Buying on New Build Estate

ina_pickle

oh slightly off track but wanted to check another point with you

The builders are looking for a £500 cheque in advance (which would later become our res. fee if we proceed) to look into the Part exchange and have said if we do not proceed they would only return 20% of this, which I find really unfair as we dont know if we will proceed until we know their offer so how we can guartee them of this in advanced?

i dont want to waste £400 for someone just to make me a crappy offer i cant accept.

caeler

I live on a large new build site (1000+ homes) divded up into several building areas by different developers. Only one of the areas is housing association - 1/4 a mile away from my road, however I am ashamed to admit that when I drive through the social housing part it is really noticeable (police parked up, kids of all ages walking around, abandonned broken house hold items, rubbish in front gardens). I am ashamed of saying this because quite possibly it makes me a snob but I can't help that only one area looks uncared for and the other areas which are OO/BTL are perfectly fine, well kept, etc. Also they appear to have packed people into the social housing part, ie flats and smaller houses, where as where I have bought there is no flats just 2+ bed houses with garages so we are all more distributed, perhaps that helps.

caeler

ina_pickle wrote: »

oh slightly off track but wanted to check another point with you

The builders are looking for a £500 cheque in advance (which would later become our res. fee if we proceed) to look into the Part exchange and have said if we do not proceed they would only return 20% of this, which I find really unfair as we dont know if we will proceed until we know their offer so how we can guartee them of this in advanced?

i dont want to waste £400 for someone just to make me a crappy offer i cant accept.

This is standard and all developers do it, they want to hook you, make you exchange in 28 days or you risk loosing your property and all the risk is on you because in some cases you don't know when the property will be complete and ready to move into (unless you buy something already built) and if it is several months away you risk loosing your mortgage deal! Buying new build is more risky for various reasons so read up, plenty of threads on this forum about it. Plus there will be a few users who frequently post never buy a new build like it is the most evil thing in the world!!

IHateDida

ina_pickle wrote: »

They have also built a small play park which seems to be the norm in all new build developments its surrounded by a grass area, and again i havent seen many kids in it. QUOTE]

That was one of the main problems we faced - the park became a nightmare as the HA homes filled and became larger (its surprising how quickly 2 children became 4 and all that!). The park was lovely and quiet when we moved in but soon became the local place to hang/extension of the HA houses gardens. It looked lovely when we moved in, very green and lovely plants planted by the developer. But then the HA children moved in and it soon became a football pitch and plants ended up broken/uprooted etc.