Advice on negotiating a part ex with Charles Church

riotprincess

Hello all.

After a rough ride with a local estate agent, we've been "immediately released" from our contract with them so are free to go on with another agent.

After this last experience with estate agents (and chomping at the bit to have sold before I go into labour in 16 weeks or so) we had a little peruse of new builds in our area and found one with Charles church that would suit us.

Its been discounted as its the last one in the phase and they are prepared to part ex and "help to buy" at the same time....also turfs, floors and a cooker and hob are in already so I don't know what more I can squeeze out on that side of things.

I was wondering about haggling for stamp duty to be paid and if anyone has been successful in this?

I was also wondering about haggling the part ex price on my house and the best way to proceed with this. I have seen some posts on the net where people have been lucky to get over the asking price for the develper to then take a loss, and others where the offered price has been lower than expected but the developers have discounted the price of the new build in compensation.

The part ex price is what really hinges the decision for us to proceed. They use the agent we have been in dispute with and are willing to use other agents for the valuation. Given nearly every agent in town said something different not 5 weeks ago is there a way I could get them to speak to a valuer who has already done a market appraisal? (time saving given the sales rep has told us they are desperate to shift this particular plot?!)


Being a new build newbie I'll take all the advice offered as I don't want to miss out and find a new neghbour got what I didnt know to ask for!:( (also I don't want to go and make stupid suggestions, get peoples backs up and loose out on a sweetner to the deal:eek:)

dgtazzman

If you are going to use HTB, forget stamp duty, especially if Orbit are your local HTB agent, they won't accept any financial incentives. Many lenders also have restrictions on direct financial incentives, these vary a lot. It also sounds as if the new build is up and pretty much ready to move into, this also limits your bargaining power as they won't have trade on site to get things done/changed cheaply. It sounds as if most incentives that could normally be negotiated about are already in the property anyway.

Best place to haggle would be the exchange price, I think.

riotprincess

Thanks for that. The next phase of the development is underway in what will be the next street, but the list price is 18k cheaper than a fortnight ago and 50k cheaper than the next phase's semi-detached for the same spec (the one I'm looking at is detached) so even with trade onsite I doubt they'll give any more extras. I know new builds are never really a genuine bargin but given our circs this one isn't a bad deal as far as i can see.
Might sound thick but who are orbit?

dgtazzman

Orbit are one of the appointed HTB agents. They cover most of the Midlands now. These are basically the people that approve your HTB application and send the funds to your solicitor on completion.

The list is outdated, but for reference:

http://www.homesandcommunities.co.uk/homebuy_agents

Contracts were up for renewal on the 1st of this month, so some have changed. Orbit have to my knowledge taken over from EMHomebuy in the East Midlands for instance.

They all follow the same guidelines/rules, but they do seem to have differing interpretations of said rules. EMHomebuy (they approved our HTB application) allowed up to 5% in financial incentives, Orbit doesn't allow any, just as an example.

riotprincess

Ah, I'm in Wales, from what I can see the assembly government act as the approval agent here regardless of geographical location, lender or develper..... However in trying to find this out, Halifax will pay the stamp duty if you apply for HTB mortgage here for first time buyers, which is something if my husband is the lead applicant ( the px house is solely in my name deed-wise and I earn less)

dgtazzman

Keep in mind, Halifax will only pay the stamp duty if you use HTB mortgage guarantee. New builds mostly use HTB equity loan, which is exempt from the stamp duty offer, annoyingly enough (last time they ran the offer, HTB equity loan was included, but we missed out on it by a couple of weeks as we had to start our house search from scratch again due to a developer messing us around).

riotprincess

I was unaware of that, thanks!

becominganobsessivesaver

Also be wary of the offer to part-ex and HTB, the HTB scheme does not allow this (although express mover schemes are allowed)

riotprincess

I thought that too however the part ex is at the discretion of the developer and generally charles church don't allow this but they really want this plot shifted...sales guy wasn't subtle in any way on that point!
With regard to the part ex, The only stipulation with HTB (HTB wales that it, I think England and Scotland both operate differntly) is that it must be your only residence and you can't own any other properties at the point of completion, as the scheme is open to "ladder climbers" as well as first time buyers. Either way I have a house that has to be sold before I complete on any HTB property.

HTB wales also has a much lower purchase limit (£300k)than England (£600k last time I checked) just for anyone else reading this who may be looking at HTB.

Georgesmum79

Just say that you want for your house whatever it was being marketed at and not a penny less.

su123132

Hi
I part-ex'd my house with CC in June of this year. I was the first to buy on site and managed to get the fllowing:

flooring including tiles and carpetting
garden turfed
stamp duty paid
and I had a reasonablish offer on my existing property. I did have to pay solicitor fees for both the sale of my existing property and purchase of the new house. One thing to stress is that customer service once you;ve bought the property is very POOR.:mad: It's like banging your head against a brick wall.

On completion I was promised certain things - NONE of which were in place. Virgin media was supposedly to be available on site to enable us to havew a landline, broadband, tv etc.. We had to wait 6 weeks for this to happen! Although I have a child with special needs I was left without a landline for all this time.

Furthermore, you are offered various 'green' items such as a premier rotary line!, bike rack water butt and composter. It took four weeks after I moved in for these to appear ([EMAIL="I@m"]I'm[/EMAIL] still waiting for the bike rack) and the washing line was absolutely rubbish quality.

Just bear all these factors in mind if you intend purchasing. It's a stressful experience and even though these may seem niggling problems to some, it can be the final straw -especially when you consider how much you've spent on the property.

Make sure everything promised is in place prior to completion.