Buying a property off plan

angeldiva

My other half and I want to move into a bigger home, one of our options is to buy somewhere off plan and there is a new development near us that we like the look of.

This weekend we are going to visit the show home and have a look around.

Do any of you have any tips on what to find out and questions to ask? Are there any things that we should know before considering this option?
Thank you

Bufger

There are many threads you should look at regarding this and lots of possible pitfalls. Builders will always overprice, you have to complete before its build and could end up in negative equity by the time you move in etc etc. You really do have to get them for an excellent price in the first place due to depreciation. This is only likely if its the last of a plot and they're having trouble getting rid of it. Also if the builders are having cashflow problems (which they most likely wont have now like they would have a few months ago).

Please read some of the many threads on the subject. You really will need to research this alot so you wont have any common unnexpected suprises along the way.

tek-monkey

I would never buy off plan, but I'm not a gambler. How lucky do you feel?

puddy

if the company decide not to follow through with their plans, you would be living on a building site with unfinished roads etc

laughingcow81

I would agree with all posts so far - do your research and make sure you understand the whole process fully. There are loads of threads on this.

Buying off plan is very risky and quite a gamble.

DVardysShadow

angeldiva wrote: »

Are there any things that we should know before considering this option?

Buying off plan can be risky if you exchange contracts some months in advance, without a definite date for the property being ready. You are then bound to buy the property, but your mortgage offer might expire before the property is ready and the lender might refuse to lend or might not extend the offer to when the property is ready. You will then be bound by the contrat but have no means od funding the purchase.

If you buy off plan, USE YOU OWN SOLICITOR, never one recommended by the seller.

tek-monkey

I suppose as long as you refuse to exchange until its built and able to be moved in to, you'd be fine. Doubt they'd accept that though, they want you tied in from the off.

haymans74

I bought off plan and would NEVER do it again.

I also agree with using your own solicitor and financial advisors - we didn't. How stupid were we!?!

sgh1976

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Buying off plan can be risky if you exchange contracts some months in advance, without a definite date for the property being ready. You are then bound to buy the property, but your mortgage offer might expire before the property is ready and the lender might refuse to lend or might not extend the offer to when the property is ready. You will then be bound by the contrat but have no means od funding the purchase.

If you buy off plan, USE YOU OWN SOLICITOR, never one recommended by the seller.

On the Mortgage Offer expiring.

This was my biggest fear when we got our mortgage offer and then it became quite clear the house would not be be finished until after that date. Mortgage offer set expire Jan 31st 2010, house will/should be finished Feb/march 2010.

However my FI was superb, he simply changed the product on our mortgage offer (even managed to get £250 cashback and a whole 0.10% off).....the product he moved us onto was a new one and it expires 31st July 2010!!

So in one move we got an extra 6 months!.

As for the solicitor, we used the one suggested by the builder......they have been brilliant. Gave us the price up front, with the added extra that no costs will be added. They also gave us £250 off their normal rates plus the reservation fee we gave the builders is used to pay the legal fees on completion. I guess I got lucky then.

AMILLIONDOLLARS

They are only brilliant until the S**t hits the fan!

Take a look at the fall-out of these buyers!

http://www.berkeleyhomescollective.com/#

If I were you I'd get them to write in a get out clause. If the house is not built by a certain date, ideally a month before your mortgage offer expires, the contract become nil and void. I bet the solicitors won't got for this!!

AMD

sgh1976

Last day in March 2010. We have a clause that states if the house is not finished then we can pull out.