MattW

Scenario:

Consider us sold stc, looking at new build. Current situ is the groundworks are being done, no houses sold yet and been on market 6 weeks (over Xmas). Estimated completion of show home is feb, so for now they are being sold from a site not far away.

There is one example of the house we like that has been released with a potential build ready date of May/Jun. There are a further 8 similar properties. AFAIK there has been interest but no proceedable buyers.

I took a sneaky look at the sales sheet and noted there was an incentive of 4% available. Obviously I would like to maximise my discount, does anyone have any advice as to how much to ask for.

And please, i accept some people like older properties, I don't, so can we keep on topic.

briforbes

A figure of around 10% wouldn't be unreasonable, possibly more.

Tidgy

go in with a figure, aka say to them, if they are built to these plans and i sign today will you give me a 10% discount, they'll prob look at you gone out but then push for at least 5% becuase you are buying from plan

Karl 227

I'd ask for the 4% discount and then once that's agreed get them to throw in a kitchen, a landscaped garden and whatever else you need that would be an extra cost to you, don't ask you don't get

Tidgy

10% off is a hell of a large sum, more likely get around the 5 mark

200k house thats still 10 grand off it. always worth trying as hard as possible though lol.

MattW

If I were to get a large discount then potentially I'd plough some of it to upgrade the kitchen appliances etc.

I'd read up to 20% was not unheard of but as you can imagine that is a significant amount.

Matteeboy

But will you be living on a building site for months?

A few I know have bought their house, moved in and had construction traffic and noise plus all the muck for up to two years after moving in!

Couldn't do it myself incentives or not.

MattW

Done it before and it's not a problem.

Tidgy

we lived in the middle of a field for 3 years with JCB's running across our gardens. doing so tends to save large sums on purchase, we bought what was gonna be the show house, saved us about 20k on the suposed retail price, when the opther houses in the area went on sale they were actualy 50k more due to house price increase in the time it took to build around us. the house was about 500 yards from site entrance so took them a good year to build down to us.

MattW

There are so many new builds round here, some builders were giving big discounts, others not much at all and there doesn't seem any rhyme nor reason in the different schemes.

This particular build is nice as they seem to have circumvented the govt's stupid directive in not allowing double garages.

10% would be nice, would certainly make this house more attractive than the "next one down".

Tidgy

try it mate, worse you can do is be told no

marky1

I bought a new build 3 bedroom apartment from a developer in London about 3 years ago, and got 30% off the list price. Not suggesting you can always get that much, but the moral of the story is you can always offer more, but it's hard to offer less once you have gone in with a figure. I always think it's good to go in with an offer to start with that is actually embarrassing, you'd be surprised what can happen!

Huw Jorgan

Is the builder offering any incentives with the property? If they are not of interest to you try & negotiate a better purchase price.

Also find out when the builders year end, many of the big companys have two, usually in June & December. One of my clients was looking to buy a 3 bed detached, he had agreed a sale on his property & could complete before the end of June. There were no 3 beds available, only 4 bed detached which they tried to push him into. The buyer replied that he couldn't afford it so there was no point in looking. Two days later the builder rang him up & offered the 4 bed detached for £3k more than the 3 bed.

One of the site girls also told me of a buyer who had again gone in at year end & asked for the best price they could offer on a certain house that was up for £595k, they came back with £450k! subject to a 4 week completion.

Each builder & site is different so try & do some homework as to how the site is selling. If its a new site they maybe keen to do a deal to get some people living in there, it helps them to sell the others.

Also remember the contract price will usually be for the full amount with a cashback element reflecting the difference. This way when people go online to see what everybody else has paid there isn't a massive difference as everyone appears to have paid near the asking price & nobody gets too upset.

You will have to pay Stamp Duty on the full contract price, unless of course you get the builder to pay this for you as well.

Phil

Buy the land and then contract the builder to build your house

Saves loads of Stamp Duty

Only works if you don't need a big mortgage and a friendly builder who could do with the additional cashflow

GazTheHat

I've forgotten to fill my expenses in since April 06. I've spoken with the accountant and he says they can only back date for 6 weeks!!

I'm sure they could back-date for 6-12 months.

Does anyone know anything different? I couldn't find an IR link that says so.

GazTheHat

WTF?? I just created a new thread, not new post. Sorry!

Petem95

A friend of mine bought a new build at the end of last year and got 20% off, plus a load of stuff thrown in on top. That was a similar situation where the developer had had no offers on anything, and was probably keen to get the ball rolling.

MattW

Hmmm interesting, anyone know George Wimpey's year end?

Sport160

When we puchased out last house the builder had 20 houses on site, of which 8 were left, all the same as the show home, the most expensive type on site and they hadn't sold a single one of that design

I offered them roughly 15% below asking price never dreaming they would accept, we ended up at about 13.5% below by the time we'd finished.

Make them a silly offer, sometimes they will considerate it if its the first on site as it seems to act as a catalyst for further sales

MattW

Right, so strategy? Just go in there and lay it on the line, knock 20% off and see whether they laugh. I suppose best day to go in would be a week day.

MattW

Just looked here George Wimpey Plc - Annual Report and Accounts 2005 and year end seems to be Feb

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

Im just doing the same due to complete on the 26/01/07.
We are doing a part ex and they gave us a rock bottom price, I told them to forget it and got up to leave, they tried to give me a sales pitch saying we wouldnt have estate agent fees to pay but I still got up and was about to go through the door.

Anyway to cut a long story short, we got 5k knocked off the house, upgrade for the kitchen, free carpets throughout (3 storey house) and free removals, and also money towards the legal fees. We also got an extra 5k for our house. This was on a 166k house. The estate agent that the builder has got our house on with is selling it for 4k less than they have given us. The builders are able to offer quite a bit just need to ask or threaten to walk away

P1-Brad

I've bought two new builds in the last couple of years and i've found the biggest influencing factor to quite simply be supply and demand.

With my latest house the developer gave me a nominal reduction in the price but when I asked for a dishwasher to be thrown in (if you don't ask you don't get) they referred it to their h/o sales division and then refused. Despite it being a c.80 house development there was only a handful of the house type I was buying available and because of the specification they were in high demand. They aren't gonna give away / reduce stuff if they are confident another buyer will pay a higher amount.

As I said, it's all about supply and demand (and not necassarily number of houses available, but consider spec, cost etc.)

mattstant

If you want a deal there should be some quid quo pro ie they may agree a discount dependent on early completion.

Huw Jorgan

Not always. Many sites are run by sales staff who work Thusday to Monday/Tuesday. They tend to have cover in for the other 2-3 days, who don't always know whats going on. Find out who is the main sales person & deal with them.

As has been said, you will have to be in a good position to obtain the best deal. Make sure you have a mortgage agreement in principle & contact details of your broker/lender.

speedking

Unfortunately the financial year end is not necessrily related to the 'sales' year end. My company's financial year end is April, but sales are assessed end of June and December.

There are always people desperately trying to get completion on sales and land purchases just before Christmas.

HTH

Neanderthal

iTrader: (6)

Our financial year end is April, but the sales year is Jan-Dec.
The level of discount you can get will depend on how well the site is performing. If they are selling well, then only reckon on getting a max of 5%.
Some developers don't discount at all, they just offer discount vouchers for you to spend on upgrades to the house (intergrated appliances, better flooring etc).
As stated above, Christmas is the best time to get a great deal from one of the big developers

salsa-king

see what they will offer i you say your ready to sign, but only at the right price.
10% is what you want to look for IMO, but it comes down to the house price.
if its a £1,000,000 property that would be 100k off.
£200k house/20k off... but you might haggle to £190k plus a few extras like carpets/curtains.. better kitchen.


If you don't ask!!


Or sign for the show house at TODAYS price INC. everything in it..when all the sites sold.. that way it gives you time to sell yours.
normally good deals on the show house when they sell them

MattW

The show house is not the one we want, and even so that is two years away from being sold on I would imagine. The current incentive I know is available amounts to 18k.

Smiler

Sneaky it wasn't. It was left somewhere you would see it.