Mr Rational Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 Me and the missus are house hunting today, we are looking to buy a new build. Any stories? Good or bad, who to avoid etc please. Also, if anyone fancies a perfectly good kidney, let me know, I'm raffling mine next year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Stubbs Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 My main problem with new builds is that the walls are usually made of paper and it can be a fucking pain sharing with others. If it's just for you and the wife that works but if you're planning to rent out a room, you will end up fantasising about murdering that person and vice-versa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordo1872 Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 Don't let any showrooms fool you in to thinking the house is bigger than what it actually is. Get accurate measurements of every room and compare with what you currently have or other potential houses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnash Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 Yeah, the walls are thin so buy a detached house if you don't like your next door neighbours' noise. You'll have an extensive list of issues ('snagging') that needs to get sorted out in the first year or two after you move in. If you're lucky, I like my wife and I were, there'll be nothing major, but I have heard of boilers flooding garages, roof tiles falling off, that sort of thing. Another thing if you're buying off plan is you'll have very little idea of the size of the garden. The first time we went into our house we looked through the back room into the garden and the hedge at the back was so close we genuinely thought we didn't have a garden at all. On the plus side it should be cheap to heat as the insulation is so good and there's a good chance of becoming friendly with the neighbours as everyone is in the same boat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 Take ages and be really fussy with your snag list. If possible get someone in the building trade to walk round with you. Make sure the wife is there too, otherwise you'll get stuck with loads of annoying wee jobs to do that you won't get round to and she'll nag you till you murder her and you'll need to lay a new patio on top of everything else that you missed. P.S. After seeing Gnash's post I should point out that the point of the snag list is to get the builders to do all the jobs for free before you hand over the purchase price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Rational Posted July 12, 2015 Author Share Posted July 12, 2015 The folks bought the show home of an estate in Fife a while back. It really was something else, massive rooms and the level of attention to detail was superb. A bit different to the two bedroom we've just looked at! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinkerbelle Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 Try to have a look at a finished, furnished house in the style that you want before buying off a plan. A lot of new builds look great on paper but nine out of ten often seem to have pretty small bedrooms. I bought one once that you had to move sideways to get past the end of a double bed. Personally I reckon you would be better going for an old council house as they are usually solid walled inside and much bigger in general. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madwullie Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 Show houses tend to have smaller furniture, 3/4 size beds etc to make them look bigger. Be fucking ruthless with the snagging lost and make sure you get absolutely everything you can out the company. Ours was pretty much unfinished and they fucked us about a bit, we ended up getting a patio off them, and 2 years later they will still fix any problems we have gratis just because the burd was such a nippy bitch to them about the problems. I think we also got someone the sack too. #unlucks for them tbh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Rational Posted July 12, 2015 Author Share Posted July 12, 2015 Try to have a look at a finished, furnished house in the style that you want before buying off a plan. A lot of new builds look great on paper but nine out of ten often seem to have pretty small bedrooms. I bought one once that you had to move sideways to get past the end of a double bed. Personally I reckon you would be better going for an old council house as they are usually solid walled inside and much bigger in general. This is what I want, but seeing the wife has my nuts in her purse and quite frankly, I want a quiet life.... The part exchange also takes the hassle out of it all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madwullie Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 Get a valuation from an estate agent on your house before getting involved in part exchange. The builders wouldn't offer this if they weren't going to make money out of it so better to find out what you can get on the open market before you start negotiating. Get on zoopla and find out how much other new builds in the street went for if poss, and haggle like f**k if you're able to buy it without and sweetners from them while you're at it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invergowrie arab Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 I see nobody has mentioned this so I will. Be really ruthless with the snagging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
throbber Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 Where about you looking to buy? Me and the Mrs bought a new one last year as we could get more for our money on help to buy. Our flat is the exact same as the show home and in very good nick. If you buy new you will get guarantee for maybe five years and snagging should be easy unless you have bought after the entire phases are complete. We always had builders nearby so could phone up no bother for snagging and there wasn't very much wrong. Also the flats very well insulated as are all new builds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnash Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 haggle like f**k if you're able to buy it without and sweetners from them while you're at it Yes, good point. We haggled and got £7k off the price, flooring throughout the house and a few other extras. I don't know many others in our estate haggled, but very few paid less than the asking price. That might be more difficult now the market has picked up though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa Cuddy Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 This sounds stupid but: If it's a completely new housing estate, find out what your postcode will be at the earliest opportunity. My sister moved into her new build almost a week after she should have because the completion was held up when the solicitor/bank/vendor (no one's actually owning up and taking responsibility for the f**k up) made up a postcode and never updated it when it was finalised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa Cuddy Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 The part exchange also takes the hassle out of it all. and don't assume this to be true either Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigmouth Strikes Again Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 New builds are a pile of shite. IMO. Better off going for a Victorian property. That is built correctly and has a bit of character. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
throbber Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 This sounds stupid but: If it's a completely new housing estate, find out what your postcode will be at the earliest opportunity. My sister moved into her new build almost a week after she should have because the completion was held up when the solicitor/bank/vendor (no one's actually owning up and taking responsibility for the f**k up) made up a postcode and never updated it when it was finalised. This was like a problem for us, we moved here and google maps hadn't recognised the postcode and every single delivery we had was a farce, every single time we had to phone the drives up to say where to come and when we moved in some mail kept coming to the flat despite the names being all over the place. It was actually a farce for nearly a year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
throbber Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 New builds are a pile of shite. IMO. Better off going for a Victorian property. That is built correctly and has a bit of character. Old places have a lot of character but quite often high ceilings, poor services and single glazed windows and are prone to mouse attacks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
throbber Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 What bit of Edinburgh are you in Throbs? In the north - don't want to say exactly obviously will PM! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philpy Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 This sounds stupid but:If it's a completely new housing estate, find out what your postcode will be at the earliest opportunity. My sister moved into her new build almost a week after she should have because the completion was held up when the solicitor/bank/vendor (no one's actually owning up and taking responsibility for the f**k up) made up a postcode and never updated it when it was finalised. Yep. This causes the delivery drivers at my work no end of problems when going to new build sites as well. The building companies always provide contacts for site agents, but they can never find them or they don't answer their phones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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