Taylor Wimpey Exchange of Contracts and Options Meeting

Mummy_K

Hi everyone,

We are in the process of buying a new Taylor Wimpey home which is due to be completed December 2015, originally it was due for completion January / February 2016 and so we were waiting for the process of contracts and full mortgage application once we were within the 6 month window, last week we were advised that the house has come forward and will be due to be completed in December and so we now need to start the ball rolling with solicitor and mortgage etc. Now there seems to be a huge rush (which is very annoying) to get it all done in the 5 week window Taylor Wimpey have stipulated which is fine as we are using their recommended solicitor so contract is drawn up and mortgage application has been sent and we are just awaiting decision on mortgage. However where the problem lies is that they want us to choose our options in the next couple of weeks as sales lady is going on holiday, potentially we may not have exchanged contracts yet and so would have to pay 50% upfront rather than the full amount on completion! our upgrades come in at around £14,000 so as you can imagine we don't want to choose options before exchanging.

Can anyone give me a bit if advice in when these options need choosing and if they have had any similar experiences and do I just put my foot down and say 'no I'm waiting another 2 weeks to choose them once I have exchanged'?

Please nobody comment about 'wait until you have moved in and do upgrades yourself as it will be cheaper yada yada yada' I honestly know we are paying a premium (although on a lot of items we have found them to be cheaper), we want the ease of moving into a finished house and just sending painters in and that's why we are going for a new build.

Thanks

clint_S

I've always been told that options can only be selected before the roof went on, and as such have selected my options shortly after reserving and way before exchange, the solicitor also required a list of options selected as well before we could exchange. I've only been charged 10% up front and the rest on completion.

libf

Just paid the 25% deposit in my options with Barratt last week. Mortgage valuation is tomorrow so still a way off exchanging.

Mummy_K

Thanks for your responses.

Clint_S, was that with Taylor Wimpey?

We have been advised it's 50% if not exchanged and if we have then nothing until completion. We are just worried about handing over £7,000 and the sale falling through and we loose that money.

Thanks again

charlamine

We are buying with bellways, all options had to be ordered prior to the roof being complete. This was before exchange for us. If it falls through now we lose the money! Fingers crossed that doesn't happen!!

dgtazzman

Or just don't get any options through TW and get your own trade in, that 14k will probably come down to around 7k and it might take some of the pressure off for you. Yes, that does mean it might take 1 or 2 weeks longer before your house is ready to move in, but if you have this time, it will save you a decent amount of money...

I was going to buy a Persimmon house, they wanted 2k for some extra tiling in the bathroom, ensuite and wetroom. This was standard pricing, 500 for wc, 750 for the other 2, each. The builder I am now buying through sends their customers to local trade and then work together with said tradespeople to get things installed before completion, I am now getting flooring throughout (60% mid range laminate, 40% high price carpet) and some extra tiling to the bathrooms (again, 3 of them) for 2,5k in a house that is slightly bigger than the Persimmon I was first going to buy and it will all be in on completion.

The big builders charge big bucks for upgrades, it's a nice cash cow for them...

ethank

As you have not exchanged yet, they want a sign of commitment from you probably. They know if you pay the 50% - you are tying yourself in to the property.

You have not paid anything but a reserve fee right now.

Both me and my sister have TW houses. My sister did her options in April for a house due in October and she is paying everything on completion - and she did not exchange until May.

The Sales Advisor has it within their discretion to agree for you to pay on completion. I would say to them, you brought the house forward, I'm only happy to pay on completion.

They may give you an ultimatium though - particularly if it is a really busy site. On our development there is 5 buyers for every house at the moment. They have the upper hand.

MrsLF2014

We are moving into a Taylor Wimpey new build next week. We don't have to pay for our optional extras until completion. We reserved in March, exchanged contracts in May and we chose our kitchen and bathroom upgrades in April after being shown round some nearly completed houses. The rest of the upgrades etc we chose on the day we exchanged, it wasn't planned like that it just so happened that was the day we were free.

I agree we will have paid a premium for a few things but like yourself we wanted to have the tiled floors down etc before we move in. Carpet wise though we have organised these ourselves and they are allowing the carpet fitters to come in before we complete next week so they are all ready.

justcat

My husband and I have been in our Taylor Wimpey home since the end of June.

When we reserved our house, it was still at foundation level so we actually exchanged well before doing the options - as mentioned above, we had to do it before the roof was on. We paid for the options at the end of the meeting.

I'd love to know what upgrades you're getting for £14000! Ours were only about £1500 although we did do a lot of stuff ourselves.

I know you don't want to know about that stuff but I thought that it would be interesting to let you know what we did.

Basically, we made a list of everything we wanted and then I searched for them all on the internet to weigh up whether it would be better to pay for them to do it or for us to do it ourselves (including the cost of labour).

For example, the flooring was about £3000 cheaper if we bought the tiles and paid for a tiler ourselves. The upheaval was definitely worth it for 3K!
The towel radiators were a minimum of £400 but we could buy the same one for £150 and my dad could swap it over for free in less than 30 minutes.
On the other hand, we splashed out on a fancy tap for the kitchen which was £175. I found the same one online for £150 but for £25 I wanted to save myself the hassle of installing it.

It's up to you, but I thought I'd give you an idea of what we did!

Good luck!

Sarahj1590

I've just completed on a TW house.

We only reserved it 3 months prior to completion (as someone else backed out) and only picked and paid 50% for our options a month later... so them asking you to do it now is probably as ethank has said - they just want a commitment.

Just wait another 2 weeks... if needs be just blag it and make out you aren't available for your options meeting until *date after you've exchanged*

And we actually have found the same as you... their extras aren't actually that much more expensive than if you were to find them yourself. We went to Carpet Right and found them to be £200 cheaper so really wasn't worth the extra hassle and we got all our flooring through TW. We also went to Currys to look for intergreated appliances and they were actually more expensive.

And if there's any problems with them the sales office/builders are right there so you can report directly to them. We haven't had any problems though. The only thing I'm annoyed about is we weren't offered turf and assumed it would be overpriced anyway but turns out it is half the cost of anywhere else we've been quoted as our neighbour told us! Still trying to get it through TW as they get trade prices.

Lu_Lu

We are buying with Redrow but only paying extra for the kitchen & dining floor as we won't have the spare cash for the rest of it until after completion. Also, they wanted silly money for carpets and flooring and I can get it much cheaper elsewhere.

Also, I found out you have to pay stamp duty on fixtures so we can paying an extra 5% of the cost of the kitchen flooring on top of stamp duty on the house itself.