offer on new build show home

formulaonefan

We are planning to buy a new build. It is currently a show home. We like it and we like everything in it. The builders are barrats. The sales agent is saying the show home is currently not listed as for sale but if you really like it and have fallen in love with it then let me know and i will go back and see if they want to sell it.

Asking price is £249,950 for 3/4 bedroom town house. We are not sure what we should offer. We thought 200K but it sounds very low and we thought maybe we will settle for 220K with everything in the show home as it is.Any suggestions?

Cleaver

formulaonefan wrote: »

We are planning to buy a new build. It is currently a show home. We like it and we like everything in it. The builders are barrats. The sales agent is saying the show home is currently not listed as for sale but if you really like it and have fallen in love with it then let me know and i will go back and see if they want to sell it.

Asking price is £249,950 for 3/4 bedroom town house. We are not sure what we should offer. We thought 200K but it sounds very low and we thought maybe we will settle for 220K with everything in the show home as it is.Any suggestions?

Don't buy a new build. And for once I'm not just being sarcastic or flippant.

SGE1

Depends on so many things...

Who's "we"? Are you going to be a "we" for a while, or are you going to have a messy break-up, and is one of you going to run off to Spain without paying their share of the mortgage? How much of a deposit do you have? If it's a large one and you're safe from negative equity, then you have more room for maneuver and you can buy without worrying quite as much. How long before you move again? I hope it's a least 10 years. Etc...

formulaonefan

SGE1 wrote: »

Depends on so many things...

Who's "we"? Are you going to be a "we" for a while, or are you going to have a messy break-up, and is one of you going to run off to Spain without paying their share of the mortgage? How much of a deposit do you have? If it's a large one and you're safe from negative equity, then you have more room for maneuver and you can buy without worrying quite as much. How long before you move again? I hope it's a least 10 years. Etc...

We...its me and my partner
Hope not! Hope either one of us is going to run to spain
32% deposit
3-5 years

I would like to know what to offer? asking price is 250K for 3/4 bed. Should 200K make me look like a greedy person?

ciano125

Who cares if it does make you look greedy (it doesnt by the way). Why dont you just offer them the £200k and see what they say? If they think you've fallen in love with it though, they're more likely to play hard ball, it also depends how quickly you can move of course though.

formulaonefan

ciano125 wrote: »

Who cares if it does make you look greedy (it doesnt by the way). Why dont you just offer them the £200k and see what they say? If they think you've fallen in love with it though, they're more likely to play hard ball, it also depends how quickly you can move of course though.

We are currently renting at the moment. so nothing to sell. so we can move very quickly.

Is there any disadvantage in buying show homes?

Doozergirl

It isn't for sale yet. Developers are very happy to gradually reduce the price until it sells.

At this moment, I suspect if the offer isn't the full asking price, they won't be negotiating. You can try but you might have more luck when it's officially released.

Fire_Fox

Have you viewed a similar house on the same estate which is still a shell? Do you still like the property? All the fixtures, fittings and furniture will be available on the open market, why don't you ask what they are and research the cost of buying the same?

Downside of buying a showhome is being seduced by the fixtures and fittings - does it actually have everything you need in it? Often there is a wardrobe but no chest of drawers to make the bedroom look larger, or a towel rail but no toothbrush holder. Also how many people will have tramped through the house, either in respect of minor damage to the carpets or walls, or in respect of strangers knowing the layout and security of your home.

They developers probably won't want to sell the showhome until the last property on the estate has gone; your circumstances or the market may have changed by then. They also won't want to sell at a discount to someone who has expressed sufficient interest to chase a house that isn't even on the market when there are hundreds of others available.

mark5

Does the sales person mean ask barratt or a private owner if they want to sell?
In my area Barratt sell the show home before its built on the agreement they can rent it back at a very generous rent until the site is completed.

formulaonefan

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Have you viewed a similar house on the same estate which is still a shell? Do you still like the property? All the fixtures, fittings and furniture will be available on the open market, why don't you ask what they are and research the cost of buying the same?

Downside of buying a showhome is being seduced by the fixtures and fittings - does it actually have everything you need in it? Often there is a wardrobe but no chest of drawers to make the bedroom look larger, or a towel rail but no toothbrush holder. Also how many people will have tramped through the house, either in respect of minor damage to the carpets or walls, or in respect of strangers knowing the layout and security of your home.

They developers probably won't want to sell the showhome until the last property on the estate has gone; your circumstances or the market may have changed by then. They also won't want to sell at a discount to someone who has expressed sufficient interest to chase a house that isn't even on the market when there are hundreds of others available.

All valid points. We haven't had a look at a property which is still a shell but we have excel spreadsheet with room sizes of other properties and compared it with other properties.

You are absolutely correct that all the furniture & fittings seduced us but beyond that we were really looking for its potential. But when we came back home we were thinking where to put this stuff, where will this go etc. So that thought came to my mind.

We have fallen in love with the property because the three bedrooms were really good size with dressing area, wardrobes, bedroom draws etc. The size of the property is what attracted us.

But at the same time we are not going to beg we want this house. We want to be sensible and want to be reasonable. If we get it for the price we want, then we will go for it. Otherwise we won't.

Asking price is 250K and our initial offer is going to be 200K and then increase it to 210K with everything in show home. After 2-3 weeks we will increase it again to 215K and finally after 220K we won't go above that figure after that and forget about the property.

We think 30K off asking price for new build is not bad.

What do you think?

Fire_Fox

Depends on the area and how in demand that estate is: are they selling like hot cakes? There are new build estates that just won't sell out, and if the last house doesn't sell then yours won't if and when you put it back on the market.

Having the room sizes on paper is no substitute for real life. You are trying to compare apples with oranges at the moment - like comparing Angelina Jolie all dolled up for the Oscars with your sister, before she has had a cup of tea in the morning!! Go and view a shell the same size and layout, even if on another Barratt estate.

Don't make four increasing offers - two is customary, any more suggests you are desperate. And don't kid yourself that you have fallen in love with the size, you have fallen in love with the design. There's nothing wrong with that as long as you don't waste £220K on it. Fall in love with the bricks and mortar as well because that's all the next owner will be buying off you. How much would you honestly be willing to pay for an identical empty shell on the same estate? How much did you budget for fixtures fittings and furniture?