Anyone bought new Built in NI recently - Negotiation?

dsab

Hello,

has anyone recently purchased a new build in NI, and could advise how much they managed to negotiate on the price?

After a long search we have finally found a house that matches our requirements, but we have no idea how much to offer.

It's a reasonably new Development of around 50 houses on the outskirts of a medium sized town.

- The house is for Sale for 132K (Turnkey Finish) plus an additional 8K for a sunroom.
- House is Part of Phase two, to be finished in around 6 months (Phase 1 is just finished and sold out)
- Demand in the estate has been good so far, and around 70% of Phase 2 has been bought/booked already
- In addition to the Turnkey Finish we have requested Fully tiled Bathroom & Ensuite (as opposed to the usual part tiling), access to Attic and flooring being put down in attic (for Storage), Underfloor Heating downstairs.

So we were thinking about offering 135K with all the above included. Does that sound reasonable, or would they start laughing at us?

Thanks,
dsab

saverbuyer

Did you not just buy a new build last year?

How much did you manage to negotiate off then and what “extras” did the builder include?

dsab

We were going to buy one last year, but pulled out shortly before signing on the dotted line (still glad we did). At that time we were planning to use Co-Ownership, but decided against it for various reasons.

Since then we saved our asses off, and are now in a position to put down a decent Deposit, and have Mortgage approval (for a much higher amount then the intended house) in place etc.

Last time we felt we were in a poor position to negotiate due to Co-Ownership, and only managed a very small discount.

saverbuyer

dsab wrote: »

We were going to buy one last year, but pulled out shortly before signing on the dotted line (still glad we did). At that time we were planning to use Co-Ownership, but decided against it for various reasons.

Since then we saved our asses off, and are now in a position to put down a decent Deposit, and have Mortgage approval (for a much higher amount then the intended house) in place etc.

Last time we felt we were in a poor position to negotiate due to Co-Ownership, and only managed a very small discount.

A wise decision with regards to the co-ownership imo and a lucky escape. No point overpaying which would have happened using co-ownership.

There's a few things about new builds (you'll get more info on the main board) but they always lose value when you move in (just like a car) so it's worth trying to get the best discount possible. The saying goes; if you’re not embarrassed by the offer it's too much.

A lot of the big builders and most of the smaller ones are being run for the banks (NAMA). Most bought land when it was too expensive and can't afford to pay back. The only thing is, you are competing against people using the likes of co-ownership who can't really afford it but the banks will throw money at them just to get the developers loans off the books and onto you.

I wouldn't listen to the developer or EA spiel on sold prices and numbers sold, they tell blatant lies just to get a sale. I know a few people who were told the development was "sold" out only to find out later the developer was renting out large numbers they couldn't shift.

It's 100% a buyers’ market especially outside Belfast. Bargain hard or better still buy a better quality, bigger garden older house. Just remember if you buy a new build you are guaranteed to lose money if you want to sell and move in the next 10 years.

MercenaryMan

If they're on Propertynews I'd start with Property-bee to see if the prices are trending downwards. This might give you some leverage for negotiation. I'd also check out the rateable values of similar completed properties on the LPSNI site to see if the vendor is being anywhere near realistic.