House Builder Sales Tactics

cascader

Hi

We are hopefully going to early bird" a new build plot with Redrow in the near future. We have a mortgage in principle and do not have to sell our current property to buy the new home.

My question is any advice on what sales tactics they are going to use?
We are in a strong position with no chain and although we cannot negotiate now as "early bird" simply implies we have first refusal once building actually starts.

Initially they said the plot would be ready for completion in August however they are now saying November which seems strange as the plots opposite are already being built.

Any advice welcome

Thanks

PasturesNew

cascader wrote: »

... ready for completion in August however they are now saying November which seems strange as the plots opposite are already being built.

Most seem to have a year end at the end of December. I'd not be surprised if the moving in date turned out to be the last working day in December as they hurriedly finish up and complete in order to make their end of year figures look good.

So I'd forget August .... and November .... and think "last working week of December"

eddddy

cascader wrote: »

My question is any advice on what sales tactics they are going to use?

I guess it's fairly simple - you will be dealing with a salesperson and they will try to get you to pay as much as possible.

They will have a floor price, which they are not allowed to drop below (possibly plus a 'freebie' limit). But the floor price might be the full asking price. They probably get more sales commission for achieving a higher price.

The salesperson will be thinking about their quarterly and annual targets.

Some may be panicking about losing their jobs because they are below target - others may be imagining a shiny new car and holiday in Florida, because they are over target.

So have fun negotiating!

Tygermoth

Or you may find, as in our case, we turned up and the place was heaving we had to park down the lane (at 1700 on a Sunday!)


They had drop ins and casual enquiry punters lined up outside the door waiting to make an appointment.


At that point we realised we were not going to get offers or reductions even as a early bird off plan buyer.


We were not wrong, in fact we had a fight on our hands just to get our plot. We had first refusal and another sales lady had jumped the gun and already agreed a reservation of the same plot with another couple.


The two ladies nearly had fisticuffs in the middle of the sales suite.


We got our plot and death glares from the couple in question (hopefully they wont be a direct neighbour!)

kingstreet

The site we look after in Milton Keynes has had people sleeping in their cars from Thursday to Saturday in advance of the last two releases.

There is no chance of money off there.

Elsewhere, the maturity of the site, proximity to quarter/half/year end can be important as mentioned earlier.

You will often find it easier to get incentives rather than discounts/price reductions as the latter affect future sales where surveyors use past sales as comparables for new valuations. Ensure your lender accepts such incentives, if they are preferable to having them deducted from the valuation.

baxt3r

We have a couple of Redrow sites by us and have reserved with them and hoping to exchange soon.


It was quite clear that they wouldn't negotiate on price as they don't struggle to sell them at the prices advertised so we focused on making sure we got everything we needed inside such as full flooring throughout, dishwasher etc.


We've looked at pretty much every builder over the last 18 months and the only time I've seen decent discounts on the cost of a property is when they want to shift it as the house is already completed, usually because a sale has fallen through.


As already said though, sometimes at the end of a financial year you may find some discounts on offer but really this will come down to how popular the estate is.

cascader

Thanks for your comments. Yes they have started the pressure tactics already when they said they would only hold the reservation for one day and if we did'nt contact them then they would move onto somebody else.

I am going to tell them that if they can't bring the completion date forward I am going to walk away as I am not in a chain.

baxt3r

They are unlikely to change the completion date as this is dependent on when its built and this will be down to a number of things. They will release it for sale a few months before, you get approx. 4-6 weeks to exchange and then when it's finished you get 2 weeks notice to complete.


For us, we're due to exchange the end of this month, completion is expected May/June.

mrginge

cascader wrote: »

I am going to tell them that if they can't bring the completion date forward I am going to walk away as I am not in a chain.

Good luck with that one.

csgohan4

cascader wrote: »

Thanks for your comments. Yes they have started the pressure tactics already when they said they would only hold the reservation for one day and if we did'nt contact them then they would move onto somebody else.

I am going to tell them that if they can't bring the completion date forward I am going to walk away as I am not in a chain.

If it is demand you will lose