Buying a house from a corporate company/builder - any advise please !!

bac2710

When I put an offer in on a property I was told it was being sold by a "corporate company" as the current owners were buying a new house and the builder was taking it in part exchange. I then had a call from the estate agents head office to be informed i needed to speak to the company acting on behalf of the builder, then i had to speak to their "finance" department (which is another company. I have spoken to them and they are a mortgage company and from what i can gather just want me to do my mortgage with them. They told me the company probably would not accept my offer if I didnt use them. I informed them that my mortgage was agreed (just waiting to find a property) I said I wanted to use the advisor I know. After numerous phone calls they now say well if i arrange my own advisor I have to use their recommended solicitor - again I have this all arranged with a local one who is well known in the area for conveyencing and I have worked with before- if I use their ones they are not local !! Im at my wits end with this and feel like pulling out - can they really dictate who I use - at the end of the day the builder will get the same amount of money - its just who gets commission that seems to be the issue! it is really worth it - does anyone have any experience or advice !!

ValHaller

Think carefully about this suggestion.

The problem is that the EA is using this as an opportunity to gouge more commission at your expense. You are unlikely to be able to influence the builder directly yourself. But perhaps the current owners have some contact with the sales office. So you could think about contacting them and telling them that everything is set up - mortgage, solicitor, but the builder's EA is pressurising you and you really don't like it, so you would be grateful if they were to put pressure on the builder to get the EA to leave you alone.

jayship

A friend recently made an offer on a property that they liked which was accepted. However the agents stipulated that they would continue to market the property unless he used their conveyencer and mortgage advisor as the vendor wanted everything inhouse for a quick sale.
He reluctantly agreed only to later find out from the vendor that this was not true. Once he gets the keys to the property he will make a formal complaint and take it up with the regulator. However this was done verbally and there is no written proof.
I would have walked away but they really liked the property in an area where prtoperties are sold fairly quickly.

Furts

If a builder takes a property in part exchange I have known them drive a hard bargain with estate agents. Think of a national builder and the volume of business this can create for a national estate agent chain. The estate agent then tries to claw back his expected margin by trying to screw the punter - apologies if I am not allowed to say that.

Hence the behaviour you witnessed!