Bellway Homes negotiation.. Help!

flashcall

Hi, I have seen numerous posts about similar topics, but just want help / advice from people please.
Im looking to be a first time buyer. I found a development and one bed flat that I want. It is "off plan" and is currently under construction. I paid the reservation fee and "negotiated" £10k off the asking price. (this is a price that the developer decides- it doesnt really mean anything in relation to value..). So all goes good, I sort mortage and have my deposits ready to pay 4 weeks later when they want completion. Mortgage application goes fine, until the valuation.
The valuer goes round and actually goes and speaks to the sales persons rather then just driving past. He values at £13k under the agreed selling price. I call bellway and tell them I'm not buying into negative equity and they need to lower the price to the valuation or I'm not exchanging contracts and pulling out. I wait a week for them to say that they think the valuation is too low and that they refuse my new offer. They demand all sorts of rubbish like me paying for a second valuation or changing mortgage companies. I'm refusing to pay over value.
Im quite happy to walk away and lose my £500 reservation rather then buy into £13k negative equity and so I asked for it back. She has then said she will call head office to tell them....
The conversation was left at that.
My questions are as follows.

1. Are bellway mental?- They have a buyer who is willing to pay market value and exchange contracts immediately if they agree to the price. This will be a problem with all future buyers as the mortgage companies will only lend to value which presumably will be about the same.

2. What should I do? - I'm quite happy to walk away and lose my money, but would like to buy it for the right price. I dont want to lose the place but I refuse to let emotion cloud my finiancial judgement.

3. Are Bellway likely to come back to me and try to negotiate or will they just accept my cancellation in a simple phone call..? I'm tired of playing games with them. They refuse to counter any offers I put in but just say yes or no. They wont dislose their lowest selling price.

4. Is this common with newbuilds?

5. Am I being stupid...? - Surely the valuation is accurate, any second valuation is a waste of money and the mortgage company would surely go with the lowest valuation, as it is for their security.

Thanks for help in advance!

happy_2008

Out of interest which development was this? I was recently looking into one of there developments but there sales man/woman was feeding me rubbish so i quite promptly left.

happy_2008

Also i am sure that they are only allowed to keep £250 of the reservation fee and must refund the rest.

Cannon_Fodder

1) Not entirely. Not all FTBs are confident/knowledgeable enough to realise they should walk away from day-one negative equity. Often "youngsters" are too blinded by the shiny newness of their purchase to do anything other than obey what they are told to do by the "really helpful person onsite" - who they forget it a salesperson trying to earn a commission. So they pay for the second valuation and are then disappointed when Bellways pet surveyor over-values it, and then encourage the FTB to switch lenders to a more expensive deal or push the FTB to find the cash to bridge the gap as their lender won't lend enough.

2) Walk away. When they approach financial year-end they may try harder to shift stock. Personally, I think anyone is mad to buy a flat off-plan at present. In my city, there are 5 year old flats selling around 50% off 2005 prices...you can know who your neighbours are, what the neighbourhood is like - you don't with off-plan.

3) Depends on the region's/company performance. They might be doing ok, as said, other buyers might not be as clued up.

4) Plenty of threads on here have recounted similar tales.

5) No you are not. They merely hope to push you to another lender/surveyor who is less cautious. Let someone else carry the NE risk.

happy_2008

Cannon_Fodder wrote: »

1) Not entirely. Not all FTBs are confident/knowledgeable enough to realise they should walk away from day-one negative equity. Often "youngsters" are too blinded by the shiny newness of their purchase to do anything other than obey what they are told to do by the "really helpful person onsite" - who they forget it a salesperson trying to earn a commission. So they pay for the second valuation and are then disappointed when Bellways pet surveyor over-values it, and then encourage the FTB to switch lenders to a more expensive deal or push the FTB to find the cash to bridge the gap as their lender won't lend enough.

2) Walk away. When they approach financial year-end they may try harder to shift stock. Personally, I think anyone is mad to buy a flat off-plan at present. In my city, there are 5 year old flats selling around 50% off 2005 prices...you can know who your neighbours are, what the neighbourhood is like - you don't with off-plan.

3) Depends on the region's/company performance. They might be doing ok, as said, other buyers might not be as clued up.

4) Plenty of threads on here have recounted similar tales.

5) No you are not. They merely hope to push you to another lender/surveyor who is less cautious. Let someone else carry the NE risk.

Some good advice there.
When you first view the showroom you become overwhelmed with all the new shinyness. This happened to me and my partner when we viewed there showroom but 1 week later it actually dawned onto us that it wasnt that great.

Also i believe Bellway Y/E is 31/07/20XX

flashcall

Cannonfodder: Thanks very much for your reply, I will definitely stand strong with them.

Happy_2008: Watts wood park in Purfleet, essex. - where was your one?

happy_2008

Flash,
I had a feeling it was relating to Watts Wood Park as i was looking at exactly the same ones but the 2 bed flats above them. Do you work in London?
If you do a search on this forum you will see my experience with them, i may still be interested in there flats but i will only deal with there manager and not sales man.