New Houses - Buying from Plan

misslopex

Hi all

I am looking to move house ASAP to be closer to family and have found a lovely house on a newly developed estate. The property I have my beady little eye on is one of the last 3 to be sold on the site and naturally the developers (Persimmon Homes) are biting at my heels!

They are offering a part exchange package for my current house which at first glance seems wonderful (imagine not having to bother with the whole selling thing!) but it does mean that we have to arrange our mortgage through their IFA (although they guarantee that we can use whomever we choose) and that we have to use their solicitors @ £300 set fee. If we do this we get £500 cashback at exchange.

Although I am sure the catch is in the valuation of our property as this will probably mean that they will come well below the other valuations we have been given.

Is there anyone else out there that has bought a house via part ex, from plan of have dealt with Persimmon homes.

I would be grateful for any advice that can be offered!

Many Thanks

TJ

bridiej

I have a friend who bought of Persimmon and had nothing but problems with the property. I'm sure they were featured on Watchdog too a year or two ago, so may be worth doing some research before you take the plunge...

dnwilliams

As a rule the developers will obtain 3 valuations from local agents. They will ask each agent for a sensible achievable figure and a forced sale figure, so they know where they stand if they need to off load your property early. They will take an average of the 3 valuations and make their offer based on that figure.

However, there is often an ulterior motive behind this process and that is to open the sellers eyes to the actual true value of their home, rather than the price they may have been hoping to achieve. More often than not the owner then accepts a lower offer through an agent than they may have otherwise and the part exchange need not then be necessary saving the developer the aggravation.

Different developers offer differing % of value. Persimmons may be one of the few who offer 100% but ask the question why? It may be that you’re paying a hefty premium for their house.

xlt_hunter

Be warned about buying a permissions house.

I have brought a 2 bedroom one from permission as my first house in April 2004 and nothing but problems, just last week the cold water mains burst behind the combi boiler. So runined worktops etc, and permisson did fix it, but its a ongoing battle to get things corrected.

Silly things like leaking rads, boiler faults, cracked joins, cover ups - basicly building them too quick and leaving the faults behind.

You do have 2 years warranty with the house and 8 years with a insurance firm (can;t recall name at the moment)

debbiet

Hi
We have a persimmons house and it is ok, we had numerous problems at first, not least that they wired up a number of things backwards and the hot water didn't work! but things settled and we love it here now. If you can have a look in one that is empty...check the finish, look in cupboards, bathroom, windows etc and see if ytou can speak to someone on the development, if you wander around on a weekend there is usually someone outside and ask if they have any problems.

Our next door neighbours got theirs through part exchange and they got a decent price. as you're getting one of the last ones they'll be desperate to sht the site down so see how much you can get out of them, we got carpets/alarm/fencing/landscape gardens/light fittings and curtains!

deb

misslopex

Thank you all for the advice, bit of a mixed bag but I will put it all to good use!

Will post the outcome on here for other Money Savers info.

Thanks again!

TJ

CaroRau

I may be too late but I would advise extreme caution. I have recently tried Persimmons Home Exchange and came unstuck. Their unscrupulous tactics left me out of pocket by £2000 which my solicitor is now chasing them for breach of contract.
My advice to you would be:
1. Don't start spending your money before the survey on your property is completed (the original agency acceptance of your property is not enough). They can move the goalposts.
2. Don't let them push you with a one month exchange and complete window - to achieve this you need to start spending on solicitors, mortgage fees and search fees which could be lost if they pull out. Remember that they want to sell you the house, so don't let them bully you.
3. Try and get documentation about the scheme from them - it was not available to us.

With hindsight I wish that I had not been persuaded to try Home Exchange - there are too many variables. Sell your house first -then buy.

misslopex

Thank you.

I am about a week away from exchange on the part ex but do appreciate your advice. Whilst Persimmon have been very unhelpful and far from reliable in the way of communication they have yet to jeopardise the deal in a financial way or perform any "deal-breaking" actions (touch wood!)

I will let you know if I am still as optimistic when it comes to completion in 2 weeks time!

Thanks again!