Considering pulling out of a Barratt's purchase

Tancred

dgtazzman wrote: »

This is more of a rant and maybe a few independent opinions would help too.

We are currently in the process of purchasing a Barratt home. It's 3-bed priced at £210,000 and is around 1360 square feet. We got flooring, stamp duty and turfing thrown in. Everything was going smoothly, Barratt's was very helpful etc., until the mortgage valuation came back at only £195,000.

It took them 2 days to inform us of this undervaluation, as they first wanted to consider their options. They have contested the valuation, but feel there's practically no chance of it being adjusted. Instead, they have asked us if we would consider applying for a mortgage with another lender (in fact strongly suggesting we HAD to do this), as they know this other lender is more generous with their valuations. At first they wanted us to shoulder the extra cost for this, but I told them where to stick it, waiting to hear back tomorrow if management agrees to pay all the fees and penalties. Not to mention, this other mortgage would cost us £30 more a month in payments for the same amount.

Through all this, we've really been getting the feeling it is all about their financial results, over us, as we're stressed out and nervous and just being tethered along. We'd be willing to pay £210,000, but we feel a surveyor would know what they're talking about, yet it is being completely dismissed as BS by Barratt's.

I have now seen a Keepmoat house on the same development, a 4-bed, priced at £200,000 with the same square footage. I've been to talk with their sales guy this afternoon and he said they are familiar with the IFA and solicitor's we are using and could arrange for everything to be ported over to purchase their property with minimal cost to us. He thinks we could even keep the mortgage offer we have in the pipeline, saving a lot of time and hassle. In prelim negotiations he's already promised us flooring, turfing, all kitchen appliances, extra socket for a condenser dryer if we want it and hinted they might also be able to pay the stamp duty.

Would we be declared crazy if we just thank Barratt's and walked away over to Keepmoat at this point?

EDIT: No contract have been exchanged, of course, we have signed a draft contract, but this is held by our solicitors as the mortgage offer is in limbo on the valuation issue.

The mortgage valuation will invariably be always lower than the price!! This is especially true on new builds. Why are you making such a fuss for an extra £30 a month? I probably spend that each month on newspapers alone!

£210K for 1360 sq ft would be a gift where I live - my house is only 950 sq ft and cost me £295k, but it is Royal Berkshire! I guess you are from the deep north?

Tancred

GlynD wrote: »

Then once they have moved off site all your snagging stops and you've got to fight tooth and nail to get the smallest things done. If they even do them.
Their plumbing is shocking, so is their paintwork. My whole 4 bedroom villa needed repainting after just two years and they wouldn't stand over it. Only guaranteed for a year they said.

Builder's guarantee is normally two years, isn't it?

Tancred

dgtazzman wrote: »

Also, some of the new builds around our area (not many, mind you) are more generous for square footage than existing properties. I don't need a big garden as such, but I do appreciate decently sized rooms.

Where I live most houses are shoe boxes - unless you are loaded and can afford £400k+. 3 beds average 1000 sq ft.

martinsurrey

Tancred wrote: »

The mortgage valuation will invariably be always lower than the price!! This is especially true on new builds. Why are you making such a fuss for an extra £30 a month? I probably spend that each month on newspapers alone!

£210K for 1360 sq ft would be a gift where I live - my house is only 950 sq ft and cost me £295k, but it is Royal Berkshire! I guess you are from the deep north?

the developers I can see the numbers for are getting down valuations in about 1-2% of sales, so hardly always.

and how many news papers you buy is of no relevance to anyone else.

can you send me a cheque for £360 a year please, if its such a trifle?

Tancred

martinsurrey wrote: »

the developers I can see the numbers for are getting down valuations in about 1-2% of sales, so hardly always.

and how many news papers you buy is of no relevance to anyone else.

can you send me a cheque for £360 a year please, if its such a trifle?

I had mine valued for £290k and I ended up buying for £295k. I think the valuer was actually being very generous as the older 1960s houses of similar size several blocks away have been selling for £280k.

£360 a year is indeed a trifle, and no, I won't be sending you a cheque! :rotfl:

lord_tyrannus

Tancred wrote: »

Where I live most houses are shoe boxes - unless you are loaded and can afford £400k+. 3 beds average 1000 sq ft.

is there anywhere in the south that isn't a shoe box mind you I think barretts are the worse for building rabbit hutches with no natural light

buy now they are selling quick was what the barrett sales man told me in woking December 2012, December 2013 still not sold!

GlynD

Tancred wrote: »

Builder's guarantee is normally two years, isn't it?

Yes I thought that too plus you have the protection of the mandatory 10 years structural guarantee. Then I bought a house from Barratts and found that they place all sorts of restrictions on their warranties. Plumbing for example is another one which only has a one year guarantee with them. We had water gushing out of an inline pipe fitting on the toilet cistern and contacted them. "Not our problem" they told me.

Fundamentally our home was built ok but lots of annoying wee things happened. Thanks to a conscientious site manager, as long as they remained on the site we had all of these "snagging" type faults fixed. As soon as they were off site though Barratts fought tooth and nail to avoid doing anything for anyone in our development. Even forcing some to take legal action.

GlynD

Tancred wrote: »

I had mine valued for £290k and I ended up buying for £295k. I think the valuer was actually being very generous as the older 1960s houses of similar size several blocks away have been selling for £280k.

£360 a year is indeed a trifle, and no, I won't be sending you a cheque! :rotfl:

Ooooh - trifle. I looooove trifle. :rotfl:

Tancred

GlynD wrote: »

Yes I thought that too plus you have the protection of the mandatory 10 years structural guarantee. Then I bought a house from Barratts and found that they place all sorts of restrictions on their warranties. Plumbing for example is another one which only has a one year guarantee with them. We had water gushing out of an inline pipe fitting on the toilet cistern and contacted them. "Not our problem" they told me.

Fundamentally our home was built ok but lots of annoying wee things happened. Thanks to a conscientious site manager, as long as they remained on the site we had all of these "snagging" type faults fixed. As soon as they were off site though Barratts fought tooth and nail to avoid doing anything for anyone in our development. Even forcing some to take legal action.

I have a Charles Church and it's two years for everything, then NHBC for major issues only.

I decided to shell out £400 for a professional snagger to come and see what needs sorting. Worth the money.

Tancred

lord_tyrannus wrote: »

is there anywhere in the south that isn't a shoe box mind you I think barretts are the worse for building rabbit hutches with no natural light

buy now they are selling quick was what the barrett sales man told me in woking December 2012, December 2013 still not sold!

I always used to think Barratt was one of the better builders - I still remember the ad from 1980s with the helicopter.