Taylor Wimpey - the journey

Newhomebuyers

Hi everyone,

Me and my other (better half) have just placed our "early bird" deposit on a local new build Taylor wimpey site (doulton brook) We are both first time buyers and would like as much information / advice /help as possible with regards to well.....everything really?? Including extra's / incentives / the general process / how negotiable is the price?

Thank you in advance!!!

dan7hughes

We're also looking at a TW plot so I'd be interested to hear any up to date stories on negotiation.

However I think it varies by each development and how much demand there is. Not wanting to put a dampener on things but placing your early bird deposit will probably harm your chances of negotiating now, but if you want to secure the house and don't mind paying full whack is the right move. You are in a strong position as first time buyers, so you could still get something.

We aren't in as good a position. We tried part ex with TW, but their 'average of 3 estate agents valuations' was in fact the lowest of the 3 fast sell valuations less a further 5%. Had a brief discussion of if we sell ours they could do something on price, but no real numbers.
I hope we get a reasonable price for ours, and TW don't sell anything on that site before then - if thats the case we'll hopefully get a price that works. If they shift the houses at full whack in the meantime then so be it

justcat

We have recently reserved a TW home.

We were able to negotiate the price by a little. We did that on the day that we filled in the reservation paperwork.
We have since met with the site manager and chosen our interior options.

We asked if we could get anything off for the extras but they said no because we got money off the house.
As above, I think it depends on how well they are selling. They don't care if you don't like that they won't give you anything for free if they have got people lined up waiting for your plot.

Newhomebuyers

Firstly, thank you both for replying to my initial post, I'm new to this "forum" malarkey so I do appreciate you taking the time to respond....

Well we went to the sales office To place our early bird deposit down. However, they have informed us that you don't have to put £100 down,all you do is fill a form out (as of the 15th feb) and that effectively gives you first refusal on that particular plot. So I am hoping that although at this early stage we still have the levy to negotiate hard with them whether that's with extra's and/or price once the plot is released!!

As you have said I think it depends on several things being where the site is located, sales staff, at what stage of the development and also as you said the financial position!!

In regards to the interior extra's did you find that they "threw" extras in or was it merely this is the price and that's it....

Sorry for all the questions by the way!!! Just first time buyers and all the horror stories you hear with TW!, however, I'm sure that 90% of people are more than happy with their new house

Thanks again

Vampgirl

Newhomebuyers wrote: »

So I am hoping that although at this early stage we still have the levy to negotiate hard with them whether that's with extra's and/or price once the plot is released!!

As you have said I think it depends on several things being where the site is located, sales staff, at what stage of the development and also as you said the financial position!!

Your negotiation power really depends on your local market and how quickly the development is selling. So you need to look at selling prices of comparable sized homes nearby to judge if TW's asking price is realistic. If they are having problems shifting the houses then they'll be more open to an offer, but if they're selling fast then you'll struggle to get any discount.

We had to pay full asking price - no negotiation at all. But we're in a popular area and looking at actual sold prices Vs TW's asking prices it seems only the very first phase managed to negotiate them down a bit. Virtually everyone within the past couple of years has paid asking price.

Newhomebuyers wrote: »

In regards to the interior extra's did you find that they "threw" extras in or was it merely this is the price and that's it....

For us it was a case of this is the price - take it or leave it, we didn't get any included. Again, probably because they didn't need to - they knew they would sell the house without needing to include any sweeteners.

So we costed out how much it would cost to do it/get it done ourselves and how much TW were charging - some things were good value, others less so. In the end, we paid TW for things that would have been difficult/messy to later (changing radiators, adding extra sockets, extra tiling)
But we sorted our own carpets, appliances, garden landscaping.

Newhomebuyers wrote: »

Sorry for all the questions by the way!!! Just first time buyers and all the horror stories you hear with TW!, however, I'm sure that 90% of people are more than happy with their new house

We are very very happy in our new TW home. We've had some snags (which are gradually getting sorted), but not as many or as serious as we had been expecting from reading internet stories. It does get annoying at times chasing for updates and having contractors keep coming around (luckily I work from home - no idea how people who are both out all day manage it). But despite all that, we still LOVE our house and think it was absolutely worth it.

lazysundays

My husband and I are also about to reserve a new build (hopefully) and while I know we won't get anything off the sale price, I'm hoping that we can negotiate a few extras in the house... We'll see!

ethank

The whole market has changed. When I bought from TW in August 2013 - they had houses built but not sold. Now there are 4-5 buyers for every house, and they are 30% more expensive than I paid. It's a sellers market!

Don't let it stop asking for a deal, just don't throw the strop and say take it or leave it....... as they will leave it! Think you can get a lot of incentives thrown in or stamp duty, but not a lot on price reduction - you are paying now for all of the money they lost during the recession!

My sister has just reserved on a different TW site. We called on the Friday and they said there was no availability. Left my details and said we know that sometimes properties will fall through, and to call us if anyone pulls out. On the Sunday morning - a guy called and said he was pulling out as he thought it was too expensive. By 1pm, we had seen the show home, my sister has fallen in love with the development, and just as he was walking in to say everything is back on again. TW told him they had just sold his house. The next house available is being marketed at 10k more!

dan7hughes

ethank wrote: »

The whole market has changed. When I bought from TW in August 2013 - they had houses built but not sold. Now there are 4-5 buyers for every house, and they are 30% more expensive than I paid. It's a sellers market!

Don't let it stop asking for a deal, just don't throw the strop and say take it or leave it....... as they will leave it! Think you can get a lot of incentives thrown in or stamp duty, but not a lot on price reduction - you are paying now for all of the money they lost during the recession!

My sister has just reserved on a different TW site. We called on the Friday and they said there was no availability. Left my details and said we know that sometimes properties will fall through, and to call us if anyone pulls out. On the Sunday morning - a guy called and said he was pulling out as he thought it was too expensive. By 1pm, we had seen the show home, my sister has fallen in love with the development, and just as he was walking in to say everything is back on again. TW told him they had just sold his house. The next house available is being marketed at 10k more!

No doubt the market has changed as you can read from TW yr end statement regarding order books. But there also plenty of cautionary predictions for the first half of this year, and its still area/site dependent.... 4-5 buyers per houses sounds true for some areas but is an exergation as a general statement. There are still sites around with completed unsold houses with incentives on them, but how much you can push I have no idea (but could do with knowing!)

ethank

dan7hughes wrote: »

No doubt the market has changed as you can read from TW yr end statement regarding order books. But there also plenty of cautionary predictions for the first half of this year, and its still area/site dependent.... 4-5 buyers per houses sounds true for some areas but is an exergation as a general statement. There are still sites around with completed unsold houses with incentives on them, but how much you can push I have no idea (but could do with knowing!)

Both of the sites referred to are in the South East. I was being quite general in nature.