we bought a 1950s house on half an acre of land and I LOVE the charm of the house and I love that I always have a project to work on. We are a young married couple with no kids so it's easier to tackle projects without kids. I can't imagine how hard it must be to do all home renvonation with children. everyday I wake up and say how much I love our house but I'd be lying if all the projects dont cost $ and there's always something that needs work. But we save lots of $$$ buying older than new. we could never afford our neighborhood without buying a fixer upper
I've owned three houses and all have been new builds. I've been in my current house for over 20 years. I love new houses and have never had any problems 💕
Always lived in older builds, but a few years back my cousin started buying new builds. I've really come to appreciate new builds now. Doing some work on my current old build, and plan to go new build after.
All your points were totally right! We live in a new build area and been here 2 years and we really notice how it feels like everyone is on top of each other and feels very compact with little privacy. I think you're making the right decision going for an older property 😊xx
I’m currently in a new build and it was the right choice to get on the market but I can’t wait to move into an older house! My main tip is to look out for hidden extra costs for example maintenance!
I've lived in 3 victorian houses and never had any structural problems or anything worse than a bit of damp. It's personal preference but I think they have more charm and character
We brought an older house which needed completely renovating which has been extremely expensive and stressful with 2 young children. I wouldn’t do it again and love the idea of moving into a clean sparkly new build next time 😀
We have a very old home, it looked ok when we bought it, but it had hidden faults we had to fix at big expense. However I love my neighbourhood and my qwerky, not another one like it home and would never swap it for a new build where you can barely tell them apart. Great well thought out vid.
When buying an old house think about the constant costs of upkeep due to age in the structure of the building and although you can happily live with minor issues such as rendering cracks and small tears in the roof lining etc these will show up in a survey and potentially put buyers off even if these things have been factored into the sale price.
we live in an old Victorian house and I absolutely HATE them. Everything smells like damp, like when we travel I can smell it on our things (they came and fixed the damp wall and there is nothing else they can do, but everytime it rains it smells like we are swimming in mould 🤮). Also these houses unless really well renovated just keep falling apart and are so narrow and impractical! And in London they are also small and cramped anyway.
I'm on my 4th house now, have never bought a new house but am definitely thinking about for our next move. My current house looked stunning when we viewed it but on the day we moved in the upstairs hall carpet smelt of wee (dog wee I think) straight through to underlay so had to be ripped out instantly. We also had fleas! Always have a contingency fund incase of anything unexpected. Will be looking to move next year and will definitely consider a new build if it's not overlooked. Used to work as an estate agent and lots of sales fell through for loads of reasons, sometimes right at the end of the process because they changed their mind and nothing you can do about it.
WHAT A NIGHTMARE. Dog wee?! FLEAS? We are currently looking and vlogging for our first home....we really hope we dont have anything like this to report!
One key difference that you forgot to mention is new build homes with more than 1 bathrooms while all old properties for some reason had only 1 bathroom.. i have lived in 3 bedroom and 4 bedroom properties in the past with just 1 bathroom.. the concept of having more than one bathroom is still very new in the UK when compared to homes in the US, Australia and even India
New here - Love your series! We are also FTB looking for our first home. We were in the process of purchasing a New Build before the pandemic but we decided against it due to the crazy amount of restrictions in the title/land deeds! Obviously varies depending on the developer, but something to be wary of. Especially concerning some of the ‘fleecehold’ terms. Good luck on your journey x
Just a little insight, the housing market is actually fantastic right now, especially where we are in the North West (I am an estate agent). Prices are still at the same price, only reductions slightly, houses aren't sticking round for long. Most offers are coming in at asking price! Finally 90% LTV's are coming back available too for FTB's xx
Thanks for sharing. I keep changing my mind between new and existing. I just cant make my mind up. Luckily with the market how it is I have time to think on it x
such a helpful video, a few notable differences for anyone in Scotland; there is the first home fund which is a government scheme and can be used on older properties too which is amazing! Also, even if you move into an older build, if the boiler were to break the previous owner is liable in the first 5 days I'm sure it is.
This 10 year warranty you mention is probably not worth the paper its written on. It is only for major structural defects such as subsidence or the roof falling off etc and even then, as with all insurance policies they will try everything to not pay out or do the work. The warranty you will get is a one year snagging one which will enable you to get any defects rectified within 12 months.
I would never buy a new build but mostly for the reason of privacy and not being overlooked as I have had that in a previous property I always felt even in my back garden I had no privacy at all as there were house back in on to mine. I have had some issues with the house I moved into but I'd still rather have it than the new builds in my area I have a large corner garden with a field behind me and for my next house I'm hoping even to get slightly into country to have nice view of fields rather than houses. But that is so personal to me I know many people who don't care about that and wouldn't mind buying a new build. I did keep thinking when in my rage 😡 whilst deep cleaning this place as it was very dirty this is why people buy new builds so it's all clean 😂
Hey Lara, we’re about to start looking at house’s and the only way we can afford to do it is through shared ownership. Can you pick the same things with shared ownership as you can with help to buy? And can you haggle on price? I just assumed because they’re part of a housing association that you wouldn’t be able to ask about how you would like your kitchen, what paint you’d like let alone haggle on price. Can you help this 🤞 first time buyer out. We too are in Hampshire and the housing market is 🙀xx
I am building. I have had one previous new build and two existing homes. Here in Minnesota the existing homes are costing more per square foot than new builds. So this was a big con for me. I can build twice as much square footage for the price of an existing home (with all landscaping and underground sprinklers included). Also with the two existing homes, both homeowners LIED on the disclosure paperwork about the condition of the house and the housing inspectors FAILED to catch the problems. Cost me close to $100,000 on both to fix as I would never sell a home with problems (especially since I know how it feels). So this can be another con. I will not get the charm and character of an existing but I can put it in mine.
Be careful with shared ownership. My mum had a house that was shared ownership and she sadly passed away. Selling the house then became an absolute nightmare took 2 years and we ended up in debt
Best of luck with your search! I had an offer accepted on a house today! It's a victorian 2 bedroom property. I'm a first time buyer and this whole process has been interesting, if long (I've been saving for a few years). In my area I have no clue why people want a new build as you can buy an older house for a fraction of the price. I spoke to a friend the other day who had gotten a new build via shared ownership and she has a little bit of buyers remorse. Her main point was everyone is starting out so it's attracted a lot of young families and a lot of noise. Fine if you also have kids, but not if you're a childless couple who like peace and quiet. She had a lot of issues with the garden after she moved in as well. Buying an older house, I was able to vet the streets I was going for very easily as they're all established neighbourhoods.
Really needed this thanks, saving up for my mortgage first time buyer. Going to get 5 percent but now has kind of mucked up the whole pandemic, might take me awhile to save which is disheartening.
I was thinking about shared ownership re sales but so many have massive premiums which is apparently because they've paid for the garden etc, but why would I pay £30,000 premium?! If I had that money I'd buy it without shared ownership!
I think this is quite a generalised idea of new builds and not applicable to all. My new build flat I didn’t get any freebies, I didn’t get the option to modify parts of the flat even though mine wasn’t built yet and I only got an 18 months warranty period unless it was structural to the flats. Anything within the flat if it was outside that period was my responsibility so a lot of your pros for new builds didn’t apply to me sadly, so I don’t think they’d apply to everyone. My saving grace was I did it via shared ownership as it was the only way I could get on the property ladder on my own at the age I was
Yes agreed, I did mention this was a generalised view and this was more for houses as I've not got experience of buying apartments but thank you for sharing your experience for anyone who is in the same position, it will be really helpful! X
We bought a new build (6ish yrs ago) using help to buy- and then purchased our help to buy portion back 4 years ago. There really are pros and cons. We would never have been able to buy with a small child if we hadn’t used help to buy; but you definitely have to account for the extra cost involved when you purchase your help to buy percentage back. I love having a new home, and not having to do any renovations. However, yes some builders and their finishing ‘standards’ can be questionable. Snagging and get them to come back can be a right pain 🤦🏼♀️ We do plan to move in the next 2-3 years, depending on availability we’d choose new build or an older home. I’d love a larger garden which you generally find with older homes, vs small gardens with new homes.
I worked for a housing association and I inspected, snagged and desnaging and honestly the things these builders do is appalling on that basis i would think twice about buying a new build
We are currently trying to sell our 1 bed flat so we can buy either a brand new home or used home. So many options to way up, I’m more towards used for the space but wouldn’t say no to a new build if it ticked all my boxes. Anyone want to buy a flat? 😅
Older build every time! New build...vast majority of buyers are not able to buy a house without the use of New Build buying schemes with 5% deposits... some times not enough savings...lower income... new builds are premium homes... so many rules... loan to be repaid... risk of negative equity... those gov schemes are very problematic...
New builds are a complete joke, they are built by teams less than motivated to do a decent job, any warranty has multiple exemptions that make them useless. If you do need to rely on the warranty prepare to pay hefty legal fees to get the build company to honour the warranty. Anyone buying one either has not done their research or need to rely on a Government scheme that requires them to buy one ignorer to access support.
Another Con for new builds... you won't make any money on them for at least 20 years. If you're looking to go up the ladder in the next 2/3 years, don't expect to have made anything on your new build, if anything they will be worth considerably less. No one wants a relatively recent second hand new build xxx
We just bought a 2 year old house for £45,000 more than it originally sold for. We went for this instead of a new build as it was no longer in a building site, had had time to settle and all initial teething problems had been ironed out. Also the garden had been landscaped beautifully. It's also in an up and coming area by the coast within walking distance of high speed trains to London, so I fully expect the value to continue to go up.
Far too many variables, especially timing, our new build has almost doubled in the last 8 years but obviously that will be tricky now when the market is so heated
we bought a 1950s house on half an acre of land and I LOVE the charm of the house and I love that I always have a project to work on. We are a young married couple with no kids so it's easier to tackle projects without kids. I can't imagine how hard it must be to do all home renvonation with children. everyday I wake up and say how much I love our house but I'd be lying if all the projects dont cost $ and there's always something that needs work. But we save lots of $$$ buying older than new. we could never afford our neighborhood without buying a fixer upper
I've owned three houses and all have been new builds. I've been in my current house for over 20 years. I love new houses and have never had any problems 💕
Always lived in older builds, but a few years back my cousin started buying new builds. I've really come to appreciate new builds now. Doing some work on my current old build, and plan to go new build after.
All your points were totally right! We live in a new build area and been here 2 years and we really notice how it feels like everyone is on top of each other and feels very compact with little privacy. I think you're making the right decision going for an older property 😊xx
I’m currently in a new build and it was the right choice to get on the market but I can’t wait to move into an older house! My main tip is to look out for hidden extra costs for example maintenance!
I've lived in 3 victorian houses and never had any structural problems or anything worse than a bit of damp. It's personal preference but I think they have more charm and character
We brought an older house which needed completely renovating which has been extremely expensive and stressful with 2 young children. I wouldn’t do it again and love the idea of moving into a clean sparkly new build next time 😀
We have a very old home, it looked ok when we bought it, but it had hidden faults we had to fix at big expense. However I love my neighbourhood and my qwerky, not another one like it home and would never swap it for a new build where you can barely tell them apart. Great well thought out vid.
When buying an old house think about the constant costs of upkeep due to age in the structure of the building and although you can happily live with minor issues such as rendering cracks and small tears in the roof lining etc these will show up in a survey and potentially put buyers off even if these things have been factored into the sale price.
we live in an old Victorian house and I absolutely HATE them. Everything smells like damp, like when we travel I can smell it on our things (they came and fixed the damp wall and there is nothing else they can do, but everytime it rains it smells like we are swimming in mould 🤮). Also these houses unless really well renovated just keep falling apart and are so narrow and impractical! And in London they are also small and cramped anyway.
I'm on my 4th house now, have never bought a new house but am definitely thinking about for our next move. My current house looked stunning when we viewed it but on the day we moved in the upstairs hall carpet smelt of wee (dog wee I think) straight through to underlay so had to be ripped out instantly. We also had fleas! Always have a contingency fund incase of anything unexpected. Will be looking to move next year and will definitely consider a new build if it's not overlooked. Used to work as an estate agent and lots of sales fell through for loads of reasons, sometimes right at the end of the process because they changed their mind and nothing you can do about it.
WHAT A NIGHTMARE. Dog wee?! FLEAS? We are currently looking and vlogging for our first home....we really hope we dont have anything like this to report!
Ahh its so exciting looking at new houses and making plans, good luck 🤞
One key difference that you forgot to mention is new build homes with more than 1 bathrooms while all old properties for some reason had only 1 bathroom.. i have lived in 3 bedroom and 4 bedroom properties in the past with just 1 bathroom.. the concept of having more than one bathroom is still very new in the UK when compared to homes in the US, Australia and even India
New here - Love your series! We are also FTB looking for our first home. We were in the process of purchasing a New Build before the pandemic but we decided against it due to the crazy amount of restrictions in the title/land deeds! Obviously varies depending on the developer, but something to be wary of. Especially concerning some of the ‘fleecehold’ terms. Good luck on your journey x
Just a little insight, the housing market is actually fantastic right now, especially where we are in the North West (I am an estate agent). Prices are still at the same price, only reductions slightly, houses aren't sticking round for long. Most offers are coming in at asking price! Finally 90% LTV's are coming back available too for FTB's xx
Thanks for sharing. I keep changing my mind between new and existing. I just cant make my mind up. Luckily with the market how it is I have time to think on it x
Swift process occurs too on older build without a chain...
such a helpful video, a few notable differences for anyone in Scotland; there is the first home fund which is a government scheme and can be used on older properties too which is amazing! Also, even if you move into an older build, if the boiler were to break the previous owner is liable in the first 5 days I'm sure it is.
This 10 year warranty you mention is probably not worth the paper its written on. It is only for major structural defects such as subsidence or the roof falling off etc and even then, as with all insurance policies they will try everything to not pay out or do the work. The warranty you will get is a one year snagging one which will enable you to get any defects rectified within 12 months.
I would never buy a new build but mostly for the reason of privacy and not being overlooked as I have had that in a previous property I always felt even in my back garden I had no privacy at all as there were house back in on to mine. I have had some issues with the house I moved into but I'd still rather have it than the new builds in my area I have a large corner garden with a field behind me and for my next house I'm hoping even to get slightly into country to have nice view of fields rather than houses. But that is so personal to me I know many people who don't care about that and wouldn't mind buying a new build. I did keep thinking when in my rage 😡 whilst deep cleaning this place as it was very dirty this is why people buy new builds so it's all clean 😂
Hey Lara, we’re about to start looking at house’s and the only way we can afford to do it is through shared ownership. Can you pick the same things with shared ownership as you can with help to buy? And can you haggle on price? I just assumed because they’re part of a housing association that you wouldn’t be able to ask about how you would like your kitchen, what paint you’d like let alone haggle on price. Can you help this 🤞 first time buyer out. We too are in Hampshire and the housing market is 🙀xx
Would love a new build but can't find any that will park 2 or 3 cars on a private driveway....
I am building. I have had one previous new build and two existing homes. Here in Minnesota the existing homes are costing more per square foot than new builds. So this was a big con for me. I can build twice as much square footage for the price of an existing home (with all landscaping and underground sprinklers included). Also with the two existing homes, both homeowners LIED on the disclosure paperwork about the condition of the house and the housing inspectors FAILED to catch the problems. Cost me close to $100,000 on both to fix as I would never sell a home with problems (especially since I know how it feels). So this can be another con. I will not get the charm and character of an existing but I can put it in mine.
Be careful with shared ownership. My mum had a house that was shared ownership and she sadly passed away. Selling the house then became an absolute nightmare took 2 years and we ended up in debt
Best of luck with your search! I had an offer accepted on a house today! It's a victorian 2 bedroom property. I'm a first time buyer and this whole process has been interesting, if long (I've been saving for a few years). In my area I have no clue why people want a new build as you can buy an older house for a fraction of the price. I spoke to a friend the other day who had gotten a new build via shared ownership and she has a little bit of buyers remorse. Her main point was everyone is starting out so it's attracted a lot of young families and a lot of noise. Fine if you also have kids, but not if you're a childless couple who like peace and quiet. She had a lot of issues with the garden after she moved in as well. Buying an older house, I was able to vet the streets I was going for very easily as they're all established neighbourhoods.
Really needed this thanks, saving up for my mortgage first time buyer. Going to get 5 percent but now has kind of mucked up the whole pandemic, might take me awhile to save which is disheartening.
Keep your head up! We are right here with you! We've saved up 10% and are now being told to have atleast 15%.. but more likely 25 :/
Loved your make up in this video 💓
Thank you so much 😀
I was thinking about shared ownership re sales but so many have massive premiums which is apparently because they've paid for the garden etc, but why would I pay £30,000 premium?! If I had that money I'd buy it without shared ownership!
I think this is quite a generalised idea of new builds and not applicable to all. My new build flat I didn’t get any freebies, I didn’t get the option to modify parts of the flat even though mine wasn’t built yet and I only got an 18 months warranty period unless it was structural to the flats. Anything within the flat if it was outside that period was my responsibility so a lot of your pros for new builds didn’t apply to me sadly, so I don’t think they’d apply to everyone.
My saving grace was I did it via shared ownership as it was the only way I could get on the property ladder on my own at the age I was
Yes agreed, I did mention this was a generalised view and this was more for houses as I've not got experience of buying apartments but thank you for sharing your experience for anyone who is in the same position, it will be really helpful! X
Hiya… can you recommend a mortgage advisor with whole market access pls?
Lovely video however I love your hair could you do a tutorial 💜
We bought a new build (6ish yrs ago) using help to buy- and then purchased our help to buy portion back 4 years ago. There really are pros and cons. We would never have been able to buy with a small child if we hadn’t used help to buy; but you definitely have to account for the extra cost involved when you purchase your help to buy percentage back. I love having a new home, and not having to do any renovations. However, yes some builders and their finishing ‘standards’ can be questionable. Snagging and get them to come back can be a right pain 🤦🏼♀️ We do plan to move in the next 2-3 years, depending on availability we’d choose new build or an older home. I’d love a larger garden which you generally find with older homes, vs small gardens with new homes.
Spent the first 5 minutes of this video thinking the mirror in the background was a ridiculously narrow doorway
I worked for a housing association and I inspected, snagged and desnaging and honestly the things these builders do is appalling on that basis i would think twice about buying a new build
We are currently trying to sell our 1 bed flat so we can buy either a brand new home or used home. So many options to way up, I’m more towards used for the space but wouldn’t say no to a new build if it ticked all my boxes. Anyone want to buy a flat? 😅
New houses seem so small and not much character.
I feel I'm gonna go for a older house
Older build every time! New build...vast majority of buyers are not able to buy a house without the use of New Build buying schemes with 5% deposits... some times not enough savings...lower income... new builds are premium homes... so many rules... loan to be repaid... risk of negative equity... those gov schemes are very problematic...
New builds are a complete joke, they are built by teams less than motivated to do a decent job, any warranty has multiple exemptions that make them useless. If you do need to rely on the warranty prepare to pay hefty legal fees to get the build company to honour the warranty.
Anyone buying one either has not done their research or need to rely on a Government scheme that requires them to buy one ignorer to access support.
Another Con for new builds... you won't make any money on them for at least 20 years. If you're looking to go up the ladder in the next 2/3 years, don't expect to have made anything on your new build, if anything they will be worth considerably less. No one wants a relatively recent second hand new build xxx
Just sold ours after 3 and a half years making £40,000 there’s definitely a market for almost new
We just bought a 2 year old house for £45,000 more than it originally sold for. We went for this instead of a new build as it was no longer in a building site, had had time to settle and all initial teething problems had been ironed out. Also the garden had been landscaped beautifully. It's also in an up and coming area by the coast within walking distance of high speed trains to London, so I fully expect the value to continue to go up.
Far too many variables, especially timing, our new build has almost doubled in the last 8 years but obviously that will be tricky now when the market is so heated