New Build Extras

dannyrst

Hi all,

Just been to discuss a new build property and really liked the show home. Been offered a £500 first refusal which is fully refundable if we decide to back out. We will be taking this offer up on Monday, however, we have just been looking at the extras and by fitting the house out with basics (cheapest carpet, tiles in the bathroom, etc) we have managed to get a total extras price of £7,100.

This seems ridiculous for the things we've added, like carpet and grass at the rear.

Do we have to pay for carpets from the builder of the home? I'm sure we can get a better deal from somewhere else but assume we won't be allowed to do this? Also wondered how this affects the value of the property. Is the developer saying the house is worth X thousand pounds without carperts or grass but is worth X+7100 pounds with the "extras"? If so, how does this affect the mortgage valuation etc?

Is it normal to ask for discounts on this kind of thing from the developer?

Thanks.

swishy87

Hi,

We are also in the process of buying a new build - although too late to add the extras on!

In terms of carpets, no you don't have to have their's. We are sourcing our own flooring and we're allowed in a week before completion to have these fitted. So we will be fitting the gripper rods and underlay ourselves, then having the carpet fitted by a local independent shop.

We can't change the tiles that are being put it so we will probably do that ourselves at some point when we're in.

I'm not 100% sure, but if you are paying for the extras, I don't think that counts. But incentives (e.g. free flooring, stamp duty paid, cashback, legal fees, etc.) have to be declared to the mortgage company. SOme will accept up to 5%, some will knock the incentives off the value of the house (so if £350k and you were offered £5k incentives, they would put the house at £345k) this will then effect the LTV. As I understand it, but someone may come along and help better.

sniggings

extras are just that, you take them or leave them.

And yes, you haggle on the extras, they may not move on the house price, as they don't want other buyers seeing you got a deal, but will deal on the extras etc the stuff that other buyers don't see.

Don't do a deal until you haggle, no point handing over your £500 then taking about extras as they then know you really want the house, and are not too bothered about getting a deal.

[Deleted User]

And get any deal in writing.., I am the eternal sceptic lol.

swishy87

We unfortunately couldn't get a thing out of our builders as it is a new site and selling well. But they did however have our house on the system as a showtime accidentally so we have an upgraded show home kitchen at no extra cost.

dannyrst

swishy87 wrote: »

Hi,

We are also in the process of buying a new build - although too late to add the extras on!

In terms of carpets, no you don't have to have their's. We are sourcing our own flooring and we're allowed in a week before completion to have these fitted. So we will be fitting the gripper rods and underlay ourselves, then having the carpet fitted by a local independent shop.

We can't change the tiles that are being put it so we will probably do that ourselves at some point when we're in.

I'm not 100% sure, but if you are paying for the extras, I don't think that counts. But incentives (e.g. free flooring, stamp duty paid, cashback, legal fees, etc.) have to be declared to the mortgage company. SOme will accept up to 5%, some will knock the incentives off the value of the house (so if £350k and you were offered £5k incentives, they would put the house at £345k) this will then effect the LTV. As I understand it, but someone may come along and help better.

Thanks for this, Carpet for the whole house minus kitchen and bathrooms is over £2,000. I did a very rough over estimate from a big company including underlay which came in at around £1,000.

sniggings wrote: »

extras are just that, you take them or leave them.

And yes, you haggle on the extras, they may not move on the house price, as they don't want other buyers seeing you got a deal, but will deal on the extras etc the stuff that other buyers don't see.

Don't do a deal until you haggle, no point handing over your £500 then taking about extras as they then know you really want the house, and are not too bothered about getting a deal.

This is the only one of this kind coming up for sale in the next couple of weeks. Not sure when the others will come up but I'm more than happy to reserve it and see what happens. If they don't budge on the price of extras I'll take my money back and go elsewhere.

I guess I could go back into the office, mention that the extras pricing is rather high and pricing us out of being able to buy (which is true, I don't have an extra £7,000 lying around!). If they want to sell the house to me, they will lower the price and I can put down the £500 deposit on those terms.

deannatrois wrote: »

And get any deal in writing.., I am the eternal sceptic lol.

I am in your boat on that. Never trust anybody I don't know. :beer:

swishy87

Regarding the writing bit, I've got to email the sales office today to confirm we get a washing machine, just because I want it in writing haha.

arbrighton

I used to be a sales admin for a housebuilder. Often turf was thrown in as an incentive and or carpets.

But, it's unclear from your post whether it is the showhome you're looking to reserve (in which case, has it not got everything already!?!?!) or another plot of the same housetype?

Also, before you hand over any reservation fee, check it really is refundable....

Slinky

Surely the showhome has all this stuff in it already, are they trying to charge you extra for stuff that's already there and been tramped on by Joe Public?

swishy87

I think there's just a bit of confusion. I'm the one that mentioned show home, not the OP. Ours was a glitch in the system that it said ours was a showhome before it was even built. They didn't realise until I queried why it had a roof on and not for sale. By this time the show home kitchen was ordered. It is now off the system as a show home and just a general plot.

dannyrst

No sorry. We looked around the showhome, but we are looking at a home that will be built by March next year.

I'm new to all of this, and I've got a meeting with a friend who is a mortgage advisor tomorrow, but would be ideal to understand exactly how this works. My understand is I pay £500 (which I'll double check is 100% refundable, but that's what the sales woman said) and then I arrange my mortgage and get it approved etc within 6-8 weeks. The property is then mine and if I pull out, I lose my mortgage deposit (5%). I then wait until March 2017 before moving in and paying the mortgage (I assume this is when the time starts on the 20% loan from the government?).

Not sure at what point I'm expected to pay for the carpets or other extras? Is that an upfront thing or is it at the point of furnishing?