Waiting to reserve new buld

Andrucy

Hello

We are interested in buying a new build property and have found the development we like and the house we like. However, the houses are being released in stages (1 or 2 every few weeks, depending on when head office have priced them up and are ready to release).

We have got our mortgage agreed, and have solicitors lined up, and the developers know this and that we are ready to go.

However, they have been very cagey from the offset about whether we will be the first people they contact once the house we like is finally released (there are limited numbers of each type of property), and have simply said that there is huge demand, and that once the houses are released, they will call people at random to let them know.

We check in every week to see what the progress is, and are being told to 'hang in there' for months on end.

Has anybody else had a similar experience? Is it normal to never tell people where they are on the waiting lists, or should they be honest and say 'you're first' or 'your're second', whatever the case may be? We have been waiting for months, and hanging all our hopes on this one house, and I've no idea if they will even 'pick us'.

Any advice?

Thanks!

shopaholicz

That seems a funny way of doing business.

My son has recently reserved a new build. It hasn't even been released by the builder yet, but they let him reserve it and called it an "Early bird" deal. I went with him to pay the reservation fee and his wasn't the first EB deal they had on their wall plan. I presumed this was normal practice.

whatdoyouthink...

Had a similar experience when buying a new build, seen one we liked on the development but it hadn't been released for sale, we were checking the website daily and when it did eventually become available we booked an appointment with the sales office but were told they couldn't remove it from sale and it was basically first come first serve. When we got to our appointment there was a couple talking with the sales guy so we waited for them to leave and went in...they had just reserved the house we wanted - you couldn't have written it!!

There were more of this particular house awaiting release so we just kept checking the website everyday and going to the office every couple of weeks. We were never given an exact date of when the houses were to become available for sale. We spoke with a few sales people, one saying it was first come first serve, another saying they'd put our name at the top of the list...we were never put to the top of the list because when the house did become available we didn't get a call, we were just lucky we kept checking daily, so that's what I'd recommend you do.

Andrucy

That sounds awful! I'm glad you finally got the house you wanted. I check my emails and the website about 5 times a day, and call them once a week, but they are so ambiguous about who they will call once it is released. I'm worried the same thing will happen and someone will slip in at the last minute and grab it.

Sometimes I wonder whether to call it a day and go for an older house that doesn't have the same stress. Apart from anything, our mortgage agreement only lasts 3 months and we will have to get cracking if we want to buy something!