Developer buying your house

[UserMe18]

To part exchange etc, has anyone done this? Larkfleet is who I am looking at (houses not built yet so no idea what they will/won't offer) keen to hear experiences. I am well aware it's not for everybody and the developer will make money, I'm just keen to hear from those who have done it.

We’ve just done this - part exchanged our old house to buy a Cala new build.

We had three local agents value the property, with their estimate based on selling the house in 4-6 weeks. The initial part ex offer was lower than we expected, but when we pushed back and they increased the offer. It helped that the developer was desperate to complete by their year end, so they were willing to throw in a number of incentives (paid stamp duty, reduction on purchase price and part exchange).

It worked for us - we felt that Brexit has cooled the market and we wanted to move quickly rather than face months and months on the market. We were also aware that we would have to spend money before selling our house on the open market, eg replacement windows etc.

I guess we will never know if we could have achieved more for our old house, but no regrets.

Happy to answer any specific questions you have?

I've just had my house valued for part-ex in a new build that is not yet built. They sent 2 estate agents and offered the average 90 day sale price, or so they say. The agents are instructed not to discuss prices with us. We are realistic and have a good idea of what the house would get as it's a relatively new one and the exact same type on the estate sold recently.

They offered 3k less than what we would have accepted. We're currently doing the game of chicken with them to see what else they offer as we've turned it down. I'm holding out for Stampy duty and all flooring as a minimum.

@DonkeyScramble how did you get on?