Benefits of Buying a New Build A Rated Home vs 2nd hand average D rated?

We initially started only looking at new builds, but quickly changed tact to focus on second hand homes.

The pros (for second hand) were (these are obviously person specific);

1-More mature setting/settled neighborhood
2- Usually closer to schools/amenities/transport structures
3 - Larger garden generally
4-Usually a bigger plot in general/more space between adjacent front doors/room to expand
5- Presumably no major social housing worries (controversial point, but was a big one for us having relatives who had a nightmare with socially housed neighbors in a new development)

The second hand homes generally needed an injection of cash to re-decorate/re-model as we needed (cons), but usually when all was factored in the total cost (second hand home + redecorate versus new build) were relatively the same, so we felt better ending up in a more mature estate but having to put in the effort of changing things.

I'd love an A3 rated new build in an old park, thats the perfect buy in my opinion.

Heating.

Style: A rated homes are going to be modern in style, D rated homes will be more "homely". Depends what aesthetic you prefer.

Comfort: get used to cold feet in a D rated house and bigger heating bills.
Though it's a false economy to think A rated homes are cheaper to heat, as they cost more to build, and you're paying that together with mortgage interest.

the price is the price. second hand homes get you into bidding wars and also are generally priced to allow the current owners to move-up so therefore can end up being priced higher.

Milena009 wrote: »

precisely that! the 2nd hand market is in an absolute madness state right now.
Apartments going 40k over asking before any viewing [IN person] allowed.

Also, the Help to buy scheme for new builds is a big incentive for people who are renting and could not buy otherwise anytime soon:cool:

These types of price hikes are built into the new build price generally, you just don't see it, as you only see the headline price.

JimmyVik wrote: »

My brother is in an A rated 3 bed, semi. His heating bill is €650 for the last 12 months.
Maintenance on his heating system was another €450 last year.

€650 annually seems very high for heating a rated 3bed semiD (unless it is a larger 3 bed, or it's new and still drying out)

Back on topic, we're looking to upgrade to a 3 / 4 bed semi D family home in the near future and have all but ruled out new builds. The social housing element is only a small factor but any we've viewed have absolutely tiny sitting rooms / kitchens compared to older (80s/90s built) in the same area and the estates have a very unwelcoming feel , I dunno is it lack of front gardens or do they just take time to develop character but anyway. We're aware of the renovation costs in buying an older house, have factored roughly 80k of that into our budget (that will go over or under budget depending on level of work required, e.g. existing windows/insulation/kitchen/painting/flooring/etc). That's assuming we ever even find a house, the supply problem is truly shocking at the moment where we're looking.

Bought a new build (apartment) in 2007, and now I sold it and bought a new house 4 bed semi A3. Ours it’s in a nice location, very close to amenities and surrounded by mature areas. When the hearing goes off, the house maintains the temperature all day (for example, on the first floor, the temp is always 21 degrees and the heating comes on only 30-45 minutes per day). I understand the fear of social housing, but in a mature estate you never know either how your neighbors will be. For me, I rather live in a new property, even though it has as well negative aspects l

awec wrote: »

Did your brother's heating break? 450 is not normal maintenance money.

Some controller unit for the solar had to be replaced.
The year before that something else went wrong on the heat pump, cant remember what he said that was but it was an expensive repair.

We've been living in B1 rated house for nearly 10years now and I wouldn't settle for anything less than that. The level of comfort in low BER houses just isn't there. I understand some people are more cold tolerant but I have low blood pressure and I'm constantly cold. I don't have monetary value of heating costs by hand but I've recently calculated kwh we go through the year : gas 5600kwh, electricity 2400kwh, based on 2.5years average, 92sq semi-D.

We stayed in relatives house for 2 nights over xmas. OMG, it was freezing! I slept with my jumper and my socks on, the cold and the dampness gets into your bones, it's awful. They would turn heating on for 3hrs in the morning and same in the evening and that would barely make a difference. House was built in early 2000s, so I guess BER D at the best, 4 bed bungalow.

We're looking to move and if it's not a high BER new build then the other choice is a complete heap that we would bulldoze down and built new one in it's place instead.

Marty1983 wrote: »

Another benefit about a new house/estate is that its possible there will be other couples/families at similar stages in your life to you (small kids etc).

We ruled out one particular old estate with a renovation as it was full of older people (we have a 4 year old).

This is very true.

Dolbhad wrote: »

We were sale agreed originally on a new build, 3 bed semi. It was the first phase. By phase 3 the same houses were 35k more expensive. The A rating is a big plus along with HTB and the green interest rating with banks. But I don’t like new build estates. In the end it felt like all the houses were on top of each other, tiny garden, small rooms and no front gardens.

We settled on a detached house c2 rating. I’ll admit the house was much warmer than I expected. Very mature estate, lovely gardens. But second hand houses do come with issues - ours was the drains so do expect some extra cost on that.

New builds estate do have some pros. We don’t have kids but maybe when we do we may feel like it would have been better to be in an estate with other kids than the older neighbours we have.

I would have a similar opinion on new build estates.
What is with the tiny gardens nowadays?

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

it's to use the space the best way possible. Couples buying today - especially for the first time - don't want a front garden, they want space for 2 car parking spaces and usually don't have time to upkeep gardens especially two.

So its because people dont actually want a garden bigger than a postage stamp?

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Gardens are smaller now because it allows them to fit more homes into the available land. more profit for the builders, more homes and ultimately less homeless.

County councils and planning is a big part of it. Planning was refused for a new estate near me as the density wasn't high enough for the planners and it was fairly dense already I thought.
I'm sure developers are happy enough to squeeze them in and get more profits also.