Part Exchanging for a New Build

maireadmoconnor

We've looked at a new build house we really like and we haven't been able to sell our house (it's been on the market for 5-6 months with no offers) so we're looking at doing a part exchange for our house.

I'm just wondering from those of you who may have done part exchanges before, what sort of experience you had and what sort of negotiating you were able to do on price?

Our house is on the market at £149,995 and a very similar house a few doors up just sold for £147k. David Wilson Homes have offered us £140k for our house which of course is lower than I wanted but i'm just wondering what sort of scope we have for offering less for their house which is on at £235K?

Any advice and your experiences will be gratefully received

moneybunny123

I don't know how far you'll get negotiating on the price of the newbuild, but if you don't ask you don't get. However, if they're offering you 140k forr a house valued at 149k that hasn't sold in 6 months, I'd rip their arm off!! Sounds like a great offer.

RobertoMoir

a house valued at 149k that hasn't sold in 6 months

... probably isn't actually worth £149k.

A house is worth what someone will pay you for it, something the buyer in this sort of case will be aware of and price accordingly as they'll want to move the property on.

So while an offer from the builders to essentially P/X at £140k isn't bad and helps greases the gears, I'm willing to bet the house they're selling as part of the P/X deal is priced enough to cover their margins here.

SammyFace

I did a part exchange a few years back. They gave me £2k under the valuation but were happy to knock £2k off the new house. Would they budge a little on the purchase price of the new property?

bclark

It’s all dependent on many things, mainly how much they want to sell their house.

The party line will be that if you are taking advantage of part exchange then they won’t discount their house. This is in most cases a load of rubbish but you may stand less chance of a sizeable discount. Friends of ours were looking at the last house on a development and made a cheeky offer including theirs as part ex and got it turned down so they walked away. Two weeks later the phone rang and they had changed their mind and accepted it.

Making an offer can’t hurt but be prepared that if the houses are selling well (some developments do even in this economy) then they may say no.

ayrshire_buddy

Hi,

I recently p-x a few months ago.
In my experience they want to keep sale value of their own house as high as possible (as this what potential buyers of other plots will look at).

The negotiation for us was in 2 main areas -
1. P-X value of our own house, which we eventually go to reasonable level. Probably similiar to what you have been offered in terms of % value against so-called EA/previous sold valuation.
2. Extras we negotiated- carpets, flooring, turfing, fencing, legal fees.

Coming from an older traditional build home, I was very wary of going down this route. However, very satisfied with the outcome.

As an aside, my house is still on the market at O/O 160K, we received £180 for it, EA had valuation of £195 for it.
In todays market, depending on area, it maybe the only way to guarantee shifting your house.

Hannah2

It depends how desperate you are to sell your house! I did a part exchange last year, I had a bottom price that I wouldnt go below and that is what they offered so I snapped their arm off!

My old house didnt sell for about 6 months and they had to reduce the price by over £20,000 to get it to sell - that was less than I had paid for it as a new build 6 years before!!!

We didnt get as much money off our new house due to the PX but it all depends on what premium you are willing to "pay" for the ability to move and not have to worry about chains falling apart etc etc.

Good luck!

murphydog999

When we looked at a new house last year there were 3 left on the site (3/4 bed house) and they immediately gave us £50K off without asking, I'm sure there would have been other incentives on top of this.

I would way up what discount you could get if you bought it without the p/ex deal - maybe get a friend to go in and express interest - with the deal you have been offered. However, if you are desperate to move quickly, and it's your only way out, it may well be your only option.

jonomassey

We have recently done a part ex with barratts, they offered us £72k for our house which we accepted as we were hoping for around £75k but saved on estate agent fees. The house we were buying was up at £165k and they were giving us a 5% deposit plus carpets and vinyls but then the house was valued at £150k by abbey so Barratts were reluctant to drop to this but eventually did but took the carpets and vinyls off us. So we were happy with our part ex and we got to choose better carpets fitted by a family friend that are a lot better quality than that are in the other houses on the development that Barratt supplied and fitted.

nigf71

I also last year sold my house for £140k valued at £155K to Barratt asa part exchange for a newbuild house marketed at £210K I ended up after negotiating for 2 weeks with builder a purchase price of £190k including carpets and additional fittings. My house was on the market for a year and had a buyer but they couldnt sell.

It worked out well in the end but negotiate to get the best deal - it was in my favour as the house I purchased was the last one and they needed to get off the site as it was costing a bit each month for the sales team and marketing.

Good Luck

MrRee_2

Same as a Car Deal and Part-Ex.

You never, ever, get the best deal possible if you Part-Ex .... the cards are always stacked in the sellers favour.

We all know that you can reduce the price of your house until it sells ant then go to the builders with an offer - they don't want a Part-Ex. so will drop a huge amount (but, rather they would furnish it out for you and landscape the gardens as it makes it look like they have achieved close to asking price).