New Build List of Questions

Just_30

Hello all,

I apologise for the rambling post but here goes...

Me and OH recently went to the opening of a new build development (Taylor Wimpey, if that is of relevance to some of the points I raise) and we are very interested in one of the properties that we saw. I realise new builds are not for everyone but this house suits all of our needs and could be "The One" - first and forever house. Oddly, the showhome is ready but there is currently no price available! The sales rep said they are wating on prices to be released from head office but the ball park figure she gave us should be affordable, according to the financial advisor we also saw that day. The price is expected to be 270-290k.

Here is where my list of questions come in after that background info.

1. What is the process once the prices are officially released? Do we try to negotiate on the price and all the "freebies", fixtures, finishes, stamp duty etc. and THEN put down a reservation fee? The reason I ask is because the houses are not expected to be completed until late this year / early next year. So, can we get them to commit to a price (when released) and reserve the house this far in advance? Bearing in mind the price could go up (or down) between now and then.

2. Related to the agreed sale price: - What happens if the mortgage lenders valuation comes back lower than what we agree to buy for? Do Taylor Wimpey move on price to get the sale at this point? Or do they stick to their guns and expect us to make up the shortfall? (NOT an option!:)).

3. We would be taking advantage of the Help to Buy scheme. (5% deposit from us, 20% loan from the Government, 75% LTV mortgage) so, what impact, if any, does this have on our barganing power for knocking money off the asking price and / or using incentives such as stamp duty, legal fees paid, upgrades etc?

4. Is the Help to Buy scheme likely to still be availble into 2015? The financial advisor we saw informed us that there is only a limted "pot" of money from the Government to fund this scheme and once it is gone there is no guarantee that it will be extended.

I'm sure I'll be back with plenty more questions but they are the main things I can think of for now.:)

Kt8

We have just bought new build we looked at Taylor Wimpey but it wasn't for us.

Have the houses been built or even started to be built yet? I doubt they will be ready by the end of this year if not already started- local taylor wimpey site by ours has taken awhile and family member is a builder advised us they can take their time, depending also on planning and on weather. They also put a friends house back continually as they couldn't meet the first approx date they set. They wont be able to give you any set completion date either til approx 2 weeks before its complete.

From my understanding if you reserve the house you can still be expected to pay the price even if it rises or falls when the houses are ready.

Our halifax valuation for ours came back 7 grand less (house was 206,950) and they valued it at £200,000, our developers came back with giving us the lower value which we were made up about as basically the garage for free and its only a very small site, i'm not sure if this is because of our great negotiating by our broker who was fab plus the fact we had good rship with the developers and sales team- end of the day we were putting big deposit down so they wanted the sale.

Our price was non negotiable (apart from the valuation difference) and no freebies included as the house and kitchen is very high spec compared to most new builds, we already had all electrics included, alarm included, virgin/sky put in ready, landscaping and flowers/bushes etc. All walls done for us apart from the floors.

Be aware the show home will be different to the finished product, we went to see many builder developments that were in our area and they all differed greatly. We had a friend living in the development we chose so went to see his house 12 months after it was completed and he had hardly any issues.

Also ask wether any part of the site will include social housing- bigger sites tend to.

Happy house buying

lord_tyrannus

just about to exchange contracts on taylor wimpey new build. There's no hard and fast rule for discounts it depends on the site. How fast they are selling and how quickly the developer wants to get out of the site

We managed to get a upgraded kitchen, All the flooring included and a couple of grand off the price. It seems to be that the sales people can put in incentives of 3-5% of the purchase price. But if your using help to buy then you get less incentives as the home buy agent can block the deal

Don't appear too keen and don't let them pressure you into reserving because they are "selling fast"

x_missymoo_x

We are also making use of the full 20% from Help to Buy and that meant we could not negotiate on price unfortunately.

We did manage to get all flooring including through using their recommended mortgage advisor and solicitor, however there are many people on here that would advise against that. We haven't come across any problems though so far, hopefully it stays that way!

Just_30

Thanks Kt8!

Kt8 wrote: »

Have the houses been built or even started to be built yet?

Most of the development is sealed off but I don't think they have done anything yet with the particular house type we are interested in. So, it could take a while. This is not a major issue as we are fairly happy in our rental and the landlord is happy for us to stay for as long as we want. It also gives us more time to put towards savings but I am tired of paying someone elses mortgage! Also, the longer we wait, the more house prices are likely to go up, with several reports in the media that Help to Buy is a factor contributing to this. I'd like to get in sooner rather than later before prices start getting really daft!

Kt8 wrote: »

From my understanding if you reserve the house you can still be expected to pay the price even if it rises or falls when the houses are ready.

So to be clear; if we could reserve now at say 250k, Taylor Wimpey could increase that price in at a later date when the houses are close to completion? Does anybody know if it is possible to "lock in" a price and get it in writing this far in advance?

Kt8 wrote: »

Our halifax valuation for ours came back 7 grand less (house was 206,950) and they valued it at £200,000, our developers came back with giving us the lower value which we were made up about as basically the garage for free and its only a very small site, i'm not sure if this is because of our great negotiating by our broker who was fab plus the fact we had good rship with the developers and sales team- end of the day we were putting big deposit down so they wanted the sale.

Good news on them meeting the valuation! An interesting point on using your broker for the negotiating. Is this normal practice? I like to think I can drive a pretty hard bargain but letting a professional take some of the stress out of it by acting as the middle man is not a bad idea!:)

Kt8 wrote: »

Be aware the show home will be different to the finished product

Yep. Are aware we need to be careful with this. Need to check if the dimensions, room sizes, layout etc will be the exactly same. With regards to the spec, I was thinking of asking for an exact replica of the showhome, minus the furniture. Dont know how realistic that will be, but if you dont ask, you dont get!:) Or, a thought that crossed my mind was to put in an offer on the showhome itself, once they are done with it. The build is expected to take approx 5 years though, but, do they normally move the showhomes further into the site when the next phases begins?

Kt8 wrote: »

Also ask wether any part of the site will include social housing- bigger sites tend to.

It does have quite a bit of social housing which is all detailed on the site plan. The plots where would like to be are pretty far removed from all of these houses though. Sorry if that sounds snobish, but its a helluva lot of money to be spending to then find you could be living next door to social housing "problem tenants"!

Just_30

lord_tyrannus wrote: »

Don't appear too keen and don't let them pressure you into reserving because they are "selling fast"

Unfortunately for us, I expect the site to be quite popular and even though I believe the prices available are inflated (as all new builds are), it is not by ridiculous amounts compared to sold prices on older houses in that area.

My poker face is well versed and I'm all for playing hardball to bag any discounts, but you run the very real risk losing out on a house that you love!

Tancred

Just_30 wrote: »

Hello all,

I apologise for the rambling post but here goes...

Me and OH recently went to the opening of a new build development (Taylor Wimpey, if that is of relevance to some of the points I raise) and we are very interested in one of the properties that we saw. I realise new builds are not for everyone but this house suits all of our needs and could be "The One" - first and forever house. Oddly, the showhome is ready but there is currently no price available! The sales rep said they are wating on prices to be released from head office but the ball park figure she gave us should be affordable, according to the financial advisor we also saw that day. The price is expected to be 270-290k.

Here is where my list of questions come in after that background info.

1. What is the process once the prices are officially released? Do we try to negotiate on the price and all the "freebies", fixtures, finishes, stamp duty etc. and THEN put down a reservation fee? The reason I ask is because the houses are not expected to be completed until late this year / early next year. So, can we get them to commit to a price (when released) and reserve the house this far in advance? Bearing in mind the price could go up (or down) between now and then.

There is normally no negotiation on price for new builds. The price is what it is. However, you can always ask them to include certain things in the price, e.g. carpets, etc. You often get stamp duty paid for or at least partly paid for new builds, so it's worth asking this.

Just_30 wrote: »

2. Related to the agreed sale price: - What happens if the mortgage lenders valuation comes back lower than what we agree to buy for? Do Taylor Wimpey move on price to get the sale at this point? Or do they stick to their guns and expect us to make up the shortfall? (NOT an option!:)).

As I said, the price is fixed. It's unlikely that the builder will budge, especially if they have given you various freebies like stamp duty paid etc. What you could do is ask for a price reduction instead of the stamp duty paid, but you can't have both. And yes, expect the valuation to be lower than the price - it's a common thing on new builds.

Just_30 wrote: »

3. We would be taking advantage of the Help to Buy scheme. (5% deposit from us, 20% loan from the Government, 75% LTV mortgage) so, what impact, if any, does this have on our barganing power for knocking money off the asking price and / or using incentives such as stamp duty, legal fees paid, upgrades etc?

You can't take advantage of multiple incentive schemes. Why not ask them to give the house to you free of charge! If you are using 'help to buy' you may not even get any stamp duty paid for.

Just_30 wrote: »

4. Is the Help to Buy scheme likely to still be availble into 2015? The financial advisor we saw informed us that there is only a limted "pot" of money from the Government to fund this scheme and once it is gone there is no guarantee that it will be extended.

Who knows? Ask David Cameron. My personal opinion is that it won't go on after 2014 - this is designed to 'kick start' the housing market, not provide a permanent subsidy to people who otherwise could not afford to buy.

Just_30 wrote: »

I'm sure I'll be back with plenty more questions but they are the main things I can think of for now.:)

:wall:

GwylimT

We have a new build, although ours was built by a relatively small firm and the build quality is very good compared to most mass build new homes.

A few things, take a good look at furniture in show homes, what appears to be a double bed is often a 3/4, sit on that 3 seater sofa, is it really a 3 seater? Now, think about appliances, in many new builds they use the cheapest ovens, boilers etc. My brother has a barratt home, the oven has no name on it and its not very good at all, the boiler is a make we hadn't heard of, it is of very poor quality and he has an extremely small hot water tank, he can get half a bath from one tank of water, this also means his radiators are tiny and they don't heat his house. His kitchen floor was also tiled with wall tiles and within the first year most were chipped and cracked, his back door also doesn't fit, its smaller than the door frame and provides lovely ventilation!

If a seller attempts to pressure you into reserving a home because they are selling fast this is a lie, if they are selling fast when why does he/she care if you're interested or not! The houses on my brothers estate were apparently going like hot cakes, funny that, a few years later some are still unsold.

About the show home, most remain in the same place throughout the build, they are normally next to the site office so it is more convenient for the builder, they tend to be done to the highest spec available and so they tend to be very expensive despite the fact that you are buying a 'used' house.

You need to get a really set list of what you need, what you are willing to pay and stick to it, insist on seeing a blueprint of the property including the outside areas, many only provide a plan which tend not to be accurate and tend to be subject to change.

We recently bought a new build flat, it was virtually finished when we purchased it, ours is built to a very good quality, no internal stud walls, no mdf skirting boards (yep, barratt do that), wooden kitchen not chip board with a granite work top, wooden floor (not laminate), wool carpets, good quality tiles in the bathroom. These were all items that came as standard, however we were very very lucky, this flat was originally secured by an elderly couple and so they had a partial wetroom (open shower but still has a bath tub) as she was poor on her feet, they pulled out and so this flat was hard to sell as not many people want a wet room so we got this flat for a very good price compared to the other ground floor flats with private gardens.

With new builds you do get a better deal once the house is built, or near completion.

Tancred

Just_30 wrote: »

Thanks Kt8!

It does have quite a bit of social housing which is all detailed on the site plan. The plots where would like to be are pretty far removed from all of these houses though. Sorry if that sounds snobish, but its a helluva lot of money to be spending to then find you could be living next door to social housing "problem tenants"!

It depends what you mean by social housing. If it's housing association subsidised housing it's not like council housing - they tend to give these houses to 'key workers' like teachers, nurses, firemen etc.

Tancred

Just_30 wrote: »

Unfortunately for us, I expect the site to be quite popular and even though I believe the prices available are inflated (as all new builds are), it is not by ridiculous amounts compared to sold prices on older houses in that area.

My poker face is well versed and I'm all for playing hardball to bag any discounts, but you run the very real risk losing out on a house that you love!

The last sentence is true. In a rising market you risk losing out by being too fussy - and you will pay for this in delays, extra rent etc. Surveyors always tend to under value a house, especially if the surveyor is acting on behalf of a mortgage lender. Therefore, a £5-10k discrepancy is nothing to worry about - prices are rising again and that difference will soon be wiped out.

Lovelyjoolz

If this is your forever house, do not buy off-plan!!

The price will always be higher at this point in time.
Your next-door neighbour who buys when it's complete will spend £30k less that you on an identical house.
The fixtures & fittings may not be as good as you were promised/expected
The social housing may move and end up right next door to you (yes, this does happen and very frequently)
Garden boundrys often change and you end up with less land that you thought
Man-hole covers suddenly appear right where you had planned your patio to be

These are just things that I can remember threads about in this forum in recent months. And this is just off the top of my head. Do a forum search for new build and read some of the problems people have had.

Seriously - why would you spend quarter of a million quid on something that hasn't even been built yet and you can't inspect the quality of??? NHBC will not cover everything.

And, knowing TW and the sites they build on as I do, I wouldn't buy anything until I can be sure it isn't going to subside....