Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Are there any new build office sales people or estate agents on here?

17 replies

Nearlytherenext · 16/02/2021 21:29

My DH wants to offer 5% under the asking price of a new build we have seen.

The house isn't selling and the builders seem to be keen to sell it (putting insentives up)

We really like the look of it but DH wants to offer 5% under! (That's early £40k under asking price)

What are the chances it will be accepted? Flat out no way, never? I don't want to be laughed out the room Blush

OP posts:
StopMakingATitOfUrselfNPissOff · 16/02/2021 21:46

I’d say highly unlikely but depends on a lot of factors, including but not limited to:
If the house is complete
if so how long has it been empty for
How many plots are left to sell
Is the plot a bit crap compared to others (small garden/shit parking)
Essentially how desperate they are to get rid!

Original poster
Nearlytherenext · 16/02/2021 22:08

Ah ok I thought so.
It's not even complete yet. The last one to be sold on the development.
North facing, but large garden.
Hmmm it's not a bad plot at all. So I think 5% is probably too cheeky

OP posts:
StopMakingATitOfUrselfNPissOff · 16/02/2021 22:22

If you’re SSTC, can exchange quickly and basically agree not to be a pain in the arse buyer you might have a shot!Grin
There’s no harm in trying tbh

ginislife · 16/02/2021 22:25

If you don't ask then you don't get. They can say no if they're not happy. Try it.

RedPandaMama · 16/02/2021 22:29

Hi! I worked as a sales exec for a new build company for 3 years.

Every builder is different. Which builder is it?

The one I worked for didn't accept offers or reductions. At all. The reason being if we accepted an offer of say £350k on the house style 'Windermere', but the other 10 Windermere's on the site were up for £390k, when the valuation comes back at offer stage it would like be devalued, hence devaluing every other plot.
So your 40k reduction would turn into 400k loss on the site, as essentially they have to sell every other plot of the same house style, as the same (or very similar) cost.

Mangofandangoo · 16/02/2021 22:31

We offered less and they accepted. I think it helped that it was one of the last to sell and they were desperate to get on with building the new phase

RedPandaMama · 16/02/2021 22:32

You would be better asking for incentives. 40k is a huge amount but it depends where you are - the site I worked on was in the NW so the highest priced house was £500k and that was for an enormous 5 bed.

In sales we would have 2% we were able to negotiate with - so on a £500k house we could give 10k of incentives e.g. downlights, curtains, flooring, turf etc.

Very occasionally we could get up to 3-5% but these would have to go to the M.D for consideration and it was a big deal. We would only ever do those sorts of deals on undesirable plots at completion stage - i.e. fully built plots with a bad garden/small driveway/near the main road etc.

BritInAus · 16/02/2021 22:35

I would happily be laughed at by strangers who don't matter so save thousands!

RedPandaMama · 16/02/2021 22:35

Also pretty please remember if you do manage to get a good deal, it comes out of the sales exec's commission.

We earned minimum wage, our wages were massively dependant on commission. For each plot we sold we got £750 commission, reduced by £100 for every £1k of incentives we gave away... Which is the reason I left the job as the pay was terrible unless you gave it a really hard sell. Please buy you sales exec a nice bunch of flowers to say thank you!

RedPandaMama · 16/02/2021 22:39

Sorry for all my posts just didn't want to leave one enormous comment!

I would say as previous posters, always give it a try, it's always worth asking, just don't be too hopeful as 40k is a lot off. However it's the last one on the development, so I would always try. Be kind but firm with the offer. If you make it look like there's any movement, they will say no before even asking management.

Ellmau · 16/02/2021 23:33

If it's the last one, they'll be keen to move staff on to the next development. It's worth an offer, they can only say no.

My parent's got a discount on their new build, admittedly a few years ago. The developers weren't too pleased when they told another buyer, who also negotiated a discount based on it ;)

Pippa234 · 16/02/2021 23:37

I know on a Bovis development I lived near they accepted 35,000 off of a house it was a pretty nice plot too.
Worth a try.

Moooooooooooooooooo · 17/02/2021 00:03

Ah, I was wondering about this for new builds too.

FAQs · 17/02/2021 00:08

I got 4 % off my new build (a while ago now) compared to my neighbour, plus turf, carpets and a security system, the reason, it was the last one to sell. No loss or reductions incurred from other sales and they wanted to move into their next development.

Shamoo · 17/02/2021 00:30

Last house in our small development went for 50k below asking to get it done, so no harm trying!

Original poster
Nearlytherenext · 17/02/2021 08:10

Very interesting. Thank you all for your help
RedPandaMama I didn't realise all of this.

That does seem a little unfair and pot luck as to what your salary would be.

It is the last house of this style on the site. 2 or 3 others left. They plan to have finished the entire site by May.

They have already offered some good incentives amounting to £10k. So I think we wouldn't be able to ask for 5% off on top of this.

OP posts:
RedPandaMama · 17/02/2021 08:15

Totally depends on the developer, some (like mine) were very very strict as the prices are more realistic, others bump up the prices so they can offer discounts.
£10k in incentives is good, if you're buying an £800k property (assuming that's what it is if 5% is 40k) I would try for a bit more Grin

New posts on this thread. Refresh page