I've been conned - need advice

dunstonh

Remember that most builders overprice the house knowing they are going to be knocked down in price or that you will want some furnishings. So, did you negotiate anything off the publish price or get any sweeteners?

-taff

You sat on the contract for 2 months and only signed it when you were told you might lose the house.
You have nothing to complain about except taking too much time over the former and not enough over the latter.
There's no guarantee that the builder will have sold you the one that's reduced in price, someone else might have already bought it.

BobQ

I can see why you are disappointed by telling people that they conned you is unfounded and will be counter-productive. You need to accept that the mistake was yours. You took 2 months to make a decision.

Had the builder taken 2 months to exchange I dare say you would have suspected he was delaying to get a better price!

Scorpzor

silvercar wrote: »

Yes and yes. Why are they valuing again? Is the property still not finished? Exchanging on a property with a mortgage subject to further valuation is a risk.

The first valuation was when the house was just foundations and the house still isn't finished.

dunstonh wrote: »

Remember that most builders overprice the house knowing they are going to be knocked down in price or that you will want some furnishings. So, did you negotiate anything off the publish price or get any sweeteners?

When I put the deposit down they offered me a few extras without me asking, then when I asked for a few other things they said no. I paid for extra plug sockets and stuff like that but there were quite a few things that I wanted that I had seen at other houses by the same developer elsewhere and they actually said sorry but we aren't offering it on this development so I couldn't have it oddly enough.

-taff wrote: »

You sat on the contract for 2 months and only signed it when you were told you might lose the house.
You have nothing to complain about except taking too much time over the former and not enough over the latter.
There's no guarantee that the builder will have sold you the one that's reduced in price, someone else might have already bought it.

The former and latter what? The other houses haven't sold. There's no dot on the plots and they've just updated the website with all the new prices.

Thrugelmir

Scorpzor wrote: »

The former and latter what? The other houses haven't sold. There's no dot on the plots and they've just updated the website with all the new prices.

You bought off-plan. Your choice. A property is only worth what some one is willing to pay for it.

What's the purchase price of the property?

dunstonh

When I put the deposit down they offered me a few extras without me asking, then when I asked for a few other things they said no. I paid for extra plug sockets and stuff like that but there were quite a few things that I wanted that I had seen at other houses by the same developer elsewhere and they actually said sorry but we aren't offering it on this development so I couldn't have it oddly enough.

That is a risk of buying off plan. If the builder has high demand you get your sale and the property you want. If the demand is not good then the builder will start to drop prices. No con. Just a fact of life.

Scorpzor

BobQ wrote: »

I can see why you are disappointed by telling people that they conned you is unfounded and will be counter-productive. You need to accept that the mistake was yours. You took 2 months to make a decision.

Had the builder taken 2 months to exchange I dare say you would have suspected he was delaying to get a better price!

I don't see why you are concerned about me saying I've been conned. I haven't said any names, neither have I accused anyone in person. Let me rephrase it then to I 'feel' like I've been conned, which I think is understandable.

I put the deposit down 2 months ago. After that I had to get my mortgage offer which took about 5 weeks as they kept coming back to me with questions. Then when I received that I got the contracts, so I've had the contracts for less than a month. But I don't really see what the time has got to do with it. Its not like there was someone at head office spending all day sat worrying and losing sleep over customer number 4,192,654 not immediately returned his contracts.

Also why would I care about the builder delaying the contracts? No-one is going to walk on to a new development and say hey, I see that one of the houses has sold already, so instead of buying one of the other 8 which are essentially exactly the same I want to offer more on the house that's already sold. I would have liked to sign on the last day if it was possible. The house isn't even watertight yet, so its not like I've left it for a ridiculous amount of time.

This is my first house and I have only just managed to get together the deposit by a miracle. Another year or two and I don't think they would have given me a mortgage. Obviously I have had the same worries as everyone else would go through about negative equity and buying at the right time and everything else that people worry about when buying their first home. This morning I was excited that I have finally done it. But then to find out hours later that they reduced the prices of all the neighbouring houses by £10k and therefore the value of my house has also dropped by £10k before its even had the windows put in it has soured what should be one of the most momentous and exciting occasions in to my life. I'm in negative equity 9 hours after the contracts have exchanged. In fact they wont even have received the contracts yet because they will still be in the post.

davidmcn

Scorpzor wrote: »

Well I guess the next question then is going to be if (when they go to do the final valuation) they value at at less than it was originally

The second visit is an inspection to make sure the house is finished - I've never encountered a surveyor changing their mind about the valuation just because the builders have changed their prices (which they do all the time). So I wouldn't worry too much.

Landofwood

Scorpzor wrote: »

I don't see why you are concerned about me saying I've been conned. I haven't said any names, neither have I accused anyone in person. Let me rephrase it then to I 'feel' like I've been conned, which I think is understandable.

I put the deposit down 2 months ago. After that I had to get my mortgage offer which took about 5 weeks as they kept coming back to me with questions. Then when I received that I got the contracts, so I've had the contracts for less than a month. But I don't really see what the time has got to do with it. Its not like there was someone at head office spending all day sat worrying and losing sleep over customer number 4,192,654 not immediately returned his contracts.

Also why would I care about the builder delaying the contracts? No-one is going to walk on to a new development and say hey, I see that one of the houses has sold already, so instead of buying one of the other 8 which are essentially exactly the same I want to offer more on the house that's already sold. I would have liked to sign on the last day if it was possible. The house isn't even watertight yet, so its not like I've left it for a ridiculous amount of time.

This is my first house and I have only just managed to get together the deposit by a miracle. Another year or two and I don't think they would have given me a mortgage. Obviously I have had the same worries as everyone else would go through about negative equity and buying at the right time and everything else that people worry about when buying their first home. This morning I was excited that I have finally done it. But then to find out hours later that they reduced the prices of all the neighbouring houses by £10k and therefore the value of my house has also dropped by £10k before its even had the windows put in it has soured what should be one of the most momentous and exciting occasions in to my life. I'm in negative equity 9 hours after the contracts have exchanged. In fact they wont even have received the contracts yet because they will still be in the post.

Are you sure you're in negative equity? If you paid 200k and you put down a 10% deposit, for example, you would owe the bank 180k but the property would be "worth" (according to your complaint) 190k. Therefore you would still have 10k equity in the house. You would be in negative equity if the value of the house drops below what you owe the bank. The property would have to be very cheap if that's the case today.

There's nothing you can do about it, you signed a contract. It sucks, and I think they were a bit cheeky encouraging you to exchange just before they dropped the prices, but that's business.

All the best with your new home.

Landofwood

Also, it may well be the case that you exchanging contracts was the catalyst for the price reduction. It may well have always been the plan that once a certain number of properties had sold for x price, they will drop the price on the rest to accelerate the sales, knowing they will achieve their revenue targets. Try not to take it personally.

There are 2 identical new builds on a road near me that sold last year. Identical in every way. The first sold for 425k the second for 400k. Imagine how smug the second buyer feels when they pass in the street!