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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To ask how to negotiate price on a new build?

35 replies

AnxiousWreck · 01/04/2021 10:00

We made an offer on a gorgeous house two weeks ago... the EA "forgot" to pass it on, and it's now SSTC. They've said that they'll tell the vendor that there was an asking price offer, but I don't want to gazump anyone...

About five minutes walk away, there's a new build estate that has two houses left. They're already built, ready to move in to, and it's the end of the final phase of building. I'm not sure when they were finished, but the one that we're interested in has been on Rightmove since early March at least, and was listed on Zoopla last week.

The new house is on for 30% more than the four-year-old house that we viewed. They're pretty similar other than that. We're currently negotiating the sale of our place to a cash buyer, which should be finalised today...

Realistically, can we negotiate? Houses are selling pretty well overall, but these have been listed for a month, presumably because they're not in a majorly convenient location and they're quite expensive!

We'd need at least 15% off to be able to move, really. My instinct is to view it, see if we like it, and then offer 20% off and hope they'll negotiate? The house is totally finished, so we couldn't do any other negotiating around fixtures/fittings/gardens etc; and our buyer is keen to move in, so we'd be able to move relatively fast...

But we've just missed the end of the quarter, and I believe their end of year is January; so they're not close to that either.

OP posts:

bilbodog · 01/04/2021 10:05

If you dont ask you dont get!

Jizzle · 01/04/2021 10:24

Being on for a month doesn't mean much, if they had been on for 6/7 months plus then you might have a point.

New build developers won't often accept less than asking, especially when there are more units to sell, as if they lower the price for you, there is no way they will get full price on the remaining units.

Original poster

AnxiousWreck · 01/04/2021 10:53

I'm torn between these two views too

It's been on the market for Plot XXX for over a month, but listed on Rightmove with photos of the exact house and an address etc since 2nd March.

There's only the two units left and they couldn't be any more different - this is a three-bed, the other is a £950k six bed on the other side of the estate.

We can't afford it at full price and there's no way its worth as much as it's listed for, so I guess we go, try not to get emotionally attached and offer what we can... fingers crossed!

We're selling a flat, and it's taken a while to find a buyer - and now she's super excited to be moving in, so I'd feel awful not being able to find anywhere to go, but I guess this is all part of buying houses...

OP posts:

Alsohuman · 01/04/2021 11:04

I can’t see the logic in this. How will other buyers know how much other units have gone for? It takes several weeks for sold prices to appear on the land registry.

happylittlevegemites · 01/04/2021 11:07

They might not drop the price, but they might offer to pay your stamp duty, which could end up being a similar figure.

RestingPandaFace · 01/04/2021 11:08

It is worth asking, especially as the house is finished and there are elements that you would have wanted to do differently.

When we bought ours we got 10% off and also paving, turf, and carpets.

You won’t be able to negotiate fixtures, so you’d have to negotiate cash.

4amWitchingHour · 01/04/2021 11:20

We got about 5% off our new build - it was going to be that they paid our stamp duty, but then the stamp duty holiday came in so the same amount was put towards our deposit (so essentially the sale price stayed the same, but we had to stump up less cash).

You can negotiate all sorts of different things - just pick your red line and go for it. The developer tried to push back time and time again, but my H held firm and ultimately we were prepared to walk away, so they caved in the end. If you go in with the mindset that they want the sale more than you want the house then you can get a good deal.

MooshWoosh · 01/04/2021 11:21

It might be different in England, but in Scotland it’s normal to offer less for a new build - 10-15% sounds about average to me.

Aprilx · 01/04/2021 11:27

It isn’t really normal to negotiate price on a new build. What they might negotiate on is stamp duty, upgraded fittings, carpets, tiling etc. But they like to keep their headline prices at asking.

Happytentoes · 01/04/2021 11:33

Was about to come on and say the same as @MooshWoosh ( great name). I am in Scotland in an area with a lot of building - pretty much every house settles at a different price ( if you look at Rightmove historical info). They are so overpriced to begin with and the builders margins are fairly healthy.
I would give it a shot, they may want to just close out that development and move on,. Nothing to lose.

Gumbo · 01/04/2021 11:34

We've negotiated a decent discount off 3 new builds; the most recent of those we got 18% off on the agreement that we'd complete by year end. The lady selling the new build told me there's almost always a built-in leeway on the price, and in some situations they'll happily go beyond that if they're wanting to get rid of specific properties or close down the site and move off it.

Definitely ask especially as you're in a strong position.

CaveMum · 01/04/2021 11:34

We bought our house brand new. We negotiated that the builder would pay the Stamp Duty and we would pay "asking price" so that they could maintain the pretext of what the house was worth (SD was worth about £12,000 at the time). We also negotiated that they would turf the garden, which wasn't originally part of the deal.

The only thing I'd say is that builders often want to move fast - ours wanted exchange within 5 weeks which luckily we were able to do as we were not in a chain but our solicitor said that it was a very tight deadline for most people.

Marshy86 · 01/04/2021 11:53

Hi Op,

I used to be a new build sales advisor before maternity leave, new build developers usually have a end of year and end of half year targets so you may still be able to get a deal. However it all depends on the type of builder and what they have already spent on the property eg carpets/ upgrades ect.

The company I used to work for hated discounting houses but would be prepared to pay toward deposits and solicitor fees but due to mortgage you can usually only accept up 5% cash incentive.

Are you in a proceed-able position to secure the sale ? If so I'd go in and be honest say your really interested in this plot and ready to move but you need some sort of deal to make it work, the sales advisors are there to help you and want properties sold ASAP to get their commission so go have a chat with them.

Original poster

AnxiousWreck · 01/04/2021 12:00

Thanks all. It's a mixed bag, but most people seem to think some discount is normal, and we can't negotiate on fixtures - they're already all in and complete, and a pretty standard spec.

@Marshy86 Thank you! We are proceedable - we've got a cash buyer who is keen and ready to go; so we could move quickly (depending on legals etc).

This house looks pretty standard in terms of fixtures, it's not at all upgraded, and I don't think they'd be keen to change anything in there.

If we moved fast and completed before the end of June, we'd have no stamp duty due, if not, there'd be a miniscule amount. We're fairly sorted for legal fees, as we've got a solicitor handling our sale.

We'll go chat to the sales advisors. It's worth an ask!

OP posts:

Marshy86 · 02/04/2021 20:58

@AnxiousWreck it's no problem, I hope it goes well! Another option would be to ask about a gifted deposit (again it can only be 5% of the value in of the house) but if they aren't willing to move far on price could they move slightly then offer you a gifted deposit ?

Something that used to surprise our customers was carpet wasn't standard within the property so flooring throughout would usually cost approximately 2-4K million of the deal budget depending what carpet would go in. Then also depending on builders other things that you would assume as standard were extra, one of my competitors didn't even offer a shower as standard it was just a bath and you would have to pay £600 for shower plus then the show screen ect !

jimmyhill · 03/04/2021 22:22

flooring throughout would usually cost approximately 2-4K million of the deal

trying to imagine a £4 billion carpet

Marshy86 · 04/04/2021 07:16

Sorry error type was meant to say thousand, must of been doing something with baby 😂

HotToddyColdSauvignon · 04/04/2021 07:23

Can I piggy back on here, and ask @Marshy86 a question too?

When would be the best time to negotiate? When you put down the initial reserve deposit? (A few hundred £)

Or later when it comes to exchanging 28 days later?

(Have visions of going to reserve the plot we really love, and then saying oh but can you throw in the turf and carpets and them saying errrr no, sod off!)

Any tips hugely appreciated!

Marshy86 · 04/04/2021 14:08

Hi lovely, no deal has to be agreed at reservation stage as part of your reservation deal. Rule of thumb the closer the plot is to being complete for more you will get but doesn't mean you can't get a decent deal on a newly released plot. I'd recommend asking for a copy of their standard specification

HotToddyColdSauvignon · 04/04/2021 14:32

Thank you very much!, we will go with our business heads on

An0n0n0n · 04/04/2021 14:34

If its help to buy they won't negotiate x

TotorosFurryBehind · 04/04/2021 14:36

If you buy a new build you will spend the next 2 years chasing developers to put right defects.

Eaststreet · 04/04/2021 15:28

We got 25k off our new build in September.
We literally just asked the question, said we were ready to proceed and would pay the reservation fee if they knocked 25k off , we weren’t expecting them to say yes but make a counter offer but they agreed to it the same day.

If you don’t ask you’ll never know.

Original poster

AnxiousWreck · 04/04/2021 15:59

Just as an update, as this has popped up again!

We went to see it, it's an okay house... not our dream house by any means. We had a good chat to the sales manager - he's using the house as an office at the moment, as the sales office is gone, and the other house went under offer a few hours before we went to see this one.

He said they weren't offering deals at the moment - usually 10% would be fine, but houses are so buoyant right now that they don't need to offer discounts. They are doing a few extra things to this one to help it sell - nothing major, a shower over the bath, a cabinet in the bathroom - and so didn't have any budget for a reduction, but could maybe do 1 - 2 grand.

He said they'd rather it stood empty for a year then reduce it by more than that, and that he's moving on as of Tuesday to the next new development.

On Friday we viewed a house that we love FAR more, and made an offer. They also had a FTB view and make an offer of the same amount... so now we're waiting to see whose offer is accepted. The EA thinks we stand a good chance, so fingers crossed!

OP posts:

Cassilis · 04/04/2021 16:03

Definitely ask, we got £30k off our house (but it;s not new build).

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