Buying New Build Property in Wokingham

NJStubbs

I am currently looking to buy my first house.

Have found a couple of new developments in the Wokingham area which would appear to have properties that fit the bill (Montague Park, Mulberry Grove). I'm leaning towards new builds as I'll qualify for a Help to Buy equity loan.

I originally decided to go after a 3-Bed End of Terrace Property at the Mulberry Grove (Crest Nicholson) Development in North Wokingham. This property comes with white goods, tiling in wet areas, garden w/rear access gate and a garage which is located across the road from the property. No carpets or turf, which is pretty standard as I understand.


The list price stated by the developer is £389,950.00. They've offered £1000 off legal fees if I choose to go with one of their nomincated solicitors. I do think this may be a bit of a red herring however and have some concerns about conflicts of interest.

The issue I am struggling to get my head round is the developer has stated they do not negotiate on price. At all. They also don't offer any incentives. I've asked for them to consider helping out with stamp duty, throwing in the carpetting or turfing or even just boarding up the top of the garage for storage purposes, no joy on any of that.

I work in supply chain management / purchasing and therefore it goes against every fibre of me not to negotiate, especially when I consider this will be the most expensive purchase I've ever made.

Does anyone else have any experience of this? Is it just Crest Nicholson who don't negotiate or should I expect this from all developer in/around the Wokingham area?

I also have concerns that paying nigh on £390,000 for a new, end of terrace, 3 bed property is setting me up for a shock in the future for when eventually try and sell it. It would seem to me that the likelihood would be I'd probably lose money on it. Albeit, I understand I am very new to all this and have little experience. If anyone could offer their thoughts / guidance / advice it would be greatly appreciated.

jjlandlord

NJStubbs wrote: »

They've offered £1000 off legal fees if I choose to go with one of their nomincated solicitors.

This just shows you how overpriced their solicitor is...

NJStubbs wrote: »

I've asked for them to consider helping out with stamp duty, throwing in the carpetting or turfing or even just boarding up the top of the garage for storage purposes, no joy on any of that.

Well you have tried to negotiate, but so far they have refused to budge. That's their right.

If you have done your homework then you know roughly the going price in the areas you are interested in.
Based on that it's up to you to decide, really.

In any case, Wokingham must be pretty much a seller's market so I doubt you will be able to negotiate much anywhere.
350,000+ for a 3 bed is not a crazy price, though new builds are usually more expensive.

I've just seen a 4 bed semi-detached, not new build, going on the market at 460k in Caversham (Reading). Wokingham might be a bit cheaper (or not) but all good areas (check school catchment) will be hot.

PS:
On the North(-East) side of Wokingham check for noise from the A329M.

chris198232

My wife and I are buying Taylor Wimpey in Fleet, not too far from Wokingham and we know Wokingham well. Both areas are excellent and you're not a million miles away on price even though it sounds expensive!

Ask yourself, how good of a buyer are you? Chain, no chain, ready to go? You will get the carpets thrown in, don't even worry about the turfing they don't do this properly!

Fleet won't budge on price either and we get zero flooring apart from kitchen, no white goods or anything!

firebird082

Are you absolutely sure you want Wokingham? My partner and I both work nearby, but our search area went from Aldershot/Farnborough to Tilehurst to include the more affordable areas (we bought last summer). Wokingham is easily the most expensive town around in this area, and do you realise just how bad the traffic is there? Also, are you absolutely sure you want 3 beds? We had a look at a few properties that came up in Wokingham itself (we've both rented there previously) and then gave it up a a lost cause, as you get much better house for money is areas outside. For the price of your new build, you definitely have options. You need to be very persistent.

Mind you, if you want a new build, then I guess now is the time to do it, while they're building this mass of new houses. If you are specifically interested in new builds, then they're also planning some other developments down at the Crowthorne end as well...

nubbins

Hi Stubby,

This is my area and I absolutely love Wokingham, nice people, nice schools, low crime, nice restaurants, loads of work, easy access to M4, London, Reading, always rated top places to live in the UK, good schools and even polite teenagers, there is a reason why they won't budge on the price and thats because if you don't buy it there will be a queue behind you ready to eventually pay the ask. Personally I would go with Mulberry Grove as I think Montague looks like a Jennetts Park which is down the road and I think looks very crammed, I even went into the Mulberry show room recently to have a look at a property.
I have been very close to the Wokingham property market for the last 7 years in and around Wokingham and I can definately say that if you love a house just hurry up and get on with it because the demand here is very strong. Even during 2008 -2013 the prices did not really drop that much they just took a bit longer to sell.
If you eare xpecting to buy a new build in Wokingham to sell on in a year or so then you will probably take a small loss but if you are planning on 5 yearish then I would say you will be ok. For your info I bought a new build in Winnersh Nov 2006 for 250k, it took around 3 years to be valued over that price (mainly due to stamp duty threshold) but its now worth 375kish.

Good luck

Vampgirl

nubbins wrote: »

there is a reason why they won't budge on the price and thats because if you don't buy it there will be a queue behind you ready to eventually pay the ask.

This is exactly it - they know they can easily sell it for the asking price so they are in a much stronger negotiating position.

chris198232 wrote: »

My wife and I are buying Taylor Wimpey in Fleet, not too far from Wokingham and we know Wokingham well. Both areas are excellent and you're not a million miles away on price even though it sounds expensive!

Ask yourself, how good of a buyer are you? Chain, no chain, ready to go? You will get the carpets thrown in, don't even worry about the turfing they don't do this properly!

Fleet won't budge on price either and we get zero flooring apart from kitchen, no white goods or anything!

Sounds like you're buying on the same development we did - they wouldn't budge on price for us either. But when we reserved our house last January they had already met their sales target for the quarter and they had people queuing up for the 4 beds.

Gooner_1981

I'm current buying at TAylor Winpey in fleet and nothing is thrown in. They are also about to go past our long stop date they agreed before exchange. Most new builds do not come with a long stop date either - I had to push hard for this.

Having worked as an agent for over ten years not getting any incentives is typical in such a sellers market

Pete9501

What is going to happen to all those houses (married quarters) in Arborfield when the Army pulls out in September? Lots of houses on the market? huge new developments being built with more houses or an opportunity for buyers as local prices drop?