Stressed out looking for house, contemplating new Persimmon house with issues..

[winjim]

Most new houses,small tiny rooms,third bedroom size of a matchbox,postage size garden toy sized garage,only thing big large enormous is the price.How do i know i went looking at an estate near us a few years back,i went inside one,weird shaped main room long and narrow.Buy an older house and extend when you can afford it,that's if you need to.We put on a kitchen extension and a dormer bedroom including toilet and shower and hand basin and it's big.

Our area is fairly modest 1930s semis but they've pretty much all been extended. Ours has a single storey extension which we plan to add a second storey to. Permission had previously been declined but that waa for a huge gable ended loft extension as well, so we put in a pre-application enquiry before we bought, explaining that ours would be smaller, and the planning dept seemed happy with that. I would say that if you plan to extend, look at the surrounding houses and submit a pre-app enquiry and you'll have peace of mind that you can go ahead.

Of course freeholder permission is another matter...

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

I used to live in Kilnhurst, the home of Croda Hydrocarbons. As I was leaving the site was being prepared for new houses.
It is the most polluted site in Europe.

New build companies don't give a shoot. As long as the greatest number of houses has been shoved onto the smallest plot they're happy. That's why there's 3 floor houses becoming more common, and of course street parking on the increase.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Most new houses,small tiny rooms,third bedroom size of a matchbox,postage size garden toy sized garage,only thing big large enormous is the price.

Correct. You get more for your money with an older property.

 

[Sandra6]

We bought at haste and are definitely repenting at leisure.
I would never reccommend a persimmons home to anyone, even though I can get about £150 for doing so.
It's not just that they are shoddily built with crappy finishes, but Persimmons as a company are impossible to deal with.
The only guy we found who was straight talking and tried to help us - he was instremental in us eventually getting the insulation we should have had in the first place - got sacked!
We rented for a few years in between mortgages and it's not necessarily a bad thing, especially if it saves you making a rash decision.

 

[Julia9054]

As others have said, renting takes you out of the chain situation and puts you in a good position for putting offers in. I have bought and sold at the same time on two occasions. Both times, I have almost ended up homeless for the night because somebody's bank in the chain didn't do their job properly and the transfer of money got stuck. On both occasions I had to pay removal men vast amounts of overtime as they were not able to move our stuff in until we officially got the keys. Very stressful.

 

[Levo-Lon]

New builds are prone to shrinkage and a whole lot of other issues.
But you have the NHBC warranty, builders snag repair after a year.
You get the best price so it should appreciate..

Its always a pain moving into a new build but it has its merits.

Me , i love older houses but id love a new one in winter when it freezing!!

 

[screenman]

Buy a large caravan rather than renting, buy a plot and start building.

 

[Cletus Van Damme]

We bought at haste and are definitely repenting at leisure.
I would never reccommend a persimmons home to anyone, even though I can get about £150 for doing so.
It's not just that they are shoddily built with crappy finishes, but Persimmons as a company are impossible to deal with.
The only guy we found who was straight talking and tried to help us - he was instremental in us eventually getting the insulation we should have had in the first place - got sacked!
We rented for a few years in between mortgages and it's not necessarily a bad thing, especially if it saves you making a rash decision.

I'm from Cumbria too Sandra, I was looking at Persimmon houses in the developments at Carlisle, Speckled Wood near Carlton, and also Brackenleigh on the west side of the city. I've seen your posts before, but couldn't remember whereabouts you actually are. The thing that puts me off is exactly as you say, terrible company to deal with, if things go wrong, myself buying a house off them with already known issues, is complete insanity. Its just the look of the draw really with new builds. I've looked at older houses that Persimmon built on my hunt for a house, and they appear to be superior in every way to the new ones, especially in the space in the house, and amount of land surrounding them..

 

[cyberknight]

Most new houses,small tiny rooms,third bedroom size of a matchbox,postage size garden toy sized garage,only thing big large enormous is the price.How do i know i went looking at an estate near us a few years back,i went inside one,weird shaped main room long and narrow.Buy an older house and extend when you can afford it,that's if you need to.We put on a kitchen extension and a dormer bedroom including toilet and shower and hand basin and it's big.

Mrs CK went to look at new houses up the road and said the same.
Tiny , 3 stories , no loft space and a garden big enough to swing a cat about .... just
Our current house is ex council corner plot , not where we wanted to be but had to sell our old "new build " house at a loss as it was falling to bits already and the builder wouldn't do anything( kitchen ceiling collapsed a month after we moved out ) and issues with right of way over the private drive the builder had "sold " to another house he had built after th fact , drains routed wrong etc .
Rooms are good size, good size garden and walls are solid .

 

[Levo-Lon]

Its common to see houses built smaller in times of property boom.
Plus planners are trying to fill space.
Have you noticed how few car parking spaces new developments have??
Ridiculous ,and a major problem with a growing family when the kids start driving

 

[Sandra6]

I'm from Cumbria too Sandra, I was looking at Persimmon houses in the developments at Carlisle, Speckled Wood near Carlton, and also Brackenleigh on the west side of the city. I've seen your posts before, but couldn't remember whereabouts you actually are. The thing that puts me off is exactly as you say, terrible company to deal with, if things go wrong, myself buying a house off them with already known issues, is complete insanity. Its just the look of the draw really with new builds. I've looked at older houses that Persimmon built on my hunt for a house, and they appear to be superior in every way to the new ones, especially in the space in the house, and amount of land surrounding them..

We bought on brackenleigh. We were promised a road and through access within a year. And that the building works would be finished within 2. It's 21/2 years now and we only have half the road laid, it's only open from one end and they're building more houses than were on any plan we saw.
I think the Esk houses at suttle gardens look a lot better, but it's too early to say how many will have the issues we've had.

 

[stephec]

Ex council houses built in the 1950s are worth a look - they usually have large rooms, solid internal walls, and big gardens. I've lived happily in two ex-council properties, but I'm always surprised that a lot of buyers are prejudiced against them and won't even countenance going to look at them.

This.

A few people said to me when we went for our first house that ex council houses would give us the most room for our money.

We did go and look at one owned by a friend of a friend, nice house and a good price, but the area just wasn't right unfortunately.

 

[Tim Hall]

Ex council houses built in the 1950s are worth a look - they usually have large rooms, solid internal walls, and big gardens. I've lived happily in two ex-council properties, but I'm always surprised that a lot of buyers are prejudiced against them and won't even countenance going to look at them.

Nail hit squarely on head. I've just bought an ex council/social housing flat. When I was looking I enquired why it was so dirt cheapreasonably priced and was told it was because it was former social housing. This is probably sixties, but still has the large rooms, patch of garden , village location and two pubs within staggering distance.

 

[Levo-Lon]

Ex council houses built in the 1950s are worth a look - they usually have large rooms, solid internal walls, and big gardens. I've lived happily in two ex-council properties, but I'm always surprised that a lot of buyers are prejudiced against them and won't even countenance going to look at them.

They do have a down side ,neighbours can be challenging if there full of tenants who wreak havoc. But that can be a problem anywhere these days i guess.
But as for build quality they are superb.
These houses were Built, mostly using quality materials and traditional techniques.

My daughter's house is a peach,they have spent a lot modernising and extending.
There are many really good homes from this era

 

[midlife]

I'm looking for a new house at the moment, trouble for me is trying to sell mine. Been on the market for about a year at less than we bought it for 8 years ago.

They are throwing up new houses around Carlisle / Penrith like there is no tomorrow...... And everyone wants a new house. Rightmove listed 60 extra new houses for this bank holiday weekend..