Selling on new build estate

jak1977

We are trying to sell on a a new build estate (120ish plots) where building is ongoing after buying near the peak of the market. We need to move as my job has relocated.

The builder has just released all of its remaining properties so I suspect they'll be gone by the middle of next year if they can get rid of all the properties.

Many of these properties are in direct competition with ours and I feel we will struggle to compete with them as they just want to get off site as soon as possible.

It's really difficult to understand the market because we don't know exactly how good the deals are that they are offering and exactly how much we paid because of all the incentives and the fact we did a part ex.

We've agreed a sale once but it fell through as I suspect we were being used as a negotiating tool with the builders.

I'm wondering what peoples experiences are in similar situations? Would we expect to see a uplift in selling prices as soon as they finish the site? - if this is the case we may look at renting out our house and renting in the new location, but there is something attractive about getting sold and moving on.

I look forward to your thoughts

Thanks

J

googler

You've hit the nail on the head - the builder has more flexibility on price, more bargaining power, more bank finance behind him/her than you have, and is essentially able to match and probably beat any bargaining that you put into your deal.

To get an idea of what the builder is offering or telling their buyer prospects about your house, you need to either ask them (unlikely to succeed) or get a friend or work colleague to mystery shop their sales office.

Renting here and at your target destination would appear to be your best option unless you can afford to drastically undercut the builder's price for the equivalent property (or if your style of property sells out and the builder has nothing comparable on site....)

PasturesNew

New builds are priced at a premium because they're new.

The builder's new houses are new; yours is not now.
If you price yours the same as a builder's, then he can still offer fees paid, choice of tiles, carpeting, white goods, etc etc. Even if you got these with yours you can't match his offer as your white goods etc are now 2nd hand.

If the builder built at £120k and sold to you at £180k - and now they are building at £120k but selling at £150k, there's not a lot you can do to match them because you'd need to go in under £150k because yours isn't new.

Prices won't rise just because a development's finished. The builder might start building over the road even cheaper. The market's not really going anywhere. The whole estate was sold at a "new" price, but now they're 2nd hand.

silvercar

You can only sell on price. Undercut the builders advertised price and hope that some buyer prefers a home where the property is actually finished (as opposed to only being told of vague completion dates) and where the house already has bedroom cupboards, carpets and curtain rails.

Make sure you home is immaculate and the garden well stocked.

On viewings you can also drop comments like, "what date are the builders now saying completion will be?", "oh they've changed the date yet again", " we had a terrible time as they kept moving the dates".....

jak1977

Thanks for your input - we're beginning to think we should look at renting it out and hanging on until the developments finished. Hopefully the laws of supply and demand will win out in the medium term .

We'd come to terms that we'd lost the new build premium as soon as we bought it. I feel selling now will be at an artificially low price because of the over supply and the builders needing to keep turnover up.

Cheers Folks

J