with a barge pole. They are literally thrown up and come with a whole host of problems both structural and internal that are a bugger to get sorted. The traditional builders such as Persimmon and Redrow are known as 'Speculative Builders' and do not actually build the home. They sub contract every element of the building process to 3rd parties such as brickies, roofers, plumbers etc. The builder drives down the price for these contractors so low that the workmanship put in is sub standard and fast just so the contracting organisation can make any sort of profit. I have seen with my own eyes plasterers plastering in the dark with helmet torches, paint being plastered over wet plastering and that is just the tip of the ice berg.

 

As the government are under so much pressure to provide homes and affordable homes at that we end up with toxic debt creating mechanisms such as help to buy and legislation that is rushed through that prevents things from settlement cracks being repaired under your standard warranty, for example the latest legislation passed gives you 28 days to report a 'snag' and if you dont it wont get fixed. Considering most snags only become apparent after a good few months you are kind of screwed. Yes you may get an NHBC warranty but that is simply an insurance policy for a builder to hide behind where you the owner can spend months if not years proving the problem actually exists and then getting a problem resolved.

 

Lets not forget that you will pay a premium for a new build, it may seem a good deal when they agree to foot the stamp duty but when you are overpaying by £10-20K its not really a good deal. Its only in an extreme case where the mortgage lender will refuse to meet the valuation of the debt being secure by the purchaser.

 

The social housing element attached to new builds is a definite problem both short and long term. I am not sure the exact figures but i believe for every 100 new homes built 10% of those are set aside for social housing. In the short term you may have spent the best part of half a mil on your dream home to then have to live opposite a house with a burnt out mattress in the front garden and the local crack dealer living there. In the long term it causes social unrest and drives down the desirability and the value of the area. Local business are reluctant to set up shop in the middle of the latest Basra and those that do are plagued with problems.

 

Another point of note is that most new build areas contain a 'green belt' piece of land which must be paid for by the residents and is written into the deeds of the house. These green belt pieces of land are then maintained by a private organisation who will come out 4 times a year to cut the grass and do standard maintenance. The minute there is any sort of vandalism or excess waste the extra service charge is then passed onto the home owners. There has been a recent legal case raised in Scotland over this as residents in a lot of new build areas found that the service charge doubled every year over a 4 year period. What started as £15 per month turned into £60 per month.

 

I personally would not buy a house built after the year 2000 when a lot of the consumer protections associated with ownership of new homes was removed..

 

 

Edited by m4DD0gg
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14 minutes ago, m4DD0gg said:

I would not get discouraged, its holiday season so its the last thing on peoples minds at the moment.

 

Traditionally the best times of year to sell are in Q1 and September to November in addition this is where the market see's extra traction. Often a busy September to November period will cause a rise in the following 3 months leading into the Q1 sweet spot.

I know - it's just frustrating as we have a house we like sat there waiting for us!

 

The main issue we have is that our eldest is starting school next year and so need to know where we will be living by January ready to apply. If it wasn't for that then we would have all the time in the world but we don't want to find we're restricted to a certain area because he's started schools.

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Just now, syston_fox said:

I know - it's just frustrating as we have a house we like sat there waiting for us!

 

The main issue we have is that our eldest is starting school next year and so need to know where we will be living by January ready to apply. If it wasn't for that then we would have all the time in the world but we don't want to find we're restricted to a certain area because he's started schools.

Who is your estate agent?

 

It is often worth avoiding the big UK companies and going with an estate agent who is 100% commission based.

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Just now, m4DD0gg said:

Who is your estate agent?

 

It is often worth avoiding the big UK companies and going with an estate agent who is 100% commission based.

We've actually gone with an independent one. Charged a third of what we were quoted by the "high street" companies and their hours are 8am-8pm every day including Sunday (in reality it just means there is someone manning the phone till that time rather than them being in the office but it's useful that if we have a question on Sunday evening that we can get an answer straight away).

 

The charges of some of these estate agents is criminal and they wound me up a treat when valuing our house. Spencers in particular valued it at 20-25k lower than the other two valuations we had and 15k lower than her colleague had valued it two years ago. When I pointed that out to her, her reason behind her value was house price increases in the last two years and was completely at a loss when I asked her why that meant their valuation of it had dropped so much in that time if house prices had increased. She completely froze and couldn't answer our questions after that!! When she sent the follow up letter on the valuation, magically it had increased by 30k in the two hours since she left. No way we were going to go with them after that!!

 

 

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1 hour ago, Adster said:

I have took my parents along with all viewings we've had so far. They own 3 properties so they definitely know more than we do. They've been helping us knowledge-wise no end.

 

Another question for you all. I've just looked at a house and it's been on the market since October 2016. My immediate thought is "What's wrong with it?", as it's been on Zoopla for so long. But surely I cannot/should not think like that. I know the price might be a factor, but what else could make a house be on the market for so long?

We bid for our house in January and that had been on the market since October 2016, which is a fairly long time for a decent property in Syston. Considering we viewed 3 properties the same week they went on and all went within a week. 

 

It could be any number of things. Owner could be part of a huge chain that people don't want to get involved in, could be problems that have arisen in searches etc. But if it's been on the market for that long, you may have wiggle room on the price if the owner is keen to get rid after being on the market for nearly a year.

 

Be careful though, the house we purchased, we were told by the estate agent there was a second bidder who miraculously came along at the same time we put our first bid in. Not sure I believed them, but didn't take the risk and ended up coming to asking price. It's a tough game and I struggled to trust the estate agent. 

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5 minutes ago, Simi said:

We bid for our house in January and that had been on the market since October 2016, which is a fairly long time for a decent property in Syston. Considering we viewed 3 properties the same week they went on and all went within a week. 

 

It could be any number of things. Owner could be part of a huge chain that people don't want to get involved in, could be problems that have arisen in searches etc. But if it's been on the market for that long, you may have wiggle room on the price if the owner is keen to get rid after being on the market for nearly a year.

 

Be careful though, the house we purchased, we were told by the estate agent there was a second bidder who miraculously came along at the same time we put our first bid in. Not sure I believed them, but didn't take the risk and ended up coming to asking price. It's a tough game and I struggled to trust the estate agent. 

 

I'll be glad when the process is over because of this reason. Already after just having interest in one house I didn't know who was telling the truth, after being lied to by either the vendor of the estate agent.

 

Why can't they just be bloody honest? It's like as soon as they know we're first time buyers, and therefore amateurs, they can start milking it.

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9 hours ago, Legend_in_blue said:

 

There is a large variation of prices for housing in Countesthorpe brought about by the new developments and people paying over the odds for them.  As a result everyone in the 90s part of the village are trying their luck in pushing up their asking price.  Two identical houses were on at 250 and 310 respectively.  Guess which one went in a week?

 

I know people who live there.  It's fine, don't believe all the stories regarding anti social behaviour it's not that bad.  The pizza place is decent but the pubs aren't great.  Dine India is good for curry.

 

As an aside, I'm not a fan of new houses.  All builders seem to do these days is use the Help to Buy scheme to overcharge customers which further drives over inflated prices in the area.  Take Whetstone and those Strata homes as an example.  The way those places are marketed using Help you Buy as an incentive is ridiculous.  Just gives builders 20% over the market value not 20% the other way which is what they would have you believe.  Also outdoor space can be put on a postage stamp.

 

 

 

 

Made me laugh when reading about the antisocial behaviour here. I'm from Cosby originally and used to hang around with a group from here who used to cause complete havoc but now just hanging around the shops gets the police called.

 

Yeah pubs are shit, I walk to the Bakers Arms more often than not for a decent local.

 

I used that Help to buy scheme to get my place and although the valuation meant I paid the absolute top end of it wasn't worth it I wouldn't have got the mortgage so they can't go too far away from what it's worth.

 

Sort of agree with Cols point around accessibility though, said to the other half I would possibly live closer to town but after living in Costock this place has connections like Manhatten by comparison.

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On 31/07/2017 at 13:30, m4DD0gg said:

I also see a lot of chat about new builds.

 

Honestly i would not touch one with a barge pole. They are literally thrown up and come with a whole host of problems both structural and internal that are a bugger to get sorted. The traditional builders such as Persimmon and Redrow are known as 'Speculative Builders' and do not actually build the home. They sub contract every element of the building process to 3rd parties such as brickies, roofers, plumbers etc. The builder drives down the price for these contractors so low that the workmanship put in is sub standard and fast just so the contracting organisation can make any sort of profit. I have seen with my own eyes plasterers plastering in the dark with helmet torches, paint being plastered over wet plastering and that is just the tip of the ice berg.

 

As the government are under so much pressure to provide homes and affordable homes at that we end up with toxic debt creating mechanisms such as help to buy and legislation that is rushed through that prevents things from settlement cracks being repaired under your standard warranty, for example the latest legislation passed gives you 28 days to report a 'snag' and if you dont it wont get fixed. Considering most snags only become apparent after a good few months you are kind of screwed. Yes you may get an NHBC warranty but that is simply an insurance policy for a builder to hide behind where you the owner can spend months if not years proving the problem actually exists and then getting a problem resolved.

 

Lets not forget that you will pay a premium for a new build, it may seem a good deal when they agree to foot the stamp duty but when you are overpaying by £10-20K its not really a good deal. Its only in an extreme case where the mortgage lender will refuse to meet the valuation of the debt being secure by the purchaser.

 

The social housing element attached to new builds is a definite problem both short and long term. I am not sure the exact figures but i believe for every 100 new homes built 10% of those are set aside for social housing. In the short term you may have spent the best part of half a mil on your dream home to then have to live opposite a house with a burnt out mattress in the front garden and the local crack dealer living there. In the long term it causes social unrest and drives down the desirability and the value of the area. Local business are reluctant to set up shop in the middle of the latest Basra and those that do are plagued with problems.

 

Another point of note is that most new build areas contain a 'green belt' piece of land which must be paid for by the residents and is written into the deeds of the house. These green belt pieces of land are then maintained by a private organisation who will come out 4 times a year to cut the grass and do standard maintenance. The minute there is any sort of vandalism or excess waste the extra service charge is then passed onto the home owners. There has been a recent legal case raised in Scotland over this as residents in a lot of new build areas found that the service charge doubled every year over a 4 year period. What started as £15 per month turned into £60 per month.

 

I personally would not buy a house built after the year 2000 when a lot of the consumer protections associated with ownership of new homes was removed..

 

 

I would not discourage anyone to buy new build.

 

I agree the builder sub contracts the work out and you can have problems, but equally you can be okay and if there are problems you just call them out to fix anything that needs doing.

 

I had horrendous problems with a new build David Wilson. Plumbing a nightmare, three toilets not working from the start and came home twice to a flooded house. 

 

Yes that put me off for a while, but since then I have bought several new builds that I have rented out and they have been spot on. 

 

But the good thing is, the builder is litterally a call away, and so things do get fixed straight away if you do manage to get hold of an unlucky one. I have often called the builder back considerable time after 28 days and problems have been sorted, so that hasn't been a problem to me. 

 

The benefit of new build is they tend to suit today's lifestyle, designed for what people want today and so can be more practical than the 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's builds. 

 

The thing i find find with older houses is that people have tended to add extensions etc over the years, and in many cases done it as cheap as possible and it just doesn't fit in with the house. 

Edited by Rob1742
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On 31/07/2017 at 18:35, Costock_Fox said:

Made me laugh when reading about the antisocial behaviour here. I'm from Cosby originally and used to hang around with a group from here who used to cause complete havoc but now just hanging around the shops gets the police called.

 

Yeah pubs are shit, I walk to the Bakers Arms more often than not for a decent local.

 

I used that Help to buy scheme to get my place and although the valuation meant I paid the absolute top end of it wasn't worth it I wouldn't have got the mortgage so they can't go too far away from what it's worth.

 

Sort of agree with Cols point around accessibility though, said to the other half I would possibly live closer to town but after living in Costock this place has connections like Manhatten by comparison.

 

Congratulations on leaving Cosby.

 

I live in Cosby now & I find the place strange.  It seems that people who were brought up here never leave.  The sign for Cosby should read like the one for Royston Vasey....."You'll Never Leave". 

 

Several generations of the same family all living within half a mile of each other.  My missus is from Cosby & her parents lived just round the the corner.  There were literally 3 houses between them.  You could hold a conversation from each other's back garden.

 

I live smack in the middle of the village.  We have the brook, some ducks, a decent chippy & a reasonable pub.  It's quite pleasant, but venture 500 yards in any direction & you could be in any suburban village, anywhere in England.  I find it all a little stuck up & the locals seem to think Cosby is the dog's danglers.  I've never really understood why?

 

 

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16 hours ago, Rob1742 said:

I would not discourage anyone to buy new build.

 

I agree the builder sub contracts the work out and you can have problems, but equally you can be okay and if there are problems you just call them out to fix anything that needs doing.

 

I had horrendous problems with a new build David Wilson. Plumbing a nightmare, three toilets not working from the start and came home twice to a flooded house. 

 

Yes that put me off for a while, but since then I have bought several new builds that I have rented out and they have been spot on. 

 

But the good thing is, the builder is litterally a call away, and so things do get fixed straight away if you do manage to get hold of an unlucky one. I have often called the builder back considerable time after 28 days and problems have been sorted, so that hasn't been a problem to me. 

 

The benefit of new build is they tend to suit today's lifestyle, designed for what people want today and so can be more practical than the 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's builds. 

 

The thing i find find with older houses is that people have tended to add extensions etc over the years, and in many cases done it as cheap as possible and it just doesn't fit in with the house. 

My finding is that if you have someone at home to manage the comings and goings it is fine, if you need to take days off for snagging works it would drive you mad especially when trades don't arrive at all.

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On 31/07/2017 at 13:30, m4DD0gg said:

 

Another point of note is that most new build areas contain a 'green belt' piece of land which must be paid for by the residents and is written into the deeds of the house. These green belt pieces of land are then maintained by a private organisation who will come out 4 times a year to cut the grass and do standard maintenance. The minute there is any sort of vandalism or excess waste the extra service charge is then passed onto the home 

 

I've been trying for a year to get the small park on our estate reopened for this reason. Council agreed to own it after 10 years and the builders got sick of waiting and paying for repairs so just fenced it off. The council don't respond to questions and only acted when I managed to find a very helpful local councillor. Been closed a year now and progress is "happening"

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On 7/31/2017 at 13:30, m4DD0gg said:

I also see a lot of chat about new builds.

 

Honestly i would not touch one with a barge pole. They are literally thrown up and come with a whole host of problems both structural and internal that are a bugger to get sorted. The traditional builders such as Persimmon and Redrow are known as 'Speculative Builders' and do not actually build the home. They sub contract every element of the building process to 3rd parties such as brickies, roofers, plumbers etc. The builder drives down the price for these contractors so low that the workmanship put in is sub standard and fast just so the contracting organisation can make any sort of profit. I have seen with my own eyes plasterers plastering in the dark with helmet torches, paint being plastered over wet plastering and that is just the tip of the ice berg.

 

As the government are under so much pressure to provide homes and affordable homes at that we end up with toxic debt creating mechanisms such as help to buy and legislation that is rushed through that prevents things from settlement cracks being repaired under your standard warranty, for example the latest legislation passed gives you 28 days to report a 'snag' and if you dont it wont get fixed. Considering most snags only become apparent after a good few months you are kind of screwed. Yes you may get an NHBC warranty but that is simply an insurance policy for a builder to hide behind where you the owner can spend months if not years proving the problem actually exists and then getting a problem resolved.

 

Lets not forget that you will pay a premium for a new build, it may seem a good deal when they agree to foot the stamp duty but when you are overpaying by £10-20K its not really a good deal. Its only in an extreme case where the mortgage lender will refuse to meet the valuation of the debt being secure by the purchaser.

 

The social housing element attached to new builds is a definite problem both short and long term. I am not sure the exact figures but i believe for every 100 new homes built 10% of those are set aside for social housing. In the short term you may have spent the best part of half a mil on your dream home to then have to live opposite a house with a burnt out mattress in the front garden and the local crack dealer living there. In the long term it causes social unrest and drives down the desirability and the value of the area. Local business are reluctant to set up shop in the middle of the latest Basra and those that do are plagued with problems.

 

Another point of note is that most new build areas contain a 'green belt' piece of land which must be paid for by the residents and is written into the deeds of the house. These green belt pieces of land are then maintained by a private organisation who will come out 4 times a year to cut the grass and do standard maintenance. The minute there is any sort of vandalism or excess waste the extra service charge is then passed onto the home owners. There has been a recent legal case raised in Scotland over this as residents in a lot of new build areas found that the service charge doubled every year over a 4 year period. What started as £15 per month turned into £60 per month.

 

I personally would not buy a house built after the year 2000 when a lot of the consumer protections associated with ownership of new homes was removed..

 

 

We've been considering a new build for our next move. But having read this, you've put me right off the idea :o

Thanks mate :(

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1 hour ago, Izzy Muzzett said:

We've been considering a new build for our next move. But having read this, you've put me right off the idea :o

Thanks mate :(

Sorry dude, i have a lot of experience in this due to the nature of my job.

 

Let me mention the positives.

 

Your EPC rating will be excellent and your utility bills will be very low unless you blast the heating 24/7.

You will have all your typical utilities bundled in the move.

If you are savy enough you will be able to obtain lots of freebies and/or upgrades.

Usually you can amend the spec before moving in, for instance having additional plug sockets, outside taps etc.

The resale value is traditionally quite good as people often like moving to a 2nd hand new build as they know its been fully snagged.

Also its new and has that new feeling.

 

To address the comments about reporting snags, believe me the law has changed and the builder will hide behind this. If its not reported in 28 days of moving in it wont get fixed UNLESS something happens post the move. Settlement cracks will not be done at all unless you kick up a huge fuss.

 

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2 hours ago, Izzy Muzzett said:

We've been considering a new build for our next move. But having read this, you've put me right off the idea :o

Thanks mate :(

To be fair matey, look at it the other way..the poster could have done you a bit of a favour?

I look at houses like I look at cars. I tend to go for not new, but 'nearly new'

This has the dual benefit imo of usually being a little cheaper (a lot cheaper with cars) and a lot of the original issues have been resolved by the time you come to buy it. 

With the 'nearly new' you still have the balance of the manufacturers warranty for a car and the NHBC for the house.

Edited by Col city fan
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19 minutes ago, m4DD0gg said:

Sorry dude, i have a lot of experience in this due to the nature of my job.

 

Let me mention the positives.

 

Your EPC rating will be excellent and your utility bills will be very low unless you blast the heating 24/7.

You will have all your typical utilities bundled in the move.

If you are savy enough you will be able to obtain lots of freebies and/or upgrades.

Usually you can amend the spec before moving in, for instance having additional plug sockets, outside taps etc.

The resale value is traditionally quite good as people often like moving to a 2nd hand new build as they know its been fully snagged.

Also its new and has that new feeling.

 

To address the comments about reporting snags, believe me the law has changed and the builder will hide behind this. If its not reported in 28 days of moving in it wont get fixed UNLESS something happens post the move. Settlement cracks will not be done at all unless you kick up a huge fuss.

 

 

14 minutes ago, Col city fan said:

To be fair matey, look at it the other way..the poster could have done you a bit of a favour?

I look at houses like I look at cars. I tend to go for not new, but 'nearly new'

This has the dual benefit imo of usually being a little cheaper (a lot cheaper with cars) and a lot of the original issues have been resolved by the time you come to buy it. 

With the 'nearly new' you still have the balance of the manufacturers warranty for a car and the NHBC for the house.

Cheers chaps :thumbup:

 

This could be the way forward actually. Thinking about it we've actually done this twice before in the past (without really being aware of it at the time) and been really happy with our choices on both occasions.

 

This thread is brilliant and really helpful. Thanks.

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I would generally side with @m4DD0gg on this and avoid new builds from the biggest house builders because they invariably build shit houses and they don't give a stuff about anything other than their bottom line.

 

Not sure why he's got such an issue with social housing and people who need it but that's besides the point.

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27 minutes ago, ajthefox said:

I would generally side with @m4DD0gg on this and avoid new builds from the biggest house builders because they invariably build shit houses and they don't give a stuff about anything other than their bottom line.

 

Not sure why he's got such an issue with social housing and people who need it but that's besides the point.

Haha i dont have an issue i am talking from experience. Yes there is without a doubt people who do need them.

 

However the majority of those who are in social housing are scumbags. There are a lot of housing associations now who have to send security guards out with their contractors to fix things at social houses for the protection of these employees. I have seen shops, businesses, recreation areas, old people homes and even nhs buildings heavily vandalized which are close to new build areas and there have been a number of successful prosecutions against those who come from these areas.

 

Ask yourself if you had scrimped and saved and managed to afford a mortgage on a new house and you end up opposite some of these scummers, how would you feel? 

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My last place was a new build flat.  Now admittedly, I may have just bought it before the crash in the mid 00's but I still ended up taking a hit on it when reselling it.  Not a great hit since the initial cost was low, but these days on a house, the greater the price, the greater the potential knock down on the price further down the line.

 

Ask yourself, when buying new, are you prepared to take a hit on the resale once you move elsewhere?  Is it worth the risk?  If you're buying new build, you've tied yourself down for around 10 years imo, as a move beforehand and you'll never get back what you paid at a premium price.  You are paying a premium for a new build, those show homes look all nice and good, but then they include all the optional extras which end up being the top end fittings - like the granite worktop, the chrome finishes on the sockets and in the bathrooms etc.  I know someone who shelled out loads for a DW house and it still came with standard white towel rails in the bathrooms!  You're just profit to them, but at the end of the day, you're stuck with what you've got and stuck with the monthly mortgage to pay.  Since everything is brand new, you're less willing to do anything to it to change it.  It's all new stuff.

 

You can buy a 90s house and do it up yourself with a kitchen, bathroom etc. with a far nicer finish than a bog standard installation such as those you'll find many new houses.  They  all use the same bog standard kitchen installations on the whole - even with a granite worktop, they'll still only do the stainless steel sink!  Save on the premium, keep the mortgage payments down and do up your house bit by bit.  Don't mortgage yourself to the hilt would be my advice.  Then there's enough left over to do up your house putting in whatever you want.  Do it your way, not the way the house builder wants you to do it.

 

 

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7 minutes ago, Legend_in_blue said:

My last place was a new build flat.  Now admittedly, I may have just bought it before the crash in the mid 00's but I still ended up taking a hit on it when reselling it.  Not a great hit since the initial cost was low, but these days on a house, the greater the price, the greater the potential knock down on the price further down the line.

 

Ask yourself, when buying new, are you prepared to take a hit on the resale once you move elsewhere?  Is it worth the risk?  If you're buying new build, you've tied yourself down for around 10 years imo, as a move beforehand and you'll never get back what you paid at a premium price.  You are paying a premium for a new build, those show homes look all nice and good, but then they include all the optional extras which end up being the top end fittings - like the granite worktop, the chrome finishes on the sockets and in the bathrooms etc.  I know someone who shelled out loads for a DW house and it still came with standard white towel rails in the bathrooms!  You're just profit to them, but at the end of the day, you're stuck with what you've got and stuck with the monthly mortgage to pay.  Since everything is brand new, you're less willing to do anything to it to change it.  It's all new stuff.

 

You can buy a 90s house and do it up yourself with a kitchen, bathroom etc. with a far nicer finish than a bog standard installation such as those you'll find many new houses.  They  all use the same bog standard kitchen installations on the whole - even with a granite worktop, they'll still only do the stainless steel sink!  Save on the premium, keep the mortgage payments down and do up your house bit by bit.  Don't mortgage yourself to the hilt would be my advice.  Then there's enough left over to do up your house putting in whatever you want.  Do it your way, not the way the house builder wants you to do it.

 

 

Not always the case... Some of our neighbours have made >£100k in two years on their new builds.

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