NEW HOUSE identical properties - next door paid less - is there anything I can do?

stormace

Hi,
I have recently purchased a new build house and thought I had got a good deal. The price was listed as £259,500 but we were only looking to commit to about £250,000 because of stamp duty being 3% over this. However, the builder said they would reduce the purchase price by the £7500 so we could use this to pay the stamp duty - so we thought we had got a bargain at £252,000 - however, as every house sale is listed on the Land Registry website - I have discovered today that my next door neighbour with an identical house only paid £240,000 - they purchased only 8 weeks before us - so besides feeling very sick on learning I effectively paid over the odds - is there anything I can do?
I also can see that other properties listed at £262,000 which seemed at the time completely out of our price range in fact also only sold for £250,000 - are my negotiation skills just rubbish or what?
Our own house purchase price is not listed yet as it takes time for it to come online - but it will be there soon for everyone to see what we paid and I will then feel even more sick - do you think I have any rights to go back to the builder or do I chalk it up to "live and learn"?

bylromarha

Chalk it up to live and learn.

Builders put prices up and down with the seasons - we paid £6k less than our neighbours for 1 new build, £2.5k less for another. In both cases, we were ready to move quickly and the houses had already had buyers which had fallen through, so we had to "tolerate" their kitchen cupboard/carpet/lino choices.

If you were happy to pay that price for the house, then enjoy the house and don't worry about price as there is nothing you can do about it now and you were buying a home for the next few years, not a quick profit machine.

anselld

There is nothing you can do. It is just a negotiation.

G_M

Ask the developer to refund the £12K difference in price obviously. I'm sure they will be sympathetic and put a cheque in the post.

missindecisive

Which developer is it. ?

PasturesNew

That's part of life that sucks. Some people are better/luckier at these things... if it's any consolation, I'd also be in the same boat as you if I'd been there at the same time.

verulamium

Nothing you can do. Our first property was a new build flat and we paid £9k less than our neighbours but we negotiated really hard to get it at the price we were comfortable with.

In the end, a house is worth whatever you were willing to pay for. You own a house now, just enjoy it.

silvercar

Maybe yours had more extras, maybe the developers were keen to see the first properties sold, any number of reasons. Don't lose sleep over it.

I have an uncle who still crows that he paid £4,200 in 1960 when his neighbour paid £4,300; I doubt the neighbour remembers.

dgtazzman

8 weeks can be a very long time in the marvelous world of developers anyway. In those 8 weeks they could have had no end of meetings and found reasons why the price of the house should be jacked up.

I get on quite well with the sales rep at the development we're buying at. He's new to that particular developer and his loyalty, well, how do I put it, doesn't necessarily lie with that developer, but with his commissions. As I understand it, when they are ready to release a new batch of houses, they pick up a phone at head office and ask him 'Do you think we'd get away with asking £xxx for the house'.

They also tend to reduce the first batch of houses in order to peak interest in a development, so you might have just missed that phase.

Anyway, stop stressing, just enjoy your new house, I'd just be happy I have a roof over my head.

Paully232000

stormace wrote: »

Hi,
I have recently purchased a new build house and thought I had got a good deal. The price was listed as £259,500 but we were only looking to commit to about £250,000 because of stamp duty being 3% over this. However, the builder said they would reduce the purchase price by the £7500 so we could use this to pay the stamp duty - so we thought we had got a bargain at £252,000 - however, as every house sale is listed on the Land Registry website - I have discovered today that my next door neighbour with an identical house only paid £240,000 - they purchased only 8 weeks before us - so besides feeling very sick on learning I effectively paid over the odds - is there anything I can do?
I also can see that other properties listed at £262,000 which seemed at the time completely out of our price range in fact also only sold for £250,000 - are my negotiation skills just rubbish or what?
Our own house purchase price is not listed yet as it takes time for it to come online - but it will be there soon for everyone to see what we paid and I will then feel even more sick - do you think I have any rights to go back to the builder or do I chalk it up to "live and learn"?

No
improve your negotiation skills for the future

stormace

Thanks all - thought so - I just have to live with it - I love the house, and hope to stay here for many years - so hopefully it will all work out. The builder is currently advertising them at £265,000 now for phase two of the site, so I'm sort of in profit somewhere along the line