New Build/Part-Exchange Dilemma

Sweet_Sugar_1984

Hi.

We currently live in a house, which my husband bought 6 years ago for £92,000. We are looking to move to a bigger place and we've fallen in love with a new build home which is on the market for £150,000. The developer is Orion homes.

We made an offer on the house for £135,000- as this is the max that we can afford. This was on the basis that we are able to complete the move in around 6 weeks. The offer was made after speaking to our neighour who was keen to buy our property for £90,000- we've recently had the house valued and EA said it's worth between £89-£92,000.

However, it's now been a week and our neighbours finances have fallen through. Orion are keen for us to put a reservation down ASAP, but now we are in a sticky situation. We can't afford to put our house up for sale with an EA as this would eat into our budget further. My husband is wanting to do a part-exchange, but I'm worried that if the valuation comes back too low, then we can't afford to move either. When we'd originally asked Orion about part-exchange they'd said that they don't normally negotiate on part-exchange properties. So if we were to go down that route, they might not be willing to sell to us for £135,000.

What's the best thing to do? We really want to secure the house, but we're in a gridlock sitution. Putting our house on the market will mean extra costs and possibly a slow sale, whereas part-exchange could mean that we lose our discount on the new house, as well as getting a low value for our old house. £135,000 is really the maximum we can afford- if we can sell our old house for £90,000. We have very little extra money to play with.

A friend of mine has said that I should wait 'til December, as this is year end for many developers and they tend to 'give-away' houses at this point. However, to be honest, I really don't want to wait that long. Should I just hold tight or should I go down the part-exchange route? I'm already having sleepless nights- hence I am up at 6am this morning lol.

Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions.

gillypoof

you could look into selling your house online.i nearly went that route.there's lots of stuff on here about it. i did,nt go through with it because i gave estate agent one day to sell,bargained them down to 1% and no lock in period.they sold it in a day.sods law really.
i went with Hatched uk.they came round took photos ,did room measurement.that cost me £200,on completion of sale i was to pay another £200..
as it is now i am paying £3600 to the estate agent for a few days work,but a deal is a deal.good luck.

becominganobsessivesaver

Some developers offer express mover schemes, where they market your house through a local agent, and they pay the fees. They often still give the discounts on these, but the move won't happen until your house is sold. Maybe ask about this?

Sweet_Sugar_1984

Been to speak to the sales agent today, they don't do express mover schemes, so I've had to go for part-exchange. She said that if I do part-ex they can't accept the offer of £135,000 and that I'll have to pay the full asking price- very disappointed at this:(.

I will now have to wait for the valuers to come round but I am not very hopeful.

Anyone else been in this position? Is it still possible to bargain? The sales agent said I should get advice from a financial advisor but that's just going to add to the cost....Any suggestions?

Also, I have had a look at online Estate Agents- that could be my next step if part-exchange falls through. Money definitely makes the world go round...

go_cat

It's likely the valuation on your house will come in lower than £90k as they will want to make a profit on it

littlesparkles

Why not put your house up for sale and see what happens. Worth a try!

Sweet_Sugar_1984

I'm going to wait for the valuation and if the price isn't right I think I'll put it up for sale. I think I'll just have to go with the local estate agent as the internet ones might not have the same appeal to locals. Feeling very disappointed with it all now, but I'm not going to over-stretch myself financially....will keep u all posted on what happens and thanks for all your help.

DiscoCat54

Hi

I'm in the middle of a part exchange with Bloor. My house was on the Market for 300k however due to the Stamp Duty increase at 250k all three independent valuations came in at 250k for a 2-4 week sale.

I needed 285k in order to make the move feasible however they agreed to make an adjustment for the cost of stamp duty and a gesture of goodwill which took the offer to 275k.

They then suggested that I speak to their preferred mortgage advisor to make sure that my sums were ok and surprisingly he called Bloor on my behalf and said that if they could offer 283k then in his opinion I could proceed.

It worked! They offered 283k and because of my tight financial situation they also offered me flooring throughout!

Sweet_Sugar_1984

Hi

I've had 2 independent valuations done on behalf of Orion and Orion have made me an offer of £87500 for my house. I feel that this is quite reasonable, but they said that as it's part-exchange they cannot now negotiate the price of the new house (150,000) and so I will have to pay the full asking price for that. I told the sales lady that this is not feasible for me as I can only afford to take out another £45,000 maximum on my mortgage, but she was adamant that I speak to their appointed Financial Advisor. She was actually really pushy about it and said she was sure that they could come up with some sort of package for me.....but I'm not too sure. I think my next step will be to try and sell privately...

DiscoCat54

Perhaps you could try to negotiate for Stamp Duty and solicitor's costs

Sweet_Sugar_1984

Hi

I'll be talking to them tomorrow so I'll let you know what happens....I'm not very hopeful though....The thing I don't understand is that they were happy to let me have the house for £135,00 if I sell my house myself, but they are not willing to negotiate the price of the house when it's part-exchange. Selling myself will be really difficult as I've got 2 small kids and viewings are going to be tricky....I'm just so stressed about it all already getting sleepless nights lol.....just hope it all comes together for me...