The Weirdest Situation with Bellway

NameUnavailable

GDB2222 said:

NameUnavailable said:

Proceed with your sale and rent in the meantime.

Why would you do that? It is quite a big risk to be out of the housing market, as prices can move quite sharply. They might move in your favour, but then again they might not. Certainly, proceeding with the sale just to be kind to your buyers is a bit OTT. If you feel bad about them, give them some money to reimburse their wasted fees.

Because the OP really wants one of these new homes, so they need to be able to proceed as soon as they become available. They have a buyer now and the new homes are ready next Summer, so sell now and rent until they are released. Do you really think prices are going to shoot up by then?

ukuscan

ukuscan said:

Hello Everyone,
I'm facing with an issue that I'm really struggling to understand. I was wondering if anyone experienced something similar with Bellway. If anyone advises a way out, that would be really appreciated. 

The thing is, Bellway is building houses in Wootton, Bedford. We want to buy one of the houses in that development. When we visited them on site in August, they said that a group of houses will be finished in the following months. (2 in November, 1 in December, 1 in Jan, 2 in March etc.) However, back in the day, we couldn't reserve any of them as we had to sell our property in order to be able to reserve. We said fine and focused on selling our property. Now, we have a buyer in place. We took our house off of the market. We instructed our solicitor etc. Sale is in progress. Then, I called Bellway to say that I'm ready this time; however, they told me that the houses will not be completed as planned. Instead, they will be finished in July 2021 and this date cannot be changed. They said that they allocated their resources to other houses in other developments to complete the houses that they've already sold. 

I was quite frustrated and gave up on them. I focused on alternative solutions. However, out of curiosity, I visited their site by myself again today. And I saw that the houses that were due in November and December are pretty much finished. I was shocked. When I say finished, I'm saying that they are literally finished. There is no building barricade that blocks you to go there etc. The street is open. Anyone can literally go to the window of the house and even see inside from there. I thought that for some reason, they don't want to sell the property to me. I asked one of my friends to give them a call. They said to my friend that the houses are being built and they will be finished in July 2021. 

I'm not sure if I could explain how bizarre the situation is. But, does anyone have an idea why on earth Bellway doesn't want to sell a house that they finished? What's the point of sitting on the stock? Who wouldn't want to cash their product ASAP in an economical environment like today's? Maybe I'm missing something obvious, but I'm really wondering the actual reasoning. If anyone has an idea, or if anyone experienced anything similar with them. I'd love to learn more about their experience. 

I thank you all in advance. 

Stay safe, take care!

Hi Everyone, 
Here is the feedback from Bellway:
"

Hi,

Bellway have decided as a company that we will not be completion on these properties as we are focusing on the customers that have purchased to make sure the homes we have sold are 100% and the customers once completed are given the 5* customer experience we like to give. As a company it was decided that it did not matter the stage of the property as they were not sold they would sold for a completion July onwards in order to make sure we do not over stretch our customer care team and likewise not be able to offer the customer service Bellway like to offer.

The properties in the photos will be down for completion July/August 2021 this gives us plenty of time to make sure we are handing over a house to be proud off.
" 
I think they are definitely hiding something. I don't think I'll ever know. 
Answers for some of the queries in earlier entries:
-> These are not show homes either; show homes are next to their office on site. These are in a different road on site. Besides, why on earth they'd have 3 same show homes in the same street anyway.
-> When I've looked at from the window, I've seen that the walls are painted white, flooring is done, and most of kitchen furniture is also in place. Therefore, I'm pretty sure that the property doesn't have more then a few week's job. 

Thanks everyone! Any further comments are most welcome. 

anselld

They have met their sales/bonus targets for the current period so they are not incentivised to make further sales as it does not increase their personal income.  They may as well leave demand for the next accounting period.

Who knows, but either way they are not for sale now.

GDB2222

NameUnavailable said:

GDB2222 said:

NameUnavailable said:

Proceed with your sale and rent in the meantime.

Why would you do that? It is quite a big risk to be out of the housing market, as prices can move quite sharply. They might move in your favour, but then again they might not. Certainly, proceeding with the sale just to be kind to your buyers is a bit OTT. If you feel bad about them, give them some money to reimburse their wasted fees.

Because the OP really wants one of these new homes, so they need to be able to proceed as soon as they become available. They have a buyer now and the new homes are ready next Summer, so sell now and rent until they are released. Do you really think prices are going to shoot up by then?

I actually think prices will be lower next summer. But, what if I am utterly wrong, as I have been in the past, and prices are say 20% higher? It seems a pretty unnecessary risk to take. 

carefullycautious

I think Bellway have being having some poor reviews online and it sounds as if they are trying to focus on making sure their snagging and customer care are improved. If you search for poor reviews Bellway on Google you can see what I mean

NinjaTune

carefullycautious said:

I think Bellway have being having some poor reviews online and it sounds as if they are trying to focus on making sure their snagging and customer care are improved. If you search for poor reviews Bellway on Google you can see what I mean

I was going to say the same thing.  Their Trustpilot reviews have been shocking recently so I wonder if they'e now ensuring that their builds are properly up to standard.  Better to delay a few sales than end up with such a poor reputation that they struggle to sell their properties.