Dawlish Discussion

http://www.thisisthewestcountry.co.uk/news/devon_news/11378858.GCSE_students_learn_the_art_of_construction/?ref=var_0

How good it is to see a contarcor and house-builder putting time aside to help the students.

I hope that the students from Ratcliffe School, and others for that matter, will also reflect on facts set out by Janet Street-Porter in the Independent on Saturday 2 August, on page 41.  Semi-detached houses built in 1924 averaged 1,647 square feet (153 square metres, for the younger generations) while the average today is 925 square feet (86 square metres)  so if you are looking for a spacious family home start looking at mid-wars properties.  House-builders have been shrinking houses ever since Margaret Thatcher's Government introduced Right-to-Buy with one hand while strangling the flow of money to local authorities for new house building. Local authorities were required to work to Parker-Morris standards which were at least 10% more generous in floor space than those being offered by house-builders and they have been shrinking ever more.  Ever asked yourself while show-homes have all the internal doors removed?  It's to make them feel more spacious.

Yes, agree totally. 1930s houses everytime if you want a garden big enough for the kids (grandkids) to play in and have room for a veggie patch/ornamental plants and flowers. So, although lots of new houses are being built many of the between the wars houses have a certain something the new houses don't - a decent sized, enclosed, safe for kids and dogs to play in, garden.

Would be great if the contractors building all the new build development in Dawlish could offer similar experiences for our local school students such as those developers at Cranbrook offered.   

"There is currently a wide range of new homes available to buy at Cranbrook, including two-bedroom homes from £152,995, three-bedroom properties from £249,995, four-bedroom houses from £257,995 and five-bedroom homes from £525,000."

Can you imagine the price if they were bigger?!

So the trick is......to see if there are any older comparable homes (two bed, three bed, four bed etc) that are bigger in size and have some garden (if garden is required) that are on the market for similar or lower prices. They might be 'doer uppers' for example.

Depends what people want I suppose. A brand new house (smaller room space, smaller garden) or older house with larger rooms and larger garden but with what I believe the estate agents call 'potential'.

Will be interesting to compare prices in tomorrow's Gazette between same number of bedroom houses found on the local new build estates with older houses with same number of bedrooms situated elsewhere in the town.    

The new timber framed houses are a total rip off and not worth a fraction of the asking price. In ten to fifteen years time Cranbrook will be the sort of 60s slum council estate the authorities up north have been demolishing in the recent past. If you cannot get the standard 10 year NHBC warranty on a new property then you should automatically suspect there to be something not right.

Go into the show house and take with you a tape measure, check out the 3/4 size furniture and the lack of internal doors. Also check the size of any garage or you may need to buy a Toyota Yaris.

The biggest trap to watch for is to check who you are actually buying your house from you may find it to be a subsiduary company set up solely for one development that disapears when the site is compleat. In other words no one to complain to a couple of years later when the faults start to appear.