Anyone bought a showhouse?

Zulu

Just wondering what experiences people have from buying a show house?
Any advice?
One thing that springs to mind - how much extra do they tend to cost?

Gumbo

Depends if all the fixtures and fittings are included, or just some of the fixed furniture. I've seen them go for about 10k more and sometimes more.

Anyone I know that bought one, got the carpets cleaned etc before handover.

juke

I've had 2 sets of friends buy showhouses.

In one, scale became an issue - after they moved in.

The furniture was deceptively small - particularly the couch. They had to change it early on and realised the living room was far smaller than originally thought. The single beds too, my friend said were smaller than 3 ft. Kitchen table/chairs too.

So - test out the furniture, and don't be deceived by clever decor/design.

Victor

Expect to wash everything and to have to touch up the paintwork. Make sure appliances / fittings work and that there is a warranty.

Make sure you get all the meters read at handover.

Col_30

If you calculate the cost of all the stuff you are getting in the show house, generally the builder has added a margin. Buy empty and furnish/decorate how you would like yourself. Unless of course you have no interest.

gabsdot40

Friends of mine bought a show house around 20 years ago. They didn't have to redecorate for about 15 years. It was beautifully done and very well finished.

lawred2

Putting furniture and light fittings on long term finance i.e. a mortgage is an incredibly poor choice.

Only consider buying a showhouse if it has a design, layout, site size or site location that can't be matched by another house in the estate.

Imagine taking 30 years to pay for a showhouse couch that might not be to your taste.

Now if you have the cash to pay for contents separately (outside of a deposit) then you could put that to the vendor.

Obviously all of the above is predicated on you needing a mortgage. If you're a cash buyer then it's simply a question of whether you're prepared to pay for other people's taste.

Zulu

Well this is it. It's the only house left that suits our needs. We couldnt care less about the contents. We'd be prepared to pay more as it has the best garden etc., but I'm trying to figure out just how much more...

antoinolachtnai

Zulu wrote: »

Well this is it. It's the only house left that suits our needs. We couldnt care less about the contents. We'd be prepared to pay more as it has the best garden etc., but I'm trying to figure out just how much more...

Here is another little technical thing. The electricity supply for a showhouse is set up as a commercial premises. This mans you pay a higher standing charge. Your supplier can get this changed but it's just something you need to get done.

dbagman

From my experience the show house tends to be hastily built to get the others sold off the plans asap. It's the first in the estate so generally the one any teething problems in the design and construction are made. Also as an electrician iv personally never heard of the show house being connected as a commercial property. That would likely require a second electrical certification due to a change of purpose. I could be wrong but doubt that to be true.

antoinolachtnai

Definitely happens in some cases. A showhouse is not a residence. It is at least partly commercial in nature and so should be DG5 rather than DG1 or DG2.

It's not a wiring issue at all. It is more of a commercial/billing issue. There is no need to recertify to switch as far as I know.

dbagman

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

Definitely happens in some cases. A showhouse is not a residence. It is at least partly commercial in nature and so should be DG5 rather than DG1 or DG2.

It's not a wiring issue at all. It is more of a commercial/billing issue. There is no need to recertify to switch as far as I know.

Im not saying its never happened, but after 15 years in the trade its something iv never occurred. admittedly more of that time has been spent in the industrial side of things but still its not something I reckon to be the norm. I wouldnt consider it a commercial premises as no business actually occurs in the showhouse in that no contracts are signed nor are any monies exchanged. And one thing Im almost certain on is the purpose of use has to be stated on the electrical cert that the esb gets issued prior to connection so I can say with almost (im open to correction) certainty a re-certification would indeed be required if a change of purpose were the case.

allibastor

Friends of my parents did once.
House was literally showhouse condition but they had to wait AGES for other houses to sell before they could move in. It was part of the sale that 50% of the houses in the estate needed to sell, and it was slower going than they thought

Gumbo

dbagman wrote: »

From my experience the show house tends to be hastily built to get the others sold off the plans asap. It's the first in the estate so generally the one any teething problems in the design and construction are made. Also as an electrician iv personally never heard of the show house being connected as a commercial property. That would likely require a second electrical certification due to a change of purpose. I could be wrong but doubt that to be true.

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

Definitely happens in some cases. A showhouse is not a residence. It is at least partly commercial in nature and so should be DG5 rather than DG1 or DG2.

It's not a wiring issue at all. It is more of a commercial/billing issue. There is no need to recertify to switch as far as I know.

Nope, this doesn't happen.
The show houses are built to the same standard, same spec and same certification.

Last 3 large estate I inspected, all over 50 homes and one with 100's (and been discussed in this forum) all built as normal. The estate agents then came in and picked which ones for the show houses. The developer at commencement did not know which ones would be at this stage.

Gumbo

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

Here is another little technical thing. The electricity supply for a showhouse is set up as a commercial premises. This mans you pay a higher standing charge. Your supplier can get this changed but it's just something you need to get done.

Never ever heard of this. In all my years working on 1000's of houses this had never occurred in my experience.

December2012

Short term I'd imagine your move is a lot smoother. You just have to bring your personal effects. Avoiding stress is a big benefit

antoinolachtnai

kceire wrote: »

Nope, this doesn't happen.
The show houses are built to the same standard, same spec and same certification.

Last 3 large estate I inspected, all over 50 homes and one with 100's (and been discussed in this forum) all built as normal. The estate agents then came in and picked which ones for the show houses. The developer at commencement did not know which ones would be at this stage.

Are you talking about the wiring standards and certification? I am not.

ArnieSilvia

December2012 wrote: »

Short term I'd imagine your move is a lot smoother. You just have to bring your personal effects. Avoiding stress is a big benefit

Agree with above.

We bought a showhouse not because we wanted but because it was the last one available. We had to pay extra 15k but it didn't matter as this was last chance to buy at bust prices. Since 2013 price had gone up by approx. 50%

We moved in like to any rental property and it made the purchase a much better experience compared to neighbours who were finishing their houses months after we moved in.

In our case 15k covered floors, furniture, blinds/curtains, lights etc.

Since we moved in, a lot of things didn't fit our livestyle and family needs and we disposed of them on adverts, probably at 30% of original price.
After 3 years, only things left now are sofa and two beds but that's us, many other people, particularly childless "professionals" would be perfectly happy with the stuff that was here.

Would I buy a showhouse again? No

Would I buy a showhouse again in depressed market if it was the only one left? Yes

Gumbo

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

Are you talking about the wiring standards and certification? I am not.

No idea what your talking about but every show house I've been involved in is residential. No element of commercial whatsoever.

antoinolachtnai

A show house is not a residence and should not be registered as domestic.

"A domestic customer premises is defined as any premises whose main purpose is that of a single residence and where the connection agreement is with a private individual, with an MIC up to 29KVA."

(https://www.esbnetworks.ie/docs/default-source/publications/rules-for-application-of-duos-tariff-group.pdf?sfvrsn=4)

If you are registering showhouses with ESB Networks as domestic and they are letting you away with it, then fair enough. But they should be registered as business use. It is not a very big point.

dbagman

antoinolachtnai wrote:

If you are registering showhouses with ESB Networks as domestic and they are letting you away with it, then fair enough. But they should be registered as business use. It is not a very big point.

That's rubbish. It's still a house who's ultimate purpose will be as a private residence when the estate is finished. No actual 'business' is conducted in the show house. It's a domestic residence and is certified as such with the esb. Don't know where you've seen that but it most certainly isn't the norm.

dbagman

kceire wrote:

Last 3 large estate I inspected, all over 50 homes and one with 100's (and been discussed in this forum) all built as normal. The estate agents then came in and picked which ones for the show houses. The developer at commencement did not know which ones would be at this stage.

So you're trying to tell me the show house is chosen when the estate is finished?? That would in effect eliminate people buying houses off the plans. Something which very much happens. The showhouses is usually number 1 in the estate and finished first. And as iv experienced first hand rushed to get it ready asap and get deposits taken on the rest of the estate. Just my own personal experience. I'm not saying it's the norm across the board.

Gumbo

dbagman wrote: »

So you're trying to tell me the show house is chosen when the estate is finished?? That would in effect eliminate people buying houses off the plans. Something which very much happens. The showhouses is usually number 1 in the estate and finished first. And as iv experienced first hand rushed to get it ready asap and get deposits taken on the rest of the estate. Just my own personal experience. I'm not saying it's the norm across the board.

Nope.
Commencement = date of lodgement of commencement notice to the building control authority. At this stage the developer has no idea of what houses will be the show house. Sometimes it comes down to what house has the greenest grass, or the most amount of sun during show house opening times. I've been involved in some sites that had different show houses depending on what time of day the viewing was on at

Once the houses come out of the ground, then in my personal experience the EA selects what houses they want to showcase, hence why you could have No. 1, No. 9, and No. 24 as show houses as opposed to 1, 2 and 3.

In some cases they can be built first, take Bovale Developments in Finglas, 1996 for example, house numbers 1, 3 and 4 were the show houses.

Belltree in Clongriffin, the showhouses were part of the larger first phase and selected towards the launch date, they are not numbers 1, 2, 3 etc

An Riasc in Finglas, show houses were numbers 13-16 iirc from memory.

Soon Hill in Drumcondra, show houses were scattered around the development at random.

A small selection of the houses I have been on in the times last and more modern times, I've been done there, done that but there is no exact rule with regards to show houses.