New build homes East Lothian - 10 years old and not sold

New build homes East Lothian - 10 years old and not sold

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Discussion

Dave_ST220

10,294 posts

205 months

Wednesday 30th March 2016
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Something similar near where I used to live....

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/prope...

Haven't a clue why they can't sell them, area has loads of new builds around it now (was fields) and they sell fine. Could be an NHBC thing as suggested above??

Edited by Dave_ST220 on Wednesday 30th March 14:57

5potTurbo

12,532 posts

168 months

Wednesday 30th March 2016
quotequote all
worsy said:
5potTurbo said:
They look like fairly nice houses, aside from the mismatch of wood finishes throughout.

As I'm reading Stuart MacBride books at the momemnt, has Malk the Knife buried some bodies in the foundations?
Image 13 redface
That is my "get out of jail free" word. wink

Andehh

7,110 posts

206 months

Wednesday 30th March 2016
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Definitely knock on the one being lived in, if only for the sake of Pistonhead's curiosity! biggrin

''Hi there, I'm from the internet. The Internet would like to know why you live alone in this cul-du-sac....etc etc etc''

Patch1875

4,894 posts

132 months

Wednesday 30th March 2016
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Sure they were marketed pre crash at £500k, I know that one has been sold to someone recently.

Don't think they have been for sale for years only noticed them back available in the last few months looks like they have had some finishing recently.

Tbh I think they will be a hard sell 400k is a lot of money for Tranent. Other issues may be the noise from the A1 and there is an electricity pylon running very close but don't know if that's still in operation now that the power station is gone?




Edited by Patch1875 on Wednesday 30th March 19:49

LucasA

Original Poster:

110 posts

105 months

Thursday 31st March 2016
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I'm pretty sure they have been for sale on and off a few times since 2006. I remember my mum going to see them in about 2007. They should of sold in the original marketing drive? Maybe too expensive at 500k.

The power lines aren't too near but as you say I think they are redundant now. Road noise was hardly noticeable when I was there and I think the views were worth a bit of noise.

Patch1875

4,894 posts

132 months

Thursday 31st March 2016
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Weirdly these came up again in a conversation this morning if your interested maybe worth getting someone in the know to check them out as cheap and poorly finished was mentioned!

btcc123

1,243 posts

147 months

Thursday 31st March 2016
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OP if you are happy with then why not put an offer in for 300k subject to surveys etc.

Oakey

27,567 posts

216 months

Thursday 31st March 2016
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It's weird, it's like the property equivalent of the Mary Celeste.

This article from 2006 talks about the showhome now being open: http://www.scotsman.com/news/personal-touch-you-ca...

And yet her website is still active some 10 years on but is apparently still stuck in 2006; http://jemmajames.co.uk/

Patch1875

4,894 posts

132 months

Thursday 31st March 2016
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Sure she still stays in the big house whose land these were built on.

Ug_lee

2,223 posts

211 months

Thursday 31st March 2016
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I imagine these place have a service charge to pay for the upkeep of the 'gated community'? Could be silly high?

It's weird I hate new builds, but on the surface they look alright to me, wouldn't pay anything beginning with a 4 though. I lived in a nicer estate in what was a generally rougher area and found it okay, they tend not to steal from their own neighbours wink

superlightr

12,856 posts

263 months

Thursday 31st March 2016
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Oakey said:
It's weird, it's like the property equivalent of the Mary Celeste.


And yet her website is still active some 10 years on but is apparently still stuck in 2006; http://jemmajames.co.uk/
reads like Bankrupt Park. not a good name.

Oakey

27,567 posts

216 months

Thursday 31st March 2016
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superlightr said:
reads like Bankrupt Park. not a good name.
I think she's running an interior design company by the name of William James Interiors now, at least looking at this FB page: https://www.facebook.com/williamjamesinteriors/ it has the same phone number as the jemmajames.co.uk site.

Amusingly their domain for the interior company has expired: http://www.bankparkcoachhouse.com/


LucasA

Original Poster:

110 posts

105 months

Thursday 31st March 2016
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btcc123 said:
OP if you are happy with then why not put an offer in for 300k subject to surveys etc.
I would be looking to buy a new place around this time next year but figured since they'd been there for 10 years already they may be an option! I just like to watch the market to get a feel for what seems a bargain or not.

My brother is a building surveyor so might be worth getting his opinion.

hidetheelephants

24,355 posts

193 months

Thursday 31st March 2016
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Gigantic houses shoehorned into relatively tiny plots; this is everything that's wrong with house building\planning in Scotland. The architecture's nothing to write home about either.

LucasA

Original Poster:

110 posts

105 months

Thursday 31st March 2016
quotequote all
I phoned the agent. Apparently they are being moth-balled by the client who is from Dubai. He claims they were just too expensive when they were first marketed but he did go on to say there were issues with building warrants that were being resolved currently.

He's had 5 reserved since November apparently although nobody has moved in yet - I guessed due to problems with BW.

They are mortgageable but the NHBC doesn't honour any warranties so he is organising a 4 year external warranty to make them mortgageable along with a survey. This will probably be at a higher than average interest rate though according to my brother.

He says (he's a building surveyor) the 4 year warranty will be a load of crap and he researched to find all building warrants were applied for in 1999 and expired in 2010 so none of them have building warrants. The agent will have to quickly gain warrants for each property if he doesn't want his reservations to fall through as they take months to do. Also building regs changed since granted in 1999 so all U values and air test pass limits etc will be different so this isn't a given and this may require extra work.

It all sounds a bit dodgy to me. I wouldn't be happy knowing they've been built that well if they can't even get their paperwork and marketing right. The stigma attached to them now will probably also have a negative effect on price.

anonymous-user

54 months

Thursday 31st March 2016
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Sounds like you've reached a sensible decision!

The things you've mentioned are not just warning signs, they are a bloody big banner being towed by a plane!

grumpyscot

1,277 posts

192 months

Saturday 2nd April 2016
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LucasA said:
The power lines aren't too near but as you say I think they are redundant now.
No they're not - they're still active. The distribution station at Cockenzie is still active, only the power station and coal distribution plants were removed. The distribution station was actually enhanced and is still a major part of the National Grid.

scott.a

7 posts

92 months

Sunday 22nd January 2017
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Bit of a thread resurrection.

OP - Did you progress any further with this? They are back on the market now and we went for a look last week. Really liked one of the plots but there are a few alarm bells ringing regarding whats been discussed.

Havent made an offer or put any deposit down yet. Very much still at the looking stage.

SonicHedgeHog

2,538 posts

182 months

Sunday 22nd January 2017
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They look great. Wonder what the problem is.

Patch1875

4,894 posts

132 months

Sunday 22nd January 2017
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How many are occupied now?