We’ve just bought our second home which will need a new kitchen and bathroom as well as some other work done. I was hoping to be able to borrow more on the mortgage to do this but we haven’t been able to. Basically it all comes down to the fact the bank will only lend in accordance to your salary and in line with the value of the property you’re buying. Definitely double check with your mortgage advisor but we were told that we’d need to pay for this separately.Not to go off topic..
but does anyone know much about borrowing money when it comes to buying something run down? We can borrow up to £350k but are currently looking at a house which is £280k but is old and in need of new everything! How would we go about borrowing that extra bit for renovating? I’m so confused and don’t want to buy something old and then be left with no money to do it up
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Thank you! I knew they’d no longer lend over the value of the property, but I wasn’t sure how easy it was to get a loan (or something similar) after taking out a mortgage
I love older properties. They are more solid and have character but a small job quickly turns into a big job. New builds can also have their issues though, my husband works in new builds and he has a list of companies to avoid (I think there would be three we could buy from 
). I think doing up your own place is really rewarding but if you are going to be unhappy living in a building site a new build is probably best for you.
). I think doing up your own place is really rewarding but if you are going to be unhappy living in a building site a new build is probably best for you.Oooh what are the 3 good ones??I love older properties. They are more solid and have character but a small job quickly turns into a big job. New builds can also have their issues though, my husband works in new builds and he has a list of companies to avoid (I think there would be three we could buy from
Any awful ones? I’ve already decided there’s a couple I just wouldn’t bother with.St modwin (really good) , evant, countryside.Oooh what are the 3 good ones??
Bellway and lion Court are ok.
Avoid Persimmon, Dave Wilson and Redrow
We've never bought a new build, this is just him going off what he's seen on site.
Hmm yes I’ve heard bad things about persimmon - we don’t have any of the really good ones where I live
! David Wilson is surprising cos the estate near here is suuuuuper expensive (I think the cheapest house is £400k +!! You’d think for all that money they’d be decent).Sadly not always. I think newbuilds can be very over pricedHmm yes I’ve heard bad things about persimmon - we don’t have any of the really good ones where I live
There's so much to think about when buying a house. I can see the attraction of a new build but I do prefer older properties . You have to think about what will happen if your starter home ends up being a bit more long term than you first hoped (that happened to us due to changes in circumstances). Could you live in a door upper if you couldn't get all the work done? With a new build , would you need to think about schools in the future ( there are new builds in my town that aren't in school catchment) and also public transport and other amenities as new estates are often outside of towns .
I do think it's better to be paying off your own mortgage instead of paying rent but you and your boyfriend may have to compromise.
I do think it's better to be paying off your own mortgage instead of paying rent but you and your boyfriend may have to compromise.
I think if you buy a new build it’s best to go in expecting problems. That’s not to be negative but there will be snags. We went into ours expecting problems and coped when they arose whereas our neighbours had expected everything to be perfect and were annoyed about lots of things. We had a David Wilson. One thing we found made a massive difference was we went on site every week taking pictures etc to check on the build and found things that were wrong so pointed them out. We did feel our house was done to a slightly higher standard than our neighbours because of this. They’d also been fobbed off with things that we hadn’t. We did have problems, big and small, overall DW dealt with them relatively quickly. We found it was better when they were still on site building other houses as the site manager was around and there was usually a tradesman who could help, once they went off site it did get harder to get them to come back to correct things.
My experience was that new builds are ok if you know what to expect and experiences vary widely. I have 2 friends who bought from the same developer on different sites. One had so many problems with her house it’s absolutely taken over and destroyed her life. My other friend has had no significant problems at all. As to whether I’d buy a new build again, no never but thats because our development was incredibly built up and noise and parking were a nightmare and it’s just put us off going forward. I know plenty of people who are happy though in theirs. If I could only give you one piece of advice with any property but particularly new builds its this...never ever buy anything with shared access or a shared driveway...potential for a lot of problems!
My experience was that new builds are ok if you know what to expect and experiences vary widely. I have 2 friends who bought from the same developer on different sites. One had so many problems with her house it’s absolutely taken over and destroyed her life. My other friend has had no significant problems at all. As to whether I’d buy a new build again, no never but thats because our development was incredibly built up and noise and parking were a nightmare and it’s just put us off going forward. I know plenty of people who are happy though in theirs. If I could only give you one piece of advice with any property but particularly new builds its this...never ever buy anything with shared access or a shared driveway...potential for a lot of problems!
Some new builds went up near me a few years ago and they’re still trying to sell them - the cheapest 3 bed house was over 700k!!Hmm yes I’ve heard bad things about persimmon - we don’t have any of the really good ones where I live
I am in London so I know it’s more expensive but for that price you could get a much bigger/more bedrooms older house here. I couldn’t believe how expensive they were
Yeah we’re lucky we’re going to have a bit of money left from selling our first house but we will still have to borrow a bit from the bank too. We’re going to be waiting until the new year because I’m not sure they’d lend what we need straight after we remortgage!Thank you! I knew they’d no longer lend over the value of the property, but I wasn’t sure how easy it was to get a loan (or something similar) after taking out a mortgage
There will always be issues with new builds, they have a 12 month settling period where cracks etc can appear due to movement. It’s nothing to worry about but something to be prepared for. New builds generally lose value once bought, and then pick up. My friend is selling hers 3 years after buying it via the HTB loan, they have lost £10,000.
We bought a 1960s house with all original features so have gutted the place, it’s in an amazing road and saved us £75-100k from buying it done up and the new builds down are road went on for another £200k than ours. We were very luck as my dads in the building trade but it comes with it’s hold up, we still don’t have a finished kitchen 3 years later!
We bought a 1960s house with all original features so have gutted the place, it’s in an amazing road and saved us £75-100k from buying it done up and the new builds down are road went on for another £200k than ours. We were very luck as my dads in the building trade but it comes with it’s hold up, we still don’t have a finished kitchen 3 years later!
I've got a new build, wouldn't of been able to afford to buy without HTB - unless we did get a dooer-upper. I'm so glad we got new now! We still had to do painting which took long enough tbh and neither of us are handy at all.
Regarding value, my husband is a vals surveyor and everyone who works on his team also live in new builds. I used to assume it was difficult to add value to new builds but if all my husbands colleagues live in new builds it can't be that bad
Remember any work you do to add value to the house you will have to initially pay out for yourself so weigh up if that's affordable for you long term if you take on anything big.
Hope this helps x
Regarding value, my husband is a vals surveyor and everyone who works on his team also live in new builds. I used to assume it was difficult to add value to new builds but if all my husbands colleagues live in new builds it can't be that bad
Remember any work you do to add value to the house you will have to initially pay out for yourself so weigh up if that's affordable for you long term if you take on anything big.Hope this helps x
I’m going to say it: new builds are destroying what little remains of our green belt, destroying nature and destroying farmland needed to feed the country. Unless it is one if those rare houses built on a brownfield site, ethically you should buy an older house.
This country is vastly overpopulated unfortunately- I’m sure most housing built in the last 50 years has been on what was previously the green belt? People need homes and there just isn’t enough older housing to go round. If there was it wouldn’t be an issue. Ethically people should probably also stop having kids but that isn’t going to happen either
Round here the new estate have huge ditches (landscaping) built round them so the rain water that used to get absorbed by the fields has somewhere to run too.
Everytime i drive to a different town ,there are new houses that weren't there last time.
Personally I’d go for something in the middle! A 30/40 year old house that isn’t going to need rewiring/new heating system/new windows but needs freshening up with decorating and maybe a new kitchen/bathroom.
You’d be surprised how much value you can add by just doing that! A lot of the time people look past a house on Rightmove because it’s got dated decor but actually, if you make it look fresh, clean and style it right it’ll sell quickly!
We did this with our first house; spent £3-4K Max on it and made £22k profit in 2 years which allowed us to buy an older doer upper for our second house which we’ve now managed to make a big profit on.
New builds aren’t always the answer! X
You’d be surprised how much value you can add by just doing that! A lot of the time people look past a house on Rightmove because it’s got dated decor but actually, if you make it look fresh, clean and style it right it’ll sell quickly!
We did this with our first house; spent £3-4K Max on it and made £22k profit in 2 years which allowed us to buy an older doer upper for our second house which we’ve now managed to make a big profit on.
New builds aren’t always the answer! X
For sure this is what we would do in an ideal world but the houses that are in need of cosmetic work only are above our budget unfortunately. We will need to put down a 15-20% deposit and we just don’t have the funds for this at the moment unless the property is at the very lower end of the market - so these tend to be in awful areas, or need a substatial amount of work done. If our situation was different I’d definitely prefer a slightly “lived in” house that I could do some minor work to but wouldn’t need a bunch of contractors to make it liveable. If we get approved for a 5/10% deposit in the near future it will open up a lot for us for sure.
There actually is enough housing, a lot of homes are empty, being used as 2nd homes etc.This country is vastly overpopulated unfortunately- I’m sure most housing built in the last 50 years has been on what was previously the green belt? People need homes and there just isn’t enough older housing to go round. If there was it wouldn’t be an issue. Ethically people should probably also stop having kids but that isn’t going to happen either
There is enough room in London to build 500,000 new homes, but just not the sites that are cheap to buy and cheap to build on. This is more than enough to cover new housing needs several times over.
They also keep tearing down big blocks of flats in London, then sending the former residents to surrounding countries, artificially increasing the demand for new housing.
It’s just a ploy for rich developers and land owners to make tonnes of money, by pulling at the country’s heartstrings pretending they’re providing much-needed housing.
The fact that developers in previous decades destroyed green belt land doesn’t mean we should destroy what remains.
for sure I’m not saying that housing developers don’t take advantage of this situation. I’m sure there’s many things that could be done in an ideal world. The alternative to me buying a new build would possibly see me renting for the foreseeable future - which in turn is lining the pockets of the property developers in my town who snap up homes the minute they go on sale. Unfortunately it is a vicious cycle and you’re dammed if you do dammed if you don’t. At the end of the day, I need somewhere to live - it might not be the most “ethical” solution but I, like many others, don’t really have much alternative.
The types of developers who buy individual houses are not the same as land owners and multi-million developing companies.
You do need somewhere to live, but I assume you’re not homeless?
I would do anything rather than contribute to destroying the environment. Especially as we are soon predicted to have food shortages, land needs to be used for farming, not ugly red houses with six foot of AstroTurf for a garden.
You do need somewhere to live, but I assume you’re not homeless?
I would do anything rather than contribute to destroying the environment. Especially as we are soon predicted to have food shortages, land needs to be used for farming, not ugly red houses with six foot of AstroTurf for a garden.