Negotiations when Buying a New Build

jdc23 · 27 February 2017 at 5:22PM

I’m not yet ready to buy but have been looking around and investigating my options. I have been looking at the new build housing market and also the Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme that is currently offered on these properties. I have briefly visited both Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey sales offices.

My question is, what sort of deals, if any, do people manage to negotiate on these types of properties? I have read that developers often don’t like to budge at all on their list prices, as it can have some effect on valuation of their other properties that haven’t yet sold.

But do people often manage to negotiate on things like Stamp Duty and other extras? And is this therefore fairly common when buying a new build?

alex_163163 · 27 February 2017 at 6:34PM

I was, until recently, in the process of buying a new build house. The 'deal' we had managed to get was to include stamp duty, all flooring, and upgraded kitchen units.
It is definitely the right move to negotiate on new builds as much as you can! Sometimes what you get depends on the popularity of the developments, for instance I imagine the more popular and fast selling the development the less negotiating power you have so the less you will get included.
Try get hold of the optional extras brochure before you reserve the plot, and make a note of all the upgrades you would like. Then if you do decide to reserve try get as many as possible included, starting with the ones most important to you or the most tricky to do yourself.

Also find out when their year end accounts are due via google etc. The sales office has targets per quarter / half year/ full etc to meet so if it's coming to the end of their financial period I've heard it's easier to negotiate a better deal, as they need to shift some units asap! That's what I've read anyway so please correct me if wrong?

jdc23 · 27 February 2017 at 6:46PM

Thank you for your quick reply, this is useful to know. If I pursue the route of buying a new build I definitely agree that I would want to negotiate as much as possible into the price.

One concern I have is that I live in the South East, about 30 miles outside of London. The new build properties here seem to sell very quickly, most of them off-plan before anything is even built. Maybe with such a liquid market there isn’t really any negotiation. Maybe these developers can easily find people prepared to pay their list price.

alex_163163 · 27 February 2017 at 7:13PM

Yes afraid I don't know about the London house market so you could be right about the speed they sell at. I was buying in east Northamptonshire and our development was selling quite slowly, or so it seems to us. There are houses that are now nearly built that haven't been reserved yet!
I guess the saying "you don't ask, you don't get" applies to new build negotiations. What's the worst they can say, no?

Mathias123 · 27 February 2017 at 8:11PM

We bought a Taylor Wimpey new build through a local estate agent who was selling all the properties on the development. We asked several times and they wouldn't budge on the price due to the site being so popular. In the end we just went for it as we loved the house. If you can, negotiate before you reserve.

If you are going down the Help to Buy Equity Loan route there is a limit to how many extras you can get thrown in. I think it's 5% of the price but don't quote me on that!

neilio · 28 February 2017 at 11:10AM

I recently bought an off-plan new build from Berkeley approximately 30 miles outside of London. It's definitely worth negotiating. If you don't ask, you don't get. Berkeley wasn't entirely as flexible as I've heard some developers can be. All I got out of them was wood floors in all the upstairs rooms when the original spec was carpet. They didn't budge on the price of the house at all. I recommend you ask about any and all optional extras as much as you possibly can. I only found out after moving in that my neighbours had opted for additional wardrobes to be installed or have tiles on the ground floor instead of the spec of laminate. They paid extra for them, and I would've considered it too, had I known. Everything is a negotiation.

Whatever you negotiate or agree, though, get it in writing, and make sure that you pay regular visits to the site during construction (they should happily show you the progress of your new home), and continue to ask for reassurance that your spec and agreements will be met. A few of my neighbours moved in and discovered one or two of the things they were expecting were not delivered, despite it being written into the final build specification.

Also, from experience, even if the developer aggravates you after completion for some reason, due to snags or any major problems encountered... Be polite and reasonable with them, don't lose your temper, especially not with the operatives who do the repairs. I've been able to get some extra little jobs done on my house because they like me. I've even suggested to them little things they could do differently in their future phases, which they've then provided me for free.

lincroft1710 · 28 February 2017 at 4:25PM

jdc23 wrote: »

My question is, what sort of deals, if any, do people manage to negotiate on these types of properties?

The answer to your question is whatever you are able to negotiate. A plethora of For Sale signs in newly or almost finished houses will probably put you in a good position, Sold signs will not unless it is the tail end of the development when the developers may want to move on asap.

It is a game, see what you can reasonably get and don't always take no for an answer, but equally don't burn your bridges by issuing ultimatums, you need the sales staff on your side.

Futuristic · 28 February 2017 at 5:39PM

It will depend on area and how hot it is, if people are buying at list price then they just won't budge at all. It'll be either you take it or they can wait. It seems its better to buy off plan to get BIG discounts right at the start of the development but then you don't know what it may be like until the end.

Our sales rep was horrible, I went as far as emailing head office. Coincidently she no longer works there the next week (luck or maybe something else), head manager calls us and we agree a deal much better. I offered a decent price with no incentives and the old sales rep rejected that. In the end we paid 2500 over our original offer with them paying stamp duty and over £500 in legal fees straight from head office. So in the end we got a saving of over £5000

They should have just accepted my original offer lol.

Remember only buy freehold, smaller developers maybe more generous for upgrades and incentives.

Harryp_24 · 28 February 2017 at 6:19PM

jdc23 wrote: »

I’m not yet ready to buy but have been looking around and investigating my options. I have been looking at the new build housing market and also the Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme that is currently offered on these properties. I have briefly visited both Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey sales offices.

My question is, what sort of deals, if any, do people manage to negotiate on these types of properties? I have read that developers often don’t like to budge at all on their list prices, as it can have some effect on valuation of their other properties that haven’t yet sold.

But do people often manage to negotiate on things like Stamp Duty and other extras? And is this therefore fairly common when buying a new build?

i believe its better to ask them to throw in carpets/stamp duty or other stuff that desnt affect the house sell value as like you said. If one it 170k instead of 180k... everyone wants it for 170k.

newph · 1 July 2017 at 12:27AM

I am in the middle of buying new home,i have paid £500 for reservation and agreed with the listed price.I have got my mortgage offer which the developer has been informed us but i have not exchange the contract for now due to workload of my solicitor.

Is it possible for me to negotiate for offers after the reservation has been done two months ago and i have got mortgage offer with the help to buy.If it is possible how do i go about it.The price for property is £185,000.

gycraig_2 · 1 July 2017 at 8:39AM

I suspect they factor bartering into the price and spec now anyway.

In my area there was basically no haggling to be done with any of them except the cheapest ones who would throw in carpets etc that you get as standard on the better quality houses in the area.

No company is going to negotiate on a product they arent struggling to sell

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Negotiations when Buying a New Build

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