New housing development forum - Balgriffin

Dakeyras

I recently signed contracts for a house in a new development in St Samsons Square in Balgriffin. After i got the plans and brochure from the estate agents and decided to buy and sign contracts i found that that was pretty much it as far as information went. The estate agents gave us the names of the various suppliers (tiles, kitchen etc.) who we were to deal with in regard to those aspects of the house.

I spent some time trying to find out more information on the area and possible ways to discuss the development with other people who were buying there.

I came across http://www.beaupark.com which is a forum set up for the people in that development to discuss whatever issues may effect them. I thought it was a great idea to have a forum where you can talk about whatever you wanted to find out about your house without having to go through either the estate agents or the developers. Its also a good way to start to get to know your neighbours.

So i decided to set up my own forum dedicated to the area which i was buying in http://www.balgriffin.com rather than the development itself so that it would be useful to more people.

What i hope is to provide a forum where residents can find answers to questions easily and perhaps find answers to questions they hadn't even thought of. And beyond the construction of the houses to still provide a source of information for the people in these developments.

So why this thread?

Well number one its a way to advertise to anyone buying in these developments that there is a forum specifically for discussion related to them.

The second point is related to buying off the plans and the information provided to buyers, personally i dont think that i had enough information which was why i decided to try to provide a forum where i could perhaps find out more.

One of the isssues that i found was in relation to the level of information you get before you sign contracts for a house. In my opinion estate agents brochures and plans have been produced with rose tinted glasses in the images they contain, locations they describe and indeed the plans they contain. Images are included from places miles away, times to various places seem unrealistic and furniture seems made for dwarves. But as always its a case of 'caveat emptor'.

The issue that i actually found the most annoying was in trying to ascertain details of the house you've decided to buy. Getting dimensioned floor plans and information on location of tv points, sockets, switches etc. can prove to be difficult. Though in fairness i did recieve dimensioned floor plans after i signed contracts. In relatiosns to points and sockets its a case of you have to provide any specific requirements.

Now i understand why the developers dont wish to give out this information as they wish to retain the right to make changes as they wish but just giving out this information doesnt preclude that, i mean they have solicitors to provide get out clauses.

Though at the same time, from the other side (construction), its not so much providing the information but if you provide the information and 90% of people decide they want to make minor changes then it becomes a bit of a nightmare. But for the amount of money that people are paying are they not entitled to that?

And there finishes my waffle for a while, i got a bit carried away from my initial point..

gqma0

Brilliant. Thanks

Already posted a thread on it that could be useful to others regarding dimensions.

Cheers