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Original poster

Do we sell to a developer?

39 replies

DellaDella · 13/08/2018 21:54

A few months ago we moved into a house that needs a lot of work but is in a great location, catchment of a good school , 5 minutes to town and big garden. A developer is now buying the houses next to us to build flats and have made us an offer. It's above the market value but still wouldn't be enough to get us what we already have. Are we crazy to even consider this offer? Last spoke to them 3 weeks ago when they made their 'best and final offer' and I'm trying not to sound desperate so haven't phoned them back but what's the next step? Our kids have special needs and will not cope with building works next door for months and months so we need to sell, but we also want to buy a house better than we have already if we're going to go through all the hassle of moving again.

OP posts:

imsoboredwithitall · 13/08/2018 22:26

Well a developer will pay you more than open market and will be a quick and easy sale.

MeMeMeow85 · 13/08/2018 22:31

I think you need to weigh up the extent of the planned new building and whether you can bear to live next to the site during construction and afterwards. Have you viewed the plans? Will it be detrimental to the value of your house when it is finished?

Sometimes a development reinvigorates an area and pushes up prices around. Other times it is detrimental.

It is difficult to comment further without knowing more about what they’re demolishing and what they’re putting in its place.

fabulousathome · 13/08/2018 22:32

Tell them a high price that you'd happily sell for. See what happens. Have a lower limit in mind too. They are bound to negotiate.

madyogafan · 13/08/2018 22:44

We were in this position except we had just finished all the work on our house which included a large extension!

We eventually took the offer subject to planning so we still dont know if we are moving. The offer was way above market value and we might get a similar or better house if we are lucky but may not as there isn't much on the market. If the house isn't quite as good we should still have a few hundred thousand left over though which makes it worthwhile.
We decided to go due to the risk of what might be built next door!

In our area they can't build beyond a line extending a 45 degree angle from your back window but can build very close to the boundary. If you have a look where that would be on your property it might give you an idea of the size of the building.

Good luck with your decision...it's not easy.

Alexalee · 14/08/2018 07:17

Can you work out what extra value it adds to their site? Also I would not want to live next door to a building site

Original poster

DellaDella · 14/08/2018 07:59

They're building yet more retirement flats. Seems crazy to me as our town is full of them already but we're in a town on the coast so I guess it's bound to attract older people. The offer is way over market value but there's a jump from houses at our value to slightly nicer houses - about £300k more than they've offered and we don't want to agree to sell and find out when they get planning permission that we can't afford to buy anything where we want to be. It would be at least a year from agreeing a price to completion as it's dependent on them getting planning permission. Not sure whether to phone as I don't want to look desperate (even though I am!) It's a fine line between looking like we don't mind staying and you and we might move if you pay us millions.

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madyogafan · 14/08/2018 08:36

That seems like a big house price difference between your house and the next jump up if you've been offered way over market value and you still need 300K more!

Our offer is 65-80% over market value (depending on who valued the house) if that helps with assessing your offer.

If you say your children couldn't cope with the building work why not set out your argument and see if you can negotiate an increase. If not move to a similar size house and keep the money in the bank for a rainy day?

Our offer is index linked but only if prices rise (so can go up but not down) so you could also negotiate for this if you are worried about prices going up although where we are they are going down!

Overgrownyard · 14/08/2018 08:39

Surly this is a no brainer.. Your kids cannot cope with building works and you won't be able to sell once it starts. Won't be a quick build either if it's a retirement village.

They are offering above market value, so if you can't afford the better house selling normally then I don't think you're being reasonable to think its down to them to bridge such a huge gap on top of what they're already offering given its more than you'd get on open market- before they find out everything around the house is about to turn into a building site that is.

I'd get out while you still can and consider yourself lucky that you made money without doing any work on your house too!

Original poster

DellaDella · 14/08/2018 08:50

The offer is around 30% above market value. We're in the south east so prices are crazy! We're being really specific about the area we want to be in so we're in catchment for an oversubscribed junior school. Unfortunately this is also near the old expensive bit of the town that everyone else also wants to live in - our current house is not quite in the nice bit and is not pretty and is the only house in the last 18 months in our price range with a big garden and near shops.
Madyogafan how long did it take you to negotiate with them? Haven't heard from them in 3 weeks and have visions of them submitting plans without our plot but I guess it all moves quite slowly??

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madyogafan · 14/08/2018 09:16

It took about 4 months from them first approaching us. In our position we were very reluctant to move and genuinely would have walked away if the price wasn't right.

We kept in touch with the developers all the way though saying we were still considering and investigating options. We eventually got a final offer and said we were disappointed with it but would consider it. Around 2 weeks later they said they would give 50k more but if we didn't accept they would walk away.

They needed our house to build at all though so your position may be different.

Original poster

DellaDella · 14/08/2018 15:26

We moved into our house in February and this was going to be our forever home. We'd planned to do an extension, new kitchen, new bathrooms and decorate. We weren't looking to move to a bigger, better house - the one we have will be amazing when it's all done up. I don't think it's up to the developers to bridge the gap but at the same time I don't want to sell when we couldn't get a similar house for the money they're offering, never mind the next step up. I don't want to go through all the uncertainty of waiting for planning permission and not knowing if we're definitely moving and then find we've priced ourselves out of the area we want to be in and have to move somewhere cheaper.

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Ta1kinpeace · 14/08/2018 15:28

(a) hold out for the right offer
(b) be willing to object to his plans at every stage if you do not get it

if he's building flats his margin will be around 5 x market
so he can afford it

Original poster

DellaDella · 15/08/2018 11:11

I phoned this morning for an update and he said they're nearly at the pre-application stage. I don't know if that means they're not interested in buying our house anymore or not. I've had another look to see what houses are for sale in the area we want to be in, looking at smaller houses with fewer bedrooms and we couldn't afford any of them :( We saved for years to buy our house and I'm absolutely gutted we might be stuck next to a building site.

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Vitalogy · 15/08/2018 11:18

Is your house joined/attached to the other property?

Bluntness100 · 15/08/2018 11:26

If you can't afford to move, then you'll need to stay put.

I'd probably take the uncertainty out of this and say is this really final offer, if it is not to contact you again. If it isn't to make it as you want to conclude the negotiation and decide either way.

Original poster

DellaDella · 15/08/2018 11:30

No, it's a row of detached houses/bungalows. The three next to us are selling to the developer and we're at the end. I guess the site might be too big with our plot as well? Or maybe they're playing hardball? I have no idea any more. Their offer was very generous but we couldn't get anywhere near what we have now and I'm not going through all the hassle of moving again and end up with a smaller house and garden in a rubbish location. I'm just off to buy a lottery ticket.

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madyogafan · 15/08/2018 11:37

I don't think the final result after the build will be detrimental to your home. Actually your neighbours are likely to be quiet!
Anyone can have building work next door and unfortunately you just have to live with it. Even if you moved they could have building work.

If you can't find anything else I would stay put. This is your forever home and the build won't go on forever.

Bluntness100 · 15/08/2018 11:44

300k is a huge gap between what they've offered and what you want.

If your kids can handle things like a new extension etc then they'll be fine with building works next door. They put up a huge fence and although there will be a lot more traffic, dirt and people, it won't be as intrusive as work in your own home.

It sounds like they'd ideally like the property but they don't need it and are planning to proceed without.

Bluntness100 · 15/08/2018 11:45

I also wouldn't say offering 30 percent above market value is playing hardball.

Vitalogy · 15/08/2018 12:38

That better noise wise hopefully.

Vitalogy · 15/08/2018 12:40

*that's

Original poster

DellaDella · 15/08/2018 13:40

It's not the end of the world at all and I'm trying to be positive about it. Either we live in our house or an equally nice one somewhere else. I do appreciate this is very much a first world problem. If we don't sell we can crack on with sorting our house out which is still just as it was built in the 1970s. There's nothing more I can do, I guess if they really want our house they will just have to make us a better offer. They're building luxury retirement flats and prices will start at £500k, so I'm sure they could afford to give us just a teeny bit more :) but we'll see.

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Ta1kinpeace · 15/08/2018 15:09

TBH you'll have about 8 months of mess next door - might be a good time to make your own mess

Get your liks lots of books / information about machines and building supplies so they can look at the site with geeky interest

and then enjoy quiet neighbours for the rest of your time in your home

Bluntness100 · 15/08/2018 15:20

Actually that's not a bad call, this would be the time to apply for planning permission and do your extension at the same time.

Original poster

DellaDella · 15/08/2018 15:37

They did say it would be a 18 month build and it will be 2 or 3 storeys. We just did the downstairs toilet (finished the day after the developers phoned!) and the kids did not cope well with that noise at all. Weirdly, we decided to get rid of the floor to wall peach floral tiles so it was quite noisy. One of our first thoughts when the developer phoned was thank god we don't have to do the extension - it's going to be a nightmare with 3 autistic kids!! But we'll give it a couple of weeks and decide what we're going to do.

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