Buying a show home - how much should I offer?

Mark_1986

Looking for some advice please. We are considering buying a show home, it will be ready to move into around November time, but in use from 2018 (so 3 years old), price - £600k. The same house type sold for £575k in September 2019 and £540k(??!) in February 2020 according to the Land Registry. 
My question is, how much should I offer? Developer has agreed to pay Stamp Duty (£20k) which is great, but considering the prices previously paid I'm tempted to make a slightly lower offer... What do you think is reasonable? £590k? £595k? 
Many thanks in advance!

JHW1942

Is there a substantial difference in the plot which justifies the difference between the same type that sold for £540k and this one?  If not, surely your first offer should be closer to that figure?

£595k on a £600k asking price is a bit of an 'Alan Partridge' offer.  I suspect they'll bite your hand off.

Slithery

Is it actually the same as the other 'similar' plots? They usually build the show homes slightly larger and with higher end fixtures and fittings.

Are there any more recent sold prices you can look at? The market value of properties has gone up (sometimes substantially) in the last 15 months.

davilown

As Slithery says, they tend to be the better finished houses and have a host of extras.

Don’t forget that if this is the show home, it’s likely to be one of the very last houses on the completed development sold - the ones before are priced accordingly due to the disruption, dust and noise of the builds.

Gycraig

Our house was 138k the first houses sold for 118k. They are generally more expensive as the build goes on due to building work 
impossible to say how much to offer they might be desperate to sell, they might have people kicking there door down. 

Gentoo365

Remember you are competing with other possible buyers, and (as far as I know) the developers will sell it to the first person to pay a reservation fee. Offering near asking will get you the house. Offering under it may mean someone else gets it.

Not a reason to overpay, but if it's a nice place I wouldn't mess about to save £5k or so on a £600k house.

teachfast

Offer the asking price and negotiate on other bits like stamp duty, solicitors fees etc.
Sometimes developers will ask for this as they wish to maintain the sold value across a development. 

losgiganteskid

You need to be mindful that all the items that are contained within your "new build" i.e. washer dryers, fridge, cookers, hobs etc etc will be all out of warranty when you actually buy the property.  I had this problem when I bought my "new" house which had been fully loaded with white goods etc - beware

dimbo61

You need to look at everything inside and outside the property.
Does it have a bigger garden? Landscaping with mature plants and expensive stone patio area. Fully fenced ? Hedges ? 
Added extras such as quality carpets/ hard wood flooring ? Upgraded bathrooms and kitchen. Even nice quality curtains and blinds cost money and save you the cost and hassle of getting them fitted yourself.
Only you can judge of its worth £600K to you 

getmore4less

Check everything is plumbed in properly

Good chance you could be the first to flush a toilet.

The person who bought the one we are in now found that out the hard way.

Mickygg

JHW1942 said:

Is there a substantial difference in the plot which justifies the difference between the same type that sold for £540k and this one?  If not, surely your first offer should be closer to that figure?

£595k on a £600k asking price is a bit of an 'Alan Partridge' offer.  I suspect they'll bite your hand off.

Why difference on plot? What about house price increase? Offering based on a price from 2018 but similar property you'll be perceived as not serious if you haven't taken house price increases into account.

In my area house prices increases in last year are over 10%.