New build or not? My husband and I plan to buy our first home next year and I don't know whether I…

I would stay away from help to buy & other schemes if you're able to.

If it's a choice between a smaller home all on your own or a bigger one with help of a government scheme I would go smaller.

We had this predicament and after a lot of research we declined it. I'm really glad we did.

Unless you're coming into a lot of money in the next 3-5 years (time scale may have changed now, I only know about 3 years ago) then you'll basically be in negative equity and paying back a lot of interest. Therefore unable to upgrade or even sell up.

Personally, I think it's quite a scam really xx

We are looking at a new build but are not using help to buy.

We have only just moved, 5 months ago we brought a new build with help to buy. For us it's the perfect decision we live in the south house prices are very high. We paid £290,000 for our 4 bed terraced house. I don't see the difference regarding negative equity if the house prices go down with a house you own 100% you would still lose out. In the event our house did drop the amount we owe the government would be less. The interest is also low on our house when we start paying interest it would be about £80-90 per month. For us while our babies are young and I can't work full time it works perfectly as in 5 years I hope to be back at work full time. I would definitely recommend looking into it. Our house has already gone up in value so it maybe we can remortgage in a few years to pay off the government amount.

Yeah I live in the south west so house prices are quite high, and what we can afford with out help to buy are small 3 beds, which is fine but the third bedrooms are tiny! You can't get much for your money unless you do help to buy. I know that house prices will be going up so remortgaging and paying it off is a really good idea! Thanks for the advise ladies x

It's really not as simple as remortgaging. I'd really advise you to research it online and look at forums, reviews etc. moneysaving expert is a good website.

Also, if remortgaging is how you would fund the remaining amount, then I would research this too as there are usually hidden catches etc xx

We're currently in the process of buying a house, our mortgage advisor steered us away from the help to buy scheme he said it more or less works out as a scam in the long run.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=61295147#post61295147

Btw, in some cases this scheme might work. But just please research is fully otherwise you could be left losing out xx

Thank you k2t I will have a good read up before we make any decisions x

The other thing that plays a big part is the amount of deposit you need as with help to buy you only need a 5% but the mortgage company classes it as 25% so you get a more favourable rate. We pay £925 per month now fixed for 5 years, we would have paid £1400 per month on the other house we looked at without help to buy so the monthly affordability made the difference. Speak to a couple of independent mortgage advisers who can go through everything with you. Good luck with whatever you decide x

Never ever will I buy new build again!

The houses may have more rooms but are smaller. The garden is tiny, which suits me but difficult for kids at times.

I've had endless faults and problems. Yes covered by a warranty, but repairs take months and the work is shoddy. I've had 97 faults in two years. Not minor ones - doors/windows shifting, falling out, cracking walls, sewage back washed into my house by builders (all 4 toilets with such force the sewage from the rest of my estate was on my walls and ceilings!).

They've damaged my furniture when repairing stuff and the render falling off! Once bitten twice shy.

I'm in £40k negative equity! So stuck for a while! I brought cash so stuck for a while ?

I worked as a Trainer in mortgages for 11 years for a well known bank. The approved, "signed off" info given to trainees was that new builds lose money. Just as you drive a new car off the forecourt, the minute your bum hits the loo seat in your new place, it's worth less. It's not new and shiny anymore and size wise, a lot smaller than older houses. Be aware they use tricks in show homes such as small double beds (6" smaller than a standard double!) to make rooms appear less cramped. I'd also agree with a previous poster in that they're thrown up as cheaply as possible so the quality is not always there.

Their built so crap. The walls are so thin you can hear your neighbour fart.

I prefer older houses their a lot more solid and sturdier x

We're in a new build flat with the help to buy scheme. I agree that lots of new builds are smaller but not all! ours is a spacious flat and you literally can't hear a thing from neighbours through walls. We will be selling and paying off the equity loan when our fixed term mortgage is up. For us, it was our only option. Couldn't afford more than 5% deposit and at that rate, mortgage repayments were through the roof. With help to buy we are paying less than half what we would be paying in rent. Good luck with deciding! X

See I'm mixed with new builds. My second place I bought was a new build flat and it was bigger than my oh house. It was very well built and I didn't looses a penny on it as it stated that it could be sold for less than what we paid. It's all about buying at the right time too.

My 3rd house I bought was about 20 years old and needed a bit of work but mainly new kitchen and bathrooms, but we did it over a couple of years. We did have roof issues tho.

My 4th house (current) is again older and needed alot of work. We have had soooo many leaks and burst pipes and the heating wasn't working properly and every room needs work, we've been here about 15 months and still have a long list to do including replacing most windows and doors. It should have cost us tens of thousands to do the work already but my oh is quite handy and knows lots of people in the trade as his family are builders so we are lucky.

I think it's the luck of the draw with new builds and older properties xxx

You can get lots of issues with both. The good thing about a new build is that it is covered if anything goes wrong.

I would look out for hidden charges with a new build tho, like maintenance charges for communal areas etc if on an estate. It seems quite cheap to begin with but the price does go up! Also parking was the main issue when I had a new build. You were allocated parking spaces but then had visitor spaces too. If the spaces were gone people would just park in your space, wore in me after a couple of years and ending up selling.

Good luck with it all xxx

New builds are like paper houses! Walls are thin.

Developers squeeze every square inch out of the site so it's very cosy with neighbours proximity. Gardens are smaller. Most houses have multiple cars but just enough space to park one car or two small cars. So the narrow roads can get a bit clogged up with people parking.

Having said that the outlook is nice as everything is uniform and looked after (usually).

It also depends on the developer/development - some are higher end, that will obviously be reflected in location and price.