Selling house > buying new build. Confusion about deposit

ahdinko · 15 September 2021 at 2:18AM

aaryal said:

eddddy said:

aaryal said:

Hello all. Thanks for the quick responses.

The house is ready in summer 2022. So basically about 9 months left till the house is ready.

So have I understood the order of things correctly?
I tell Bellway that I am selling my current house to fund the new house
I tell them that I am depositing 50%, 10% within 28 days, and then the remaining 40% when the house is ready in 2022. The remaining 50% is my mortgage
I put my house on sale and find a buyer. They make an offer
When we get to the 28 days, do I need to find the 10% separately, or will the solicitor do the "exchange" and somehow release 10% to pay off
Basically, at any point do I need to get cash ready on the side? Or will my existing house "pay off" the entire process?

If your current house isn't even on the market yet, you're getting way ahead of yourself.

The house buying process is more complex, if you're buying a newbuild. The ideal sequence will need to be something like this:
Put your house on the market
Find a buyer who is prepared to exchange contracts within 28 days, and complete in summer 2022 (which might be difficult)
Then reserve your Bellway house using £1k
Exchange contracts on your sale and purchase after 28 days
Your buyer will pay you a 10% (£33k) deposit on exchange. You'll add £7k from your savings to make it up to the £40k deposit that Bellway want
In summer 2022 you'll complete using £200k from your mortgage lender and £160k from the sale of your old house (plus the £40k deposit you'll already have paid)

The big challenge will be finding a buyer for your house who's happy to work to that timescale.

This is clear, thank you.
Do the developers tend to go easy if they know the process is plugging along? I.e. we get to 28 days but the person buying my house needs another 2 months before they're ready to exchange. How easy is it to get the developer to "c'mon just give it another 2 months.. you can see the process is happening"..

Is it just easier if I do part-exchange and sell the house to Bellway? Will I get ripped off with the price? Anyone have any experience "selling to BEllway" instead of finding a buyer?

Bellway really messed me around, personally I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them. I reserved a house with them using their express mover scheme to sell my flat.

Got a buyer after 3 weeks on the market, everything progressing on the sale at normal pace (8-12 weeks). Paid all my fees to Bellway and picked all my options and all that. They gave it the old "As long as everything is progressing, we will let you exchange later than 28 days".

Then on week 8 they turned around and said "we think your sale is going to fall through, we're selling the new build to someone else."

Pretty gutting as I thought it was a sure thing and we had our heart set on the house after picking everything inside. No amount of showing the solicitors evidence of the buyers mortgage offer, sucessful survey, etc, would persuade them.

They sold the house to someone else, and I continued with the buyer I had and the sale completed 3 weeks later.

eddddy · 15 September 2021 at 10:16AM

aaryal said:
Do the developers tend to go easy if they know the process is plugging along? I.e. we get to 28 days but the person buying my house needs another 2 months before they're ready to exchange. How easy is it to get the developer to "c'mon just give it another 2 months.. you can see the process is happening"..

Essentially, you're at Bellway's mercy.

@ahdinko above says Bellway didn't show them any mercy, and just sold to somebody else. (Maybe the 'someone else' offered more, or was a cash buyer, or whatever.)

But on the other hand, logic suggests that it's better to wait for you if you're going to be a few weeks late, than start again from scratch with another buyer (who might end-up taking even longer than you).

As you say, you can investigate part/ex. Maybe somebody will come along here who's used Bellway part/ex, and share their experience.

aaryal · 15 September 2021 at 10:49AM

ahdinko said:

aaryal said:

eddddy said:

aaryal said:

Hello all. Thanks for the quick responses.

The house is ready in summer 2022. So basically about 9 months left till the house is ready.

So have I understood the order of things correctly?
I tell Bellway that I am selling my current house to fund the new house
I tell them that I am depositing 50%, 10% within 28 days, and then the remaining 40% when the house is ready in 2022. The remaining 50% is my mortgage
I put my house on sale and find a buyer. They make an offer
When we get to the 28 days, do I need to find the 10% separately, or will the solicitor do the "exchange" and somehow release 10% to pay off
Basically, at any point do I need to get cash ready on the side? Or will my existing house "pay off" the entire process?

If your current house isn't even on the market yet, you're getting way ahead of yourself.

The house buying process is more complex, if you're buying a newbuild. The ideal sequence will need to be something like this:
Put your house on the market
Find a buyer who is prepared to exchange contracts within 28 days, and complete in summer 2022 (which might be difficult)
Then reserve your Bellway house using £1k
Exchange contracts on your sale and purchase after 28 days
Your buyer will pay you a 10% (£33k) deposit on exchange. You'll add £7k from your savings to make it up to the £40k deposit that Bellway want
In summer 2022 you'll complete using £200k from your mortgage lender and £160k from the sale of your old house (plus the £40k deposit you'll already have paid)

The big challenge will be finding a buyer for your house who's happy to work to that timescale.

This is clear, thank you.
Do the developers tend to go easy if they know the process is plugging along? I.e. we get to 28 days but the person buying my house needs another 2 months before they're ready to exchange. How easy is it to get the developer to "c'mon just give it another 2 months.. you can see the process is happening"..

Is it just easier if I do part-exchange and sell the house to Bellway? Will I get ripped off with the price? Anyone have any experience "selling to BEllway" instead of finding a buyer?

Bellway really messed me around, personally I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them. I reserved a house with them using their express mover scheme to sell my flat.
Got a buyer after 3 weeks on the market, everything progressing on the sale at normal pace (8-12 weeks). Paid all my fees to Bellway and picked all my options and all that. They gave it the old "As long as everything is progressing, we will let you exchange later than 28 days".
Then on week 8 they turned around and said "we think your sale is going to fall through, we're selling the new build to someone else."
Pretty gutting as I thought it was a sure thing and we had our heart set on the house after picking everything inside. No amount of showing the solicitors evidence of the buyers mortgage offer, sucessful survey, etc, would persuade them.
They sold the house to someone else, and I continued with the buyer I had and the sale completed 3 weeks later.

My God, what a nightmare story. And to think that you sold 3 weeks later.
Damn... that's chilling. Sorry to hear. This is basically the exact scenario I want to avoid.
Is it just easier getting cash in hand and selling the house first before buying a new build?

aaryal · 15 September 2021 at 10:50AM

eddddy said:

aaryal said:
Do the developers tend to go easy if they know the process is plugging along? I.e. we get to 28 days but the person buying my house needs another 2 months before they're ready to exchange. How easy is it to get the developer to "c'mon just give it another 2 months.. you can see the process is happening"..

Essentially, you're at Bellway's mercy.

@ahdinko above says Bellway didn't show them any mercy, and just sold to somebody else. (Maybe the 'someone else' offered more, or was a cash buyer, or whatever.)

But on the other hand, logic suggests that it's better to wait for you if you're going to be a few weeks late, than start again from scratch with another buyer (who might end-up taking even longer than you).

As you say, you can investigate part/ex. Maybe somebody will come along here who's used Bellway part/ex, and share their experience.

Yes exactly. Any experience with Bellway part exchange would be appreciated. Saves all the hassle and nervousness around closing the sale.

Question is - do they just take any poor price for your house just to force the sale through or do you get a reasonable price? Any suggestions are welcome.

dimbo61 · 15 September 2021 at 11:18AM

You would be in a stronger position if you put your home on the market and sold it first.
Will the new buyer of your home be happy to wait 8/9 months for your new build to be ready ?
That is the big question.
Could you sell and move into rented for 6/12 months or stay with family ?
How quickly are Bellway building the new estate ?

Drawingaline · 15 September 2021 at 11:29AM

A family member part exchanged for a new build (unfortunately not bellway). The builder made an 8k profit on their house so not a huge amount, and it took the stress of the sale away from them. Selling on the open market they may have got an extra 8k, but sometimes taking a hit like that is worth doing to take the stress out of buying and selling as t the same time, especially a new build that isn't fully built yet.

krusty101 · 15 September 2021 at 1:00PM

aaryal said:

eddddy said:

aaryal said:
Do the developers tend to go easy if they know the process is plugging along? I.e. we get to 28 days but the person buying my house needs another 2 months before they're ready to exchange. How easy is it to get the developer to "c'mon just give it another 2 months.. you can see the process is happening"..

Essentially, you're at Bellway's mercy.

@ahdinko above says Bellway didn't show them any mercy, and just sold to somebody else. (Maybe the 'someone else' offered more, or was a cash buyer, or whatever.)

But on the other hand, logic suggests that it's better to wait for you if you're going to be a few weeks late, than start again from scratch with another buyer (who might end-up taking even longer than you).

As you say, you can investigate part/ex. Maybe somebody will come along here who's used Bellway part/ex, and share their experience.

eddddy said:

aaryal said:
Do the developers tend to go easy if they know the process is plugging along? I.e. we get to 28 days but the person buying my house needs another 2 months before they're ready to exchange. How easy is it to get the developer to "c'mon just give it another 2 months.. you can see the process is happening"..

Essentially, you're at Bellway's mercy.

@ahdinko above says Bellway didn't show them any mercy, and just sold to somebody else. (Maybe the 'someone else' offered more, or was a cash buyer, or whatever.)

But on the other hand, logic suggests that it's better to wait for you if you're going to be a few weeks late, than start again from scratch with another buyer (who might end-up taking even longer than you).

As you say, you can investigate part/ex. Maybe somebody will come along here who's used Bellway part/ex, and share their experience.

Yes exactly. Any experience with Bellway part exchange would be appreciated. Saves all the hassle and nervousness around closing the sale.

Question is - do they just take any poor price for your house just to force the sale through or do you get a reasonable price? Any suggestions are welcome.

Do they actually do part exchange though? Bellway wouldn’t do it with us. The ‘express mover’ scheme is to go through a management company who liaise with you/ estate agent to progress the sale. Bellway paid the estate agent fees. They go to 2-3 estate agents in the local area, get valuations and then between you you settle on a price to market it at. I wanted to sell in quickly so went the lower/middle end anyway, I didn’t feel pressure to do so. As long as Bellway saw it was moving along they didn’t seem too bothered. I appreciate that isn’t everyone’s experience though.

user1977 · 15 September 2021 at 1:08PM

aaryal said:

ahdinko said:

aaryal said:

eddddy said:

aaryal said:

Hello all. Thanks for the quick responses.

The house is ready in summer 2022. So basically about 9 months left till the house is ready.

So have I understood the order of things correctly?
I tell Bellway that I am selling my current house to fund the new house
I tell them that I am depositing 50%, 10% within 28 days, and then the remaining 40% when the house is ready in 2022. The remaining 50% is my mortgage
I put my house on sale and find a buyer. They make an offer
When we get to the 28 days, do I need to find the 10% separately, or will the solicitor do the "exchange" and somehow release 10% to pay off
Basically, at any point do I need to get cash ready on the side? Or will my existing house "pay off" the entire process?

If your current house isn't even on the market yet, you're getting way ahead of yourself.

The house buying process is more complex, if you're buying a newbuild. The ideal sequence will need to be something like this:
Put your house on the market
Find a buyer who is prepared to exchange contracts within 28 days, and complete in summer 2022 (which might be difficult)
Then reserve your Bellway house using £1k
Exchange contracts on your sale and purchase after 28 days
Your buyer will pay you a 10% (£33k) deposit on exchange. You'll add £7k from your savings to make it up to the £40k deposit that Bellway want
In summer 2022 you'll complete using £200k from your mortgage lender and £160k from the sale of your old house (plus the £40k deposit you'll already have paid)

The big challenge will be finding a buyer for your house who's happy to work to that timescale.

This is clear, thank you.
Do the developers tend to go easy if they know the process is plugging along? I.e. we get to 28 days but the person buying my house needs another 2 months before they're ready to exchange. How easy is it to get the developer to "c'mon just give it another 2 months.. you can see the process is happening"..

Is it just easier if I do part-exchange and sell the house to Bellway? Will I get ripped off with the price? Anyone have any experience "selling to BEllway" instead of finding a buyer?

Bellway really messed me around, personally I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them. I reserved a house with them using their express mover scheme to sell my flat.
Got a buyer after 3 weeks on the market, everything progressing on the sale at normal pace (8-12 weeks). Paid all my fees to Bellway and picked all my options and all that. They gave it the old "As long as everything is progressing, we will let you exchange later than 28 days".
Then on week 8 they turned around and said "we think your sale is going to fall through, we're selling the new build to someone else."
Pretty gutting as I thought it was a sure thing and we had our heart set on the house after picking everything inside. No amount of showing the solicitors evidence of the buyers mortgage offer, sucessful survey, etc, would persuade them.
They sold the house to someone else, and I continued with the buyer I had and the sale completed 3 weeks later.

My God, what a nightmare story. And to think that you sold 3 weeks later.
Damn... that's chilling. Sorry to hear. This is basically the exact scenario I want to avoid.
Is it just easier getting cash in hand and selling the house first before buying a new build?

Yes, much easier. Also means you don't need to find a buyer who's prepared to be dragged along by your builders' timescales.

Belleofthebooks · 15 September 2021 at 7:14PM

It's 100% worth seeing if you can part exchange as this will make things a lot easier for you. See what they offer you at the very least you don't have to accept. If you think you can get more put it on the market. It's unrealistic to expect a buyer to wait 9 months, even if you're clear upfront things can change so i would consider moving into rented accommodation until the new build was ready.

Flick85 · 15 September 2021 at 10:18PM

My experience with Bellway is that they are only interested in selling to people who aren’t in a chain. I was told categorically they won’t do part exchange on this particular site, so I would need to either find very patient buyer willing to wait at least 8 months after exchange for the completion, or move into rented or with family. For me, none of those options are possible, so I won’t be buying a Bellway home, which is a shame because I quite like they’re development. But, if they don’t want my money, I’ll find someone who does!