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Reserved New Build - Identical House Much Cheaper
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MrsKH92
Posts: 20 Forumite
Good evening,
We have reserved a new build house for £315k (was £320k but received £5k off for Military Discount). Further incentives we received was Stamp Duty of £747 paid on our behalf and legal fees of £1500 to be paid too. We are using HTB and FHTB. Everything seems to be ready but have not exchanged contracts yet so I believe we are free to cancel at any time - although would lose £200 valuation fee and £500 reservation fee I assume.
I ask this because I have seen an identical house 4 doors down advertised at £299,950. It was advertised 18th December and after speaking with the developer today, they informed me it was reserved on 29th December and that they are in the process of taking it off the websites now. It was listed cheaper because the buyers had to cancel right before completion at the last minute.
The sales woman i spoke to stated it was not in her remit to offer any discounts or negotiations but her manager will call me tomorrow to discuss although she felt there would be no room for negotiation. I suppose my question would be, is there much point trying to negotiate when the manager calls tomorrow? We are due to move in March/April so relatively soon. Rightly or wrongly, we do now feel we have been overcharged for our reserved property and are unsure how to proceed.
Thanks in advance!
We have reserved a new build house for £315k (was £320k but received £5k off for Military Discount). Further incentives we received was Stamp Duty of £747 paid on our behalf and legal fees of £1500 to be paid too. We are using HTB and FHTB. Everything seems to be ready but have not exchanged contracts yet so I believe we are free to cancel at any time - although would lose £200 valuation fee and £500 reservation fee I assume.
I ask this because I have seen an identical house 4 doors down advertised at £299,950. It was advertised 18th December and after speaking with the developer today, they informed me it was reserved on 29th December and that they are in the process of taking it off the websites now. It was listed cheaper because the buyers had to cancel right before completion at the last minute.
The sales woman i spoke to stated it was not in her remit to offer any discounts or negotiations but her manager will call me tomorrow to discuss although she felt there would be no room for negotiation. I suppose my question would be, is there much point trying to negotiate when the manager calls tomorrow? We are due to move in March/April so relatively soon. Rightly or wrongly, we do now feel we have been overcharged for our reserved property and are unsure how to proceed.
Thanks in advance!
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Comments
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Does not harm to negotiate - what can you lose?
But to negotiate from a position of strength, are you willing to cancel, and could you find another (cheaper/better) property?
If negotiating on price fails, try going for 'freebies' eg white goods, upgrade kitchen, carpets, whatever0 -
Is the house to the same spec as yours? Is it different in any way (leasehold vs freehold?) Was it the showhome?
There could be many reasons why it is different. You could pull out the deal and come back with a lower offer, but they may refuse and you may loose any deposit you paid.
Are you happy with the price you are paying for your selected house?May you find your sister soon Helli.
Sleep well.0 -
We are in Army Housing currently which is older but in a fine condition and is fairly cheap and niceish.
We feel that if they wont negotiate at all, we will probably drop out of the sale to be honest as we now feel it it overpriced. The only "disadvantage" the Sales woman I spoke to could offer about the property is that there are Shared Ownership houses directly behind the cheaper house - with ours there is one behind but across 1 although I dont see why a Shared Ownership house would be a disadvantage.
I suppose I was just wondering if there is much chance of them negotiating at all or whether I should prepare myself to lose the house.
The house comes with integrated white goods and carpet throughout. We were unable to choose them as the roof was on when we reserved it - most of the options it comes with are from the "Basic" range with a few from the "Premium".0 -
I just checked my kitchen specification plan, and my plot and the cheaper plot were both listed on it (along with perhaps 10 or so other plots) the kitchens are the exact same specification.
Reading the documentation, if we did pull out I think we would receive £400 out of £500 back but not presumably the Valuation that the bank did which is £200.
Personally we both do really, really like the house we reserved and aren't sure whether we should be feeling that it is overpriced or not really.
We would prefer to buy it really but equally we dont have a massive problem with staying in Army Housing as it will allow us more time to save up too.0 -
That’s a huge difference that will affect your resale value as it will show up on the register. I wouldn’t pay more than what the other one has gone for (and chances are it will be less than the advertised price).0
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Thanks, I hadn't thought about the resale value at all! We are completely new to house buying and most of our friends/family are in either Army Housing, didn't buy a new build or bought ages ago.
My gut feeling is that I should be willing to let the house go unless they agree to £299,950. They did say Armed Forces Discount would not have been available if we had reserved that house in time (I dont know why because they are always advertising it) so I will see if they will go for £299,950 rather than £295,950 which would be the discounted price.
Bit disappointed as I dont think they will agree to it, but seems wrong to pay £15k more for a house which is identical. I guess I should just feel slightly luck that we found out now rather than after completion.0 -
Having shared ownership behind is an excuse for them to try and persuade you, we have them behind our house and no different to anyone elseDon't put your trust into an Experian score - it is not a number any bank will ever use & it is generally a waste of money to purchase it. They are also selling you insurance you dont need.0
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Exactly! Makes no difference to me whether the neighbours are shared ownership or not. I think I am going to expect to lose the house tomorrow but who knows - maybe they will negotiate.0
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It won't make a blind bit of difference to future resale.
You haven't said when you reserved your plot. Was it very recently?
Ultimately, if you reserve early, you run the risk of later plots being reduced if they don't sell. It's much the same situation as train or plane tickets, just a bit more visible.0 -
We reserved ours at either the very end of October or the start of November - cant quite remember. So it was about 2 months ago.0
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