Negotiate on new build flat

[EmmaAgain22]

Hi all
has anyone bought off plan and negotiated a discount?

if so, how low can I offer without being laughed out of the room?

let's say flat priced at £350,000. Is 10% lower taking the piss?

I have no idea what demand is like at the mo - I was meant to look in the New Year after one purchase collapsed but didn't keep an eye on the market.

thank you.

Bump

Year end and quarter end you can negotiate discounts.
However buying off plan is a no go for me.
Builder may go bust, sell apartments to HA, not complete all facilities, pause the project, snagging, discount later apartments, etc etc.
Also, well accepted is new builds lose value for a while as when you sell it’s second hand.

You're better off trying to negotiate extras - e.g. pay the stamp duty, upgrade the bathroom & carpets, I've even seen some developers offering to pay energy bills for a year. They are less inclined to offer discounts on the headline price because it affects the £ per sq ft they achieve on the development which is important for valuation & financing.

Thank you
I used to think that about new builds, that they were bound to go down, but from looking and asking around, I hear that's out of date thinking?

when I say "off plan" they seem to be ready for March 2023.

I don't think stamp duty will be a negotiating tool for me because when I buy, it will be my second (I am going to sell the first though). As it's quite a small flat, the upgrades to bathroom or whatever don't mean anything to me.

I think they are on the last three so a discount would be much better but as I say, no idea what the starting point would be.

20-30% under asking is the only way to protect yourself in this environment, if they "laugh you out of the room" you can walk away and roll around on the floor laughing when they go bust in the near future.

www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/building-firms-going-bust-at-fastest-rate-since-financial-crisis/ar-AA15pUbE

You didn’t keep an eye on the market?
Rookie error. You must keep an eye on your local market to stand any chance of making an intelligent decision.

Bit harsh Twiglet

mum has been consistently ill and frankly, if she dies, I don't need to move.

following her most recent incident, I saw an ad for this place - was aware of it but not keen - but now we are in an unpleasant situation where I need to be nearby, it's irrelevant what I think of it really. It's walking distance from her, and less chance of falling through as a new build. If allegedly ready in March - my sister lives in a new build that was completed on time! - even stretching that to May, still a good option.

so. Now I've explained that, if anyone would be kind enough to advise on negotiation for a small 1 bed flat, new build, or has any experience, I'd love to hear it. I imagine the tactics are very different than for houses where things like carpets and fittings will be a bigger factor.

probably the margins are smaller for negotiating than with a house, I don't know.

but great to hear if anyone has experience, thank you.

of course, mum will die as soon as I put the deposit down. Sigh.

I looked into buying a new build in a small development 2 years ago when the properties were a couple of months away from completion. We made an offer of about 8% lower, which was politely rejected as the developer wanted to see what they would do with more time on the open market. As far as I know the houses stayed on the market for at least 12 months, with the price being reduced to what we offered after around 6 months and i don't know if they have sold yet (we found somewhere else).

You can get a good idea of local listing prices by looking on right move and can see recently sold in the same area prices there too I believe.

With new builds, I've also heard that you can ask for lower spec interiors for a reduced overall price. I would imagine there is scope for negotiation, and there is truth to the 'don't ask and you won't get' school of thought.

I also may have made this up, but I thought I'd heard (several years ago) that if there are lots of properties for sale in the development then sometimes the show flat goes cheaper as you have to wait to be able to move in?

As for losing value, I only have my own purchase to go on, we ended up buying from someone who had purchased the house as a new build, it did not lose value as they'd had it around 5 years, but I would say it probably did increase in value slower than older properties and its current value is much more in line with similar sized and located properties now.

Good luck op, with your mum too

Does it have to be new build?

it depends where you are looking, but where there’s a lot of new builds, the existing properties unless done up immaculate are normally cheaper

Thank you Elbo I think I'm going try at 15% lower and see what happens

Scrooge it should, in theory, save me from another purchase falling through.

I’m just being honest. If you do end up buying a place then you have to do lots of market research or risk making a costly mistake.
New builds are generally considered to be the worst kind of property to make a profit on. The minute you move in the property has lost the thing that made it appealing, the fact that you would be the first person to live there.
I would leave flat buying for a few months - prices are expected to fall by about 10% next year anyway so it won’t hurt to leave it a few months. Do plenty of research in your area (every area is different so people on the internet do not understand your area). Watch what happens to recent flat sales, observe what they go on at and what they sell for.