Morris Homes, finished house, part ex negotiation.

Mrs-Ash

Hi

I am looking to purchase a 5 bed house from Morris Homes in the North West of England. The house in question is already finished and ready to move in to. Apparently the previous buyers dropped out. I believe the house was built in August 2019 ( that’s when the boiler was installed 😉).  So it has been empty for quite some time (June 2020 now). From what I can see the original/full price was £480k. It has now been “reduced” to £472k. The house also has an upgraded kitchen, with granite worktops, upgraded hob and integrated dishwasher and fridge freezer. The house includes carpets and lino throughout, plus light fittings and blinds. I don’t know if these are usually included?

I do think this is already a good package but of course I am always looking to negotiate more! My main lever is that the kitchen, carpets, Lino, tiles etc are not what I have chosen. I am spending a lot of money and my life savings on someone else’s choices. In particular I would need to change the carpet in the hallway and the Lino in the living/dining/kitchen area. This is approx 55m2 so not an insignificant cost. 

I am also part ex-ing my current house. I am waiting for Morris to provide me with an offer/valuation. I know they will offer below market value....I will look to negotiate this but I am ultimately looking at the entire deal. 

I am looking for advice/experience from anyone who has negotiated with Morris Homes in a similar situation please? I am thinking they will want to sell the house as it has been sitting vacant for so long. It is the most expensive house type on the site. The site is phase 1 of a large/long term development over several years. 

Stamp duty is £13k on this house. I have heard of some builders paying stamp duty but at this value?! That would cover the floor I need to replace and the patio I want to lay, plus tiles I want to add to the kitchen splash back. 

Any advice/experience dealing with Morris Homes please? 

Thanks 

AdrianC

It's quite simple... How badly do they want to shift it? Never mind the detail of why you think a particular number might be justified, or whether they'll pay that instead of knock it off the price. That's all accounting frippery.

Offer what you want to pay. If they refuse, they refuse.

RelievedSheff

We were in a similar situation with David Wilson Homes last year when we part exchanged our old house against a completed plot. We ended up getting a really good deal. We got a fair price for our old house (90% of what we could have sold it for on the open market) plus we also got £10k deposit contribution, stamp duty paid, legal fees paid and moving costs contribution. (Flooring was already included in the price)

We found that they were not willing to drop the price further (they like to have the higher price on the land registry for later sales) but they were willing to work with us on the incentives. As they took our house in part exchange we were able to move into our new home three and a half weeks after reserving it. It was a genuine trouble free move.

Mrs-Ash

RelievedSheff said:

We were in a similar situation with David Wilson Homes last year when we part exchanged our old house against a completed plot. We ended up getting a really good deal. We got a fair price for our old house (90% of what we could have sold it for on the open market) plus we also got £10k deposit contribution, stamp duty paid, legal fees paid and moving costs contribution. (Flooring was already included in the price)

We found that they were not willing to drop the price further (they like to have the higher price on the land registry for later sales) but they were willing to work with us on the incentives. As they took our house in part exchange we were able to move into our new home three and a half weeks after reserving it. It was a genuine trouble free move.

Thank you. This is great knowledge. I understand/agree with your point about the value on the land registry. Makes sense for the builder and the buyer I guess. 

How did you go about negotiating this? Did the sales person in the office have the power to agree this or was there too-ing and fro-ing with head office, how long did it take? Did you give them a list of your asks or did they offer? I’m thinking tactics now! I’d love to just have one mtg to thrash it all out but I don’t think that is realistic?

Great news to hear you moved smoothly and quickly. As we are relocating and my children are moving school I would like to get this done before September. I know Morris financial mid year is end of September too so I’m hoping a completion before then will help their sales targets! 

Thanks for your time in replying 

RelievedSheff

We really didn't have to do much bargaining at all. We reserved the plot pending part exchange valuations which took place a few days later. Then the following weekend we went and finalized the deal. The salesman had the authority to agree to most of the incentives but had to get authority for the additional moving costs contribution. I believe they have a certain amount in the pot to offer incentives on each plot then have to get head office agreement to anything over and above that amount.

If the plot is complete and they agree to taking your house as part exchange then you will be working to a similar timescale for moving. It all happened so quick it was unbelievable. We didn't have time to get stressed about it!

Mrs-Ash

RelievedSheff said:

We really didn't have to do much bargaining at all. We reserved the plot pending part exchange valuations which took place a few days later. Then the following weekend we went and finalized the deal. The salesman had the authority to agree to most of the incentives but had to get authority for the additional moving costs contribution. I believe they have a certain amount in the pot to offer incentives on each plot then have to get head office agreement to anything over and above that amount.

If the plot is complete and they agree to taking your house as part exchange then you will be working to a similar timescale for moving. It all happened so quick it was unbelievable. We didn't have time to get stressed about it!

Thanks RelievedSheff. If you don't mind me asking what was the value of your property? I'm trying to work out as a % what to expect, if you see what I mean....We have the funds to pay asking price but I would love if they could pay the stamp and legal fees as I need to furniture the house and pave the garden.

RelievedSheff

Mrs-Ash said:

RelievedSheff said:

We really didn't have to do much bargaining at all. We reserved the plot pending part exchange valuations which took place a few days later. Then the following weekend we went and finalized the deal. The salesman had the authority to agree to most of the incentives but had to get authority for the additional moving costs contribution. I believe they have a certain amount in the pot to offer incentives on each plot then have to get head office agreement to anything over and above that amount.

If the plot is complete and they agree to taking your house as part exchange then you will be working to a similar timescale for moving. It all happened so quick it was unbelievable. We didn't have time to get stressed about it!

Thanks RelievedSheff. If you don't mind me asking what was the value of your property? I'm trying to work out as a % what to expect, if you see what I mean....We have the funds to pay asking price but I would love if they could pay the stamp and legal fees as I need to furniture the house and pave the garden.

£210k

Mrs-Ash

Thanks RelievedSheff.
Anyone else had a similar experience? 
Any sales reps can share inside info about the budget sales reps get ;-)