Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

New build house negotiations

51 replies

Southeastmamaof2 · 31/05/2021 19:10

Hi all, so we have extended an offer on a new build off-plan property and whilst the sales lady was very polite, she very politely said that this offer will be rejected by the head office and that I should start thinking about how we can revise the offer. Has anyone negotiation experience with developers? How much back and forth is normal? This is one of the last 5 (and most expensive!) houses on the development and I think their mid-year is in June, so I was hoping the prospect of exchanging contracts by the end of June and will be enticing for them? I did tell her already that there isn’t a lot of wiggle room from our side and this is true- if they are not happy and we can’t afford it then we’ll have to walk away, but I hope we’ll come to an agreement. I would love to know what’s normal. Once they reject, should I expect a counter offer or will they just wait for me to come up with something better?

OP posts:

Namechangedlady · 31/05/2021 19:17

I have bought 2 new houses and in my experience, they never negotiate on price. They will throw in stamp duty, upgraded kitchens and bathrooms etc but not lower the actual price

Good luck though!

guessmyusername · 31/05/2021 19:24

Bought 3 new houses and about to buy my 4th and never been able to negotiate price. Got carpets thrown in for this house but that was it.

TakeYourFinalPosition · 31/05/2021 19:32

I did a whole load of research on this and talking to people across various forums in March, and the consensus was that developers weren’t really offering price discounts right now - they don’t need to, houses are selling like anything.

I was still hopeful that we’d get something. We viewed and made an offer on the last house on the plot, but they wouldn’t budge on price at all; and said they weren’t offering stamp duty discounts or deposit contributions. They had carpeted the house; and they fitted a shower over the bath - that was all they were willing to negotiate on.

We walked away, but it sold for the listed price pretty quickly.

SwimBaby · 31/05/2021 19:36

I’ve bought three new builds and have only received about 3% off. However quite a few of my neighbours at my second house did get a discount of about 8%. With the house I’m in I negotiated upgraded carpets, a massive patio, down lighters in the kitchen/diner and the door loos/bathrooms. Ceramic floor tiles in the bathroom instead of a cheaper floor covering, chrome sockets, granite, posh fire, a few extra mirrors, upgraded wardrobe doors, a fully landscaped garden and a few other things. It was a case of third time lucky for us.

SwimBaby · 31/05/2021 19:37

I forgot to say on all three purchases I either paid no stamp duty or a heavily discounted amount.

IamChipmunk · 31/05/2021 19:43

We bought a new build 3 years ago, they wouldnt negotiate on price at all but took money off the extras we got instead as people have said. This included things like carpets, better showers, fully tiled bathrooms better lighting options...
Their year end is June because they rushed to finish ours by the end of June so we could complete before year end.

cataclysmiclife · 31/05/2021 19:58

We did a part exchange and they did three valuations and took the middle one. We also got about £40k off a £360k house so it can be done. House was carpeted too but was one of the final plots to sell.

wheresmymojo · 31/05/2021 20:25

We bought ours three years ago so it was a bit of a different market.

We paid full list price (£535k) but got the following thrown in:

Turfed lawn
All flooring (carpets in some rooms, Amtico in the rest)
Stamp duty paid (this alone was about 16k from memory)
Legal fees paid up to £1.5k with their choice of solicitor
All white goods included (washer, dryer, fridge freezer and dishwasher)

wheresmymojo · 31/05/2021 20:30

From memory I think I worked out that we got £22k worth of incentives in total (and costed using their list prices for flooring, etc which obviously are way above cost price).

Original poster

Southeastmamaof2 · 31/05/2021 20:59

Thank you for all the comments! I should clarify that I did mean negotiating on extras rather than the price - in my offer I suggested included extras, deposit contribution and stamp duty being paid. So with all your responses- did you offer a price and the developer came back with no, no price change, but we offer you x/y/z instead or how did you get to your deals?

OP posts:

Foxyloxy1plus1 · 31/05/2021 21:26

We didn’t pay stamp duty, but the developer includes carpets, flooring, turf in the back garden, landscaped front garden and white goods anyway, because the kitchen has integrated appliances. We negotiated an upgraded hob and a change to the oven.

I wish we’d negotiated upgraded carpets though.

IamnotSethRogan · 31/05/2021 21:29

Yeah I don't think they tend to haggle on price. You can beat them down to include other things (floors, integrated appliances etc.) But the price is generally the price.

IamnotSethRogan · 31/05/2021 21:33

Sorry just saw your response. We had stamp duty, floors, upgraded appliances, landscaped front and back garden. i think it was mostly down to DH being generally quite nervous. Was the first property we bought so we didn't come across as very keen! And the house was almost finished so they're always a bit more keen to do a deal (they did actually knock £5000 off but again this was due to the house being almost complete)

I've not heard of them doing deposit contributions but that could be me

SwimBaby · 31/05/2021 22:36

I asked for the extras.

maddening · 31/05/2021 23:28

We negotiated on a new build, the show home, one of the last 3 houses. We went in low and they came.back with a counter offer which we accepted.

maddening · 31/05/2021 23:29

As it was the show home it.was top spec and included all the furnishings anyway.

maddening · 31/05/2021 23:31

When it comes to last few houses they are keen. Also, builders financial year end is end of June so they like to get at least exchanged by then for their annual figures, if you could move to exchange by end of June I reckon that would work in your favour.

maddening · 31/05/2021 23:32

We knocked £20k off

nuggles · 31/05/2021 23:41

We're in mid negotiation for an off plan at the moment.

Won't reduce price but have thrown in carpets, amtico for kitchen but refused bathroom flooring and garden turf (even though they agreed to it last month). When we came to reserve over the weekend the developer said they have changed the policy in the last week and withdrawing all incentives as houses are selling so quickly but honouring half of what we agreed.

Setting alarm bells ringing a bit (haven't reserved yet)

Original poster

Southeastmamaof2 · 01/06/2021 07:43

@nuggles yikes! Who is that builder if I may ask? That sounds terrible and if that happened to us (IF we manage to find common ground) I’d absolutely walk away. If they don’t honour their word at negotiation stage, how will it be when you moved in and find snagging issues?

OP posts:

SwimBaby · 01/06/2021 07:45

Who is building the house OP?

Original poster

Southeastmamaof2 · 01/06/2021 08:02

@SwimBaby it’s Linden Homes.

OP posts:

user7836 · 01/06/2021 08:20

We were upfront and said we need X so what can they offer to give us that in savings, we got stamp duty, flooring, kitchen upgrade and "removals" cash on completion to bump it up basically. We couldn't proceed without it so we're quite upfront, he went to his manager for "sign off" and it was approved in 2 hours (if we reserved that day).

Original poster

Southeastmamaof2 · 01/06/2021 08:34

@user7836 yes, I told them from the beginning that we need help otherwise we genuinely can’t do it. What I suggested now (with mix of incentives/stamp duty/deposit contribution) adds up to around 8.5% off. So I don’t think we extended an absolutely ridiculous offer. I think we have another 0.5-1% wiggle room but if that’s a no, then unfortunately it’s a no. :(

OP posts:

Candleabra · 01/06/2021 09:12

No reduction on price but did get quite a lot of incentives. But the developers don't seem to have any trouble shifting the houses round here at the moment so they're in a strong position if they don't want to negotiate.

I think they probably adjust the price to allow them to "throw in" some extras as a temptation to reserve. So you think you've got a better deal than you have really.

Flip

1 2 3