New Houses

[Demonic Angel]

Has anyone bought a new house from any of the following....

David Wilson

Benfield

Barratt

or any other similar new home developer.....

Just wondering what your experiences are with them, especially when it comes to part-exing your current property.....

I've heard a lot of stories, from Watchdog and the like - we arent looking to buy new property YET, perhaps in a couple of years, but we would like to consider buying a new build.

If Rich gets this new job, he will be working from home 24/7, so we might need the extra space (currently have 3 bed semi)

Any help or advice would be appreciated!

[silvasurfa]

just curious, what is it that makes you want a new build? i like a bit of character in a house

[Demonic Angel]

Well the last people who lived here have really made a mess of it in all honesty - the wiring is crud, the heating and boiler is on its way out, the decoratings terrible - the kitchen was a disaster, but we have sorted that as we've bought a new one - the bloke who lived here was a keen amatuer DIY'er - the key word being "amatuer!"

This was our first house - and its been a nightmare! They left it in a right mess - so we plan to sort it all out and sell it in a couple of years - theres no way we can sell it the way it is - no one would buy it!

We were naive - saw a cheap house that looked nice - but until you live in it, you dont realise the faults and flaws!

Its no way a bad house - we did get a bargain - £111,000 we paid last March for it - its now worth about £125,000-ish..... but there are underlying problems that we'll need to sort out, just to live in it, let alone sell it!

I guess the whole premise of a new build is that its new and no one else has lived in it so they havent had the chance to mess it up!

[silvasurfa]

see your point but there not all that bad!

sounds like you got a bargain,

i bought a two bed townhouse in october for £137,000, needed a bit of work but i loved putting my mark on it!

[jerry phipps]

Hello mate

I brought a new home oh now 7 years back. built by westbury homes. I started of with a 3 bed semi and decided to move on. So after doing the math decided to buy new moving into a 3 bed detached. I have got to admit it's wicked. Choosing your carpets kitchen appliance cupboards lighting fixtures and your bathroom suite. It all gravy as they say.

And you got a 10 year builders guaranty and still after 2 years owning the property you can still call them in to do small repairs. For me you cant bet buying new. No need to decorate as everything is perfect.

Now part exchanging the property i couldn't tell you about this as i had to sell my house before the house was built. But i would have thought that it pretty straight forward now a day's ;)

jerry!!

[TheNissanMan]

Old L/L just part-ex'ed his house with Barrat, no probs at all and they gave him a good price for his old property and great discount on his new one, all went swimmingly...

For the old prop a couple of idea's....

Central Heating Care:

Powergen: £13 a month (have to be Powergen customer) and not everything covered

British Gas £16 a month everyhting covered, unlimited call outs (can also increase cover to £24.50 a month and have plumbing and drains and Electrics covered)

Other companies do similar but dont know the details, if you have any probs with the systems they'll fix it for you....

[knowlson]

Its no way a bad house - we did get a bargain - £111,000 we paid last March for it - its now worth about £125,000-ish..... but there are underlying problems that we'll need to sort out, just to live in it, let alone sell it!

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125k damn I live in thr wrong area if you can get a 3bed semi for that round my way that would not even get you a 1 bed flat I must move

[Demonic Angel]

Hello mate

I brought a new home oh now 7 years back. built by westbury homes. I started of with a 3 bed semi and decided to move on. So after doing the math decided to buy new moving into a 3 bed detached. I have got to admit it's wicked. Choosing your carpets kitchen appliance cupboards lighting fixtures and your bathroom suite. It all gravy as they say.

And you got a 10 year builders guaranty and still after 2 years owning the property you can still call them in to do small repairs. For me you cant bet buying new. No need to decorate as everything is perfect.

Now part exchanging the property i couldn't tell you about this as i had to sell my house before the house was built. But i would have thought that it pretty straight forward now a day's  ;)

jerry!!

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Thats some great advice - cheers Jerry! Like I said if we do move (if being the main thing here!) then it wont be for a couple of years - I like that you can choose kitchen and bathroom suites! :D Typical bird!

Old L/L just part-ex'ed his house with Barrat, no probs at all and they gave him a good price for his old property and great discount on his new one, all went swimmingly...

For the old prop a couple of idea's....

Central Heating Care:

Powergen: £13 a month (have to be Powergen customer) and not everything covered

British Gas £16 a month everyhting covered, unlimited call outs (can also increase cover to £24.50 a month and have plumbing and drains and Electrics covered)

Other companies do similar but dont know the details, if you have any probs with the systems they'll fix it for you....

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Cheers for the info rhaines! We need to invest in a completely new boiler though we think as the old one is the same age as the house (20 years) - plus the ex-owners removed a heater from the living room to move a window and fit double doors, so we need to install a new heater too - all in all a lot of cost!

Its no way a bad house - we did get a bargain - £111,000 we paid last March for it - its now worth about £125,000-ish..... but there are underlying problems that we'll need to sort out, just to live in it, let alone sell it!

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125k damn I live in thr wrong area if you can get a 3bed semi for that round my way that would not even get you a 1 bed flat I must move

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Thats in Leicestershire btw, I expect down south it is far more expensive! Although where I used to live, Rugby, which is 20 miles from here, you're talking an extra 30k for a similar house to ours! And its only 20 miles difference! We were lucky to get the house we did - 111,000 would get you a tiny 2 bed terrace in Rugby - moving just 20 miles up the A5 got us a 3 bed semi with a garage! Amazing really!

[alanbradley]

I have a new-build flat from Tulloch, an Inverness-based developer, that is now just over 2 years old and I can see exactly why you're tempted.

I bought this one because at the time it was much cheaper than buying a "used" property here in Inverness (where houses are in short supply). There's fantastic peace of mind as you know that if there is a problem you do have recourse under the NHBC warranty that you should get. Another advantage is the "snagging" - if you don't like something, or you feel its not good enough, you can get them back to sort it until you're happy with it.

My electric boiler stopped boiling and there was a guy from Tulloch round the next morning and he reset stuff and it worked for a couple of days before stopping again. This time a guy from their plumbing department came round (at 8:15am as agreed) and replaced the element in about 5 minutes. The finish in my block isn't as good as some as it was put up really quickly (although that said I have seen far, far worse from other developers) due to being about 3 months behind schedule.

Probably the biggest problem I have is that all of the houses round about are similar making it all a bit Toytown.

The husband of one of the Section Leaders at work works for Morrison (AWG) and was in charge of the building of a load of houses for (I think) Barratt - he thinks that their quality's not bad.

My sister has just signed up for a new-build flat in Camberley built by Rushmon Homes - so if anybody knows anything about them that I should hear... ;)

DA, I hope that's some help.

Cheers,

Alan

[Blue84]

My Brother brought his first house brand spanking new from Barratts, and he hated it! It creaked all the time, and when someone walked across the top floor and you were downstairs it was like a herd of elephants going over . It developed these odd cracks which barratt assured were fine (altho I didnt believe them) and it was tiny..he vowed to never buy a new home again.

Blue

[Demonic Angel]

Yeah I had heard of some problems with new builds too Blue - thanks for bringing that up - I guess its just something you hope isnt there, but if it is, like the guys have said, hopefully the builders will sort it....

This is the type of house we are thinking of going for..... if we do that is!

At the moment, this is what we have!

(scuse Karis in the foreground - its an old photo! lol)

So like I said, its not bad, but hopefully if all goes well and Rich gets this new job and we will be looking to upgrade!

The bad thing is, you dont really get a choice as to which developer you go with - as Barratt do some areas, David Wilson do some areas - and we want to try and stay in the area we're in if we can - which is predominantly David Wilson - so if David Wilson Homes are bad, well we dont have a choice unless we move 30 miles to the nearest Benfield or Barratt development.....

[Blue84]

This is the type of house we are thinking of going for..... if we do that is!

At the moment, this is what we have!

(scuse Karis in the foreground - its an old photo! lol)

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Thats a nice looking house, and Karis looks so lovely on your driveway too

[Demonic Angel]

She did - she matched the garage door! lol

Like I said, our house isnt BAD - it just could be better!

Thats the other thing we need to do - new driveway! The slabs are all wonky and grass grows inbetween them....

Maybe its me being picky - as I so often am! Still a new build house would be so nice - its like the whole new car thing - its never been anyone elses - its YOURS - and you make your own mark on it first.....

Still - just gotta wait and see I guess.....