Haggling on New Build with Taylor Wimpey

kittywife

Hi all, I'm sure this topic has already been covered, but as the housing market has changed since last year I'm keen to get some advice.

We are looking at part-ex our current house to buy a new build 4 bed detached. The house builder is Taylor Wimpey and it's in north west England. We've got a substantial deposit (85k). Their list price is £231,995 but a little digging has shown that the last two same properties on the estate sold for £221,995 in November 2013 and April 2014.

What could I realistically haggle for, discount and/or extras? It's a popular estate, but this plot has been on the market for 3 months. Also, does anyone have first hand experience haggling with TW?

KW

Kirstyb1987

Definitely....I would put in a matching offer of 221,995 and see how you get on! They can only say no!

northerneng

I am part ex-ing with Persimmon and they have not negotiated on house price. They have claimed to offer me a much better part exchange price for my house than the valuers gave it, and have said that that is my incentive.

kittywife

Northeneng - is that in NW England?

Nobbie1967

It's like buying a new car with a PX, what matters is the cost to change, whether this is a reduction on the new house or a good price on the old taking into account the cost of selling it yourself. You'd be a fool to just accept there PX offer and pay list price without a good haggle on one or both elements.

kittywife

Can you recommend any strategies god haggling? Does it help to have a list of desirables written down and to prioritise them (price, stamp duty, fittings etc)? I'm comfortable with haggling, but my husband is not - he always feels as though haggling is a battle which he'd rather not deal with.

dimbo61

The builder will not want to reduce the price because every other buyer will want the same or less price so what you could ask for is better kitchen/bathroom or carpets, curtains, extra light fittings, garden fence/turf or help with Stamp duty ( but this is cash and may cause problems with Lenders!!)
So when you buy a new house Does it come with Carpets or Curtains? Is the garden fully fenced and garden laid with a lawn?
Kitchen Cheap or Expensive, built in Fridge freezer, washing machine, oven/microwave !
Lots of ways to get extras without the builder discounting the price or causing problems with Lender

harrys_dad

Concentrate on getting the best price you can for your house and minimising the gap between the two prices. Have an idea what you think this should be before starting haggling. This is actual cash. Everything else, lawns, better kitchen etc is overpriced if the builder is doing it, so the builder offering "free lawn" will say that is worth £2000 when you could get it done for £500 yourself. Go for the cash every time.

Sweet_Sugar_1984

Hi

I part-exchanged for a new bulid property with Orion homes two years ago. The property I wanted was on the market for £150k and they told me that as I was part-exchanging they would not reduce the price for me.

They offered me £87k for my old house, but I turned it down as I did not want to get a massive mortgage out. At the time I could only afford to take out another £45k on my mortgage. To my surprise they rang me a few hours later to say that they could not reduce the price of their property but they could offer me £102k for my property, which meant I would only be a tiny bit over my budget!

Needless to say I accepted their offer- I was happy and so were they as even in the land registry the sold price for the property went down as £150k- which meant that their future sales were not affected.

My huby's not much of a haggler either, but my advice is you have nothing to lose by doing so. Even if you love the property, let them know that you are prepared to walk away if the deal's not right. Do not accept their first offer for your old home and take your time when making decisions. If they are desperate to sell they will come up with a package to suit you both. I even managed to get carpets included in my deal.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Fatenbread

kittywife wrote: »

Can you recommend any strategies god haggling? Does it help to have a list of desirables written down and to prioritise them (price, stamp duty, fittings etc)? I'm comfortable with haggling, but my husband is not - he always feels as though haggling is a battle which he'd rather not deal with.

1) Don't take your husband with you - it's impossible to negotiate effectively if you have someone taking the other parties side in an effort to be "reasonable" and end the discomfort of negotiating.

2) See what you can offer them - as others have pointed out, they want their sale prices in the Land Registry to not be way below list, so offering to pay asking price, but demanding an even greater increase in your part ex price in return is fair game.

3) Again, as others have noted, there's loads of home improvement incentives that they could offer - take a list of what you would actually want, and don't be fobbed off with offers to add "improvements" that you are indifferent about.

4) Be ready to walk away if they don't offer you a solution you are happy with.

Oh and one more - meet any offers on their side with an uncomfortably long silence. Half the people I negotiate contracts with offer more just to end the silence!

kittywife

Thanks all for the advice. I did a bit of door knock at the occupied houses on the development. They said to go for the extras.

I'm still going to push on the price as well. Just got to remember to be nonchalant!