Second hand houses

1991 pmaC epacS

I would just like to echo what's been previously said in relation to established/settled down areas. New build housing estates take a while to form character, it's unknown at that stage what the demographics/crime rate will be. Sometimes this can take 10-15 years. These estates generally have a higher proportion of families with babies and young children. The added noise of children playing outside/babies screaming inside houses/school traffic/etc may not be everyone's cup of tea. Just my 2 c.

Lumen

1991 pmaC epacS wrote: »

I would just like to echo what's been previously said in relation to established/settled down areas. New build housing estates take a while to form character, it's unknown at that stage what the demographics/crime rate will be. Sometimes this can take 10-15 years. These estates generally have a higher proportion of families with babies and young children. The added noise of children playing outside/babies screaming inside houses/school traffic/etc may not be everyone's cup of tea. Just my 2 c.

Whilst I totally understand that suburbia is probably not the place for a young, single person wanting an exciting, edgy lifestyle, what kind of Grinch objects to the sound of children playing? When I hear a baby crying in someone else's house the first thought is how blessed I am that it isn't me.

We bought a new build in 2004. Despite a snag list running to several pages, all that got fixed before we moved in and it turned out to be a sound, warm, well insulated place that needed nothing done to it in the 12 years we lived there. Our estate was a building site for about 5 years: mud, hoardings, unattended burglar alarms, but over the next five matured into a lovely place. I made friends from neighbours to the extent that we went on holiday together a few times. Having a large amount of families with kids the same age makes life much easier e.g. car pooling for sports.

I don't know how usual that experience is, but it must be less likely in a settled area where there isn't the concentration of families with kids the same age.

I'm now in a 1980s house. It's a freezing money pit. Everything needs doing.

Parchment

Lumen wrote: »

Whilst I totally understand that suburbia is probably not the place for a young, single person wanting an exciting, edgy lifestyle, what kind of Grinch objects to the sound of children playing? When I hear a baby crying in someone else's house the first thought is how blessed I am that it isn't me.

.

I must be a grinch - i dont want to listen to kids screaming and playing. I lived opposite a playground for 4 years and it was hell.

cnocbui

Eric Cartman wrote: »

+1
between rising material costs, builders rushing things to finish one project and move on , and the biggest issue of all - labour supply. During those years, any lad over the age of 16 who could lift blocks without complaining was handed a job with 0 experience on a site and expected to work at the pace of experienced tradesmen. I knew people who paid decent lads to do snag lists and were coming out with 2-3 a4 pages of bullet points of things wrong with a new build, those buyers snagging themselves or with somebody not as observant (very high demand for these lads too) would have missed some of the rushed work .

The beauty of second hand houses is that a highly motivated specialist with a keen eye, often two of them, will have sorted everything on the snag list for the new owners.

wicked_wytch

We're looking for a second hand house. Bought our first property, 2 bed apartment off plans and wouldn't buy new again. Theres the added cost of having to floor the place, tile the place, probably buy fridge, freezer hob and oven, dishwasher washing machine. All very very expensive when you've just put everything you have into your deposit and fees. At least with second hand even if you don't like the decor, you can change it over time, its not a priority to get it sorted straight away.

Now with 2 young kids a 2 bed apartment with no outdoor space other than a small balcony just isn't cutting it and all the new builds have massive bedrooms and landings but absolutely tiny living spaces. We went to see some a few months ago and found we would probably have trouble finding funiture to fit the living room, and it would be really cramped if all 4 of us were sitting in there never mind if we had visitors. Now granted we're spoiled in our apartment, at the moment our living room is huge particularly for an apartment, but our furniture wouldn't fit in most new build living rooms. Plus I don't like 3 storeys, we don't intend on moving again and I don't want to be a pensioner trying to negotiate two flights of stairs with dodgy knees or a hip replacement!. And we like to grow our own veg so the new build postage stamp gardens are nowhere near what we want. I would sacrifice house space for a large garden. I Don't ever want to deal with a managment company again either, and many new build houses all seem to come with management companies in tow.

izzyflusky

I totally get some of the points being explained here. I'm having issues with new builds for the same reason, no garden and cramped estates. However, I still don't understand the reason for similar places in estates built during the boom which means, bad layouts, smaller living areas, lower BER rating, same issues with gardens and parking spaces, etc yet the asking prices are the same to the new builds across the road...it just doesn't add up.

Lumen

izzyflusky wrote: »

I totally get some of the points being explained here. I'm having issues with new builds for the same reason, no garden and cramped estates. However, I still don't understand the reason for similar places in estates built during the boom which means, bad layouts, smaller living areas, lower BER rating, same issues with gardens and parking spaces, etc yet the asking prices are the same to the new builds across the road...it just doesn't add up.

What are those secondhand houses actually selling for?

There has been almost no building the last few years and asking prices are very sticky on the way down. Remember after the crash it took about 5 years for prices to bottom out.

Ayuntamiento

izzyflusky wrote: »

I totally get some of the points being explained here. I'm having issues with new builds for the same reason, no garden and cramped estates. However, I still don't understand the reason for similar places in estates built during the boom which means, bad layouts, smaller living areas, lower BER rating, same issues with gardens and parking spaces, etc yet the asking prices are the same to the new builds across the road...it just doesn't add up.

I think most of us here who are talking about second hand houses are referring to houses built well before the boom.
I only really looked at properties built in the early 1990s after sampling the horrors of 'modern' building standards during my years of renting.

76544567

Differences BERs are worth a lot less than most people think.
Dont let the BER make you spend tens of thousands more.

murphaph

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

They certainly didn't throughout the Celtic tiger. Breeze blocks should be used for cowsheds and that was just the outside walls. A lot of Celtic tiger houses have bad insulation, no proper ceilings and upstairs walls made from nothing but plasterboard. I don't know about the current crop if houses, but anything built 2000 to 2008 is mostly flimsy, cheap and hastily and shoddily out together. Would avoid like the plague.

This sounds like the 1970 semi d I grew up in, complete with suspended ground floor to save on concrete.

I'd just say second houses go for more money than you might expect because they are typically in the older areas with established infrastructure.

The large gardens are definitely a huge selling point for older houses. They often offer extension possibilities not available with new builds.

murphaph

76544567 wrote: »

Differences BERs are worth a lot less than most people think.
Dont let the BER make you spend tens of thousands more.

Yep. The BER is so arbitrary and you can improve a house by changing the lighting to CFLs or LEDs. Ridiculous that the lighting is even considered as it's trivial to modify.

listermint

Lumen wrote: »

I'm now in a 1980s house. It's a freezing money pit. Everything needs doing.

Em... Why did you buy it?

wandatowell

Parchment wrote: »

no social housing in the area (sorry but it was a factor for us)

No need to apologise at all. You are 100% correct. My wife bought a lovely 3 bed semi, beautiful condition in a smallish row of (13) houses. The houses that are owned by the council stand out a mile.

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