New build support chat thread?

[notheragain4]

There seems to be a few of us buying new builds at the moment. I thought it would be good to get a thread going where we can chat about the specific issues we deal with when buying a new build, like incentive negotiation, help to buy if using, exchange deadlines, long stop completion dates and snagging.

We are selling our house to a FTB and reserved a Barratt new build. Stressed out atm as we are 4 weeks passed our exchange deadline as buyer didn't instruct solicitors until his mortgage offer came through which took 7 weeks, we are waiting for his searches this week and praying it won't be long after that. We are getting keys to a rental today and house is built in November.

I will leave it there in case no one responds and I am talking to myself!

[Maybenexttime08]

Yes, I'll join. Similar position where we have a chain free buyer buying ours, and we are already in rented. Things seem to be going okay, survey done etc and waiting for searches.

On the new build, we are expecting to exchange end of August, but haven't had a mortgage approved yet, so can imagine we will be needing an extension which I hope they are happy with! Especially as we already had to pay £5K for some of the extras like kitchen upgrade and it isn't refundable. Also doing help to buy, so time pressure is on.

Fx'd for us both!

[notheragain4]

@Maybenexttime08 it would be especially mean if you've paid for the kitchen extras! We reserved back in May, they gave us 6 weeks. They were very sympathetic because of Covid to start but decided 3 weeks Covid isn't slowing things down anymore, which is fine....except it was definitely the reason why our buyer was delayed and why we are where we are now although everything is moving ok now! Mostly they've wanted to see progress which thankfully we've made in the last 2 weeks. I'm mostly terrified he's just going to pull out which is why I'm grateful for the race to exchange!

When is your house ready?

[MyDucksArentInARow]

Hi @notheragain4 it's me again

So as per my other thread, we are trying to take advantage of the HTB and no stamp duty to buy a Bovis. In our area everything is extortionate and this is the only way to do a huge jump up the ladder. It's a bit of a gamble and the stars have to align.

I'm prepping for negotiations to start this week. As its a popular development and we have a house to sell, we're trying to use their easy move incentive to start with so that we can hold our plot for a few weeks to try and sell our home.

We are bouncing between mortgage advisors (inc, the added annoying issue of balancing that HTB affordability assessment too even though the lenders are happy, we're on thin ice with HTB), the developers and estate agents.

On a separate note, I'm happy to answer any questions about Share Ownership if anyone is buying new and SO, as that's what we're selling at the moment so have experience with that scheme too.

[notheragain4]

@MyDucksArentInARow we are using HTB too. The reason we've decided to use it is because we have a 5% deposit and desperate to move this year, can't get a 95%LTV mortgage this year and can't use HTB next year. We used a military scheme to buy our first house which we have to pay off which is why our deposit is so small, and we want to move into our family home now as our kids are 9 and 6 already, no point moving into a 4 bed as they go to move out!

I like the fact it makes our mortgage payments lower, and we can nearly borrow all the mortgage now anyway so I see it as an interest free help for the next 5 years (I know we need to share equity) I'm hopeful I will be earning more in 5 years and that we'll be able to mortgage it out. It also feels safer having the government take some of the risk with 20% rather than us 95% risk if we only had a 5% deposit with the uncertainty we have at the moment.

[MyDucksArentInARow]

Yes we're the same, we'll be going from 50% of a 3 bed semi, to 80% of a 4 bed detached. Bonus, we won't pay rent on the bit we don't own! I would be looking at other developments but the layout of the Bovis we're after is absolutely what I want and the other houses just don't meet that, without having garish outside design.

Are you still forces? My DP left 3 years ago, and we're going to ask if their military discount extends to leavers at all. I know some include ex-forces.

We're the same, stretching really thin this year, but DP is due pay rises every 6 months for the next 2 years and they're significant ones, so we'll be in a position to remortgage for 100% by the 5 year mark. We'll wait until the 5 year mark though as 0 interest on 20% is better than it sitting in a mortgage counting towards that interest.

We have a 10% deposit, but lending restrictions have meant we can't buy a "step up" through a standard purchase, unless we want a fixer upper. Not sure we're ready for that atm. Stupidly we also can't get the LTV to buy the other 50% of our SO property, so it's new build or bust!!

[notheragain4]

Yeah my DH is still in, we can't take forces help to buy with us because we are moving within 50 miles of our current house so paying it off with the proceeds of our sale.

Yes definitely worth a try, Barratt do a 5% incentive for forces and that's basically where we started, but found out it's all fluff really, they have a certain number they're willing to relent so it's just finding out what that number is and where to apply it!

[Maybenexttime08]

Yes we're doing HTB and will be saving a LOT over the next 5 years to try and pay a large chunk of it off, and will absorb the rest into our mortgage later on - that's the plan anyway!

My DH is a Ltd Company so we are having to get tax returns finalised etc before we can finalise our HTB. We are using the New Build companies recommended mortgage advisor which is helping as he is keeping the company updated with what we are doing, to show that we are being active even if we can't meet the end of Aug deadline for exchange. Hoping to move in November!

[MyDucksArentInARow]

Interesting, I think I'm going to compare all their incentives and work out what I think they'd stretch to, then negotiate with them on the list from my other thread, At the moment if I combined 1 or 2 options and common things (like flooring and turf) or the old stamp duty incentives, it looks like I can probably get about 5% of value in incentives for the property size.

Not sure if there's anything I haven't thought of yet that I'd consider. We're quite DIY savvy so things like built in wardrobes we'd build ourselves (there's one as standard). I would like a few changes to the kitchen layout, like chuck in an island if I can get a worktop upgrade. But I doubt they'd do that, although I'll ask. The other thing that bugs be is the tiny "double oven" the one in the show home looks quite narrow. Disappointing.

My two favourite things about the one we're buying are: getting a garage with electric fittings (yay to chest freezers and bigger diy projects) and getting a downstairs study. At the moment I'm using our 3rd bedroom and our poor puppy is sick of being carried up and downstairs! Hopefully we'll be in before she's too heavy to carry!! (Breed shouldn't have free access to stairs for first year)

[MyDucksArentInARow]

What were the features that made you want your plot/house type?

[Loislittslover]

Hi everyone, hope it's okay for me to join. We have fallen in love with a 5 bed Abbey home. The style that we like had 1 plot come back on the market recently which we looked at but lost out on. Another 2 are currently being built but not on the market yet, and a further 2 re in the final phase, so a few options available to us.

Unfortunately we're being held back by struggling to sell our house and can't afford to loose the 25k that we would using help to buy, so it may all be a pipe dream

[Thriceisnice]

Features that made ours the dream house:

Seperate good sized office, so not loosing a bedroom. Dh has worked from home for 5 years so this is really important to him.

Whole downstairs feels really sociable - the living room can fit loads of sofas and still sit and chat

Kitchen is lush and includes and island!!

Kitchen diner and and a Seperate dining room for days like christmas

Double garage

Good sized garden

All bedrooms are a good size and 4 fit a double bed plus wardrobes

The staircase has a bit of a wow factor

The arrangement of bedrooms means that on one side of the house we'd have adult space and child space on the other (upstairs)

En suite has a bath. I hadn't considered this as important before, but it would be lovely to have a bath without millions of toys in!!

Good views from all windows, and no chance of further development behind due to the nature of the land

[notheragain4]

@Maybenexttime08 yes we did the same and he's been AMAZING, he was so quick and was able to port our mortgage and save us £3k (another broker told us we couldnt) he also chased for us to get the stamp duty as cash back without me asking. I will be using him for all future remortgages for sure, we've had really bad experiences with brokers in the past.

@MyDucksArentInARow oh yes I love talking about my house! So in terms of the layout it's the downstairs study that was most important, I am WFH full time now, the study over looks open space (fenced off from people) as it has a pond. Separate dining room which we're using as a second living room with sofa bed for guests. 4 beds (4 of us) so box room for husband for his sought after man cave. I love that the bathroom has a bath and a walk in shower.

The biggest selling point for DH is the double garage, he's always wanted one. And it's end of cul de sac so no one can park outside our house. We're moving to a cheaper area 20 miles away, could never have afforded a house like this where we are now it would be easily 100k more. So moving the kids schools which is the biggest downside really.

I will see if I can share a floor plan, I'd love to see your floor plan, I can look at them all day, I've been house hunting for 5 years haha.

[notheragain4]

Not sure if this works? Never uploaded a photo before. It's the alnmouth/Alnwick by Barratt basically.

[Thriceisnice]

@notheragain4 many of our dream features seem to overlap! We clearly have similar taste

[MyDucksArentInARow]

@Thriceisnice Sounds lovely!! A bath in an en suite is divine, I'll miss my current one when we go down to just a shower, although we'll possibly sacrifice some master bedroom (it is very generous) to extend the en suite and get one of those smaller deep tubs. But there's no rush for that. Islands in kitchens are definitely top on my to-fit list. We've got space for one but it's not standard plan for the house style.

[notheragain4]

@Thriceisnice the two things that I wish we could have and a house came up with them in 20 miles in the opposite direction but DH wouldn't let me change (we'd already reserved) was an en-suite with bath and an island in the kitchen!

[notheragain4]

Yes I think we could potentially add an island in ours if we didn't use it as a dining area but as we aren't using the dining room as a dining room we kind of have to. I've seen someone put an orangery in the patio square between the living room room and kitchen so potential to extend in future I guess, although sadly the biggest compromise on our house is that the garden is small (for the size of the house)

[notheragain4]

@Loislittslover I really hope you manage to find a buyer soon, it's so stressful and frustrating not being proceedable. How far into the development are they? Do they have further phases?

[Thriceisnice]

Thank you, I told myself that I wouldn't get stressed but we've just fallen in love with the house so I'm struggling not to get impatient!!

It's a small development of about 50 houses, they're just starting phase 3 which has 2 of our style, and phase 4 will also have 2, although we don't like the position quite as much. But we would definitely consider it if we had no other options. I think the next one will be ready in or around December - because itvs a small development they didn't slow down much over lockdown.

[MyDucksArentInARow]

@notheragain4, love that floor plan! I think you'll love that dining room as a snug/guest room. especially if you can have more "adult" space in the living room or vice versa. Around us there are very few with a downstairs study which is annoying unless you go with the "luxury" builders like Cala (definitely not worth the price!!) so a Bovis it is for us. We don't have that Barratt layout near us either otherwise I'd like that one. There's a few Redrows that tick the boxes but the development is a field in the middle of no where and surrounded by dual carriage way, plain farmland (no rights of way for walking) and the nearest town is a dive. So that was a nope!!!

[Thriceisnice]

I think this should attach our floor plan

[notheragain4]

@Thriceisnice that's beautiful, love the front of the house and the dressing room too!

[notheragain4]

@MyDucksArentInARow floor plan looks great, ticks all our boxes, yes it's hard to find a separate study isn't it, a lot of the houses around ours are double fronted with kitchen diner to the left and living room to the right, which is nice as they are a good size but as I promised the 4th bedroom to DH I really needed a study. Plus it's nice to have the study on the ground floor I think.

[MyDucksArentInARow]

@Thriceisnice and @notheragain4 both of you have lovely wardrobe space in your master bedrooms!!

[Thriceisnice]

@myducksarentinarow I've not seen a cloakroom/utility before, but what a great use of space, I love the idea